Karen - Day 104 - Poke Salad Annie

Karen sends her posts from Burbank, CA

Grandma Dee has a mystery plant in her garden.

It shot up so fast and so high, Tammy was calling it The Beanstalk Plant. It doesn't seem like a weed, is kind of pretty and has little berries on it.

My brother, The Sgt. Major, took a branch with some berries over to the Nursery to find out what the heck it is.

It's called Pokeweed but some people call it Poke Salad. It's a bit controversial because the seeds of the berries are poisonous along with other parts of the plant but some people eat the leaves before they mature. I enjoy my salad triple washed and already in a bag so needless to say, we will not be eating any of it. The birds eat the berries but do not digest the seeds so it's safe for them. (Which is how we suspect the ginormous Pokeweed was planted in the first place. If you know what I mean.)

Turns out it's a pretty famous weed. The Sgt. Major found this and we all sat around watching it. Until Tammy and I couldn't take it anymore and had to get up and dance.

Grandma Dee then told us a story about how she went to see Elvis before he was famous. Her friend Willy, a girl from the south, dragged her to a concert. "He was dancing all funny and all the girls were hoopin and hollerin. Willy was jumping up in her seat and screaming and I couldn't figure out what all the hype was about. I figured he would never make it as a singer."

For the record, I love all things Elvis. Not in a 'please don't put your purse on my Elvis shrine because when they find where he's really living I know he'll want to see it' kind of way. In fact I don't have any Elvis stuff. But man oh man he was one sexy, talented, charismatic guy.

Day 6 of the New, New Plan. (8 miles and 80 flights of stairs) Goal accomplished for the day. I'm eating everything and I hurt.

Rock On.