Delicious Dogwood Fruit

My variegated dogwood tree (Cornus kousa x wolf eyes) has lots of red fruit this fall, which makes the tree look quite festive. The fruit is small and delicious. I think it tastes like paw-paws; someone else thinks it tastes like a cross between mango and pumpkin.

I love a tree or shrub that looks interesting in at least two seasons. The variegation of the dogwood makes it interesting to look at in spring and summer, and now in the fall, it looks rather Christmas-y with red balls of fruit hanging all over it.

I planted a fruit tree without knowing that i was doing it!

Our meditation practice yields the fruit of the spiritual path. Two of the first fruits are equanimity and fearlessness. Both of those sound delicious. Calm and freedom from fear.

Even beginning meditators notice the calm of meditation. There it is. The first fruit waiting for you to notice it.



.

Picking Paw-Paws

Visiting my brothers in Indiana, the 3 of us went hunting for paw-paws. In an hour, we found 5.

My brothers were generous enough to give me the 2 ripe ones. Oh, my. I haven't tasted a paw-paw in decades. Maybe this paw-paw is the last one i will ever eat in this lifetime.

I tried to savor each and every bite, each and every breath that brought that familiar smell to my nostrils.

Savoring every moment as if it's the last. Because it is.