Cracked Reunion

Pompeii, Italy, May 1984. Beware the snake lurking underground.

July Days

Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada, July 1959. Mom reported last night that one of the house-search television shows featured an episode focused on the Parry Sound/Georgian Bay region. Mom fondly remembers the beauty of the area, but she can't imagine having a vacation home on a remote island (that led to a short discussion about medical emergencies). Mom noted that when she and Dad stayed in Parry Sound, the closest grocery store was about 10 miles away, and it was a lousy store.

She also fondly recalled the time spent blueberry picking. Mom reminded us that she lost interest in picking after the rattlesnake incident. ("There were snakes there!")

We spent another afternoon picking blueberries.

Near Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada, July 1959. Mom loved to pick wild blueberries and strawberries wherever she vacationed. She was cautious after the rattlesnake incident.

She was cautious about mushrooms.

Blueberry Picking, with a Collie Dog

Near Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada, July 1959. Mom and Dad pick blueberries. This was the summer of the rattlesnake incident.

Pick with caution.

Near Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada, August 1959. Dad picks wild blueberries a few days before the rattlesnake incident.

Snake Sweater

"Milky Joe is one lucky snake."

Thanks to commenter Peter Hoh for pointing this link out to me.

That is a large snake.

Palanga, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, about 1964. My Kaunas Cousin visits the "Eglė Žalčių Karalienė" statue.

"Furtivo"

He's a snake on a plane.

Watch your step.

Near Parry Sound, Canada, August 1959. After the rattlesnake incident, my Mom and her friends take measures to protect themselves on their next hike.

Blueberry Picking

Lake Nipissing, Ontario, Canada, July 1965. My Mom and I pick blueberries along the shore of Lake Nipissing. We encountered no snakes there. It's likely that my Dad anchored our little rented boat so that Mom and I could search for the tasty treasures.

Book Club

What book could this group have been reading?

Rattlesnake

The summer after I was born, my Parents left me in the care of my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana. They drove to Canada for an August vacation. Mom and Dad met up with old friends on a lake island. It was a great spot. The cabin was clean, and it was nice to be carefree again.

My Mom and her friend discovered that the island had an abundance of wild, low-growing blueberries. Berry picking became a daily activity. The women gathered the blueberries so that they could make Lithuanian blueberry dumplings, "Šaltanosiai." "Šaltanosiai" means "cold noses" because the dumplings look like blue noses. The dumplings are a summer delicacy, served with sour cream (of course) and granulated sugar. Tatjana used to make them in Suburban Chicago, too. I remember plates of them, freshly boiled, cooling off on the kitchen counter.

The blueberry picking came to a halt one afternoon when the women heard a rustling sound in blueberry bushes. It was a rattlesnake. My Dad killed the rattler. He and the women took several photographs to commemorate the moment.

When I asked my Mom about this episode, she said, "That was the end of the blueberry picking."

Near Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada, August 1959. Dad shows the women the rattlesnake. There's the shadow of another photographer in the lower left corner.

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Near Parry Sound, Canada, August 1959. The story of the rattlesnake probably played large in my Dad's memory because it's the only time Dad killed a living thing.