All the signs of summer have arrived, the first one being that I’m in a sundress. As soon as the weather hits 90, I wear one all summer when I’m home. It’s got to be loose fitting, rayon or cotton, and ready for wear and tear. Shoes are obsolete. Even my pink flip flops are […]
It involved sun and birdsong, lilacs and a single purple iris. Joe was gone before I woke up, to a meditation retreat in town. When I saw the card and presents he left for me on the table, I thought, ‘I just might like presents wrapped more than I like them open.’ The mystery and […]
Joe took the day off to study for his upcoming counselor’s licensure test. I had just returned from a morning Scrabble game, the one where Mara complimented my lime green shirt and I explained how I had pulled all the little rhinestones off after I bought it at thrift shop. She and Rosemary, whose dining […]
The porch vacation season began on March 1st and involved the sound of construction from our neighbor’s yard; the beeping signal of heavy machinery backing up and fooling me into thinking I had clothes in the washer ready for hanging; our tail wagging dog, anxious to be petted; and the book “A New Earth.” The […]
On the same day I received three Christmas cards in the mail, I also sat in a lounge chair on my porch, sunbathing with barely a stitch on. The feeling was spring but the sun hung too low. The sound of my neighbor’s lawnmower had been replaced with the sound of a distant chainsaw. Last […]
With a blanket spread out on May’s green grass, my husband and I are finally idle. Balanced in between Friday and Sunday, in between household chores and calls to take care the body, we extract the essence of the moment. As the breeze pollinates me with the scent of spring flowers, he tells me about […]
The weekend porch vacation was moved to the yard. It involved sunbathing and flowers and bees buzzing on the bright heads of dandelions. There was the scent of wild onions in the air. A woodpecker tapped, a phoebe protected her nest, and two yellow finches politely waited for their turn at the birdfeeder. A green […]
The menu consisted of basmati rice, steamed greens, and venison sautéed with onions. The conversation mostly revolved around garden plans. “We’ll have to risk being woken up by Jasmine’s barking,” Joe was saying, “because she needs to stay outside and chase away the deer that have been coming around.” An image of a family of […]
Sunday’s extended porch vacation included two meals, a break for raking leaves and clipping rose bushes, some reading and paperwork to catch up on, a flood of sun, a red-breasted woodpecker at the bird feeder, and some lively conversation. In Other News: Library Friends to host Floyd Writer’s Circle Members (The following is re-printed […]
The wind is like a bold sprawling signature signing its name across the cloudless sky. It rustles and scatters the curled-up brown oak leaves in my yard and makes the chimes on my porch loudly sing. There’s an engine running in my neighbor’s garage, making me the feel restless, as though I should be in […]
The February Porch Vacation is cancelled until further notice or until we can reschedule it to a warmer climate. Post Notes: November porch vacation is HERE. January porch vacation is HERE. We got snow but not that much. The photo is of my mother’s porch on the coast of Hull, Massachusetts.
The bird feeder Joe got for Christmas is three times the size of our old one. We like to feed our bird neighborhood of mostly chickadees and sparrows in the winter when the frozen ground makes it hard for them to forage. But this year we haven’t had a hard frost yet. It’s warm enough […]
