Wet weather here - more like April than May, but it's all good. We need the rain. I found out that the black flies are here already - I had hoped for a bit longer reprieve, but I guess I'll need to get out the bug spray now every time I want to work outside. The rule of thumb (at least what old timers like myself have gone by) is that black flies arrive at about the same time cherry trees bloom. I'm talking choke cherry trees, not the ornamental type like we see in Washington, D.C.  I haven't seen any cherry blossoms here yet, but I do have lots of those trees and shrubs around my yard. The bees and butterflies like the blossoms, and they are quite fragrant, although not as pleasant as apple blossoms. Later, when the fruit is ripe, it attracts a variety of birds. 

When I was a kid, I liked to eat chokecherries. They are "puckery" when eaten raw, and I remember being cautioned to be sure to spit out the seeds - they are toxic. That was great sport, to see how far one could propel a seed - usually at one another. These slightly bitter, strange tasting little berries are not on high on my list these days, but years ago they were great sport.

What I enjoyed even more than spitting cherry seeds was picking the wild hazelnuts in the fall. Those bushes lined the road between my house and the schoolhouse, and at recess, my classmates and I would often fill our pockets with these tasty little nuts. We had to be careful peeling back the prickly covering - it was tough on fingers. The shell covering the edible meat, or seed, was hard to crack open without mashing the little morsel inside, but we all knew how to do it by putting the nut on a flat rock and hitting it with another rock with just the right amount of force so it would open and not damage the inner seed. Hazelnuts are a staple for squirrels. Partridges will also feed on them, but squirrels are the biggest hoarders of hazelnuts, and seem to know exactly the time they are ripe and ready. They are not only excellent food for squirrels because of their vitamin content, they are also a good way to keep their worn down, as they have to gnaw their way to the tender meat inside the hard shell. Squirrel teeth continue to grow and gnawing is nature's way of keeping them trimmed to size. I have a few hazelnut bushes, but the squirrels always beat me to harvesting any of the nuts. Crafty critters!