Posted on by Jessica Dofflemyer

Transformational Harvest

It’s harvest time at the outdoor shower.

For any of you following the Archives, you may recall that our family has been curiously watching the unfolding process of the dragonfruit in our backyard (see a chronicled play-by-play here). And since this plant has adhered itself to the walls of the outdoor shower, we’ve been treated to a daily accounting of its progress while we soap up and stare.

It’s been an amazing transformation, that began with this

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Soon blooming into this

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And, eventually, ripening to this

2013-10-09_dragonfruit ripe

I realize that for the last forty years of my life, I’ve been nourished at the kitchen table, daily, through the magnificent metamorphosis of seed to fruit. A wonder I clearly take for granted.

In this instance, food is growing in the shower. I observe its changes everyday, intrigued.

And who couldn’t be enamored? This “Queen of the Night” is just so darn dramatic in her ripening.

I mean, look. From this

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to this

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Wow…

Posted on by Jessica Dofflemyer

For All the Misses

We usually don’t know what we’ve missed…because we missed it.

It passed us by, unnoticed. We were looking somewhere else, thinking about something different.

Moments, details, events of all kinds, they occur every second, just within our awareness, yet we will never know of these gajillion happenings.

And then there are the misses we are all too familiar with. The ones that got away. The disappointments. The knowledge that despite how much we tried to get it, hold it, keep it, the forces at play just did not allow our grasping.

A simple moment, a special person, a dream experience coming true that you know, like everything, has a beginning and an end.

It’s all moving.

2013-10-07_sunflowers moving

In Mary’s garden this weekend I tried to capture nature in all its blooming glory. But I was dealing with elements beyond my control. Things like light and wind. These dictates do not care about photo ops. They tease me with breeze as I try pausing motion into stillness with a click.

2013-10-7_basil moving

So many misses in life will never be known.

And for those losses that we are, in fact, well-aware of, we rarely broadcast them.

So why not? Here’s to failed attempts. To what I didn’t get. To celebrating that there are things beyond my control. To the humbling reminder that greater forces are at work.

2013-10-07_carrot moving

And to celebrating with even more appreciation, when I’m gifted a little perfect moment of my own to keep and share.

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