Blueberries For Sal

late summer

Jillian Leigh Lewis

Aug 11, 2024

…stay tuned to the end for Big Booty Workout in Sicily

BLUEBERRIES FOR SAL

by Robert McCloskey

Published in 1947, this beloved classic was written for the author’s daughter when she got a sibling.

A 1948 review in Library Journal describes McCloskey’s artwork “as true to the life line of the Maine coast as to the living child and her mother in their search for blueberries on their island.”

It is a wonderful meditation on the innocence of childhood and the power of calm, assertive leadership.

MOTHERHOOD

by Blueberries For Sal

It is deeply satisfying to focus on anything grown-up while my children are in my care.

Modern methods of madness suggest we should watch our children.

But children want to watch us.

They live in a state of imitation.

“Leave children asleep in childhood,” a Waldorf teacher tells me. I’m not sure what she means.

My 5 month old Lisette is asleep on my chest while my 2 year old, Lilyan and I, go for a walk at Lake Temescal.

A wise woman shows us a path for blackberry picking.

Lilyan tugs on my clothes and clings to my leg. I stumble over her feet. “Mama needs to do her work,” I say unfurling her fingers from my clothes.

“Mama’s work,” she repeats.

“I am able to reach up high,” as I twist ripe berries from their bushes, “but you may hold our cup.”

“Is that my work, mommy?” She asks

“What is Lilyan’s work?” I wonder.

I rinse the berries in my hand and drop them into the cup she’s clutching “kuplink.”

Tip toed, Lilyan peers into her cup. Eats berries.

I steal a glance just in time to see dark juices staining her. Back to my berry picking. She follows me.

and so focused on her berries, she stumbles over rocks.

I understand now. She is asleep in childhood. Everything is

new she can’t possibly watch where she’s walking.

She doesn’t need to know which berries are ripe and the importance of rinsing the dust off. I will show her all these things as she wakes up to life. But not today.

Today, her work is to live.

A Brown Bear to hug

History of the Teddy Bear

Still, there’s a pervasive anxiety when I consciously take my eyes off my little one. I have to practice at it.

Sometimes she wanders off.

“Too far,” I say in her direction. I try not to look. She could feel my attention and go farther.

She usually comes back when she realizes I’m not following her.

But sometimes, she doesn’t.

and I can feel myself panicking.

Daily, I’m training us. I’ll have to say the same thing thousands of times. “This is Mommy’s work.” Nothing I’m doing matters except I can’t

stay in her dreamy state of childhood.

If I do, nothing on earth gets done.

And during the hours I forget this, our environment is upside down and I’m so disoriented and tired of being distracted and exhausted from being pulled into her universe that I find myself snapping at her.

Punishing her for the work I’m not doing.

So we train.

Is her environment safe? Are her basic needs met? “Now, it’s time for mama to do her work.”

“I will help you” she says.

“Yes. You may help me.”

MEAL

by Blueberries For Sal

I have no interest in canning blueberries but I love my husband’s blueberry pancakes.

Papa’s Blueberry Pancakes

Sift 1 1/2 cups flour, 3 ½ teaspoons baking powder, 1 tablespoon sugar, and a pinch of salt together in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and add 1/4 cup of room temperature whole milk (he says you can’t substitute), 3 tablespoons of melted, unsalted butter, and 1 egg also room temperature ; mix until smooth.

Fold in 1 cup of blueberries*. Mix. Gentle!

Use an electric griddle to cook. Enjoy.

*My mother-in-law Mimi Lew on cooking with blueberries: “They are so delicate that sometimes when adding to my muffins or pancakes I freeze some individually on a plate or small sheet pan in the freezer. That way when I stir them into the batter they don’t turn everything purple 🙄😂”