THE PROMISE OF A BLACKBERRY PIE

BLACKBERRY FLOWERS...

BLOOMING ON SIX FOOT TALL FLOWERING CANES

Tuesday, 7:30 AM.  58 degrees F at the ferry dock and on the back porch, ten degrees warmer than yesterday morning.  Today will have clear skies and a high in the low70's. The weather will then  cool some, with mixed skies and chances of rain, but clearing and warmer again by the weekend.
   Our friends Andy and Judy are at this point undecided as to when they may come up from southern Wisconsin, so we decided yesterday to check out their abandoned-farm camp site.
   We found the blackberry brambles in full flower, a magnificent sight, the arching flowering canes cascading gracefully.  From a distance the blackberry patches looked like snowbanks.  There should be a record  blackberry harvest come mid-September.
   Blackberry picking is a blood sport (the picker usually exiting the bramble as though from a fight with a wildcat) and it is always possible to encounter a bear, but the promise of a blackberry pie makes it all worthwhile.