From my archives…

Did lots of cloud watching this morning and afternoon. I have become a nephologist, a big word for a cloud watcher. The sky today was a marble slab created with blue and white and gray streaks, resembled a marble counter top in a beautiful modern kitchen featured in an architectural magazine. I watched the clouds all day marveling how they melted together but still kept their faint outlines of color. Occasional the sun rays would burn a hole in the cloud cover and the blue sky would peek through briefly. So pretty to see.

Late afternoon before dusk turned down the sky’s lights, I watched the clouds fill with rain, getting heavier and darker. The wind picked up, stripping the yellow oak leaves off the trees, sending them spiraling down to the ground in a dancer’s pirouette. The sun was a fiery red ball, beautifully burning the last of her daylight hours when she lay her head down on the pale pink horizon. As the sun dropped, a lone train whistle echoed down the track, the loud wail reverberating down the metal rails of the train tracks. As fall gets closer, the train whistle will begin to change tones. Sound travels slower in cool air and travels faster in warm air. You probably don’t even notice this unless you’ve lived around the train tracks. I notice it and the trains are beginning to sound like fall on these cooler nights.

As eventide spread over my yard and the rain began to pour quietly from the sky, heavy but straight down, no wind to blow it around, I sat in my reading chair by the window listening to the bamboo leaves rustling in the rain. A different and unusual sounding yard symphony as the bamboo stood tall, enjoying the cleansing rain. I know the earth appreciated the long drink of water.

Ya’ll already know I love my porch and porch swings. One wonderful thing about having a big front porch with two swings and double rocking chairs is having visitors. Late afternoon I had two beautiful girls visit me and we enjoyed sitting on the porch and talking and watching the birds.

Porch sitting is an art. Never thought much about it ‘cause I do it all the time. But porch sitting is a wonderful way to relax and wind down. When most of us have a few free moments, we’re probably checking our social media, not sitting down in a swing and watching the world go round. Don’t have a porch, well put a lawn chair in the back yard and watch Father Sky pin the stars in the night sky. Put a bench swing in the front yard and enjoy the morning songbirds and the chimney swifts at dusk.

My family always sat on the porch after supper and lots of nights as a child I’d be lulled to sleep by the squeak of the swing my father was sitting in. I bet lots of us can remember our grandmother’s porch rockers. My son and I sit on the porch after supper every night drinking a cup of coffee, watching Mother Nature paint the sunset.

You can lay your troubles in an adirondack chair in the yard or in a swing on your porch and just watch them melt away. You can talk on the phone, read a book, eat a snack, drink your morning coffee, watch the birds on the feeders, watch the butterflies dance on the flower blooms, and a thousand other things from the porch. I eat my breakfast everyday perched in the swing on my front porch. I have neighbors who visit with me on the porch and neighbors who enjoy their porches, too. Front porches used to be iconic features of American homes, symbols of a slower way of life. Front porch sitting was once called a status symbol. Our worlds spin so fast now we’ve lost the ability to relax, to just sit and do nothing. Lot of homes now are built with large porches on the back of the homes for entertaining.

Senior Living says, “While a classic porch can be ideal, we believe it is not entirely necessary to enjoy Porch Sitting. Whether you are on a smaller portico, a veranda, a terrace, front porch, back porch…even the garage with the door open while watching the kids at play, that counts.”

So if you have a semblance of a porch start enjoying it on these cooler evenings and mornings. It’s excellent therapy for what ever ails you!

“If the world had a front porch like we did back then, we’d still have our problems but we’d all be friends.” — Tracy Lawrence.