A Pleasant Morning Activity

I am well learned in the fine art of berry picking. My mother made sure of it. In the summers of my childhood my brothers and I were put to work picking strawberries, raspberries, saskatoons, and chokecherries. It wasn't always an enjoyable experience. Irmgard made sure we picked clean: no leaves or twigs or other junk in the pail, toss the overripe or bug eaten berries, take everything that was ripe, and don't complain in the hot hot sun. If we didn't pick everything we had to go back and do it again. Mom gave us ice cream pails and we'd string an ugly tie of Dad's through the handle and tie it around our waists. I was thinking about this today as I picked many black currants in the rain. It was a very gentle, steady rain, so I didn't mind. I've gotten so a lot of the tasks I wasn't enthusiastic about as a kid (berry picking, weeding) I don't dread so much now. I rather enjoy them, actually. (Unless a garden is really overgrown with weeds. I still hate that).

My very chic rain proof berry picking outfit.

The bush thick with black currants.

I also promised to let you know something exciting that I did on Saturday. It's not that exciting. We went to a market in Woodstock and had a stall. Leslie, Pam's sister had one too. And also a potter named Rachel Greenwood, a friend of Pam's. Her work is beautiful. It was a special market for the Dooryard* Arts Festival. That's right. Dooryard.

I really liked the market. It was a beautiful sunny day.  There was live music that wasn't my favourite and lots of interesting people. I quite enjoyed myself, until the end of the day. It was a long day. Very tiring.

You see that tent in the background- the one on the right? Yes, there I am, smiling like a fool. Don't I make you want to buy many bouquets or packages of teas or culinary blends?

See how good I am doing at posting these days? You're welcome.

Until next time.

*Dooryard: a word the locals use, synonymous to front yard. See http://www.dooryard.ca/index0.html.

Things That Look Strange

In the past I have posted about beautiful things. Now I will post about strange looking things.

This a sock and shoe combination that would make my mother squirm. I went out in public looking like that. I thought it was great.

These are globe thistles. They are quite bizarre looking. I think they are one of my favourites.

These are the cattails that Pam and I cut from the ditches and hung on the line to dry. She'll use them in the autumn for fall arrangements. They made me think of the black keys on pianos, hanging there on the line, bobbing in the wind.

This tree has a face on it.

And remember the Queen Anne's Lace?

This is what it's like when it goes to seed:

It's like a birds nest. Or a teacup.

And this isn't strange at all. Just beautiful.

It is the golden glow that grows by the granary. I'm told people used to plant this around their outhouses.

Tomorrow we're doing something very exciting which I will tell you about later. I hope you can bear the suspense.

Happy Friday night.

A letter to my readers

Dear Readers (ie: Mother, Aunty El, and a few wonderful friends (ie: Dustin and Zoe)),
It's been two weeks and you haven't heard a peep from me. Worry not- I am still alive and well, watching Coronation Street with Pam in the evening (We're a year behind, but it's quite exciting: there's a woman who is pretending to be pregnant so that her boyfriend will stay with her, and there's a man who's married to a woman who used to be a man, and right now some other woman is going into labour and she doesn't know who the father is. Everybody is in a whole big curfuffle).

Anyway- it's been two weeks. I'm terribly sorry for my lack of posts. The thing is, to be honest, I have gotten so used to it here. Everything is routine and it's hard to think of new and interesting things to write about.... and so to tide you over until I have something really good, I'll let you know what I've been up to these past two weeks (As I type, that one girl on Coronation Street is practically having the baby on the couch in the company of one of the possible fathers and his wife!).

We had a German boy named Jakob come and work for a week. And then while he was here, Pam had a German friend come over, who brought with her another German girl. Pam was quite pleased to have a weekend with "three Germans and a Mennonite." On that wonderful weekend, I had the opportunity to go for a walk with two Germans and pick wild raspberries and go swimming in the Becaquimec.

It's also rained a lot.

I promise that you'll hear from me again soon.

Yours cordially,
Amanda