Saturday, July 5, 2008

Sweet treat

I took George out for a walk the other day and grabbed my camera after putting on the macro lens. I wanted to see if the blackberries were ripening, and I got a sweet surprise.
I love fresh berries, and blackberries are one of my favorites. When the boys were younger, I used to give them little buckets and we'd go out berry picking. They'd eat as many as they picked, but we'd always get enough to bring home for me to make blackberry jam. I was really into the canning thing way back when and jam was actually pretty easy to produce.
They're not ripe yet in this picture, but I wanted to give you an idea of how many we'll have soon. Excuse me a minute while I swat this terribly annoying fly that's been dive-bombing me as I write this post. There. Take that, fly. I can't stand the little buggers and in the summer on a horse farm, they're just ubiquitous. Wow, that's a mouthful. And speaking of mouthfuls, I promise you, this one tasted wonderful.
One trick to blackberry picking is to wear a long-sleeved shirt to help protect you a from the stickers. I don't make jam like I used to, but I still enjoy collecting the berries. They're good over cereal or just like this.
Quiet day in Maryland. Sorry I forgot the Guessing Game again. I've just had a lot on my mind lately and maybe someday I'll tell you about it. But for now, I'm just taking walks and bike rides with George in my free time. Hope you all have a relaxing Independence Day weekend!

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

it's rather mean to label your post macro photography... *g

Those berries look so delicious!

Hilary said...

Yum! They look wonderful.

Enjoy your quiet times.. I hope your mind settles soon.

gail said...

Beautiful berries. Your shots are always awesome.

Mary said...

Hope everything is OK with you. The berries look wonderful. We have a lot of the wild bushes, too, but I've never eaten them... Guess I will have to try now. Hope you are enjoying the weekend!
xoxo,
Mary
btw, when you rewrote your profile for the new blog, it automatically appeared here, too...

Egghead said...

OK you had me with the handful that tasted delicious...I was reading away about the pesky fly then you said that you promised that handful tasted delicious. The first thing that popped in my tiny mind was "What? A handful of flies?" Ha ha! I am still chuckling. We are invaded with tons of blackberries though they are not quite ripe yet. They make great desserts as well as jam.

I hope all is well with you.

RiverPoet said...

Oh, those photos made my mouth water! I love freshly-picked blackberries!

Peace - D

tj said...

...Hello Miss Kate! Hey, are you doing okay? Sometimes there's a sentence in your posts that leads one to believe that you're not doing as well as could be... Just concerned on this end is all - hope you're okay... ;o)

...Love 'em blackberries! We've got them too and as I'm walking the dogs I'll stop and pick me a handful, bring 'em in the kitchen, given 'em a quick wash, sprinkle a lil' sugar on 'em and POP! - in the ol' pie hole they go...lol... :oD

...Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

...Blessings to you my friend... :o)

abb said...

We had a huge blackberry patch we picked every year when I was a kid. It was at the top of the hill in a cow pasture. Not easy to get to, but the reward was so wonderful! You've brought back such good memories for me!

Hope whatever's on your mind works itself out in a good way for you, Kate.

Country Girl said...

Thanks everyone. Nah, it's just the normal ups and downs of life. Nobody's hurt or sick, so that's good. Maybe someday I'll tell you, but it's all ok and all will soon be well.

Thanks to all for your concern.

~ C.G.

Pat - Arkansas said...

I greatly enjoy blackberries myself, but learned to pick not only with long sleeves but with a good dose of whatever it takes to keep the chiggers away!

You've got my mouth watering for a good 'ol blackberry cobbler.

Dr.John said...

I love blackberries. You are so lucky.

Elizabeth said...

Hi there, I just found my way over here from Kacey's blog. Your pictures are stunning. I can almost taste those blackberries.

Anonymous said...

How I miss Maryland berries! I lived in Silver Spring from 2000-2005, and it didn't take me long to find the berries. They were everywhere. Big, fat, shiny and juicy. I've never seen them prettier or more plentiful. I'm jealous!

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sexy said...
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