Cerulean blue sky today. White fluffy clouds, barely smoke gray on the bottoms. Nice breeze for a while, strong enough to compose a wind chime symphony. I ate my bagel and fruit watching the fighting finches and cardinals. Lots of small wrens around today. They’ve not chubbed up yet like the mature ones. The finches cleaned all the seeds from their favorite feeder. Guess they were hungry. I put out new suet and the downy woodpeckers came calling. The squirrels are enjoying the seeds on the ground. I clap and they run away. Today feels like the second day of summer. Mother Nature has turned up the heat. The flowers and vegetables are loving it.

Well another piece of Americana has gone by the wayside. My mailman was driving a modern sleek white mail van this morning. So sad! Loved those little mail trucks. Guess Fisher Price will change their little mail truck toys. If it ain’t broke why do we have to fix it. The little truck had squeaky brakes. Always knew when the mail arrived. Once going to visit Thomas and his family I followed a little caravan of three of the little mail trucks. I was so curious wondering why they were traveling together.

I’ve been thinking of my view from the porch as like a view of my life. In my view now the sky is beautiful with the setting sun. God has dragged his white and blue pastel sticks across the sky, low on the horizon. On one cloud he used purple tones for accents. Other clouds he’s tinted pale pink to contrast with the setting orange ball of the sun. So beautiful! If I look on my left my view is blocked by the scuppernong trellis. Turning to the right I’m looking at the greenery and wisteria that’s taken over that side of the porch and house.

If you look at your life when you’re young and raising your family your view is full of dreams of the American dream, seeking your own version of success and upward mobility. We see sunny days bright with new babies, families growing and changing. These days have some storms but rainbows show up to brighten these days. Raising our children at the end of a dirt road in a yard full of chickens and cats and dogs colored happy days for Chief and me. These days of raising children, that so often seem to last forever, are so fleeting. We had our share of stormy days but we knew the sun would shine on another tomorrow. Don’t give up looking for the rainbow. Stormy days help us appreciate and be grateful for the life we have.

Sometimes our view is obstructed by vines of adversity that tangle us up and cause us to pause and check the direction in which we’re headed. If we choose the wrong path, like a scuppernong vine pruned in the wrong season, we bear no fruit. Be careful at forks in your life’s path. A wrong step can affect you for the rest of your life. Pray for guidance. Choose wisely.

As we age and enter the twilight of our lives our view changes to a sunset of memories. Our days are overgrown, like the greenery of my side porch, with the love of our families and friends. We’ve slowed down enough to watch the sun rise and the sun set. We’ve earned our views from porch swings and rocking chairs. We have time to watch thunderstorms through our windows and marvel at the power of Mother Nature. And we’re firm in our belief that behind these storms, whether in nature or in our lives, we’ll find God’s love in a rainbow.

“Not all storms come to disrupt your life, some come to clear your path,” — Paul Coelho