Thursday, June 07, 2007

Huckleberry whine

Is it just my aging eyes or is most of the type on this page suddenly very small and a different font than usual? Something wonky happened with my Blogger template yesterday, I think.

Anyway, I've been exhausted most of the week and haven't done much of anything after work. The training for my new job has me all discombobulated - it's amazing how tiring sitting on your butt for 8 hours straight can be! Thank goodness the classroom part of the training only lasts 3 weeks - I'm feeling like a caged animal when I get off work, yet when I get home, all I want to do is go to sleep.

Enough whining - sorry! The shrub pictured is Black Huckleberry, very common in the Pine Barrens, and a favorite of mine. I love the color of the flowers. There are a number of similar shrubs that grow in the Barrens, all in the heath family, and I've been trying to find most of them this spring. Some of the earliest bloomers are leatherleaf, which has little white flowers and which I saw most everywhere, bearberry which I didn't find, but which has pretty white flowers edged with pink, and the highbush blueberry. In May and June the huckleberries bloom, as do staggerbush and fetterbush. All have the bell-shaped blooms that you associate with members of the heath family. Huckleberries produce edible fruit, but I've read that there are too many seeds for them to be enjoyable eating, yet I'm pretty sure I've heard mention of huckleberry jam and pie. Anyone know?

14 comments:

Mary said...

Your font is normal, Laura. No problems here.

I've been discombobulated (sp?) since 2003! HA! I've learned four new jobs since then. It isn't easy. Rest when you can, that's all.

I don't know Huckleberry or most plants for that matter. So I'm no help.

But I think I have raspberries all over the place - near my feeders. I'll get your opinion soon - when I remember to have the camera :o/

KGMom said...

I agree with Mary the font looks fine.
I don't know anything about huckleberries, so no help there.

Susan Gets Native said...

What are you talking about, Laura?
That font is HUGE!!!!!

:)
I don't know huckleberry pie from Huckleberry Hound.

John B. said...

The font looks normal to me. It could be a browser or monitor issue. (Or it might have been a temporary thing due to server maintenance, etc.)

I have heard of huckleberry, but I haven't actually seen them before. That comes of not spending enough time in the Pine Barrens, I suppose.

LauraHinNJ said...

All right, so my eyes are going!

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

DANG!! Susan stole my line!
Your post font is smaller that the comment font.

Jayne said...

I don't see a difference in the font either Laura. Hang in there with the classroom time which I am sure is exhausting when you are used to being able to get up and down.

Huckleberry Jam... isn't that a song? ;c)

robin andrea said...

One of the things I've noticed with blogger is if I center anything, the spacing below the centered text is smaller. I do think your font has gotten smaller, but I think it happened a while ago.

I hope you get out this weekend and breathe some good fresh air. That will invigorate you and get you ready for next week.

R.Powers said...

It's Friday, do what Robin said and get out there!

KGMom said...

It occurs to me that there are all sorts of explanations about the font. First, what is the screen resolution? Next, do you use Explorer & is it set at 100% or something else.
For your readers who see the post font as smaller than the comment font--that's something in their computers.
I maintain a web site for our church, and have learned a WHOLE LOT about setting up webpages. Not that I know enough, mind. But I know more now than I did before.
I don't use HTML, so I keep testing, going back and forth. For me, Blogger shows the font LARGER in preview, than the font & size that I pick & publish. Enough about fonts!

Dave Dorsey said...

Looks fine to me.

Dorothy said...

Laura, your font looks fine..it looks the same to me as before. Re: Huckleberries..I grew up in the Great Swamp in Chatham, NJ and my brothers would go into the woods and pick huckleberries, which are larger than blueberries and very tasty.
My mom would make pies, or serve them fresh in halved cantelope, or on top of vanilla ice cream. They were delicious and I don't recall that they had too many seeds at all.
I'll bet you're glad its finally the weekend.

gregor said...

just to go picking huckleberries with my parents and my Uncle Bill in the pines when I was a kid. My grandmother used to make what she called compote, but it was, as I remember, more like a jam. I'll be darned if I can remember what it tasted like, though.
This is timely, though, as I've been thinking about putting in some blueberries and have been doing some research on them. They seem like they'd be fun to grow.

LauraHinNJ said...

The sidebar still looks wonky and small, but I'll just have to get used to it!

Dorothy: I didn't know that you grew up in NJ! Glad that you're familiar with huckleberries - I can just imagine how nice they must be with ice cream or melon - yum!

Gregor: I might just try going back and picking a bucketfull to make jam. I made beach plum jelly last summer for the first time and it was pretty delicious!

I've been thinking about trying out blueberries here also - would love to hear some more about what your research has taught you. I wonder if the cultivated varieties are so picky about soil as the wild types.