Ponderings from the Porch Swing

Oldest brother visited this morning for some porch pondering with me. I sent him home with some tomatoes from my garden still warm from a touch of God’s green thumb. After he left I filled the bird feeders, washed out the bird baths. As I filled one of the bird baths with fresh water, a…

I love Southern Living magazine’s definition of a southern funeral. “A Southern funeral is an elaborate, highly social community event. It is characterized by deep religious faith, extensive personal grooming and formal attire, mourning that includes both tears and laughter, and an enormous spread of traditional comfort food.” I went to a funeral today and…

My youngest sister-in-law and her family will bury their mother today. She was a beautiful soul, doted on her children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren, tended tirelessly to her husband after he suffered a devastating brain injury in a farming accident. I never saw her that she wasn’t smiling or dressed to the nines. We’d talk…

Read this quote in a magazine this afternoon. “If you want to hate America, watch the news. If you want to love America drive across it,” Mikale Olsen. It’s so depressing to watch the news as they report all the shootings, the robberies, the hurt placed upon people living their everyday lives. We strike up…

This morning was a perfect pondering from the porch swing day. A faint breeze winged its way across the porch not strong enough to play the wind chimes but strong enough to keep the porch pleasant. My box fan hummed along with the songbirds’ symphonies. Father Sky sketched a dark cerulean blue summer sky canvas…

This morning was so pretty. I watered the vegetables and cleaned the bird baths. The bee and wasp bird bath party is over, thank goodness. Those critters pack a punch. I was sitting in the swing enjoying the songbirds, the peace of a quiet day. My son comes out to tell me it’s too hot…

The sky is covered in a layer of thin clouds this morning, light blue sky peeping through the clouds’ weak spots. It’s hot and humid. Did my morning plant and bird chores, sweat dripping down my brow, burning my eyes. Youngest son asked, “Mama, you crying?” I just replied, “Sweat dripped in my eyes.” I…

I was invited down to my niece’s home for supper tonight. While our delicious supper was cooking, she served us fried green tomatoes fresh from their garden. As I sat at the bar munching the fried green goodness, I noticed all the vases of colorful zinnias sitting around and couldn’t help but be reminded of…

Enjoyed the porch this morning with oldest brother. We talked about our gardens and our birds. He had a wren get in one of his pretty hanging baskets, pulled up a few flowers, and proceeded to build a nest. Wrens are curious little fellas and love to build nests in unusual places. Mother Nature and…

I love Erma Bombeck’s quote on the Fourth of July, “You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato…