berries in the NOT spring

Words 386; 2 pics

          Today is another argument for the validity of the “too cold to snow” theory.  After several days of temps within several degrees of freezing, and dustings of snow, today it’s cold as hell with bright sunshine. 

          Spring?  Not really. 
I wore my wool socks on my hands again, and my nostrils enjoyed frost as I jogged.  I thought I was in a bit of a rut as far as the times go.  I felt unwell and slow going up the stairs, but ended up with something a bit quicker than the slowest.   

          I asked some people how to identify some berries.  I got lots of feedback, including one person who claims to be a ‘plant nut.’  Here is the text (I can’t improve or summarize it): 

When the wall fell, more than a few nursery professionals were happy to have the opportunity to get into Russia and eastern block countries to collect new varieties of fruits and vegetables.  If you have the right nursery catalog you can find these Russian varieties in the "unusual edibles" section, although the Black Russian tomato is quite popular.   

Sea Buckthorn does not grow naturally in North America, and only a plant nut like me that reads nursery catalogs for entertainment would recognize them.  I think the hot, dry summers in the US are too much for these plants; the fruits are not as large or juicy as they are in Russia.  People that grow them say they are impossible to pick and only big enough to feed robins.

Another person told me that in Nepal on hikes in the mountains, you can drink delicious ‘buckthorn tea’.  Another person asked me if we are ‘mushrooming’ already here in Moscow.  As you can see from the temperature above, it is not mushroom weather, yet.  One thing I was happy NOT to read was an admonition from my dad that I should be able to identify the berry. 

This is what I wrote about the berries:

Who can identify these berries?  My Russian friends know them as oblaypikha.  Google translate says they are ‘sea buckthron’—something I’ve never heard of.  They look like big crab apples.  I’m sure that my older relatives will chastise me for not knowing something that every Iowa kid should know when they are 5 years old.