Sunday, August 8, 2010

Simple joys, gifts from God

Many years ago, I let the top of a pineapple sit in my compost pile and take root. There was no way it would survive a Virginia winter so I transplanted it into a pot and brought it inside. It lasted several years and one day my "foliage" plant had a baby pineapple on it! We watched it for many months and it grew a 5 inch or so pineapple. When it appeared ripe, we harvested it and rooted that top and tried again. The pineapple was tasty but rather small. The top became another foliage plant. I think it died as a result of being overturned by rampaging cats. Fast forward a few years and we buy another pineapple to eat and the top goes to the compost pile. Try again? Sure, why not? It helped keep our spirits up during a much snowier than usual winter, perched in our front window and around February we noticed that it was bearing fruit that had lovely purple flowers all around it. Today after enjoying watching the pineapple grow and produce a pineapple that reached almost market size, I decided that it was ready. In the last week it had gone from a rich dark green to a lovely golden yellow. Knife in hand, I cut it and trimmed the "slips" that accompanied it from the plant. Taken in to the cutting board I trimmed the top and the bottom, shaved down the sides and cleaned it up. that heart filled a quart storage bag. Before I popped it into the fridge, I took one small slice from the bottom. I like pineapple, I thought I had had good pineapple before. I have never had pineapple this good before! Truly a gift from God. A very simple pleasure, most unexpected. Thank you, God.