Back home after babysitting the grandchildren for several days. I’m blissfully tired and full of happiness. Gonna dip into my archives tonight for this day in 2023 and get back on schedule tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

No porch pondering today! Winter is back with its winds! I need to batten down the hatches. The wind is blowing things around on the porch. Yesterday was so spring like and warm. The bamboo forest is getting its exercise, bending and twisting in the wind. Haven’t seen a squirrel brave enough yet to hitch a ride to the roof. Today has the beautiful blue sky, cloudless and clear. We weather the storms and God sends us deep blue skies and bright sunshine. We can apply that to our lives, too.

I think I am simple minded this morning! Have moved one of the bird feeders outside my lady den windows three times and every time I come come back inside and sit down one of the window frame blocks my view. Finally gave up and put it back where it was to begin with. Have to turn around in my chair to see the feeder now but I’m used to that. I turn around in my swivel chair and Penelope jumps out of my lap and sits on the heater and watches the birds, too. The charm of finches is back today. Their chatting is so loud, sounds like they are arguing, but I think it’s happiness noise. I’ve read they sing in chorus so maybe that’s why they are so loud.

Remember sitting around the table eating dinner with your family at night. Young families are so over worked and over scheduled with their children’s activities, I know it’s hard to sit down to a meal, much less have time to cook. And the price of groceries! We always ate dinner and supper together growing up. You could set your clock by us — dinner at 12 noon and supper at 5 PM. Can’t remember our breakfasts but I’m sure they were all together, too. My Daddy was a stickler about all of us eating together, specially at supper. Had a date once, was going to the City Cafe in Roanoke for the sirloin steak dinner for two, but Daddy made me sit with the family till supper was over before I could go.

I loved our summer dinners with fresh vegetables and delicious silver queen corn on the corn, the homemade desserts. I loved the peach cobblers the most. Daddy would bring the corn home from the farm, already shucked, would drop it in the water Mama had boiling. Nothing more delicious than fresh corn. Little brother and I probably ate a dozen ears or more between us. We still love it. Sunday meals were special and delicious, too. Mama would leave a roast cooking in the oven while we went to Sunday school and church.

Middle brother sat across from me at the dinner table and loved to try and kick me on the shin bone. I’d put my legs on either side of the chair so he wouldn’t have a target. Loved hitting me on the arm, too. When I was in the 7th grade we passed in the hall at school and he popped me on the arm. Got a family photo from Christmas a few years ago with my three brothers. We’re sitting on the sofa and middle brother has his arm drawn back to pop me. Never did it hard enough to hurt but it was a habit of his. I didn’t mind, either. Guess I considered them love licks.

We all watched tv together as a family, too. I have lots of wonderful memories of my little brother and I stretched out on the floor watching the Walt Disney Show on Sunday nights, with Daddy watching behind us in his chocolate brown easy chair. We were watching tv together the night my daddy, still sitting at the kitchen table, had a heart attack and died. Didn’t have a tv here at my home in Roanoke till I moved here permanently after Chief died. My grandson said once, “Patty, I know this is a very old house but has it ever had a tv?” Chief and I got a good chuckle about that. I have a tv now in the lady den, a hand-me-down from my oldest son, and I love watching westerns. I watch the 10 o’clock news in my bedroom on my iPad. My grandchildren used to wake me up early to play. They didn’t miss the tv because there had never been a tv here when they visited. They never even asked about tv. Now they wake me up to tell me they are going to watch tv so I get up and watch with them! Don’t want to miss a minute with them when they visit.

Technology has taken family togetherness to a whole new level. Even when we gather together there are always a few on their phones, missing family time that can never be repeated. Technology lets us enjoy social media as a modern way to stay connected and involved with our loved ones. Sometimes I think the world needs to take a deep breath, disconnect from technology, slow down and relax, and be present in the moment.

God gives us each day and we decide how to use it. We need to enjoy the beauty of the world around us. If you saw tonight’s wondrous sunset you’d understand. God has a myriad of colors on the palette he uses to paint his sunsets. Don’t hurry too fast through life. It goes fast enough by itself.

“Life ain’t always beautiful but it’s a beautiful ride.” — Gary Allan