Day 287 Spiky Balls

September 22, 2015

(If we live with an open and grateful attitude, every day will bring a gift. This is one of 365 gifts during the year I turned 70.)

Outside my gym, there is a tree with red spiny berries or seeds, which I hadn’t noticed before. Some are still clinging to the tree but others lie on the ground beneath it, looking like raspberries on steroids. Curious as to what kind of tree this is, I picked up one from the ground and stopped by my local nursery. The manager did not know the answer but promised to call me when she did. The red ball is from a Kousa Dogwood, native to Asia. In the spring, the tree is full of beautiful white four-petaled blossoms and in the fall, it has these red spiny ornaments. To my surprise, it is an edible fruit and I found a recipe for Kousa Dogwood Parfait and fruit jelly. Some people make Kousa wine too. 

This is the first time I’ve noticed these spiky orange balls. It makes me wonder how many other things I miss from day to day—things that are right in front of me. I welcome questions and search for answers but understand there are some questions that I will never be able to answer. That is okay too because sometimes the questions are more important than the answers. 

He explained to me with great insistence that every question possessed a power that did not lie in the answer.” ~ Elie Wiesel, Night

My gift today is a question.

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> Day 288 A Quiet Tickle

You can find links to my other posts on this project here:

http://bjschupp.blogspot.com/2014/12/365-gifts.html