Pischi Days

Blueberries R Us

 

One day, Little Patti went with her friends Bonnie and Lisa to Holland Farms to pick blueberries.
Little Patti and Bonnie brought along their small plastic pails and Lisa brought two plastic pails to put berries in. “We will take our berries to the bakery and freeze them,” said Bonnie.
“Then we will have food for the winter.”

With profound apologies to Robert McCloskey.

Its that time of year when the blueberries are ripe for the picking. We have the good fortune of having a local family open up their farm after the commercial harvest to the locals for a $2.00 a pound free for all. Bonnie, Lisa, and I pulled out our hats, sunscreen and coolers and spent  last Thursday on the ten acre farm harvesting the berries left behind by the pickers. This year yielded a bumper crop of berries. I was able to harvest about 40 lbs. Here is my favorite muffin recipe  Here's Bonnie making sure that we are harvesting the only the best.
We reconnoitered in the bakery later that night to spread our berries on ten large commercial baking sheets to flash freeze them in the walk in freezer. During the down time, we knit. I have started on another pair of socks. Surprise, surprise. The yarn, Panda Cotton, was a Christmas present from Bonnie and is aptly called Grapes and Blueberries. The pattern is a freebie online called Forget Me Not from Fiber Dreams blog. Its a little anklet with a lace pattern that knits up quickly.
Although I swore to my self to become a more monogamous knitter, I seem doomed to fail in this hopeless pursuit. I console myself by being true to my New Year's resolution and not purchase yarn, to knit from my stash instead. My only purchases this year were a new swift, ball winder, and OK. I caved in and bought a Vintage sock kit from the Tsock Tsarina. All the blather online about how great these socks are overwhelmed into the purchase. My overstock of yarn is slowly selling thanks to Ravelry. I go through the baskets every month and grit my teeth and add to the sales page. My baskets are still overflowing...I am happily rewinding yarn using my berry colander.
Here's to lots of summer knitting!

Merry Month of May, I Hope...

All in the merry month of May,
When green buds they were swellin',
Young Jemmy Grove on his deathbed lay,
For the love of Barbara Allen.

Enjoy this little snippet from a favorite movie, "Songcatcher".

It has already been a whirlwind Month' O' May. To begin, May 1st was not only "Tag der Arbeit", but the beginning of my 50th year on the planet. OY. Thanks to my wonderful friends and my kind husband for the lovely surprise party. In lieu of gifts all the food items, 10 bags full, were donated to our local North Brevard Charities. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I received a very special present from my aunt in Germany, a lovely Morgan silver dollar minted in 1884. I love that it has been passed down through the family. I feel you're with me when I hold you in my hand. 
Thank you Krista for the fabulous stiletto needles and the Noro. Where have you been all my life! You, dangerB, not the Noro...
My May 1st Thursday started out with knitting on the group, upstairs in the bakery. Susan, my friend and knitting ingenue, was having another tiresome tumour removed from her lung so we filled her spot with the lads from the flight school. They became tiresome and begged for cashmere and complained when we wouldn't share provisional cast on techniques. Come back Susan, they're not staying!
My month was further enhanced with a last minute trip to ever lovely Alabama and a trip through the Wellborn Forest plant. I processed much information on kitchen design, rift cut oak, as well as drink mixology prior to 10 AM. Some of us had the good fortune of flying back home in the corporate plane . Nutkins took a ride too. This method of travel superseded the six-hour car ride there.
I was hardly unpacked when Lisa whisked me to New Smyrna Beach and our favourite fish camp for real crab cakes, boiled shrimp, and pinot noir. Naughty Nutkin is stealing the lime light. We watched the dolphins play and the sun set before we headed back down US1 south in the old lime green del Sol, topless of course (the car, not us).
For the last surprise, a present to myself arrived, a new swift and woolly winder.
The only shadow on my reverie is the sale of our little shop to new owners. Nancy and our canine companions will be sorely missed. I am treading water and trying to conform into new environs and culture. The next 50 years will be telling...