Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells...

...as hail fell gleefully down this afternoon. At least, it was only small pieces.

Turned in revised introduction and Chapter 1 of The Book...ahhhh, relief.

Now to catch up on the rest of the my life. This afternoon, I cleared away the choking weeds from the strawberries and spread compost around them. Then the rain poured down. Boy, did they look fresh and grateful! Little berries are thick under the plants.

Dad brought raspberry plants from Michigan a few years ago for the herb garden. I babied those little buggers for more than a year, but they just lagged around. Come spring, they never came back up. This year, a friend up the road dug up some of her blackberry plants, and I hopefully planted what looked to be two big sticks.

Bear in mind: berries aren't supposed to do so well out here. Our soil is alkaline, and most berries like acid soil.

Somebody forgot to tell that to my new blackberry plants -- they're practically leaping out of the ground!