Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Good Deeds, Lovely Rewards

Yesterday morning it was sprinkling rain and there was just a hint of light coming from the east. I was standing, clad in a nightgown, in the rain waiting for N-D Anna, the little feral cat I have been feeding for over four years, to eat her food. I wait while she eats so the big cat from down the street doesn’t steal her food away.

So I’m standing there getting rained on and feeling the chill in the air. I looked over toward the corner of the outside of the house where the big cat usually comes from and something in the bushes caught my eye. It looked like something white had fallen into the bushes. I waited until N-D Anna had finished her breakfast and then pursued this white mysterious thing. Being barefoot, I gingerly walked through the wet grass to identify what I was looking at and wondering about.

As I got closer I realized I was seeing the first gardenia blossom of the year. It was damp from the rain but beautifully there. I removed the blossom and brought it back inside with me. Its fragrance was beyond description. It filled my kitchen with its beauty.

Who says that good deeds don’t have their own rewards?

20 Comments:

Blogger Fran said...

What a tale- lovely and evocative. I could just about smell that gorgeous blossom as I sit in my kitchen in the northeast.

Karma karma karma... it is a beautiful thing.

Have a beautiful day my friend!

February 20, 2008 2:58 AM  
Blogger XUP said...

I saw something white in my backyard, too, but it turned out to be four feet of snow and ice and I had to get dressed in Sorrels and a parka to check it out and the chill in the air was more like permafrost-- it was nice and sparkly though in the sunshine... sigh... we take what we can get, right? I'm pleased a flower is growing somewhere.

February 20, 2008 4:53 AM  
Blogger Randal Graves said...

Um, we've been feeding a stray for a bit and my washer and dryer both broke down in the last week. Where's my karma, Fran? ;-)

Don't worry, POP, still quite a groovy story.

February 20, 2008 5:06 AM  
Blogger Forty Paws said...

That's so sweet of you to watch over N-D Anna so that the other cat doesn't steal her food from her.

Gardenias have the best aroma!!!

February 20, 2008 5:35 AM  
Blogger fallenmonk said...

Still too early for the gardenias here in Atlanta. I have then in the front and back. They are the low type and they make a nice hedge and bloom in profusion.
I did manage one bloom this week and that is the lenten rose. Not much fragrance but the single bloom in all the brown was nice.

February 20, 2008 5:43 AM  
Blogger Mike said...

Here in Michigan we are so far away from the first bloom of anything that I can't even think about that right now. Still, it feels good knowing it is coming...someday.

Thanks for reminding me.

February 20, 2008 5:54 AM  
Blogger La Belette Rouge said...

I love that smell.You got me smelling gardenias. Aaaah! And, that is really something, as there are no flowers in Chicago. Only two colours: brown empty branches and white snow--oh and the dirty and icky brown/gray slushy snow.

February 20, 2008 6:10 AM  
Blogger Jazz said...

Xup said it best. *sigh*

February 20, 2008 6:45 AM  
Blogger dguzman said...

PoP, sometimes I think the universe revolves around you. You're a good egg.

February 20, 2008 6:56 AM  
Blogger Jennifer said...

My grandmother used to ship a shoebox full of gardenia blossoms from Boca -- intoxicating scent -- so for Mom's birthday last month, I sent her a potted gardenia, covered with unopened buds. She didn't know what it was until the buds started opening. She was most delighted to have gardenias, in Vermont, in the dead of winter...mmmm.

February 20, 2008 7:44 AM  
Blogger SB Gypsy said...

Goddess, I love love LOVE gardenias. How lucky to live where you can grow them.

February 20, 2008 8:10 AM  
Blogger Anne said...

aloha

February 20, 2008 8:54 AM  
Blogger TomCat said...

You were rewarded because the good deed was for a cat. ;-)

February 20, 2008 9:58 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

that is a very good story...

February 20, 2008 3:22 PM  
Blogger mommanator said...

yuck I had a real good response, but had to go to the store and forgot to publish and the lovely puter kicked me off while gone!

February 20, 2008 4:06 PM  
Blogger jmsjoin said...

you're full of good Karma. that's cool! A bit early isn't it? Their aroma is heavenly! I feed a street cat twice a day. I only see his prints in my white stuff. he waits till I go back in runs up eats and runs away. I love nature! The first flower is a beauty whose lustre never wears off!

February 20, 2008 4:18 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You have gardinia's and me and the Mommanator have 2 inches of snow....go figure. I know mommanator is counting the minutes until she is on the plane to Fl

February 20, 2008 6:47 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

How's your dog? Oh, that's right - he faked being sick so that you would put him to sleep and he wouldn't have to deal with your insane liberal ideas. If he could have hung himself, I'm sure he would have. Unfortunately, he was only a dumb dog.

February 20, 2008 8:46 PM  
Blogger Dr. Monkey Von Monkerstein said...

I never said anything of the sort.

February 20, 2008 10:53 PM  
Blogger Dr. Zaius said...

My cat that just died on Christmas day was a feral cat. I got her from an ex-girlfriend that was feeding a whole colony of feral cats. She used to put out an extra bowl every night so the runts of the litter didn't get pushed aside. 12 cats for dinner? she would put out 13 bowls. It was remarkable watching them all eat.

February 21, 2008 11:13 PM  

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