A Visit from Tatjana

Lake Nipissing, Ontario, Canada, July 1964. My paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, visits us during our vacation. We take a ride in the dinghy and stop to pick blueberries.

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.

Picking

Near Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin, July 1962. I don't recall what caught my attention here, but Mom and I often went picking for blueberries and wild strawberries.

Blueberries, as Decorations

Lake Nipissing, Ontario, Canada, July 1964. My Mom, my paternal Grandmother Tatjana, and I have been blueberry picking, and we are heading back to the cabin in our rented dinghy.

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.

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.

*     *     *     *     *

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.