Praise

                                                                                  Blackberries

 

Dear reader,

Blackberries have a long history, consumed by humans since the Iron Age and potentially earlier, with evidence found in Neolithic burials.  They spread from temperate Northern Hemisphere regions and were used by ancient Romans, Native Americans and Medieval Europeans for food, medicine and dyes.

Modern cultivation began in the late 19th century in the US, leading to the development of new cultures like the t hornless varieties that improved commercial viability.

The Romans mixed blackberries with honey and wine and also used them for medicinal purposes.  The indigenous  people in North America used blackberries as a food source, a medicinal ingredient and for dying animal skins and fabrics.

In British folklore there is a belief that blackberries should not be picked after Old Michaelmas Day (October).  By October the fruits are deemed food for the devil, so plant new plants in October, but don't pick the fruits.

                                                                          **

From Gilbert White  August 26th  1787 in Hampshire

'Timothy the tortoise, who has spent the last two months amidst the umbrageous forests of the asparagus-beds begins now to be sensible of the chilly autumnal mornings; and therefore suns himself under the laurel-hedge, into which he retires at night.  He is become sluggish, and does not seem to take any food.'

From William Cobbett  August 28th  1826 in Wiltshire

'(Five a.m.) A very fine morning .....My horse is ready; and the rooks have just gone off to the stubble fields.  These rooks rob the pigs; but they have a right to do it.   I wonder (upon my soul I do) that there is no lawyer, Scotchman, or Parson-Judge, to propose a law to punish the rooks for trespass.'

                                                                                *

Praise

 

She always tried to be good

did her best in everything she did

but her best wasn’t

good enough

 

her mother was too busy

meeting drinking friends

her father didn’t notice

he was too busy making films

 

and they didn’t seem

to know about praise

 

but praise is so easy to give

and so difficult to get

why can’t people see that

a word of two can change

a whole life view

 

can turn a bad black day

into a day to remember

when your heart fills

with love and thanks

 

                                                                                  ^*

^{With very best wishes, Patricia}