Up Close in the Garden

This past weekend I carved out time to get grounded in the garden.

Roselle flower with friend
Roselle fruit

amazing what you’ll find when you look closely…

centipede molting

Vacation as a Condiment

There was a moment
no, wait
I think it was more than one
all strung together
seamlessly

a weave of ease
the calm
the nothing-to-do
nowhere-to-go
no-appointments-to-keep

just me
the Bohemian
and the definition
of vacation

Sudoku poolside
sunset wanderings
chocolate chunks and a fireplace
that French wine at midnight

whoops
no cell reception
ahhh
no internet connection
oh
well

how I felt
so much
exactly like myself
free
and unshackled
from looming have-to’s

yet even
in utopia
I could see that corner ahead
it would surely turn
me back
to all the scheduled chores

oh
how
to take that sense
of centered peace
and fullness
and bring it in
to a 5pm grocery shop
desktop bill pays
and a second grade multiplication quiz

What’s for dinner?

I’d like a giant helping
of vacationaise
please
a juicy condiment
right on top
of my main course

Jessica Dofflemyer ~ all rights reserved

Karate Chops, Big Rock and a Wedding

The Bohemian and I step away from domestic home routine. Pack some snacks and a beer and head to the beach to watch the sunset. Look at seaside vacation rentals and dream of wedding locations.

We look for that one house he went to – the one where they had a DJ on the deck and a dancing bride and groom. We find the big, dirt square in the lawn where the house once sat, and realize that now, it’s simply gone. Vanished.

We set out our blanket, eat our tortilla chips. Watch the family nearby practice martial arts moves on each other. Head butts that stop just short. Fake karate chops to throats. They go on like this for an hour.

We wander up the one lane road that winds along the ocean. Watch the sky turning pink. Round a corner and see one table set out on a seaside point. Eight chairs, tiki torches and photographers. Looks like a simple wedding. A small group sitting among lava rock and lapping waves. The caterer’s parked nearby with a barbecue grill on the back of her pick up truck.

Our feet trace the road. Ocean on one side, lush cliff side on the other. We find a big rock by the water and sit.

Then we hear the rumble. Look up to see the movement in the grass along the mountain. The earth shakes.

We go towards the sound and find a good size boulder has landed squarely in the road.

Jessica Dofflemyer ~ all rights reserved

The sky is not falling, it’s the mountain that is crumbling to the sea. And we’d been walking in the fall-out zone only moments before.

Demolished houses, martial arts and rolling boulders. A wedding banquet off the back of a truck.

These are just the sights we see on one evening when we dare to shake routine, adventure out our own front door.Jessica Dofflemyer ~ all rights reserved