Posted on by Jessica Dofflemyer

The Seeking

Recently I wrote about an upcoming writing workshop I am to attend, focused on the theme “The Story You Have to Tell.” I confessed that I’m still searching for the tale worthy of telling.

Readers kindly gave encouragement, suggesting clues were close at hand. I wasn’t getting much inspiration, just thoughts of the roses at Paramahansa Yogananda’s Lake Shrine in California.

Searching, seeking, questing, looking…I finally surrendered and took a morning walk. And it was there, between my footsteps, that a patchwork of stories revealed themselves in random order. The common thread being the very essence of my circumstance: my seeking.

It became clear that my pivotal life experiences have all been rooted in a quest to connect with the Divine. There have been moments when I have been brushed by Grace. Others, when I have fallen into a deep abyss of nothingness. Sometimes I am quite conscious of my search. At other times, I am absorbed in all things earthly, barely remembering that there is anything more than clock-time.

The very premise of this blog stems from my desire to find the profound within the mundane. I sense that the key is in the simplest of moments, always contained right now, if only I can pause to perceive it. Yet, so often there is some veil hindering my full awareness.

With an intent to sketch some highlights of my searching, I’ll be adding pieces to the Archives as part of an ongoing series, I’ll call “The Seeking.”

My first memory of feeling connection to something beyond myself, was at the age of six. I was tucked deep within the rows of an orange grove, on the front porch of my house. Just me and a cattle dog.

Realizing that I may have written about this experience already, I checked the Archives and found a poem posted in May 2011. I’m re-posting it here, as the first in the Seeking series.

Recently, the media has highlighted scientific findings that suggest a release of the bonding chemical, oxytocin, when humans and dogs gaze into each other’s eyes. I’m not well-versed on all of the research, but I remember my own love-bliss, human-dog experience. The dog and I were both fresh to the planet, and sweetly unaware of concepts, definitions, or chemicals.

 

“Dog Spelled Backwards”

Maybe you were six
that first time that you remember
sitting on the red cement steps by the ivy
just you and a cattle dog
gifted a rare moment off the chain
all of you

looking into those liquid brown
border collie eyes
you sang softly
caressing velvet ears
rubbing whiskered cheeks
his black damp nose poised
transfixed
in the words that swirled from your sweet throat
“I love you, I love you, I love you”

a simple tune
turning
from your small mouth
surrounding his rapt head
an essence
soaking through fur

you sang those words
gazing into dog eyes
your own little lashes
brimming with tears
that were not sad
just feeling
moving through your fresh heart
extending through dainty fingers
singing through your baby teeth

the purity of puppy and child
needs no name
though adults may try
and reference
Grace

awareness
presence
shared
it was so easy
readily received
circulating as breath
between two heart beats

mammals
in a moment
down a gravel drive
in the oranges and the ivy
1979

 

courtesy of smerikal
courtesy of smerikal
Posted on by Jessica Dofflemyer

In the Bag

Once again, it appears as though the Bohemian’s got it in the bag. His innovation continues to impress.

2015-10-26_soil bag

 

After a year of gardening, our plot has become thick with roots from neighboring trees. Seeking the water and nutrients we bestow upon the garden, their root systems have infiltrated, competing with our plants and tangling our fluffy beds.

The Good Neighbors dealt with the same issue, and decided to dig a trench around the circumference of their garden, inserting a strip of metal to block encroaching tree roots. It’s worked well for them, but it seemed pretty work-intensive for our immediate needs.

An alternative was to create raised beds. But unless we scavenged for our own wood or logs, this would be a few hundred dollars in lumber to build. Additionally, we would eventually be left with sinking soil levels in the beds. Again, a big job and fairly costly.

Ultimately, we just wanted to get some fall crops growing while we were still in the pocket of time to plant. With so many projects on the table, the Bohemian was thinking ‘work smarter, not harder’ and ‘use what’s around.’

Hence, old t-shirts from the giveaway pile, are now housing tomatoes and cauliflower. He used twisty-ties to knot up the sleeves, and filled them with a mix of our rich garden soil, along with his fertilizing worm castings.

Yep, the theory is that this bag of soil will suffice in giving the plant everything it would have in a raised bed, with the added benefit of the t-shirt material holding moisture in the soil.

His solution still doesn’t address the creeping tree roots beneath the garden bed, but it is an immediate solution for our family, that just wants to grow some food this season without a lot of fuss.

I don’t think he sweat a drop, and it didn’t cost us a penny. In fact, it up-cycled some old t-shirts that were cluttering our closet.

It’s an experiment in process, and we’ll see if it bears fruit.

 

2015-10-26_tomato bag