Some of my fondest memories of my Mother also include her Mother. I am from the south and southern women, when I was small, lived for canning season.

Anything you could cut, peel, slice, or dice was targeted. Purple hull peas and huckleberries were high on my list of favorite things to eat.

We lived in a large old two story house with screened in porches and a wide hall through the middle. Perfect for the army it took to can tomatoes. Some had to be juiced, some peeled and canned, and others canned with onions and peppers.

Aunts and cousins would start arriving early for the workday. The tomatoes were picked and placed in large tubs by the well. My brother was always in charge of drawing water to fill the tubs. My grandmother had a rocking chair by the tubs and a set of knives in her pan. She tried to teach all of us the fine art of peeling tomatoes with knives as sharp as razors. I have scars.

The day was always filled with work, laughter, and singing. My mother, grandmother, and aunts had beautiful singing voices. I have a few cousins left, no mother, grandmother, or aunts but I still remember the canning days.