Ripe Blueberries

Hi everyone, I hope you are all well.

I have harvested 6 blueberries from my blueberry bush, not many you may say, but these were the first six to ripen on a nicely loaded bush, and it is safe to say that this is the beginning of the battle between me and the birds to get my coveted blueberries, now I could cover the bush with net, but where's the fun in that at least this way the birds get a chance,  and maybe just maybe, they are already full up after devouring the cherries on next doors cherry tree, wishful thinking there I think.  We all know that blueberries are one of natures super-foods, so let's hope it is not a superhuman effort to harvest them!

My walk today took me through the park, past a duck-less pond, mind you the water level is getting low, and to the local leisure centre, where I enrolled in the Cardiff Active scheme which entitles me to free swimming in Cardiff Swimming Pools, fantastic, a 4k walk with a swim in the middle, who could ask for more.  I am planning on going twice a week and extending my other daily walks to around 4k a day, we'll see what happens.  Along with the extra daily exercise, I have tweaked my diet, no sugar, no dairy, low carbs and lots of fruit and veg and some protein,   I am not a health and fitness freak, just want to get back to and maintain a healthy level of fitness plus lose a couple of stone, watch this space!  And when I have lost the weight I am looking forward to creating some new clothes for my wardrobe, I want to be thrifty as well as smart, is this possible, well we will see.

My cushion pads arrived yesterday, and I chose the buttons to go on the first cushion, these are buttons I had left over from my cardigan and will suit the cushion perfectly.  As I said, tho other day, photo's when I have finished it.  I started a cardigan in a dark heather wool, the wool is supposed to be in two shades, but these are almost indistinct as to being just mono colour, so I am very disappointed, I feel this wool may go to Quilters sale on Saturday, and hopefully I will get something back towards a more suitable colour wool, one with contrast.  Meanwhile I will finish the cushion tonight or tomorrow and then start on the nativity set for GG.  

Today's offering is a poem by Robert Frost, lovely poem that really paints a picture visually and of country life, reminds me of my early life in a Hampshire village.  A little long but worth reading.

Thank you once again for joining me, I look forward to sharing with you again.  I hope you have a wonderful day, wherever in the world you are.  Love Bubbles

Blueberries (Robert Frost 1874-1963)

"You ought to have seen what I saw on my way 

To the village, through Mortenson's pasture to-day: 

Blueberries as big as the end of your thumb, 

Real sky-blue, and heavy, and ready to drum 

In the cavernous pail of the first one to come! 

And all ripe together, not some of them green 

And some of them ripe! You ought to have seen!" 

"I don't know what part of the pasture you mean." 

"You know where they cut off the woods--let me see-- 

It was two years ago--or no!--can it be 

No longer than that?--and the following fall 

The fire ran and burned it all up but the wall." 

"Why, there hasn't been time for the bushes to grow. 

That's always the way with the blueberries, though: 

There may not have been the ghost of a sign 

Of them anywhere under the shade of the pine, 

But get the pine out of the way, you may burn 

The pasture all over until not a fern 

Or grass-blade is left, not to mention a stick, 

And presto, they're up all around you as thick 

And hard to explain as a conjuror's trick." 

"It must be on charcoal they fatten their fruit. 

I taste in them sometimes the flavour of soot. 

And after all really they're ebony skinned: 

The blue's but a mist from the breath of the wind, 

A tarnish that goes at a touch of the hand, 

And less than the tan with which pickers are tanned." 

"Does Mortenson know what he has, do you think?" 

"He may and not care and so leave the chewink 

To gather them for him--you know what he is. 

He won't make the fact that they're rightfully his 

An excuse for keeping us other folk out." 

"I wonder you didn't see Loren about." 

"The best of it was that I did. Do you know, 

I was just getting through what the field had to show 

And over the wall and into the road, 

When who should come by, with a democrat-load 

Of all the young chattering Lorens alive, 

But Loren, the fatherly, out for a drive." 

"He saw you, then? What did he do? Did he frown?" 

"He just kept nodding his head up and down. 

You know how politely he always goes by. 

But he thought a big thought--I could tell by his eye-- 

Which being expressed, might be this in effect: 

'I have left those there berries, I shrewdly suspect, 

To ripen too long. I am greatly to blame.'" 

"He's a thriftier person than some I could name." 

"He seems to be thrifty; and hasn't he need, 

With the mouths of all those young Lorens to feed? 

He has brought them all up on wild berries, they say, 

Like birds. They store a great many away. 

They eat them the year round, and those they don't eat 

They sell in the store and buy shoes for their feet." 

"Who cares what they say? It's a nice way to live, 

Just taking what Nature is willing to give, 

Not forcing her hand with harrow and plow." 

"I wish you had seen his perpetual bow-- 

And the air of the youngsters! Not one of them turned, 

And they looked so solemn-absurdly concerned." 

"I wish I knew half what the flock of them know 

Of where all the berries and other things grow, 

Cranberries in bogs and raspberries on top 

Of the boulder-strewn mountain, and when they will crop. 

I met them one day and each had a flower 

Stuck into his berries as fresh as a shower; 

Some strange kind--they told me it hadn't a name." 

"I've told you how once not long after we came, 

I almost provoked poor Loren to mirth 

By going to him of all people on earth 

To ask if he knew any fruit to be had 

For the picking. The rascal, he said he'd be glad 

To tell if he knew. But the year had been bad. 

There had been some berries--but those were all gone. 

He didn't say where they had been. He went on: 

'I'm sure--I'm sure'--as polite as could be. 

He spoke to his wife in the door, 'Let me see, 

Mame, we don't know any good berrying place?' 

It was all he could do to keep a straight face. 

"If he thinks all the fruit that grows wild is for him, 

He'll find he's mistaken. See here, for a whim, 

We'll pick in the Mortensons' pasture this year. 

We'll go in the morning, that is, if it's clear, 

And the sun shines out warm: the vines must be wet. 

It's so long since I picked I almost forget 

How we used to pick berries: we took one look round, 

Then sank out of sight like trolls underground, 

And saw nothing more of each other, or heard, 

Unless when you said I was keeping a bird 

Away from its nest, and I said it was you. 

'Well, one of us is.' For complaining it flew 

Around and around us. And then for a while 

We picked, till I feared you had wandered a mile, 

And I thought I had lost you. I lifted a shout 

Too loud for the distance you were, it turned out, 

For when you made answer, your voice was as low 

As talking--you stood up beside me, you know." 

"We sha'n't have the place to ourselves to enjoy-- 

Not likely, when all the young Lorens deploy. 

They'll be there to-morrow, or even to-night. 

They won't be too friendly--they may be polite-- 

To people they look on as having no right 

To pick where they're picking. But we won't complain. 

You ought to have seen how it looked in the rain, 

The fruit mixed with water in layers of leaves, 

Like two kinds of jewels, a vision for thieves." 

Welcome to July

Hi everyone, and welcome to July, I hope I find you all well.

Another glorious day, washing on line blowing in the breeze, sky a beautiful blue, with little patches of fluffy white clouds.  I took my usual walk this morning, accompanied by the music of Harry Nillson, certainly helped to make the pace a little more brisk, and I am a little unsure about the looks I got as I walked past people humming away, where they genuine smiles or, looks of pity, I like to think genuine smiles.  My favourite song of his, would have to be "Without You", a close second "The Moonbeam Song" and for sheer comic cleverness "The lime in the coconut"  and yes I was singing/humming along to all of them!  Without you became our song back in 1971 when it was released and was the first LP that DB bought me,  and naturally had to be replaced by a CD at a later date. But for pure poetry, for me it has to be "The Moonbeam Song" and that is my offering today. (Two ducks in the pond today, both female Mallards, and both busy eating bread).

This afternoon I will have to venture into Llandaff Village, Post Office and Chemist call, this time in my new sandals, so wish me luck that I don't have a recurrence of broken sandal!  I may have to refrain from listening to music as I go, as there will be far more people to pass and really do not want to frighten the natives away.  I shall pop into Llandaff Cathedral and have yet another look at Dante Gabriel Rosetti's "Seed of David" painted between 1858 and 1864 if you ever get the chance, do have a look as it it really beautiful.

My cushion cover is coming along well, almost finished, blue in cable stitch, with two sizes of cable, pictures later when I finish it, just waiting for the cushion pads to arrive from ebay. 

Thank yo once again for listening to my ramblings,  have a lovely day wherever in the world you are, and speak to you again soon.  

love Bubbles.

"The Moonbeam Song"

Have you ever watched a moonbeam
As it slid across your windowpane
Or struggled with a bit of rain
Or danced about the weathervane
Or sat along a moving train
And wondered where the train has been

Or on a fence with bits of crap
Around its bottom
Blown there by a windbeam
Who searches for the moonbeam
Who was last seen
Looking at the tracks
Of the careless windbeam
Or moving to the tracks
Of the tireless freight train
And lighting up the sides
Of the weathervane
And the bits of rain
And the windowpane
And the eyes of those
Who think they saw what happened

Have you ever watched a moonbeam
As it slid across your windowpane
Or struggled with a bit of rain
Or danced about the weather vane
Or sat along a moving train
And wonder where the train has been?

Looking at the tracks
Of the careless windbeam
Or moving to the tracks
Of the tireless freight train
And lighting up the sides
Of the weathervane
And the bits of rain
And the windowpane
And the eyes of those
Who think they saw what happened