In Bloom!

  This morning after bringing the old dog back inside, I slipped out for a quick hike back down the hillside.  Since he is ailing, there is no purpose served in tiring him with my interests.   The hike, itself, was triggered by a glimpse of blossoms down on the east path.  I wanted to get a better glimpse of the tiny blooms.  A few months back, a friend informed me that the bush in question is called sparkleberry.  I had to admit that was a new one to me.  He said that the berries are in the blueberry family and are edible even though they are a rather tart or bitter.  More to my interest was the fact that they could be used to make jelly and jam.  The berries are also known as farkleberries which seems to be a strange name.  Sparkleberry, I can understand as the berries are literally shiny and sparkly!  

  The sparkleberry bush next to the path is actually in a large clump of palmettos. The bush did indeed have thousands of blooms and was also being visited by a good many honeybees and butterflies.  This was good but below the low hanging limbs another cluster of buds caught my eye.  The palmetto was blooming, too.   Ahh, another thing of beauty on such a short hike.  The palmetto dates are supposedly edible, as well.  I have yet to be able to gather any ripe fruit as the raccoons tend to beat me to them each year.  Some day....maybe.

  I had to hurry back to reality so the old dog would not have an anxiety attack.  If I am absent for any length of time he panics and begins to stumble around the room.  My "me time" was over.  Duty called.