Beautiful Blackberries

It's that time of year again where blackberries are everywhere so time to indulge.

We had blackberries on our waffles at Nick's house where we are staying during a visit to Seattle this weekend. I forget about blackberries until we come back to visit and see how abundant they are here. They grow wild in all of the 400 parks in Seattle so how can you not be tempted to pick them! And they show up everywhere to remind you it's the season again for blackberries…

like at bakeries

and restaurants

and the market

where I had to go yesterday to check out the scene

The market is overflowing this time of year with everyone's delicious harvest.

They even had tents overflowing into the streets to accommodate the abundance.

But where ever you look, you will always see more and more beautiful blackberries.

Our favorite picking spot was Magneson Park and my favorite thing to make was blackberry pie. I made several during the late summer-time from our blackberry picking. We'd come home with black-stained fingers and black tongues from eating so many blackberries. Nick and Lauren had a babysitter who would walk down to the park and pick blackberries and come home and make cobbler with them. (I loved coming home from work to that!) During long walks with our dog, we would quench our thirst by taking a break and pick some blackberries. Our dog would patiently wait for any to fall to the ground and gobble them up. They grow like weeds here. When guests would come visit from out-of-town, we'd go for evening walks but then we'd have to stop and pick blackberries. People were always amazed with how many were growing everywhere. I had my blackberry cookbook

so there was never any problem coming up with ideas on ways to use up blackberries. This time of year in Seattle, it's everything blackberries!

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