My front porch is a great place to sit and watch the world go by.
I have always, since the first day we moved into this house, wanted a writing desk, kind of like the one Mimi has in the family room, to set in front of the living room windows, looking toward the street. So I could write letters, pay the bills, be on the computer. Years ago it was so I could look out and watch the kids play in the yard; keep them safe. I still don’t have my desk; perhaps I never will. So until then…..
My honey recently picked up a pair of chairs (and an unexpected coffee-type table, too) at the end of season sale at Lowe’s. They were originally intended to go under the pergola at the side of the house but stopped here on their way down the path and seemed to have settled in quite comfortably here. In the mornings, we sit here and eat breakfast before it is time to go to work. Some evenings, I’ll sit here and open the mail or peruse one of the many catalogs I didn’t order and wonder how it found its way to me. Patches, the aging Dalmatian, sits at my feet, snapping her jaws at a passing fly. Holly is usually bent down at the steps staring intently at a ball, hoping someone will notice, pick it up, and give it a throw. eventually, if no one notices, she’ll move the ball closer. Today it is a yellow and turquoise soccer ball and much to large for me to pick up with one hand. Yet there she stands, wagging her tail in hopes I’ll stop typing and play with her. It’s kind of sad, really. There are two cats here, too. Allie, the purported favorite, is sleeping in a woven chair to the left of me and Sammy, well, Sammy seems to have found somewhere else to enjoy the lovely day. Cooper is at the vet having terrible, unspeakable things done to his manliness. I feel like a heel. I hope he still loves me when I pick him up today.
I used to sit out here and read a book or the newspaper, or something else. Nowadays, I’ll be on the computer, planning trips, researching things, catching up on family e-mails and blogs, kicking the soccer ball for the dog. No matter what I intended to do out here on the porch, it always seems to end up the same way. Just watching the world go by.
Maybe the real reason I don’t have that desk I’ve “always” wanted is because I found something better on the other side of the windows. I found my front porch. It may not look like the one in the Thomas Kincade painting that I love entitled “Hometown Pride”, but to me, it doesn’t get much better than this.
