A favorite place
Sarah says her favorite room in the house is the kitchen. Last night, I realized my favorite room in the house is not technically in the house, it's right outside the back door. I like the back porch the best because (in no order whatsoever)...
...it is a gathering place when our friends come over for drinks and/or cigars and long conversations, or for other gatherings. For example, that's where we held Meggan's graduation party last Friday evening. Our aging but excellent outside table and chair set help make all this comfortable.
...it faces just a little east of north, so it's in our two-story house's shade most hours of most days.
...that's where Sarah & I sit when we do People Magazine crossword puzzles.
...it is made of concrete, so it will probably still be there when I no longer am.
...I can see my whole back yard from there. I can see the apple trees I planted this spring, the sunflowers growing in the garden plot, the Japanese maple Tasha gave Sarah, and trees numbering in the hundreds, some just inside our fence and most beyond. Lately at night, fireflies twinkle out near the woods.
...it is the feeding place and contact point with Charity, the newly friendly outdoor cat who recently realized he needs human attention after all.
...every clear night, I can see the Big Dipper, its two end of dipper stars pointing a line straight at the North Star, which sits just above the tree line every night I can remember. The Big Dipper moves, but the North Star never seems to, and there is something cosmic and grand about that.
...I can smoke there, and if a sporting event is on TV, I can smoke and not miss a play, because I can see in through the living room window if I want to.
...Sarah and I have most of our private conversations there.
...I can hear the giant freight trains go by on the Atlanta-Athens tracks about a half a mile away to the north, and watch the private planes from the nearby tiny airport fly over, and wonder what they're hauling or where they're going.
...it's fun to watch the birds. I have a bird feeder because I love seeing birds. Cardinals, blue jays, mourning doves, and robins are the most common; plenty of crows fly past but generally don't stop. I've seen wood peckers on the dead tree, hawks and buzzards high in the sky, and I have heard an owl at night, albeit rarely. Sometimes I get out my binoculars to get a closer look at the birds. (Unfortunately, I have seen swallows from my front porch several times, but never from the back. I don't know enough about them to understand why this would be.)
...it's private. We have neighbors on each side, but you can't see their houses while on the back porch unless you try.
...it has a light if you want to be able to read those crossword clues at night, an electrical outlet which is handy for plugging in the electric blanket or heating pad in the winter, and a water spout for filling up the kitty's water dish, or the watering can when I want to water the plants.
...it is the location in which, when alone, I am most likely to offer up a prayer of thanks to God for all the good things He has given me and my family.
...it is a gathering place when our friends come over for drinks and/or cigars and long conversations, or for other gatherings. For example, that's where we held Meggan's graduation party last Friday evening. Our aging but excellent outside table and chair set help make all this comfortable.
...it faces just a little east of north, so it's in our two-story house's shade most hours of most days.
...that's where Sarah & I sit when we do People Magazine crossword puzzles.
...it is made of concrete, so it will probably still be there when I no longer am.
...I can see my whole back yard from there. I can see the apple trees I planted this spring, the sunflowers growing in the garden plot, the Japanese maple Tasha gave Sarah, and trees numbering in the hundreds, some just inside our fence and most beyond. Lately at night, fireflies twinkle out near the woods.
...it is the feeding place and contact point with Charity, the newly friendly outdoor cat who recently realized he needs human attention after all.
...every clear night, I can see the Big Dipper, its two end of dipper stars pointing a line straight at the North Star, which sits just above the tree line every night I can remember. The Big Dipper moves, but the North Star never seems to, and there is something cosmic and grand about that.
...I can smoke there, and if a sporting event is on TV, I can smoke and not miss a play, because I can see in through the living room window if I want to.
...Sarah and I have most of our private conversations there.
...I can hear the giant freight trains go by on the Atlanta-Athens tracks about a half a mile away to the north, and watch the private planes from the nearby tiny airport fly over, and wonder what they're hauling or where they're going.
...it's fun to watch the birds. I have a bird feeder because I love seeing birds. Cardinals, blue jays, mourning doves, and robins are the most common; plenty of crows fly past but generally don't stop. I've seen wood peckers on the dead tree, hawks and buzzards high in the sky, and I have heard an owl at night, albeit rarely. Sometimes I get out my binoculars to get a closer look at the birds. (Unfortunately, I have seen swallows from my front porch several times, but never from the back. I don't know enough about them to understand why this would be.)
...it's private. We have neighbors on each side, but you can't see their houses while on the back porch unless you try.
...it has a light if you want to be able to read those crossword clues at night, an electrical outlet which is handy for plugging in the electric blanket or heating pad in the winter, and a water spout for filling up the kitty's water dish, or the watering can when I want to water the plants.
...it is the location in which, when alone, I am most likely to offer up a prayer of thanks to God for all the good things He has given me and my family.