Have you seen...

A pot of applesauce bubbles on the stove, filling the chill of this cool morning with an aroma, sweet and warm. In the sink, an enormous tangled mound of coiled parings and cores from a bag of wormy apples I couldn’t bear to throw away. The meager pile of clean flesh destined for the pot, much less than what I have carved from it.
And though I discard most of each pitted and pock-marked fruit, the remnant that I keep adds a bright, wild burst to its pretty, tamed cousins from the supermarket.
Yes, there’s part of even the wormy apple that I love.


Morning sunshine has caught on a branch of Honeysuckle, bare of its leaves, bright with translucent, red fruit. And, again I find myself loving this undesirable thing.
An invasive plant, capable of displacing the native flora with its dense bushiness or smothering vines,
but for now, a filler of this otherwise vacant space.

Loved by winter birds for its berries.
Filled of their nests each spring.

Tatarian Honeysuckle, Lonicera tatarica

Amur Honeysuckle, Lonicera maackii

As we are able, we will replace it.
With the plants that once grew here, years ago, before the land was cleared.
But for now, as the field stands brown and lifeless all around me, there’s part of even this honeysuckle that I love.

"Have you seen...." is an effort to discover the unusual beauty in things not usually appreciated for their beauty.