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One Row at a Time
I didn’t want Ashley to get out of bed this morning. I wanted to pull her back down beside me, bury my face in her shoulder, stay warm under the covers and sleep just a little longer. We love to lay there in the bed in silence together before the sun comes up, not quite…
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Poetry Between the White Lines…
I have driven that road more times than I can count, especially in the last week. Through West Georgia – Newnan, Franklin, Texas (the unincorporated Georgia version, not the state), across the state line (welcome to Sweet Home Alabama. Love, Meemaw Ivey) and into east Alabama through Rock Mills and into Roanoke. Past the same…
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Pacing the sunrise…
Yesterday morning I wrote about watching the sun scramble up over the pines along Redwine Road. This morning I watched that very same sun come up over Johnson County, Kansas. Earlier this afternoon, somewhere high over the middle of America on my way home from a quick trip to Kansas City, I found myself still…
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There Is a Beauty in Each New Beginning…
After the whirlwind of the last four days – starting early Friday morning and ending when we finally got back home to Peachtree City last night – it is hard not to be sad. But I suppose I need a bigger, more lively and substantial word. Sad doesn’t quite seem to do my emotions justice…
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Rosalyn Lane McMurray Saunders: April 1, 1956 – August 14, 2026
Rosalyn Lane McMurray Saunders, a writer, photographer, mother, grandmother, lover of children, and lifelong observer of the beauty in God’s world, went to be with the Lord on Friday, August 14, 2026, at the age of 70. Lane died in Fayetteville, Georgia, while visiting her children and grandchildren – exactly where she loved to be.…
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What does a hummingbird say?
To all of the readers of Ponderings from the Porch Swing: This is Lane’s oldest son, Thomas, writing this evening with a heart full of hurt as a result of her sudden passing yesterday morning, Friday, August 15 – but also with a heart full near to bursting with love and joy for the outpouring…
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“In the serenade of the black, the stars are a choir…”
“And they were canopied by the blue sky, so cloudless, clear, and purely beautiful, that God alone was to be seen in Heaven,” Lord Byron. I think the sky today, dark Caribbean blue with not even a wisp of clouds to mar the sky’s beauty, would inspire Lord Byron. So, so pretty this morning it’s…
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“A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows…”
A beautiful summer day in my neighborhood this morning. A gentle cool breeze is pinging the wind chimes, waking the earth from its slumber. The sky is the color of the wild blue yonder, so blue it’s almost purple, with not a cloud in sight. The warmth from the bright sunshine is making the zinnias…
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“Twilight drops her curtain down…”
Ate breakfast on the porch this morning sitting in the swing, drinking my coffee, surveying my little world, watching my songbirds and butterflies enjoy the sunshine of the waking day. The morning has a soft wind chime symphony and a few cicada solos. The male cardinals are so red they are almost fluorescent. I know…
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“Life is a journey, not a destination…”
Henri Matisse wrote, “There are always flowers for those who want to see them.” There are always flowers in our lives. God plants them all around us. They’re not hidden, we just have to have enough faith to see them bloom. Our lives are surrounded by beauty. It quietly blooms while we scurry around in…
Ponderings from the Porch: a blog of my musings, stories, and thoughts.
About Me
Hello! My name is Lane McMurray Saunders. I live in Roanoke, Alabama.
I have a degree in English from Wesleyan College, and I spent my adult working career as writer, photographer, graphic designer, and editor for newspapers and magazines.
I want to share with you where I find my church and refuge: sitting on the porch swing, enjoying a yard full of song birds. Here my thoughts and stories and wonderings pour out. Hope you enjoy reading my rambles!
Ponderings from the Porch Swing 