"Gather ye rose-buds while ye may." Robert Herrick

"Gather ye rose-buds while ye may." Robert Herrick

Hello Friends!

Friends, Romans, countrymen...y'all. Foodies, gardeners, artists and collectors - let's gather together to share and possibly learn a thing or two in the mix.

Donna Baker

Monday, May 16, 2016

Porch Sitting



You might like to hear this song whilst imagining me sitting on the porch.  And no, it isn't me playing my ukulele just a good porch sitting song.



I have had porches these last decades, but none were covered.  This one is covered and has a ceiling fan and I can tell you, I spend much of my time at the city house communing with nature and watching the lake and garden happenings from my back porch.  Just my favorite spot.  The house was  intentionally situated closer
 to the lake so the neighbors aren't easily visible.

Whereas front porches were mandatory in the past, it seems back porches are used more often now.

I went out the other morning early, with just shorts and a tee shirt, no bra as who would be around this early.  With my trusty spade and plants, I began digging holes.  HELLO!
Yes, a neighbor caught me outside unawares.  I have met them once and hadn't even brushed my hair. That never happens in the country where one can walk around naked if so inclined.

Some time later in the day, I still hadn't showered as I wanted to finish dirty work in the garage and outside, so I crept out front around the side of the house to dig up two tomato plants I decided to re-locate.  Bent over and looking like hell, HELLO!  Out in the open and nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.  I tried to cover up the front of my bust with dirt and plants in hand.  Sigh.



Guess this will be me in a few years.  Not much privacy in the city, but I sure do love my porch.






39 comments:

Sandra Cox said...

I love screened in porches in the back of the house. I need my privacy. We've had one the last two places we've lived.
Yours looks so warm and welcoming.

donna baker said...

I am drawn out there and just love it.

Jacqueline~Cabin and Cottage said...

I am afeared of neighbors seeing me too! haha! Private to a fault. But this made me howl. So nice for you to comment on my new room. Glad you like it!

Jacqueline~Cabin and Cottage said...

I am afeared of neighbors seeing me too! haha! Private to a fault. But this made me howl. So nice for you to comment on my new room. Glad you like it!

donna baker said...

Oh Jacqueline, if you only knew the times I've been caught. I like my privacy too. It always looks beautiful at your house.

Elephant's Child said...

I have been caught, more often than I care to admit. I probably should put more effort into 'respectability'. But then the garden calls. Or the birds. Or the sky...
Love your porch music. Gentle and lovely.

Joanne Noragon said...

We are front porch sitters because my bil, a country boy, won't sit on the back porch where he cannot wave at everyone who goes by.

donna baker said...

It's a good porch song Child. Yes, I've been in the country too long. It is going to be hard not to go outside in my underwear. Can't turn a pig's ear into a silk bag or something like that. I clean up good, I just don't want to. I definitely can't read out there. Too much to look at.

donna baker said...

That's what front porches are for. Nice to hear they still use them. Those were the days.

A Brit in Tennessee said...

Happily my closest neighbors are all retired, we all look like hell at any given time :)
Such a funny post Donna, I can so relate.
~Jo

Doc said...

Love your post Donna. We love sitting on our front porch and so do most of neighbors. Fortunately when we prefer privacy we have the luxury of complete privacy in the back garden.

donna baker said...

The one that caught me was retired, but looked like a million bucks. In the country, there is no reason to polish up. I guess the city is different. I'm going to have to shave my legs more and no more going braless.

donna baker said...

I was in the back garden the first catch. My front porch is U shaped and I was looking for a bench to put between big pots of geraniums, but I may be re-thinking that. Everyone around the lake has back porches, luckily, flowers and foliage have given me a semblance of privacy (but in fact, they can still see me).

ellen abbott said...

shorts, t-shirt, no bra, unbrushed hair...sounds like me but I don't care who sees me.

Frances said...

Donna, you've painted a very funny picture of life in the city. I have so many lovely childhood porch memories. Screened porches, sun porches, an open porch with a roof. I can still see them and call back summer days.

Your setting with the blue cushions on the while chairs is so inviting. A great place to daydream, study nature, sip something cool and have a nap.

It's funny to compare what you describe with how folks dress, or don't, when they leave their apartments around here. Anything goes, believe me! There are certain advantages to NYC anonymity.

xo

RachelD said...

An empathetic chuckle at the picture you've painted---just yesterday I signed one of those little UPS clicky-things with one hand whilst standing catty-cornered in the front door, holding back the heavy security gate, and keeping my unfettered bosom pressed slant-wise behind the door-jamb.

We have lots of privacy greenery around back, invisible from all sides, and long memories of way-out-in-the-country sun-bathing in the far back yard (of course there was that time the pesky crop-duster flew over and we had to grab for cover).

I love your porch---both of ours are uncovered, but I have sweet memories of that big deck with the two ceiling fans, especially on dampy, rainy days with a book, an old quilt, a pot of coffee, and that old glider on the porch.

Happy Middle of May!

r

La Table De Nana said...

That photo w/ the shotgun..LOL..I know her..her name escapes me..
I love porches..porch swings..wicker.I am also a porch dweller:)When and if I sit.
Love the tune too..

Amanda Summer said...

Haha! Loved your gardening stories! I garden in my bathing suit because I know I'll be covered in dirt soon enough and ready for a swim. Hate that when you look your worst and neighbors show up - no where to run and hide ;))

donna baker said...

I don't want my new neighbors to think I've just escaped from an insane asylum.

donna baker said...

Oh Frances, I would never have thought it in NYC. Manalo's and designers dresses and bags are what I think people are walking around in there, but I guess that's just silly. I'll guess it will take me time to get used to the city. Porches played such an important part in the society of our youth.

donna baker said...

You too Rachel. In fact, I cannot read outside as I am too busy looking around. The turtles and water fowl even come to look. The geese crane their necks to see what I am doing. The birds and babies coming to the feeders...

donna baker said...

I knew you would like that song Monique. I think she played in Harold and Maude. I'm up and down too, but always go back for a sit.

donna baker said...

Your neighbors are probably coming to watch you in your swimsuit Amanda. I guess I can't go outside like that anymore. There was a time I could go out a mess and be passable, but those days are behind me.

Curtains in My Tree said...

Why is it we never have a visitor till we look like, well bad, ugly, dirty etc

I never go out back on my patio in my night gown till one neighbor hangs over the fence and says Hi Janice , there I stand in my see through holes and all haha I put on a house coat now

I love my LV also this is only thing that makes my heart go pitter patter in my senior years haha Thanks for always stopping bye

donna baker said...

And thank you for coming by here.

Deborah Nolan said...

Dear Donna- this would certainly be a favorite spot for me. A good mystery to read and' something cold to sip and it would be heaven. Hugs

Optimistic Existentialist said...

I LOVE sitting on the porch in the evening during the summer :)

donna baker said...

The kids and grandkids are enjoying it too. My youngest grandchild, Penny Lane, points to the back porch the minute she comes over. She has discovered the joy of porch chalk.

donna baker said...

It is such a joy.

RachelD said...

That's the sublime Ruth Gordon, of Rosemary's Baby and Harold and Maude. Wasn't she just the most outlandishly wonderful character---so open and carefree and slyly innocent?

The Weaver of Grass said...

This did make me laugh Donna! Incidentally - I love that porch. They are quite rare on houses here in the UK.

donna baker said...

Thanks Rachel. It was just on the tip of my tongue. Yes, Harold and Maude was wonderful. It still makes me laugh. When I saw that picture, I just had to use it.

donna baker said...

Thank you Pat. It seems I never learn. But, I am waiting to see pictures from that wonderful trip. Must not get too hot in the UK in summertime. Here, they used to sleep on porches as it was hotter inside.

jerilanders said...

DONNA! You are so funny! Of course the neighbors show up at exactly the wrong time, that's what neighbors do. Now, you must gussy up in your finest, makeup and hair done neatly, and show up on their doorstep with a pie. That'll show em!

Share my Garden said...

This makes me laugh. My neighbours are used to me looking like a bag lady, bra-less and in my scare-the-horses shorts as I scrabble in the garden. I've reached the don't care age (I've been there quite a while!)

Kirsten Steen said...

I love your porch! And the picture of the gun-toting granny on the porch. Just need one of the dogs in the porch picture. I too have a favorite porch... the front one where I spend a lot of time in the summer reading. Half the time is spent reading and half the time is watching the evergreen branches sway in the wind and the Aspen leaves flickering in the sunshine. So magical and such bliss. Wish we could sit together over a cup of tea and talk gardening... not that I do enough. But I just weeded so much this afternoon, my fingertips feel bruised. Have a cup of something sweet on the porch for me!

donna baker said...

Oh Jeri. If only I was young again.

donna baker said...

It is hard to smile when you know you look like hell and get caught like that. It is going to take a while getting used to neighbors. Need an invisibility cloak.

donna baker said...

I wil Kirsten. Wish we could talk of your novel. I must have ADD because I can't read for more than a minute without looking at something.