Category Archives: treasures

The Lanyard

Posted on May 12, 2024 by daeja's view

I have pulled up this poem by Billy Collins – “The Lanyard” – every Mother’s Day, year after year. Although some of the technology has changed over time since it was written (for the current generation, typewriter and dictionary for … Continue reading →

Posted in Aging, Flashback, Holidays, Perspective, Regrets, senior musings, treasures, Uncategorized | Tagged Billy Collins, Childhood, craft for mom, gift for my mom, I hope you knew, I miss you, Memories, mother love, Mother's Day, poetry, summer camp, summer camp craft, The Lanyard, unconditional love, wish you were here, woven | Leave a comment

Pink

Posted on May 11, 2024 by daeja's view

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

Waiting for the Sun

Posted on April 10, 2024 by daeja's view

So many of us get excited by celestial phenomena, and I’m mostly on that train, having repeatedly found myself shivering in my nightgown while standing on a back deck covered in snow – at 2:30 am in sub-freezing temps – … Continue reading →

Posted in Are you kidding me?, Earworm of the day, Flashback, nature, Perspective, senior musings, Spring, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, treasures, treasures, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weird, Wow! | Tagged 95%, celestial phenomena, connections, crescents, Earworm of the day, human connections, Neighbors, sharing an event, solar eclipse, The Doors, totality, treasures, waiting for the sun | Leave a comment

Unbridled Joy

Posted on April 2, 2024 by daeja's view

Last week a friend and I made plans to go out for a short walk. I waffled about taking my dog Rudi with me, as I had errands to run afterwards and having him with me would inhibit completing them … Continue reading →

Posted in Animal Stories, Dogs, Flashback, nature, Perspective, Seasons, senior musings, Spring, treasures, treasures, Uncategorized, Weird, Wow! | Tagged April, connections, dog esp, dog joy, dog walks, esp and dogs, Joy, little dogs, love in their eyes, March, off-leash, papillon, Papillon-Chihuahua, psychic connections, psychic connections with pets, pure love, small dog joy, small dogs, telepathic magic, unbound joy, zoomies | 2 Comments

Gifts From a Bathroom Window

Posted on January 22, 2024 by daeja's view

Every winter my bathroom window provides some wonderful ice art. Although other windows in this house face the same direction, this is the only one that puts on a show. Some mornings – even very cold ones – there is … Continue reading →

Posted in Earworm of the day, nature, Perspective, Photography, Seasons, treasures, treasures, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather, Winter, Wow! | Tagged abstract ice, bathroom window art, earworm art, earworms of the day, from my window, ice pictures, views from my window, window ice | 2 Comments

Book of Joys

Posted on December 29, 2023 by daeja's view

And so we slowly move past the holidays and begin wrapping up another year. There will be a temporary reprieve from the Labels of Guilt – that onslaught of personalized address labels from good environmental causes, children’s hospitals and international … Continue reading →

Posted in Aging, Flashback, grief, Holidays, Perspective, senior musings, treasures, treasures, Winter | Tagged book of joy, books, darkness and light, diaries, end of the year, grief and joy, happiness, holiday gifts, journaling, Joy, labels of guilt, Memories, old diaries, the guilt factor, The Holidays, the written word, too many labels, venting, writing, writing journals | Leave a comment

Close to Over

Posted on August 15, 2023 by daeja's view

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

Posted on August 5, 2023 by daeja's view

“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

Water

Posted on July 29, 2023 by daeja's view

Repeatedly throughout the day, I move from the air conditioned space that has provided relief from the heat and step out onto The Urban Porch ™ in order to leave the chill and be enveloped in the warm, bathwater density … Continue reading →

Posted in Aging, Flashback, nature, Perspective, Seasons, senior musings, summer, The Urban Porch ™, treasures, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather | Tagged August, beauty, end of summer, Family, heat, humidity, July, Memories, nature, observations, Rain, rituals, Summer, urban porch | Leave a comment

On a Stretch of Rainy Days

Posted on May 3, 2023 by daeja's view

Shortly before a recent stretch of rain drove the focus on projects and diversions inside the house, I managed to get out with a friend for a bit of meandering through the woods and fields. There was a portion of … Continue reading →

Posted in Animal Stories, baking, Birds, Cooking, Food, nature, Spring, The Urban Porch ™, treasures, treasures, Uncategorized, Weather, Wildlife | Tagged Buzzards, duck eggs, Foxes, Muscovy ducks, road crew tales, sniffing lilacs, Spring flora and fauna, vixen, Wildlife | 2 Comments

Clouds

Posted on February 5, 2023 by daeja's view

At the beginning of this past weekend, the temperatures plummeted into the “I’m not going anywhere unless I really have to” zone, with wind chills of minus forty degrees fahrenheit (-40F). While this time could have been spent baking or … Continue reading →

Posted in nature, Perspective, Photography, treasures, Uncategorized, Weather, Winter, Wow! | Tagged beautiful skies, cloud appreciation, clouds, every picture tells a story, look to the skies, my life in clouds, my religion | Leave a comment

Summing Up Twenty-two

Posted on December 31, 2022 by daeja's view

Yup, it certainly was another weird year. Thinking about it, it appears after almost every year we finish out, we probably look back and say things like “That was really hard “, or “Whew, made it through that one!” Of … Continue reading →

Posted in Holidays, Perspective, treasures, Uncategorized, Winter | Tagged 2022, following up, Gifts, Holidays, it's about the love, my micro-universe, small wonders | 1 Comment

Little Thrills

Posted on December 18, 2022 by daeja's view

A few readers have shared with me that they have been unable to comment on some of my blog posts, that WordPress won’t allow them to register their responses without jumping through a few website hoops. In general I don’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Cooking, Coping, Dogs, Food, Holidays, Perspective, Photography, treasures, treasures, Weather, Winter | Tagged crows, gifting, Gumby, hunkering down, laundry lint, little pleasures, no snow, pieces of the past, simple pleasures, winter food | Leave a comment

Peaking

Posted on October 26, 2022 by daeja's view

The color is peaking in style this year here in the northeast. Despite skepticism that it wouldn’t happen due to the drought, Autumn is delivering with a pupil-dilating, heart-opening array of almost trippy leaf psychedelia. We are pulsing with color … Continue reading →

Posted in Autumn, nature, treasures, Uncategorized, Wow! | Tagged achingly beautiful, Autumn, most beautiful season, northeast autumn, the melancholy of fall | 2 Comments

Transitions

Posted on October 16, 2022 by daeja's view

The coloring of Autumn is building to all its glory, and I walk around sighing with mouth agape. But I will share all of that at a later time. Right now the large and small creatures are in motion. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Animal Stories, Autumn, Perspective, treasures, Uncategorized, Wildlife | Tagged animals, Autumn, Changes, falling into autumn, insects, nature, small wonders, Wildlife | 1 Comment

In Print

Posted on June 15, 2022 by daeja's view

It wasn’t a milestone birthday and my expectations had been pretty much non-existent. Aside from wishing some things could finally be repaired or upgraded around the house (I keep wishing for that every year), this day marking another trip around … Continue reading →

Posted in Friends, Holidays, Spring, treasures, Uncategorized, Wow! | Tagged appreciation, birthdays, Gifts | 3 Comments