Today’s the day … I am going to write! As soon as I finish here …. maybe …
Jill, you said to “let it flow” … so here goes! (Jill and I meet and talk on the Yellow Brick Road ‘heading back to Kansas’ … so she knows me well.)
Domestic duties called my name earlier in the week. Ever since childhood, I have been goaded by the Aesop’s Fable about the grasshopper and the ant … so I watch the harvest ripen with mixed emotions. We live in my husband’s prolific 5 acre parklike setting. I call it “my husband’s” because I don’t help him with it. A veggie garden, lots of grass to mow, evergreens, oak, maple, weeping willow, pear and apple and plum trees, blueberry bushes, hazel nut trees, and a labyrinth path through the hillside forest below.
The blackberry bushes encroach with a message … “I’m gonna get you!” as they try to take over the world.
If you are in a place where you can/will/want to pick them … here’s a tip … take a long barbecue fork, one with several prongs is good, and use it to manipulate branches out of your way, or steady the one you are picking … it prevents a lot of puncture wounds. Leave the seduction berries (because they are beautiful but way back in the brambles) for the birds. Talk to the wasps and the bees … let them know you are willing to share.
So the freezing and canning season has dropped in my lap. My God! Grateful for bounty … and for countless other things … I am.
The best part of picking blackberries and making freezer jam is licking the bowl.
Other distractions centered around the forest of computers in my office demanding attention. I know … should get rid of the old one, but it is like parting with a beloved old car … hard to do.
So on with my day. Hope your week has been good to you, and that the weekend holds promise. M
Marion Spicher's Blog 