Alderwood and applewood.

Last weekend we celebrated my Grandma Lula's 95th birthday. We gathered at the ranch, where Grandma and Grandpa lived when I was a child. The house is gone, Grandpa is gone, and Grandma now lives a few miles down the highway from the old ranch. The view hasn't changed much, and the air smells the same, but still, I didn't think there was much left to really remind me of those childhood days. We had a great afternoon watching Grandma open her birthday cards and blow out the candles on her cake. We ate chili and roasted hotdogs and marshmallows over the fire. Throughout the day some of the men were making elk jerky on a large metal grate over a fire made from alder and apple wood. I ate a few pieces of it at the ranch that day. It was delicious, but it wasn't until I got home and tried it again that I appreciated it the most. It tastes like the ranch. I never knew you could put a place into the food you eat, but now I know you can. As I bring it to my mouth, I can both smell and taste all the things I had forgotten. It is those Sunday mornings, arriving early at the ranch, a fire in the fireplace. It is playing outside under the trees. It is getting rides on the horses and playing on the saddles in the tack shed. I remember eating jerky out of a cardboard box at Grandma's when I was little. I had forgotten that, and I don't know if it was beef, elk or deer. All I know is that I am grateful for being able to have the day with Grandma and the rest of my family. I am grateful for that little taste of jerky that brought back so many memories.