Inosculation

My father was a grafter.

In a good way.

In our tennis group, one older player with bad knees has adapted his play in such a way as to return a ball that is virtually unreturnable, it is so short and has such spin/slice.

Whereupon another member of the group, an opponent, calls out to him: “You rattlesnake!”

Then adds, “But in a good way.”

After father retired as chemistry professor at a small liberal arts college in New England, he and my mother moved to Southern California.

His property had a number of fruit trees on it.

Ever curious, he had one tree grafted multiple times.

Everything grows in Southern California.

Ever after that small tree yielded up a variety of wonderful, various fruit.

It has been said Nature is the Almighty’s 2nd book.

Nature is likely considered by many, including naturalists and tree-huggers, to be a gift from the immortal to mortal, and, as such, should be recognized, acknowledged and cherished.

Lessons abound.

It might be up to us to connect the dots.

Unlike those of Louis Braille (invented in 1824 by the French educator who was blinded in one eye at age 3 and went completely blind at age 5), these dots may lie beneath the surface, inaccessible to questing fingers.