Welcome to my stop on the Highway Café Spring ‘Tastic Blog Tour. To be eligible for the grand prize, leave a comment on this post—and on other blogs in the tour—and visit Highway Cafe Blog to leave a comment and find more blogs to visit. Look for Easter Eggs on each post.
Blackberry Winter
I live in a secluded part of the world. It’s an hour to a decent grocery store and two hours beyond that to an airport of any size. When I want to see a play or go to a concert, I have to add in the cost of a hotel room because driving three hours home after an evening out is not high on my list of fun things. Cell phone and Internet service are spotty and restaurants in the area tend to be . . . disappointing.
My house is situated about a mile from the highway on a bit of land that lays more vertical than horizontal. The property is bordered by state and federal forest and my nearest neighbors are half a mile away. They are very nice people and we share views and break bread together from time to time. We also share a love of seclusion and a healthy respect for each other’s privacy. They are musicians and I’m a writer—peace and quiet feed our obsessions.
Many things about living where I do are inconvenient, annoying, and downright impossible.
Spring is not one of those things.
Blackberry briars grow enthusiastically along my drive and at the edges of glades and along the pond dam. Early spring warmth encourages them to bloom sometime in April. Along with the blackberry blooms, we can expect a few days of cold, rainy weather we call Blackberry Winter.
In years past, Blackberry Winter brought freezing temperatures, killing frost, and sometimes snow. This year, the temperatures fell from the upper 70s to the lower 40s and a cold rain fell for two days. The result has been a fresh, clean taste in the air and an explosion of green growth.
Soon enough, the temperatures will be back up in the 70s and this brief reminder of winter will fade into humid summer. This Blackberry Winter has been mild and beautiful and I wanted to share a few pictures.
Be sure to visit other blogs on this spring hop and look for Easter eggs. Leave a comment 
here and Go to The Highway Cafe Blog Tour Page to finalize your entry for the grand prize—a Basket of Books. One of mine is in there—Zoraida Grey and the Family Stones (Which is up for a RONE Award this week. Go to Indetale.com to vote.)
During April, I’m participating in the madness called the A-Z Blog Challenge with a serial story- here’s the first part of the story. You can catch the daily episodes by subscribing to Sorchia’s Universe.
[pdf-embedder url=”https://sorchiadubois.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/A-Cold-Spring-1_13.pdf” title=”A Cold Spring 1_13″]
Visit these amazing authors who are participating in the Spring ‘Tasitc Blog Tour.
Darlene Fredette – http://findingthewritewords.blogspot.com
Peggy Jaeger – https://peggyjaeger.com/
Holland Rae – https://hollandrae.com/
Nancy Fraser – http://nancyfraser.ca/wordpress/spring-blog-tour/
Gini Rifkin – http://ginirifkin.blogspot.com
M. S. Spencer – http://msspencertalespinner.blogspot.com
Lori Sizemore – http://lorisizemore.com/blog/
Hywela Lyn – www.hywelalyn.blogspot.com
Tena Stetler – http://www.tenastetler.com/category/my-say-what-blog/
Maureen L. Bonatch – http://www.maureenbonatch.com/blog/
Denysé Bridger – http://www.fantasypages.ca
K.K. Weil – http://kkweil.blogspot.com
Linda Carroll-Bradd – http://blog.lindacarroll-bradd.com
Anna Durand – https://www.spunkandhunks.com/
Casi McLean – http://casimclean.com
Catherine E. McLean – http://www.catherineemclean.com/
16 thoughts on “Sorchia’s Highway Cafe Spring Tour: Blackberry Winter”
I don’t think my first comment took, but I love your post and pictures. Looking forward to reading your A-Z ?
Beautiful pictures and your lovely description brought back memories of blackberry winters when I lived in Virginia. What a great post!
I’ve never heard of ‘Blackberry winters’ either, but I do love blackberrying in Autumn and making pies with all that luscious black fruit – well worth the scratches and scrapes! Thanks for sharing and for the lovely pictures.
Your drive to a grocery store is even farther than my 30 minutes. I will keep you in mind next time I complain, because at least I have decent cell service. The trees in the pics are gorgeous, though, and I used to have blackberry bushes lining the drive to my Oregon house. I miss those berries.
I love solitude–are you in Canada or Alaska? The sounds of spring in the woods vastly outweigh the sounds of yellow snow melting in the city. 🙂 M. S.
I’m not in anyplace as exotic as Canada or Alaska. I live in deepest, darkest Missouri. If you look on any cell phone coverage map, you’ll see a big white space in southern Missouri. I live in the middle of that. I do love it–and the image you painted of yellow city snow reinforces that–but sometimes it is a serious pain to be so isolated. Thanks for stopping by.
Wow, this is amazing! I live in the suburbs and I’m totally living vicariously through you right now! Thank you so much for sharing your unique experience – sorry about the restaurants!
Thanks so much for stopping by. The lousy eating-out situation is a joke now. My kids brag about it to their friends.
Interesting post, Blackberry Winter is new to me. Sounds like a wonderful yet challenging place to live! Enjoyed your pictures.
Thanks, Tena. Very challenging, but someday I’ll look back on it and laugh–hysterically–from a padded cell.
Your photo’s are lovely. Seclusion does have its down side. Miss my 73 acres, but now closer to family. It’s always a trade-off. Enjoy the beauty and isolation for me.
Will do, Gina. It is certainly a trade-off–and I will have to make the same kind of move as you have one of these days. Thanks for stopping by.
I like the title of your post, Sorchia! And those tall trees are amazing.
Thanks, Darlene. I look at those trees when I start feeling a little sorry for myself and –poof–I feel better. Thanks for stopping by.
I’d never heard of Blackberry Winter and Blackberry briars. Interesting Post.
If you’ve never been snagged by a prickly blackberry briar, you have missed a major cultural experience. 🙂 Just imagine a lovely shrub that suddenly becomes psychopathic. Thanks for stopping by.