To Bake a Dingleberry Pie

To Bake a Dingleberry Pie

Years ago, on an October night

We took an almost unbelievable hike

From the trailhead at Lake Sabrina

Fueled by a steak dinner.

We started at 9,000 feet and

Taking the South Fork branch

Hiked up into the sky

In shirt sleeves by the light

Of a gigantic harvest moon

On up into a cloudless night

Oh, the moon was so bright

We stopped at Midnight at Blue Lake

And Murray’s 39^TH birthday libations proceeded to partake

Up at dawn and hiking fast

And in a shake Dingleberry Lake we passed

A charming little lake that lay nearby

At which point I decided I’d someday try

To bake a Dingleberry pie.

But years went by and I finally found

A recipe in a gourmet cookbook bound

And this is what it said to do:

Deftly pick the berries-do not crush

Combine with sugar and oil-do not rush

Place in a piecrust made with flour, sugar, and lard

And bake at 375F until the crust is hard

Then carefully remove from the oven and cool

Then evenly slice with a pie-cutting tool

And finally, it’s time for a taste of it—

But oh no—there was something wrong—

For if the truth be known-it tasted like shit.

Howard P. Charman, MD 2012

Note: High Sierra hike celebrating Murray’s 39^th birthday (October 5^th, 1968) and his 92^nd birthday October 5, 2021

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