... and other thistle lovers

Buzz buzz buzzy buzz.....

Here's a scab-apple...

Might not look too wonderful, but full of flavour.

I was disturbed on my ramble yesterday to see a couple who were old enough to know better using walking sticks to hack at the lower limbs of a plum tree in order to get the abundance of fruit.

Now don’t get me wrong I didn’t begrudge the folk their share of free plums, but I was really pissed off they didn’t seem to care how much damage they did to the tree in their efforts. Damn it other people will want to harvest from this same tree next year...

Me being me, I found it hard to keep my thoughts to myself. Well big mistake because the male half of the tree-wreckers turned on me waving his walking stick in my direction in a threatening manner; well with something well over a grand’s worth of camera in my hand I backed off quickly, believe me! I was bloody annoyed though.

So anyway I thought I’d share a couple of my pictures of me plums with you; don’t squeeze ‘em too hard!

When I was a kid we used to gather hawthorn berries and eat them; we called them ‘bread and cheese’. Obviously the berries never did us any harm since I’m here to tell the tale, but at the same time I wonder if they ever did us any good?

Back in those childhood days I had no idea about herbal medicines, but it seems Hawthorn is currently taking Europe by storm as a natural remedy to promote the health of the circulatory system, treat angina, high blood pressure, congestive heart failure and cardiac arrhythmia and has been found to strengthen the heart. Well, who’d have thunk it?

Be that as it may, I love the beautiful fresh green leaves, the white flowers and gorgeous red berries of the common hawthorn.

Oh and always remember: 'n'er cast a clout 'til may is out'