pics from the front porch

This summer has been the hottest, stormiest summer we've had here in a long while.  The last summer that was anything like this one I had only two children and they both sat looking out a backyard window with adorable little rain boots nearby  ... that summer a bird built a nest in the hood of a purple rain coat which was hanging up outside and we watched from the breakfast table, cozy and dry, as the eggs hatched and the babies eventually took flight under the cover of our back porch. That summer was a long one ... but oh how time does fly.

This summer I spent a bit of time, no where near enough, sitting on the front porch close to the roof line where the rain could splash on my bare feet.  This was also a long summer in some ways ... one which also past too fast.

These two pictures and why they are here ... a reminder mostly ... of pleasant days after the storms, not blistering hot days when we ran from one air conditioned space to another, not days when it stopped raining just long enough for me to notice steam dancing up off the asphalt streets ... these photos recall sitting on the porch days.  Days when I can notice things written in red.  Uh, red letter days maybe.

The first, a little pot of flowers purchased on a whim for their brightness.  I routinely get these at the grocery store.  They stage them right where everyone will see them on the way to the check out.  I buy them like I buy orchids, with no expectation for them to stay around once the flowers bloom out and wilt.  They bring a little joy then make room for the next little pot of floral sunshine.  These found their way out to the front porch on their way to the trash can ... it must have been the daily rain that saved them because they sat out there unnoticed long enough to re-bud.  I spent many a childhood moment inside a commercial nursery, of course I knew they would flower again given the opportunity.  I just don't/haven't thought of them that way.  Now I need to see the re-flowering of something that seemed ... might as well have been ... dead.  I'm looking to see what they will do.
The other picture, the humming bird feeder ... I put this out primary for my husband's possible pleasure.  He is tending the front bed this year and has spent the early morning hour pulling an epic proliferation of tiny mimosa trees out of my beds.  And  poison ivy, man, it has thrived during these back to back high humidity  days.  I am extremely allergic to it ... now he is also.  Anyway ... the feeder.  Provided for these little guys out of generosity ... they are not the least bit decent about sharing the bounty!  There is plenty for all and yet they create strife at the point of blessing.  I think there is definitely an object lesson there.

Gotta go ... busy as ever ... but trying to slow these days down enough to notice how good they are.