Odds and Ends

Pen and ink sketch of a very silly little white cockerel

Freshly picked blue raspberries (yes, that’s a real fruit)

I got to harvest the first blue raspberries from the plant I got several years back, and they’re a delight. It’s an old variety that can’t be sold in stores, because they bruise and go over-ripe far too quickly to survive shipping. Whether or not the flavoring in candies and drinks is actually based on the fruit is apparently up for debate, but having tasted them now I can easily believe that it was. They’re less tart than a regular raspberry, and they do have their own unique flavor, although it’s hard to pin down.

They do kind of just taste a bit blue, in the same way that blueberries do. That’s not as silly as it sounds, since the pigments that create the blue color in the skin of blueberries also contribute to their flavor, and they’re present in these raspberries as well.

A Quick Visit and Some Very Cute Chickens

I visited my family in California this week and had a nice time. My grandma is almost ninety one, and has been losing some of her memory, so I’m trying to spend more time down there. Her memories are important, and I want to take some of them on when I can.

That means flying, which I’m generally not a fan of, but it’s more efficient than spending the better part of four days driving down to the Bay Area and back. Seeing my family is worth it, though, and having my ADHD under better control means that getting to flights on time and handling the bustle of a chaotic airport is less intimidating than it used to be. It also makes it easier to plan ahead to take my anti-nausea meds in time, because, oh boy, does flying play merry havoc with my inner ear.

While I was there, I also got my meet the newest batch of miniature chickens in my friend’s backyard farm. They’re only about a week old, or they were when I met them, but they’re also seramas, a breed of chicken that don’t typically get much bigger than large pigeons as adults. Their babies are impossibly tiny and adorable.

A little sketch of one of her hens watching over the babies while they practiced their very important pecking skills.

One of the serama mamas giving me a good eyeballing for being near the chicks. Her hens tend to sit on their eggs in pairs, so the chicks always have two mamas to watch over them.

This chick seemed mostly okay with being held. They’re so soft!

The yellow chick had some rather loud objections to me holding her, so I returned her to her little family pretty quickly. She’s still totally my favorite of this clutch.