Jammin!

11 September 2010

Blackberry jamming that is. Blackberries mark late summer every year here. They grow literally everywhere lining ditches and empty lots. Actually they are quite an invasive weed, but they sure are yummy.

The morning begins early before it gets too hot. The seasoned picker dresses in thick jeans, hiking boots, a long sleeve shirt, a hat, and heavy garden gloves with only the tips of the index finger, middle finger, and thumb cut out. Now you are fully armed against the nasty thorns, for the most part. There are always a few that defy all logic and somehow make their way in. Next you gather several ice cream pails and set off to your local berry patch. Now the task is to fill each pail, which can hang off of your elbow to free both hands for the following picking technique: reach in with the fully gloved hand to grasp the thorny canes, while you pull the ripe berries off gently with the exposed fingers. Too little pressure and the berries don't release, too much and they squish splurting dark purple juice everywhere.

Once you have your pails full, and very purple fingers, you can return home and begin making jam. The kitchen becomes one big purple sticky mess. The sweet reward of all of this hard work is sharing it with family and friends and eating it on yogurt and toast for the rest of the year.

What does this have to do with IVF? I keep hoping that maybe IVF will be like blackberry jamming. Very prickly and a lot of hard work but with a sweet reward at the end?