Until July 2017, documenting the seasons of coastal Dorset. I'm a complete amateur so don't trust I'm always right. If ever you see I'm wrong - whether with identifications or in anything else - do say! Meanwhile . . . I've now moved to Halifax in West Yorkshire. Click on the link below to collect the new URL. Don't forget to follow there!

Tuesday 18 September 2012

TIME FOR A STUCK FOOT POST

Ripening Blackberries Against a Blue, Blue Sky
Every so often, I stand somewhere, somewhere pretty random - though often somewhere quite pretty too - choose a foot and, while making sure not to move it or lift it, take pictures of whatever I see. I can zoom up and crouch down, twist round - but must keep to the discipline of staying in that one place, with my foot stuck to the ground. Hence, every so often, a stuck foot post.

On on Tuesday afternoon, I stopped, looked up at some ripening blackberries, thought 'Oh, bother. I suppose I ought to include them in the blog, even thought everyone else will be posting blackberries too. They are so much a part of late summer they can't be avoided. It must be the same for people living in mountain ranges. 'Oh, no!' They think. 'Not another beautiful sunset! Is there nothing else nature can cook up for me? Maybe a flying skyscraper? A palm tree suddenly springing from a snowy crevice? Something, anything, other than mountain peaks, rocky crags and beautiful sunsets!'

My bane is blackberries. Here are some blackberries against the blue, blue, puffy cloud sky of Tuesday afternoon. Sometimes, life is hard!

Hawthorn leaves against a blue sky



Oddly, there are lots of haws on one side of the path but not the other. When I was standing there, with my foot obstinately stuck, the sun glared milkily into the lens when I pointed it at them - so I stuck to hawthorn leaves against that blue, blue sky.

The top of a gorse bush against a blue sky

The gorse was popping. It's been such an odd summer, this is the first time I've heard it. Not these high, green branches. They weren't popping - only the old brown pods. You don't get to see them for I would have had to move my foot to take their pictures.

Probably a young sycamore - its leaves against a blue, blue sky

This was poking up above the hawthorn trees and brambles. Seems to be a young sycamore. I hadn't noticed it before.

New strand of bramble (blackberry bush) against a blue sky with white cloud



Brambles, brambles, interminable brambles. I thought this was a strand of wild rose when I took the photo but it isn't is it? Yet another beautiful, bright green trail of blackberry, reaching to the sky because it is new. The moment will come when it grows too long to support itself and it will bend back in a graceful ark.

Oh, it's a hard life, isn't it!?

14 comments:

Unknown said...

Beautiful photographs Lucy.
Costas

Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax! said...

ευχαριστίες, Costas.
(Hope that's come out right!)

Janet said...

Is this the foot with the red shoe on it? ;-)

Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax! said...

Hello Janet. It's the foot which used to have a red shoe on it - until the red shoe fell apart and only black were available. Now the black is falling apart so will have to try for red again. Hadn't thought of that!

Anonymous said...

Lovely pictures Lucy, I like the premise very much.

Janet said...

The new red shoes could have a whole blog to themselves.

Linda said...

Yum blackberries. Do you pick them and make jam? Our daughter does and she just made jars of it for winter.

Wayne said...

I like the idea of 'stuckfoot', I may use that soon. I also like blackberries :-)

Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax! said...

Hi, Toffeeapple. It's surprising what you don't have to look for when you stand still.

Hello Janet - a red shoe post? If I get new red shoes, I'll give it a go!

Hi, Linda. We pick and eat lots of blackberries. In years when they have been specially nice and plentiful - my lunch has sometimes been to walk along the bushes, eating as I go. Blackberry and apple crumble is also a family favourite. I used to make a lot of jam (and preserve blackberries in jars) but in the last few years I've been busy at the wrong moments.

Hi, Woody. If you do do a stuck-foot post, let me know and I'll put a link to it from Loose and Leafy.

Mark Willis said...

Crikey; a year's supply of blue sky all in one post!

Anonymous said...

I like the somewhat offbeat post title.
Blue sky galore, make the most of it as I'm sure that it won't last.
I like sunflowers with that background. Flighty xx

Laura Bloomsbury said...

through your lens we see so much of what we take for granted, Lucy. Blackberries a disappointment this year but still photogenic.
p.s. a tough life you lead having to look at the seasonal changes in your spot of Dorset - I have skyscrapers that don't even fly

Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax! said...

Hi Mark. Making the most of blue skies while we have them! Today (23rd September 2012)they are overcast and the rain steady.

Hello Flightplot. I do these stuck-foot posts from time to time. After a few more, I expect the title will seem right-on instead of off-beat. Sunflowers - I agree. Against a sky like that they are magnificent. Very heart-lifting.

Hi Patio Patch. I expect that, for all the excitement which would be generated by flying skyscrapers, I should hope yours will remain static. Our blackberries are varied. They are ripening now and some are delicious. Others are tasteless. Others sour even though apparently ripe. You can't tell which one is which without tasting. Frustrating.

Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax! said...

Everyone - you might like to know the latest Loose and Leafy post has just gone up. It's a celebration of haws (hawthorn berries).

http://tinyurl.com/c7uatcy