Bring Back Summer!
By,
Jennifer E. Miller
The leaves have fallen, there's a nip in the air, jack frost is ready to rear his ugly face, forcing us to board up in our homes. Winter. The season of living in close proximity to each other while somehow avoid The Shining's version of cabin fever.
Due to my Raynaud's, I'm not a cold weather person, like at all. I prefer warm temperatures, perfected at about 75-80 degrees. Even the feeling of an air conditioner is too cold at times. The freezer section of the grocery store is my mortal enemy. The end of fall into winter is simply a reminder of why I like summer over all the other seasons.
Ways to alleviate the winter blues are to go on a tropical vacation; don't have the money. Go to a local amusement park; they're closed. Go fishing; bundling up with coat doesn't help with that warm and toasty feeling. Sigh. What to do?
Why not bake something? I remembered I still have a few quarts of huckleberries from the summer harvest sitting my freezer. It was an insanely good huckleberry season. Normally, I eat them fresh, but there was just too darned many to eat by myself. And in no way am I sharing more than necessary with anyone. Go pick your own berries and see how tedious and time-consuming it is (and why the going rate is around $50 per gallon for those suckers!)
I dug out a tupperware container from it's top secret locked-up hiding place deep inside the freezer. Tearing off the lid, I inhale the sweet scent of huckleberries. Few things top the smell of small round purple berries one harvested themselves. They take me back to the mountain spot where I chased away all the bears to have the best patch for myself. The berry shrubs, which are only three to four feet tall, grow around all the fallen trees, tucked on a sloping hillside. The wind echos its breaths around me as I quietly pluck each berry off and into my bucket.
Ahhh! Summer! Like Olaf says in Frozen, "lets go bring back summerrrrrr!" Baking huckleberry muffins will surely accomplish that. Their sweetness swirls in the batter, and the oven heat permeates the aroma throughout the house. Four about forty-five minutes or so, it's summer again.
Once the muffins cool, and are ready to eat, I peel off the wrapper. I sit down at the table to sink my teeth into it. Then I look out the window. Snow; reality bites. Bring back summer, please.
Ways to alleviate the winter blues are to go on a tropical vacation; don't have the money. Go to a local amusement park; they're closed. Go fishing; bundling up with coat doesn't help with that warm and toasty feeling. Sigh. What to do?
Why not bake something? I remembered I still have a few quarts of huckleberries from the summer harvest sitting my freezer. It was an insanely good huckleberry season. Normally, I eat them fresh, but there was just too darned many to eat by myself. And in no way am I sharing more than necessary with anyone. Go pick your own berries and see how tedious and time-consuming it is (and why the going rate is around $50 per gallon for those suckers!)
I dug out a tupperware container from it's top secret locked-up hiding place deep inside the freezer. Tearing off the lid, I inhale the sweet scent of huckleberries. Few things top the smell of small round purple berries one harvested themselves. They take me back to the mountain spot where I chased away all the bears to have the best patch for myself. The berry shrubs, which are only three to four feet tall, grow around all the fallen trees, tucked on a sloping hillside. The wind echos its breaths around me as I quietly pluck each berry off and into my bucket.
Ahhh! Summer! Like Olaf says in Frozen, "lets go bring back summerrrrrr!" Baking huckleberry muffins will surely accomplish that. Their sweetness swirls in the batter, and the oven heat permeates the aroma throughout the house. Four about forty-five minutes or so, it's summer again.
Once the muffins cool, and are ready to eat, I peel off the wrapper. I sit down at the table to sink my teeth into it. Then I look out the window. Snow; reality bites. Bring back summer, please.
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