Brambles

Today was mapped out before we even got started. Two days ago while walking up the Ardyne road between the farms I noticed that the hedge beside me was glistening with ripe brambles - and we had absolutely nothing to put any in should I yield to impulse and start picking them. There and then we resolved to return on Sunday ...

Before that, of course, there was church (I managed to sing a wee Taize duet with Himself during communion, though all that talking in the open air yesterday had left me quite hoarse). Di wasn't there, so there was no coffee and chat at home though plenty in church; we left in the end because we were so cold. I always reckon the autumn term began in earnest after Cowal Games weekend - surely we could have some heating on now? 

But we had a plan to carry out, so there was no lingering over lunch today. Instead we were away back to Toward to recreate Saturday's walk with a couple of bags and the old trousers that didn't mind being plucked at by thorns and spattered with juice. We worked our way up a relatively short bit of hedge and wall, pleased to notice that no-one had been there recently, though there were signs of an earlier raid on the first to ripen. When I reached the wall where the last crop were, a great snorting and heaving on the other side announced the presence of several black cows, who were most interested in our progress and stood solemnly gazing down on us. We stopped when we reached the point where the berries were interlaced with nettles, though not before Himself was stung on the wrist ...

We got in the end about 4.5 lbs of fruit, which I've cleaned and cooked with some gin and sugar but which is all still sitting in the pot downstairs till I feel strong enough to do something with them. The collage shows the picking and the crop as well as its eventual fate - I never know whether or not I like collages, but they're useful.

Final thought for the day: my older granddaughter asked me yesterday as we walked through Tighnabruaich if I felt the same inside my head as I did when I was young - a question which was interesting her because she has suddenly become aware of her perceptions changing quite rapidly. It's something my mother used to talk about to me, so I had already thought about it. 

In my head I'm 38. It's the rest of me that lets me down. What about you?