Blackberry Spring

Blackberry Blossom
Originally uploaded by toadshade

"My love, he wooed me as I lie there
With a flower in my hair and my cheeks aflush
It was a blackberry blossom from the blackberry bush."
- Blackberry Blossom, Michelle Shocked

One of my favorite songs about a maiden and her lover making love amid the blackberry brambles and blossoms; a perfect metaphor for the pain and joy of love. I always think of it when I see this flower that grows everywhere in the Spring. In late April and early May I'll be picking blackberries to snack on while I jog and in late July and early August hope to be picking them at Black Balsam Knob in Shining Rock Wilderness on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It's a vine that seems to cover everything with white and makes a nice trellis for the Spring.

I had a decent 8 miler hampered a little by an upset stomach that probably originated from some left over pizza that has been sitting in my fridge for an indecent amount of time (but not as long as the okra which I'll have tonight). Still I ran it in 1:17:01 at 9:38 per mile.

toadshade