Cleaning off the porch

[pegkerr]

This weekend I performed one of the rituals which means that spring is finally officially here. I have been delaying because ordinarily it is a reward I give myself after taxes are done (they are still not done; Rob is trying to get around a bug in Turbotax) but I finally went ahead anyway: I have cleaned off the porch furniture and bullied the girls into sweeping it off and have put out plants. Now starts the season of sitting on the porch. I will eat my breakfast and read the paper there during the summer months. I planted more hanging baskets than usual (three filled with lobelia) and bought six aluminum narrow ledge planters and filled them with pansies, so the porch has a lot more plants than in previous years. It is my favorite place during spring and summer, partly I think because there is nothing there to goad me into guilt. There is nothing I look around that I see I need to do. The porch is only for enjoyment: for greeting people going by on the sidewalk, enjoying the breeze, watching rain drip from the eaves, watching the heat lightning and listening to the thunder at night. I am really the person who uses it the most--Rob just doesn't think to sit on the porch to relax. The girls will play there, sometimes (store or school or whatever until I nag them into putting the furniture back into place) but they don't sit and read there much. Deep down, I am selfishly a little glad. As far as loafing there by the hour, doing nothing but reading, glass of iced tea at the elbow, the porch is mine.

Comments

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

Our previous house had such a porch, and I used to do the same. I really, really miss having a porch!

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

. There is nothing I look around that I see I need to do.

Isn't that important? I fled my back porch because it had a view of too many things I needed to do. Now that I'm reclaiming the garden (with hired help), I hope to sit on the glider this summer with an iced tea.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I have been moving my houseplants outside for the summer, which is my hallmark of trust that we are not getting another frost.

K.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

It is my favorite place during spring and summer, partly I think because there is nothing there to goad me into guilt. There is nothing I look around that I see I need to do.

I can SO identify with this...my entire house demands so much work right now. If the fellow coming to replace a few windows tomorrow can tidy up the old A/C on his way out, I can also retreat to my deck, with wind chimes and a view of the pool.

A place to hide. Rah!

I've enjoyed your comments in and around several LJs, but 1minnesotagirl says I must stay for a while. Hope you don't mind another reader. It will take a little bit longer to get to your books--this week I'm on the second pass of a 700+ page manuscript.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Thanks for introducing yourself, and I look forward to getting to know you better.

Cheers,
Peg