rows of heaven

behind this charming woman grow the best blueberries in the land... about 14 rows (forty yards long,) of sweetly aged bushes. every year, from mid-july to mid-august, the farm owners open up the bushes to the public to share their fruit, and this year, the berries were abundant (they reduced the number of days per week that they opened, and that made the picking much more "fruitful.") this particular day was one of the many typical mid-summer days in middle tennessee... high 90's and 80-90% humidity. by the end of the day's picking, this woman and i both looked as though we had be tossed into the nearby pond. for seven and a half pound of these blueberries, the bushes would have to be on fire before i would resist entering their rows. it is seriously one of the most glorious moments of the year. if you have never been, and you enjoy blueberries, i insist that you find your way there next year. as i was making my pitch to this fellow picker, she was about to leave, and she first denied my request to take her photo, because she believed that when i said that i was taking a portrait a day for a year, that she would have to be available to me every day for the following year. she said something like, "well.... i just can't be available to do something like that every day." i laughed good. she also told me a story about how she, in 1988, drove the mother of the coach of the women's olympic basketball team to oklahoma city because she was afraid to fly. silly me, i totally forgot that oklahoma city had held the olympics. anyways... her fingers tell the tale of a seasoned picker.