I love this time of year so much when we reclaim the forest from it's hoards of summer visitors and enjoy our now established family tradition of blackberry picking. I am always thrilled that I can pick such beautiful and delicious fruits for free - unlike the lady in front of me at Tesco's this week who paid £3 for a tiny punnet!
If we were confident in our identification of fungi we would be eating those too - but a bit too scary for my liking!
So here's a bit of today's goodness:
The bracken is starting to colour up.
A puffball - edible - I think?!
A beautiful patch of heather still in flower.
On of our famous New Forest ponies with her baby. It was pony round up day today where the folk who have grazing rights come together to muster all the ponies. Some are sold on for riding. Not totally sure what happens to others but we have a horrible feeling dog meat comes into it somewhere - or is this an urban myth?
Moog being 'dogged-up' by an inquisitive Moo. Poor old girl just didn't know what to do about this encounter. She was so relieved when I called her 'Oh, sorry she's calling, better be off then'.
Minx enjoyed the blackberry picking! We also discovered today that all four of her front top teeth are loose. This baby lost her first two teeth within 10 minutes of each other. Tooth fairy better start saving up then!
10lbs of blackberry scrumptiousness.
I made two blackberry and apple crumbles and the kids took one to our lovely neighbour - who we found out, as a result of popping round, lost her dog on Friday. She has lost both her dogs in the past 6 months. The Minx was very sad and we had to have a talk about dogs and Grannies dying.
I'm not sure what craftiness I will get up to tomorrow. I have a dental appointment at Portsmouth University School of Dentistry which could involve some very deep and painful cleaning to start to sort out a gum problem I've had since the kids were born. I always amaze myself with just how much pain I can stand (since I gave birth!) but I know I'll probably be pretty tired and sore afterwards.
I've learned to send myself away from the pain (it hurts even with local anaesthetic) - I go and sit on a perfect tropical beach with white sand, blue blue sea and palm trees - not bad since I've never been anywhere nearly so exotic! My mum was responsible for teaching me to do this :o) Thanks Mum xxx
7 comments:
the heather and the new forest ponies just brought back lots of wonderful memories from when I was 10 and got to see all that great countryside. Dad's english but with the cost of travel being what it is we only managed one family trip to the UK while growing up. I have since taken my daughter to see her great grandma, and she really loved it too. As for those blackberries - we can't pick ours here as they are sprayed as a weed. blackberry envy!
Oh those blackberries! When I lived in Hampshire we could always find blackberries but I particularly remember staying with my Granny near High Wycomb and going blackberrying with her in the local woods (even though she came to live with us when I was 7). She used to make the most amazing blackberry and apple jam - gorgeous, especially with the cornflour blancmange she would make as a special treat for me! I spent last September hacking down blackberries as I tried to get the allotment uncovered but this year there is a nice collection growing back behind my fence - so hopefully I will get a crop this year - but they don't look as nice as yours! Lucy x
I hate going to the dentist, I had to have some work done the other day and was thinking of a sunny, peaceful beach too. Tropical paradise with palm trees.....still blummin' hurt though!
I know Jo - it really hurts however much you hypnotise yourself. However, it's a fab workout as every muscle I possess gets a darn good clenching!!!
Oh boy, look at all those blackberries! YUM!
Good luck at the dentist. I am so long overdue for a visit, it's pitiful.
I lived in Oregon for a long time and they have wonderful wild blackberries, too. Many's the time my DH and I would stop the car along the way and fill whatever container we happened to have with us, free for nothin'. I've made some good blackberry jam in my day.
AMORAS!!!
que delícia!, fazem um doce único!
parabéns pelo blog.
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