Randomness
August 29, 2009
1. Remember the humungus fungus in my basement? Well, it reminded me that there is something else photo-worthy down there that I kept forgetting all about. Here it is:
OK, this is a small town, and I used to babysit for the guy whose brother painted this. He’d be around my mom’s age. Which means its been here since about the 60s, or very early 70s at the latest. A while back, I ran into this guy I used to babysit for and he asked me if the Captain was still on the basement wall, and I said yes, he is, as a matter of fact. The guy who painted this was apparently very artistic.
2. The red huckleberry. Yes, it exists! On my route to the gym, I kept noticing this great, red berry bearing tree growing in someone’s yard. On my way back from the gym one morning, a woman was out in the yard gardening. I asked her if she knew what kind of tree it was and she told me it was a huckleberry.
Me: No, this isn’t a huckleberry. I’ve been in the woods picking huckleberries this summer & I’m sure this isn’t a huckleberry.
She: Well, I have no idea. This house belongs to my son & daughter-in-law & they think it’s a huckleberry.
Me: Hmm…I will Google it and get back to you.
She: Great!
Easier said than done. Plug in “red berry tree in BC” and various variants of that phrase and you get impossible results. I happened upon the term “red huckleberry” quite accidentally from a site on First Nations traditions. I plugged “red huckleberry” into Google images and BINGO: ID made.
Of course I tasted it. The verdict: a mixture of cherry flavour and the bitter resin of Mountain Ash. In other words, they’d need a lot of help in baking and would probably make a crappy pie. I haven’t seen the woman since, but if I’ll do I’ll tell her what I found out.
3. Now, across the street from the red huckleberry tree is an old house. Let me say first that when I was in Scandinavia a good dozen years ago, I really admired the architecture and I also loved how no one seemed to be afraid to have funky coloured houses: blues, yellows, reds. It was great. So, when I saw this house across from the red huckleberry being painted this week, I had to do a double-take:
Is that bold or what? Let me tell you – it’s BOLD, babies! And I think it’s just great – it reminds me of the Mediterranean. I love it.
6 Comments
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Wandering Coyote 
Maybe they’re crunchberries.
;D
I love Capt. Crunch and his brother Capt. Morgan 😉
Cool old house. It’s almost the same shade blue as ours. That was an accident mind you, but we have grown quite accustommed to it!
I love a homeowner who is adventurous with colour! As you say, WC, very Mediterranean with that azure blue. Nice.
Crunchberries. That’s a good one.
That blue reminds me of all the brighly-painted houses in Mexico–it’s really neat.
I’m so sick of desert earth colors on stucco or adobe I could hurl.
Red huckleberries. That’s quite.
Hugs,
LA
Great house. It reminds me a bit of Saint John actually. You need colour on the buildings there because it can get so foggy so much of the time. I don’t know if it’s the same now, but growing up I remember the colourful buildings.