It's Blackberry time

Not the electronic device. The edible sort.

DH, DSon and DSon's freind have been picking blackberries, and had a lovely afternoon turning the berries into preserve and squash / syrup (for diluting with water and drinking ... soft-drink, you know).
And here are the pictures to prove it :


Setting out (some of the) containers for the preserve / jam.












The almost boiling cauldron












Cleaning the edges of the glass with a cloth dipped in boiling water.












Putting on the lid (deep concentration)








The first 4 glasses. More were made. I think we ended up with 12 liters of squash/syrup/juice and about 20 glasses of jam / preserve. DS's freind is going to take about half home. DH has enough blackberries picked to make another batch the same size.

... DD and I will enjoy consuming them.

Graduation

I do not, as a general rule, do this, but ... DS has now graduated from the local equivalent of High-School, and here are the pictures to prove it.

Getting the cap on Tuesday (when students pass their final test, the teacher who does the exam also gets to put the visible proof of passing on said student's head), after a well-deserved A.



Getting the diploma.

The cap he gets and wears is identical to the cap both his mother and his father ... and 3 out of 4 grandparents' got when they graduated 'Gymnasium' (and his maternal grandmother graduated in 1939, so ...). Not the same cap, mind you, just looks the same.



After the ceremony, all 262 new students (yes, that's how many graduated on Saturday, from this school), started "the drive". Going from home to home, visiting each for 10-20 minutes, and then driving on. By the time they arrived at our place, they had been going for 8 hours, and had already visited 15 different homes, and were - generally speaking - outrageously drunk. But well-behaved and delightful all the same.

So, for 15 minutes on Saturday evening, we had a yard full of students. And since we thought they might be cold after a day spent on an open wagon, we had hot chocolate as one of the things offered. It was recieved gratefully, and enjoyed thoroughly.


Oh, well. A mother is allowed to brag, and to be proud :-D

Consider it done.