I was surprised when I looked up the lyrics to the song, Billy Boy, on the Internet. A quick google search revealed 16 verses. I only knew two:

Oh, where have you been, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Oh, where have you been, Charming Billy?
I have been to seek a wife, she's the joy of my whole life
But she's a young thing and cannot leave her mother

and:

Can she bake a cherry pie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Can she bake a cherry pie, Charming Billy?
She can bake a cherry pie, quick as a cat can wink her eye
But she's a young thing and cannot leave her mother

I have forgotten, or never learned the others:

Where does she live, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Did she bid you to come in, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Did she take your hat, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Did she set for you a chair, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Can she cook and can she spin, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Can she make a feather bed, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Can she make a pudding well, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Can she milk a heifer calf, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Is she often seen at church, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
And is she very tall, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Are her eyes very bright, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Can she sing a pretty song, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
How old may she be, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Is she fit to be a wife, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?

I was humming the song yesterday afternoon because I was baking cherry pies. Our cherry tree is producing more cherries than we can pick and process. Susan and I both picked more than a gallon yesterday and there are so many more. We don’t mind that the birds are eating cherries. We have plenty to share.

My plan was to bake two cherry pies. One for us and one to take to some friends one of whom has been ill. However, I made a mistake with my pies. The process is quite simple: wash and pit the cherries, sugar them and cook them until there is plenty of juice. Remove the cherries with a slotted spoon. Thicken and reduce the sauce with cornstarch. Pour the thickened sauce over the cherries and put the mixture in a pie crust. Sprinkle with cinnamon, dot with butter, and top with a lattice crust. The pies looked good going into the oven, and not bad coming out. However, the sauce didn’t thicken as much as I had thought and the pies never set. After dinner, I cut a piece and it was soupy. I served it in bowls with vanilla ice cream and it tasted good.

My problem, however, is that the friends for whom I was baking the pie used to have a pie business. They really know what they are doing when it comes to pies. I decided that I would make a second attempt this week and see if I can’t come up with a better pie for presentation. That left me with a lot of pie for two people. That secondary problem is easy to solve, however. Just down the road from our house is our son’s house and they have four children. The baby is too young for pie, but the other three are great lovers of sweet treats.

We took the pie over to the farm. As a tribute to its soupiness, a bit sloshed in Susan’s lap as she held the pie on the way there and she ended up with a sticky spot. The pie, however, was a hit with the family. They served it in bowls, too, and topped the pie with whipped cream. The children ate with relish and carefully spooned every last bit from their bowls.

We have no shortage of cherries, so in addition to freezing and drying cherries, there will be another cherry pie this week, hopefully one that can be given to our friends.

I’ll probably have the song in my head all week, even though it barely seems to apply. Both Susan and I cook and she is probably the better baker of pies, though I try. And neither of us is a young thing who cannon leave our mother. Susan is tall and bright eyed and often seen in church, but otherwise doesn’t really resemble the maiden in the song who throws the hat at the cat and milks the heifer not missing the bucket more than half. The song is a bit unclear about the age of the young thing, but three times six and four times seven, twenty-eight and eleven isn’t Susan’s exact age.

There is, however, a cherry pie with only two pieces served in our refrigerator. And over at our son’s place, there is half a pie in their refrigerator. We own four pie plates, so the only delay in baking a pie for our friends is my time. I am teaching a class this evening, so it may be delayed until tomorrow. And then there is the problem of the sauce not thickening properly. I thought I knew what I was doing, so it is a bit of a mystery to me what happened. I think it was mostly inattention and distraction. I was preparing pork chops for the grill and doing a couple of other tasks while I was preparing the pie filling and I think I will be able to do better with another attempt. But I’m not completely sure what happened, so it is possible for me to make the same mistake again. We’ll see. After all, we have plenty of cherries.

I’ll take my time and not try to race the wink of a cat’s eye. We don't have a cat at present though there is a major campaign going on over at the farm for a pet cat and I’m pretty sure that the children are going to be getting one before long. In the meantime, it sure puts a smile on grandpa’s face to watch them eat cherry pie, even pie that is imperfect.