Sunday, February 10, 2013

We been a'busy making merry, and picking wild mountain berries

This past summer mom and I had a day to go berry picking. The sun blazed down on the numerous rows of blueberry bushes, the bees whizzed around our fingers reaching for berries, and the air hung around our bodies quite humid and still in fashion.

The pair of us, mom and daughter, didn't stay too long in the blistering summer star's shine, but despite our early abandon of the bushes, we managed to accumulate a good four to six quarts from our endeavors of picking.


The day was hot, the insects annoying, but the time spent was treasured. I brought Lola, my faithful sidekick who captured these joyful moments on the black and white roll sitting inside her turquoise frame. 


When we finally did abandon our efforts, we drove through miles upon miles of junk, treasure, and tasty treats. The traffic was dreadful due to the annual yard sale that just happened to coincide with our planned berry picking. Braving the crowds, mom and I ventured over to Thomas Drugs so as not to break tradition and eat a bite at the old timey pharmacy and soda shop. My bacon grilled cheese and milkshake made the journey worth the wait as I reminisced back to the times mom herded all three of her daughters to this special glimpse at the past.


This summer was my last residing at home before I'd stay in Knoxville, near school, church, and my new life as a budding adult. Mom made it extra memorable to me by letting me stop my car to get out and snap some pictures of scenes we nearly passed by at thirty miles an hour, possibly never to be grabbed by Lola's plastic eye.


An extra fun thing about Lola's works from this particular adventure is what I got the idea to do with them. Being a broke college student, I rarely get to develop my film until several months after whatever event at which I snapped my shots. This roll of black and white film waited patiently in a box for four months to see the fruit of its toil. 


In December I posted several of these photos on facebook, but I made sure to exclude a few specific photographs, namely the portraits of my mother. 



Taking these never before seen shots, I painted a canvas with part of Romans 8, my momma's favorite passage, and hung some of these photos beneath the canvas via ribbon. 


These photos incapsulate the nostalgia and love.
Their memories make them beautiful.