BLACKBERRY JELLY

                                            My beautiful mother sitting on the front porch.

 BLACKBERRY JELLY

I look in the mirror

and Mother is reflected in me.

I'm more like her every day.

Each morning she rose

as the rooster crowed

and the sun peeked over

Shewbird Mountain like a ruby.

Honeysuckle perfumed the pine grove

as she grabbed a bucket

and headed to the berry patch.

She stretched her body through briars

to pluck the plump fruit,

ran like a racehorse when

a black snake chased her home.

I watched Mother as she stood

over the woodstove making jelly,

sweat ran down her face.

I helped her wash the Ball jars

to preserve the flavors of our farm.

Although she's been gone

for three years from earth,

I feel close to her 

as I flip through her recipes

that she wrote on napkins,

paper bags, and notebook paper.

I can hear her voice telling

me to Clean up the kitchen,

as I use the bowls and utensils,

Don't waste the ingredients,

money doesn't grow on trees.

I'm proud when I look

in the mirror and see

the spitting image of Mother.

                  --Brenda Kay Ledford 

Patricia's Lost and Found Ring

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.  Mark 11:24 (NIV)

 Patricia and Lula Bell were writing encouragements in Bibles to hand out to the graduates at Hayesville High School.  Eighty four seniors were to graduate and invited to the Baccalaureate Service at Truett Church. The women were in the conference room working, but decided to place the boxes in the pastor's office.

The boxes of Bibles were very heavy.  Patricia almost dropped them on the pastor's desk.  When one box slipped from her hand, it ripped the emerald set from her ring.  She and Lula Bell searched everywhere for the set.  They looked on the desk, got on the floor, couldn't find it anywhere.  Now this was a special ring and Patricia was distraught that she had lost it.

She and Lula Bell prayed that they would find the ring.

Patricia went home, put on her pajamas and prayed again that she would find her ring.  The next morning, she got up and something was sparkling on the floor.  She thought it was a lightning bug and got a tissue to pick it up.  

When she picked up the hard object, Patricia gasped.  It was the emerald set to her ring.  She lifted a prayer of praise because God had answered her and Lula Bell's prayer.

Finding the ring was like sweet music to Patricia's ears, but she wasn't surprised.  Nothing was too hard for God! 

I believe in praying for simple things even to finding a precious ring.

DECORATION DAY

 Many of my relatives are buried at Many Forks Baptist Church in Towns County, Georgia.  Each year on the fourth Sunday in May, they hold Decoration Day.  Families go to the cemetery to decorate the graves of loved ones.  Worship service is held of the morning, then they break for dinner-on-the-grounds.  That afternoon a singing is held in the church. This old-time mountain tradition is fading away.  

Decorating graves was founded to remember deceased soldiers.  It was the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, passed by Congress in 1968, that officially changed Decoration Day to Memorial Day effective in 1971.

I recall my mama made roses from crepe paper for the decoration.  Flowers were cut from crepe paper, dipped in melted wax to form the roses.  Mama made a box of these flowers to place on the graves of loved ones.  

Before the men made tables from planks, dinner-on-the-grounds was held on blankets that they spread on the ground under the shade trees.  The women brought boxes of food to the dinner.  Most mountain women grew a garden and there were loads of vegetables, fried chicken, cakes, pies, banana pudding, gallons of sweet tea.  No one left hungry.

It was a time of fun, fellowship, and getting acquainted with family and friends.  Here in the foreground are Aunt Dot Lee and Edna Brown, two regulars at Decoration Day.

I miss those times gathering at the country church each May to decorate the graves of loved ones, savor dinner-on-the-grounds, listen to groups lifting praises with their musical instruments.  Old-time preachers delivered uplifting messages to warm the hearts of those who attended the worship service.

A Wildflower Refuge

 My yard needs mowing?

It's like a wilderness.

Bees buzz on clover,

dragonflies whizz through azure skies.

Dog-flea flowers nod

their purple heads in the wind,

songbirds perform a gig in poplars,

and wild roses perfume the hills.

My yard needs mowing?

It's a wildflower refuge,

a scarlet robe drapes my lawn,

buttercups pop up like sun drops.

One bunny rabbit hops over

a mat of verdant grass

and nibbles granola snacks,

butterflies feed on milkweed.

Tourists tumble from a van,

Jane dances on dandelions,

Spot poses center stage,

and Dick photographs the flowers.

                --Brenda Kay Ledford 

I hope all my blogger friends are having a beautiful spring. 

                 To all the moms:

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

   

NC Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green

 North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green and Brenda Kay Ledford.

I attended the Multicultural Women's Conference at Hinton Rural Life Center in Hayesville, NC on April 19-20, 2024.  The keynote speaker on Friday was North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green.  She gave a marvelous speech encouraging women to "Rise Up to the Power of Stories."  She said we all have a story to tell and highlighted the achievements of blacks in America.

I enjoyed meeting Jaki and consider her to be one of the finest living poets today.  If you have not read her poetry, her books are available on Amazon.com. You may also hear her giving a poetry reading on Youtube.com.  

AN AMAZING SHOW

 Dogwoods take center stage

in the Spring Show,

they wash the mountains

with snow and upstage

the tulips lifting their cups

to drink the morning light.

A chorus of songbirds

perform in the redbud trees

as the trillium join the act

dancing in dainty pink slippers.

Hyatt-Mill Creek laughs

and skips past the Grove Farm

where new-born calves

frolic in the verdant grass.

The rhododendrons and azaleas

line up for the celebration.

An audience dons dark shades,

lifts their heads heavenward

to behold the magical show:

a total solar eclipse.

                --Brenda Kay Ledford

I hope my blogger friends are having a beautiful spring and were able to see the solar eclipse.  We only saw a partial eclipse, but it was still an amazing "sky show."

Brenda Kay Ledford's Story Featured in "When Love Wags a Tail"