Blackberry Winter

I grew up with this expression, used to describe a patch of cool summer weather. I've been thinking about it the last few mornings waking to temperatures in the high 50s — in July!

"A colloquial expression used in the south and midwest North America referring to a cold snap that occurs in late spring when the blackberries are in bloom," Wikipedia says.

That's not the way I remember it. Late-spring cold was dogwood winter. Mid-summer cold was blackberry winter. The time when blackberries were in fruit — not in flower.

Doesn't matter. Both are lovely ways to talk about unseasonable chill. Poetic descriptions of essential contradictions. 

And the blackberries are in fruit and ready for picking. I see them along side roads and fence rows, in what remains of the meadow. They should peak this weekend.

(Photo: Wikipedia)