-
Recent Posts
Archives
- December 2025
- November 2025
- October 2025
- September 2025
- August 2025
- July 2025
- June 2025
- May 2025
- April 2025
- March 2025
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- April 2022
- June 2021
- March 2021
- October 2020
- July 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- December 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- September 2017
- August 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- January 2017
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- August 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- August 2014
- June 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- February 2013
- December 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
-
Category Archives: Daeja’s Garden
Redirection
This week I will share a few things that have provided a bit of joy, appreciation, awe, or curiosity during September. For the most part they are pretty simple things which have created a necessary and probably healthy bit of … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Autumn, Birds, Cooking, Daeja's Garden, Food, Gardening, Mushrooms, nature, Perspective, Seasons, senior musings, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, treasures, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather
Tagged ant vs. hornet, autumn light, Birds, bugs, Figs, flock of mourning doves, grandparenting, insects, polenta con fungi, rainbow soap, recipe, sage chips, sanity saver, scented clematis, September, september scenes, Spotted Lantern Fly, tea house
Leave a comment
Drifting
This morning I decided to tackle some of the worst of the weeds in front of The Urban Porch. Although I’m not all that worried about neighborhood appearances (when you live across the street from a hoarder, everything looks better … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Daeja's Garden, Gardening, Memories, nature, Perspective, Photography, Seasons, senior musings, summer, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, treasures, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather, Wildlife
Tagged aquarium, beach, Childhood, cicada killer, cloud formations, clouds, communing with the octopus, drifting through life, Family, Flowers, how to dry overalls, July flowers, lake, late summer blooms, mesmerizing jellyfish, noisy overall buckles, ocean, octopus, overalls in the dryer, spacey
Leave a comment
Muggy and Buggy
Those of us who can are spending as much time hiding in air conditioned spaces, parked in front of a fan, submerged in the water, or escaping the area altogether for cooler climes. Hitting 100°F with humidity is a condition … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Are you kidding me?, Cooking, Daeja's Garden, Food, Gardening, nature, Perspective, Seasons, senior musings, summer, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather
Tagged bad hair days, buggy, cold summer meals, days of watermelon, firefly season, gazpacho weather, heatwave, hot weather dinners, humidity, matcha, mosquito hell, muggy, overpopulating, overpopulation, summer heat, tomato face, too hot for little paws, too hot to move, too hot to weed
Leave a comment
Sometimes I Feel Like Margot
The story takes place on Venus, where it rains all the time, the sun only appearing every seven years and lasting for one precious hour before the endless rain begins once again. Just one child in a classroom of nine … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Are you kidding me?, Coping, Daeja's Garden, Gardening, nature, Perspective, Seasons, senior musings, summer, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, treasures, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather, Wildlife
Tagged antisocial, art exhibits, dog vomit slime mold, FOMO, FOMO as a catalyst, garden, Gardening, isolation, life, Little Rudi, look for the rainbow, mosquitos, only one bloom, original illustrations, papillon, Rain, Ray Bradbury, roz chast, si, so much rain, summer garden, summer wildlife, tulip tree, Weather, weeding, wet summer
Leave a comment
Purple
Right on schedule, it’s Purple Time on and around the Urban Porch again. It’s been raining, raining, raining, adorning the petals in watery gems. Stopping by a friend’s house over the long holiday weekend past, I was met with the … Continue reading
Posted in Daeja's Garden, Gardening, nature, Perspective, Photography, Seasons, senior musings, Spring, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, treasures, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather, Wow!
Tagged Bearded Iris, clematis, colorways, End of May, Flowers, garden, Gardening, Ground Ivy, Lavender, Lobelia, May, may flowers, may garden, meaning of purple, nature, northeast in May, purple moods, purples of May, Salvia, Siberian Iris, so many purples, Spring, spring flowers, Wisteria
Leave a comment
Another Year of Two Springs
I’ve been away from this page, having had the good fortune once again to dwell amidst spring blooms in the west first, which will be followed a few weeks later with newly emerging blossoms of the east. This post will … Continue reading
Posted in Daeja's Garden, Gardening, nature, Perspective, Photography, Seasons, senior musings, Spring, Travel, treasures, Uncategorized, Wow!
Tagged April, California blooms, Color, falling into spring, flower crazy, Flowers, garden, Gardening, Gardens, Napa, nature, NorCal, patterns, photography, scent of flowers, Sonoma, springtime, west coast, wine country
Leave a comment
Hey April!
Made it to April! Depending where you reside, so many experienced what felt like an endless stretch of cold and darkness. Around here you can almost hear sighs of relief echoing from all directions (regarding the weather, anyway). I’m going … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Birds, Cooking, Daeja's Garden, Food, Gardening, nature, Perspective, Seasons, senior musings, Spring, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, treasures, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™
Tagged ant farm, bird in the house, curious turkeys, Dutch Baby, fancy crocus, harbingers of spring, house wrens, it begins again, robin, scilla arrives, seasonal reunions, sunny daffodils, turn turn turn
Leave a comment
On August and Letting Go
The waxing moon has suddenly taken on an orange glow this week, due to drifting smoke from the fires up in Canada that tinge the atmosphere. It hangs in the sky much like a leftover hunk of yellow cheddar, perhaps … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Coping, Daeja's Garden, Gardening, nature, Perspective, Seasons, senior musings, summer, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™
Tagged August, blue dayflower, blue winged wasps, cheese moon, end of summer flowers, exhaustion, going to seed, invasive vines, ivy overgrowth, keeping up with the yard, letting go, mid-august, overwhelmed, trumpet vine, wild grape invasion, wildfire haze, yardwork
Leave a comment
Something Blue
Every once in a while I will glance down from my upstairs bedroom window in order to catch the flashes of crimson fish in my neighbor’s backyard koi pond. Seeing them lends a tiny slice of serenity. I’m always glad … Continue reading
Posted in Are you kidding me?, Daeja's Garden, Gardening, nature, Perspective, Photography, Seasons, summer, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, treasures, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Wow!
Tagged banner year for hydraneas, beautiful day in the neighborhood, blue, Blue flowers, blue in nature, colors of summer, crow tree, Hydrangea explosion, Hydrangeas, neighborhood
Leave a comment
Tipping Over Into Summer
As I headed back toward the house after the last evening dog walk tonight, I wondered to myself when the fireflies would appear. They always show up in June. As if a manifestation of my wishes, there they were as … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Birds, Daeja's Garden, Food, Gardening, nature, Perspective, Photography, Seasons, senior musings, Spring, summer, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, treasures, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather, Wildlife
Tagged blooms of late spring, early summer, early summer blooms, firefly season, gifts of spring, June, late gifts of spring, late June, late spring, late spring blooms
Leave a comment
The Purples of May
I can’t keep up with it, how is it possible these days of spring are blowing by? A glorious May it has been, filled with heady fragrance, breezy blue skies, gentle rains. On this last day of the month, here … Continue reading
Posted in Daeja's Garden, Earworm of the day, Gardening, nature, Perspective, Photography, Seasons, Spring, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, treasures, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Wow!
Tagged a garden of bracelets, blooms, End of May, garden gems, garden gemstones, Gardening, jewel tones, jewels, last day of May, May, purple, purple haze, shades of purple, siberian irises, the garden, the purples of May
Leave a comment
Toutes Les Fleurs Blanches
The Dogwood tree at the side of The Urban Porch exploded with radiant blooms, sun filtering through translucent petals against vibrating blue skies. Each year I almost forget how stunning the Dogwoods can be until it happens again. Day after … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Daeja's Garden, Gardening, nature, Perspective, Photography, Seasons, senior musings, Spring, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, treasures, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™
Tagged All the white flowers, Dogwood flowers, Dogwoods, Gardens, gardens in my neighborhood, May blooms, scenes from the urban porch, spring flowers, The bluest sky ever, the neighborhood, white blooms, White flowers
2 Comments
Pink
As always, the big old cherry tree across the street from The Urban Porch made a spectacular annual showing. Walking beneath this fairy-like bower over the last few weeks has provided moments of daily enchantment. The burst of warm temps … Continue reading
Posted in Daeja's Garden, Gardening, nature, Perspective, Photography, Seasons, senior musings, Spring, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, treasures, treasures, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather, Wow!
Tagged cherry tree, cherry tree flowers, fairyland tree, flowering cherry, flowering tree, old cherry tree, Papillon in petals, petals, Pink blanket, pink petals, pink snow
Leave a comment
Respect
I’ve been bouncing between doing a little bit of yard work and planting myself in a chair on The Urban Porch during this spate of gorgeous days. The poppy patch, located in a corner of the front yard by the … Continue reading
Posted in Are you kidding me?, Daeja's Garden, Dogs, Gardening, nature, Perspective, Photography, Rant, Seasons, Spring, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, Uncategorized, Vent, Views From he Urban Porch ™
Tagged disrespectful people, flower thief, garden police, neighborhood garden, picking flowers, picking up after dog, poppies, poppy patch, poppy police, signs, stealing flowers, yard signs
Leave a comment
Two Springs
Today I think I am mostly going to fill the page with visuals. Spring has truly sprung. My family are East Coast-West Coast people. At times all of us have been living in the East. Other times all have been … Continue reading
Posted in Daeja's Garden, Gardening, nature, Perspective, Photography, Seasons, senior musings, Spring, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, Travel, treasures, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather, Wildlife, Wow!
Tagged bi-coastal family, blooms, east coast, exploding spring, Family, family visit, Flowers, northern california, spring flowers, spring photos, spring twice, super blooms, upstate new york, west coast
1 Comment
Fall Back
The week has brought forth a number of seasonal changes and fall-scapes. With something just short of a flourish, the Halloween decorations were happily removed from The Urban Porch ™ very early the following morning – so ready to have … Continue reading
Posted in Autumn, Daeja's Garden, Gardening, Holidays, House plants, nature, Perspective, Seasons, senior musings, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, treasures, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather, Wildlife
Tagged autumn scenes, curious raccoons, daylight savings time, fall back, fallscapes, first frost, Halloween, night animals, November, peak leaves are over, take down the decorations, the fading of autumn, trick or treat, trick or treaters
Leave a comment
Gone to Seed
September quickly steps aside, leaving us with those cool nights where having the window open just a bit provides for a good sleep under cozy blankets. The other morning the heat actually kicked on, just for short while. I bought … Continue reading
Stepping Out of Limbo
Mid-September. I’m awaiting a burst of productivity to occur, but it’s not happening. Earworm of the day, recorded by Jimmy Cliff in 1971: Sitting here in limboBut I know it won’t be longSitting here in limboLike a bird without a … Continue reading
Posted in Autumn, Cooking, Daeja's Garden, Earworm of the day, Gardening, nature, Perspective, Photography, Seasons, senior musings, summer, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather
Tagged almost fall, colors of early autumn, easy recipe for the unmotivated, feeling in limbo, late summer colors, no motivation, stagnation, waiting for Autumn, zucchini for dinner
Leave a comment
Close to Over
In a few more weeks the school busses will be back on the roads again. Meanwhile, the kids are buzzing with anticipation as they await the news of who their teachers will be this year. It feels almost surreal how … Continue reading
Posted in Daeja's Garden, Gardening, Mushrooms, nature, Perspective, Photography, Seasons, senior musings, summer, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, treasures, treasures, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™
Tagged almost time for school, August, down another rabbit hole, Earworm of the day, late august, late summer palette, the colors of late summer, unpredictable mushrooms
Leave a comment
Looking for Bessie
“Her name was Bessie”. That’s the only thing my father told me about his paternal grandmother, and that was only after I asked him about my great-grandparents. He mentioned there were a couple of uncles, both of which disappeared “I … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Bucket List, Daeja's Garden, Mushrooms, nature, Perspective, Photography, senior musings, summer, Travel, treasures, Uncategorized, Wow!
Tagged aging, all points led here, ancestry, connections, familia, Family, finding your roots, genealogy, Memories, mushroom capital, orchid room, recording family history, relatives
3 Comments
Aurora
If anyone in the immediate neighborhood had looked out their window shortly before midnight last night, they might have seen a woman standing in the center of the street in the middle of a lightning storm, wearing only a long … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Are you kidding me?, Daeja's Garden, Divorce, Flashback, Friends, Gardening, nature, Perspective, Seasons, senior musings, summer, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather
Tagged aurora borealis, bee magnet, garden neglect, hosta, lack of inhibition, lightning, Memories, neighborhood, neighborhood colors, Neighbors, northern lights, rose of sharon, strobe lightning, summer bees, summer insects, summer storms
1 Comment
Bustin’ Out All Over
Earworm time again! Today it’s Rodgers & Hammerstein – “June is Bustin’ Out All Over”, by way of an elementary school assembly I was in, back in sixth grade. It’s amazing how some of this stuff can stay in your … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Daeja's Garden, Flashback, Gardening, Humor, nature, Seasons, senior musings, Spring, summer, The Urban Porch ™, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weird
Tagged earworms, flower explosions, June, June is Bustin' Out All Over, Rodgers & Hammerstein, school assembly memories
Leave a comment
Mélange
What a month it’s been! Beautiful days, some lazy indulgences, some quirky sights to be seen. Due to the outrageously fine weather, I’ve spent some significant (and perhaps a bit wasteful) lengths of time just hanging out on The Urban … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Birds, Cooking, Daeja's Garden, Food, Friends, Gardening, nature, Photography, Seasons, senior musings, Spring, The Urban Porch ™, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™
Tagged blue, doing nothing, grandparents, May, purple, retirement, spring flowers, the most beautiful May, wild food
Leave a comment
Moving Right Along
Time seems to be whipping by at a pretty good clip. It feels as though we are all in some sped up animation. During a conversation with a friend years ago, we expounded on the theory that time goes faster … Continue reading
Oddballs and Mishaps Around “The Urban Porch ™”
So what’s happening on and around The Urban Porch ™ this week? Some lovely rain, prompting the grass to suddenly get so crazy high that I actually mowed for a second time. That might be an April mowing record. Inspired by … Continue reading
Unspooling
I can’t believe I’m back again posting so soon, but it seems the season is suddenly unspooling so quickly that I can’t keep up with it and feel the urge to share my somewhat nerdy excitement about the flora/fauna explosion. … Continue reading
Boom!
Boom! It’s only mid-April and already the grass on this little patch of front yard suddenly got so dense that I realized I better mow it now, before it gets too difficult to push through. Has Spring come on with … Continue reading
Posted in Daeja's Garden, Gardening, Photography, Spring, The Urban Porch, treasures, Uncategorized, Weather, Wow!
Tagged high on spring, spring flowers, the season of Hope, The Urban Porch, warm April
2 Comments
Departures and Arrivals
The population in the vicinity of The Urban Porch is experiencing many changes. My wonderful neighbor who has been renting the upstairs of the house directly next door for the last two years just moved out last weekend, on to … Continue reading
Posted in Are you kidding me?, Birds, Daeja's Garden, Gardening, nature, Perspective, Spring, The Urban Porch, Uncategorized, Wildlife
Tagged good and bad neighbors, homemade yogurt, neighborhood changes, neighborhood vibes, relief, spring flowers, trauma from bad neighbors, using up the harvest, what to do with celeriac?
Leave a comment
Revival
When I first moved to this latest house in a long line of homes, one of the more lovely aspects of the place was a gorgeous, well-established white peony that someone had planted by the front of the fence. The … Continue reading
Posted in Daeja's Garden, Gardening, Photography, Spring, Uncategorized
Tagged monkey's paw, Monsanto, mutant plant, peonies, plant poison, weed killer
4 Comments
Nettle Peace
A few years ago I was drumming with a number of women on the side of a mountain not far from where I live, at the home of a local herbalist. Outside her front door she had a patch of … Continue reading
Adventure and Distraction in the Autumn Garden On a Saturday Morning
I decided to spend just a few hours this morning cleaning up. Just a few, since we had plans in the afternoon.. a couple of hours, before that gardening backache sets in. Just enough to tidy up, because I have … Continue reading
Posted in Daeja's Garden, Gardening, Humor, Uncategorized, Wildlife
Tagged autumn garden, distraction, fall clean-up
6 Comments
The Light Has Changed
The light has changed. There is a perceptible glow that heralds the arrival of Autumn. It is moody and wistful, filled with wishes, yearnings and memories. The sky becomes an achingly beautiful blue, or a moody, layered steel, or glows. … Continue reading
Posted in Daeja's Garden, Gardening, Uncategorized
Tagged Autumn, autumn light, cherry tomatoes, end of summer, Fall, Harvest, kale, raw kale recipe, Recipes, urban garden
13 Comments
Alba, In the Shade of the Japanese Maple
Where can we go to find God if we cannot see Him in our own hearts and in every living being – Swami Vivekananda
daeja's view 