The blog of photographer Kim Ayres

Brambling Distraction

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Every year I drive for miles to find a decent crop of brambles (that's blackberries to anyone South, West or East of the border of Scotland). This year I've found a surprising number in the garden.

Yesterday, in fact, I managed to fill a one-litre ice cream tub, having done the same a week or 2 ago.



Anyway, this is just a filler post because there is far too much deeply emotional stuff going on I'm not blogging about.

But as it is Autumn, and it is Bramble Season, here is a link to Maggie's Bramble Crumble recipe.

And here's the wee story I wrote about bramble picking a couple of years ago.


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The sound quality isn't brilliant, so if you'd rather read it, it can be found here:
The Biggest Bramble You Ever Did See
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34 comments

Brave Astronaut said...

"there is far too much deeply emotional stuff going on."

Filler posts are fine, but say stuff like that and we are all going to come out of the woodwork to make sure you are OK. Got it?

Be well my friend.

hope said...

You know, you're entitled to a bad day [or however many] without feeling the responsibility of reporting in here. But if it makes you feel better to touch base with the outside world, we're here.

And we hope all is well soon.

Eryl said...

That is a fantastic photograph, and boy can you write!

I'm not here, of course, and no, I haven't read your comment on my blog and won't for several more weeks.

mapstew said...

We live near an industrial estate, which, being on the edge of the suburbs, have multidudes of wild berry bushes in their midsts. They do have a funny dull foggy, powdery hue about them though. Not condusive to jam making I'm afraid.


Seriously though, I do hope ye're more deeper problems/emotions can be taken care of soon. I wish ye all well, and good times to ye. There is a lot of sadness about of late amongst us.

xxx

Unknown said...

Lovely! How I miss blackberries in Japan.

Best wishes to you all.

Pat said...

The years dwindle down - to a precious few,
September,
November...
I love that song - especially when it's sung by Walter Houston.
That time of year again - so soon.
Thinking of you all and I hope you don't miss out on Maggie's crumble.

Kim Ayres said...

Brave Astronaut - just enjoy your crumble...

Hope - there are some things I can write about because they are about me. But there are some things it is inapproprate to write about because they are not just about me, however hard they hit me emotionally.

Eryl - that's ok, I haven't seen your comment here either

Mapstew - it's true, dull foggy, powdery hues aren't usually a good sign. You need to get out into the country a bit

Branden - do you not get them in Japan? Maybe it's time to set up an import business - we'll make a fortune

Pat - a friend of mine is making bramble vodka, which seemed like an interesting idea

Khanh Ha said...

The brambles look good enough to eat (nice of you to also mention 'blackberries' as we know them in America). Wish you the best with your CFS!

St Jude said...

Ooh I love brambles, fortunately the St Jude estate has plenty of them, so it's brambles with everything... we call them brambles too!

savannah said...

whatever it is, sugar, just know y'all have my heart. i'll be keeping positive thoughts for you and yours. xoxoxo

Screwed Up Texan said...

Congrats on Blog of Note. I have a secret wild blackberry patch here in Texas that I frequent starting in late May and lasting until July. Nothing beats sweet blackberries fresh from the cane.

Daphne Wayne-Bough said...

*Hug*

Kim Ayres said...

Khanh Ha - they are very tasty indeed. I grew up knowing them as blackberries - it was only when I moved to Scotland I found them being called brambles, which left me in a state of confusion for several years

St Jude - I'm deeply envious

Savannah - thank you

Screwed Up Texan - welcome to my ramblings and thank you for taking the time to comment. And to alerting me to the Blogs of Note thing. Suddenly I seem to be getting hundreds of visitors and I feel like I've been caught in my dressing gown and slippers without time to tidy up or wash last night's dishes...

Daphne - ((hugs)) back :)

Lori E said...

Blackberries always make me smile. I used to go and pick them in the bramble patches nearby with my St. Bernard dog.
He would bare his teeth, pulling his lips back as far as he could (picture the big jowls of this type of dog) and he would pick his own berries. No matter how many times he got his snout pricked he would come back for more. He was a good dog.
I hope you see light at the end of the tunnel and that is not a freight train coming the other way.

Shauna said...

Beautiful picture! We used to pick blackberries every summer and my mom would make pies for days yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Brindy said...

Just visiting via Blog of Note and I think I will be back. I moved to Spain over a year ago and have not missed anything about the UK except boxes of mansize tissues, BUT this entry had me back walking the lanes, picking the berries and enjoying autumn. I look forward to more memory jogging (it's the only form of exercise I do!)from your posts as I dip in and out of the archives.

HappySurfer said...

We don't have such awesome things as wild berries here. Come to think of it, all our edible fruits are either cultivated in orchards are in someone's yard - out of bounds. :(

Congrats on being Blog of Note.

Kim Ayres said...

Lori E - wild blackberries are always a fruit hard fought for. Despite their own thorns, they are usually growing with stinging nettles and in gorse bushes. I sometimes wonder whether I put myself through so much trouble to get them because they taste so good, or whether they taste so good because I put myself through so much trouble to get them

Shauna - thank you :) Pie is good, but crumble is better (imho) - do check out my wife's recipe :)

Jacqui - it's funny that quite often it's not until you live in a different country do you find out what you miss about your previous home. And it's not always obvious. It wasn't until I was in Canada (just for one year), did I suddenly discover just how much I missed pork pies and cornish pasties :)

Happy Surfer - Apparently in a lot of coutries, if someone has a fruit tree in their garden, but the branches overhang their boundaries, then those ones are free game for anyone passing by.

Unknown said...

Interesting pictures.

Pat said...

I've discovered we have an unopened bottle of vodka. If you have a recipe for the bramble vodka I'll give it a go.
BTW I've had lots of referrals today from your site - which is lovely bur puzzling. Have you been spreading it about that I'm barmy?

Unknown said...

Brambles are my most favorite......actually, any berry will bring me great delight!

Here is the most common wildberry here in my parts....

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2563/3756159413_79ef398db6.jpg

Emma Sage and I will have to send you some of the jam we made from this years harvest......

Em said...

Do I look green? Because Im jealous! Lived in Ireland for last four years but alas have returned home. So had four wonderful years of autumn gorgings on wild blackberries and now I can go to the supermarket and pay $10 for a bag of frozen ones. On the upside, I can also go outside and not get wet now.

Kim Ayres said...

Dean - thank you :)

Pat - not yet...

Tara Marie - that looks, and sounds like a wonderful idea :)

Mortal Wonder - you know, much as I absolutely love, love, love brambles, I think the not getting wet bit has more going for it :)

Cannwin said...

Brambles...or blackberries to me, never make it in my yard. I mean they grow, they do well, I pick them and set them on the table to wash my hands. When I return they are all gone and my children have purple faces.

-sigh-

I have yet to make anything out of them or the raspberries.

Kim Ayres said...

Cannwin - you need to train the children to pick them :)

Cannwin said...

I still don't think there would be any pies coming from that scenario. Really I wouldn't even need the bowl!

Xavi said...

The audio clip about the biggest bramble is brilliant. Haven't heard your voice for many a year -- I think if I dig around in my gear I have a cassette recording of you playing tin whistle and a few other instruments. I hope the CFS doesn't get you down too badly and you still take time to make music like you did at the Acadia SUB lo those many years ago!

Kim Ayres said...

JC - it's over 16 years since I was at Acadia. It won't have been the tine whistle, but it might have been an ocarina, although the mandolin was what I played the most when I was in Canada :)

Mountain Mosby said...

I've got those in my backyard... Red ones too... I plan on turning a bunch of them into a brandy maybe. Someday.

Kim Ayres said...

We will await the outcome of your experiments with interest :)

Happiness in creativity. said...

Picking blackberries is sheer joy - it't peaceful and free. I have made bramble jelly and have 6 more pots of berries in the freezer to used when I next do a jamming sesion.

Kim Ayres said...

Am I Mad - I like having picked them - I like the sense of triumph and the rewards in crumbles, ice creams and jams - but the actual picking at the time is a nightmare of stinging, scratching, biting and crawling things...

Hindsfeet said...

Delightful....thought provoking ending....looking through all the blogs on Blogger is like searching for brambles...glad to have 'stumbled upon' you... :)

-Hindsfeet [a.k.a. not a stalker or axe murderer (ref your response to being 'discovered' on Blogs of note) ;) (too soon to make jokes?) ;) ]

Kim Ayres said...

Stalker or axe murder is fine, so long as you live on the other side of the world and don't intend coming to Scotland :)

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