Gathering the puppydog ears!

Many, many years ago (probably eons ago), I was under the impression that grandmothers would never tell a fib. No little white lies would ever slip between their lips. No prevarication..no untruth..no fabrications could ever come from a grandmother. What a fallacy! I loved my grandmother tremendously..don't get me wrong! And the falsehood was all in fun so as a parent..I passed it on to my kids! Life is great!

Today, Son and I went out to the massive mulch mountains behind the house. These huge piles of mulch are now covered with dewberries!! These delightful berries are often erroneously called blackberries by many confused people. They are NOT blackberries! Blackberries grow on tall, draping stems called canes whereas dewberries are more apt to be ground-runners. These are the berries that are more than likely to be found on the sides of the road or in open fields. They are incredibly sweet and make the best cobblers! That is exactly what I did with the berries we picked! The first cobbler of the year made with fresh-picked berries! Yum!

But back to Grandmother's fib. As Son and I were picking berries, he picked up a puppydog ear. "Look, Mom..another puppy lost its ear!" Oh my! A puppy had shed its ears right there near the dewberry patch! I told him to carefully look for the other one just in case the puppy had not gotten its replacement ears yet. We scanned the ground. Sure enough, there was the other one..and another..and another..several puppies had lost their ears! We gathered all of the ears we could find. We had to find the puppies now to see if they had their new ears yet. This was always the hard part..and I never recall finding the puppies. They were always long gone by the time I found their ears so I am supposing that the replacement ears were already attached. At least, I never saw any earless puppies!

Son and I giggled over the ruse. It was no surprise to me that he remembered hunting for puppydog ears when he was a child. Perhaps all children of the South do..I have no idea. My grandmother told me the tale of the lost ears and I passed it down to my children to be passed again when I have grandchildren. The hand-me-down FIB! The truth be known..the ears are actually the husks that surround the bud of the magnolia blossom. When the bloom opens these

soft, tan-colored "ears" fall to the ground and make the perfect "busy" work for young children. I remember looking and looking for these ears every Spring! The strange thing is they actually do resemble puppy ears. They are tan, soft and furry. As a matter of fact..they are exactly like Ezzy's ears!!!! Ezzy..did you lose your ears?????