Deliciousness

There was a strict timetable this afternoon to pick raspberries, then pack them, wrap them, and drive to the post office to get them off to friends further north. All in a couple of hours. With a fair wind they might arrive tomorrow: hopefully not too shoogled and squished. 

As you can see there are so many raspberries - and so many yet to ripen - that distributing them beyond the locals (who are also benefitting) is the only way to cope. Other than to put them on the compost, which I cannot bring myself to do.

As I was picking I noticed that the lower branches weren't as prolific as I was expecting, which was puzzling. Until I turned the corner at the end of the row and spied a large wheaten-coloured hound with her head buried in the foliage. There was a gentle slurping noise coming from within, which took me right back to my first summer with Sana-dog and her discovery of the delights of sucking the low hanging fruit off the canes. 

Stern words were spoken and Bean retired to the entrance to the fruit cage looking only slightly abashed. I have so much fruit that some sharing is fine. But it's primarily human food...

I'm glad the raspberry tasks were after lunch: I had a rotten morning after a disturbed night. There was a small earthquake just after 11 last night. Nothing fell over and it didn't last long, but it was enough to wake me up and trigger my mild PTSD. 

On the plus side I can still analyse a quake quite accurately, having experienced thousands of them between 2010 and 2016 in Chchch and Canterbury. I knew it was local (within 20km) and shallow (quite sharp shaking, as opposed to rolling) and I estimated something in the magnitude 3s. (It was officially 8km away, at 5km depth and magnitude 3.0)

I lay in bed for quite a while doing that analysis, and when I dropped off it was to a series of topsy-turvy dreams. As a result my shoulders and neck were aching with tension when I woke this morning, which has lasted all day. Muscle tension is typical of mild PTSD. As are screwball dreams. 

Hopefully tonight the Earth will be calm and my sleep will be deep and relaxed.

Toodlepip Blippers.