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Category Archives: Spring
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
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My Regression
The backstory is that the only place to park my car behind the house is underneath a rather large Japanese Maple tree. Over the last number of weeks it has been dropping clumps of red seeds, pollen and other combinations … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Are you kidding me?, Humor, nature, Perspective, Seasons, senior musings, Spring, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Wow!
Tagged carwash, carwash as art, cheap thrills, child-like, eccentric or just fun?, entertaining myself, Japanese Maple, laughing alone, pollen, spending time alone, tree gunk, tree junk, weeks of rain
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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
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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
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A Few Days From Now
A few days from now we will hit the official Spring Equinox. On and around The Urban Porch, things are happening. Rain has been softening the earth to quench and coax emerging growth. Sun-warmed, once again the crocus and the … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Cooking, Dogs, Fashion, Food, Gardening, nature, Perspective, Seasons, senior musings, Spring, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather
Tagged banes of curly hair, basking in the sun, Cleopatra haircut, crocus, curly hair, curly haircut, Dutch Baby of the week, Fence Dino, first bee, full worm moon eclipse, gray curly hair, janis joplin pants, long curly hair, lunar eclipse, malachite clouds, nature mimics nature, papillon chihuahua, sparkly pants, Spring, tiny daffodils, two springs, wall of chocolate, warm sunny days
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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
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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
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Windshield Galactica
I don’t know why it is exactly, but going through the car wash has repeatedly provided brief moments of simple delight. Perhaps if getting the car cleaned was something that occurred more frequently, I might have eventually become a bit … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, nature, Perspective, Photography, senior musings, Spring, Travel, treasures, Uncategorized, Wow!
Tagged bubbles and brushes, car wash, carwash as art, childlike wonder, clouds and stars, galaxies, galaxy art, imagination, inner child, interplanetary, kid in a carwash, space, trippy car wash, windshield art
3 Comments
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
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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
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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
Waiting for the Sun
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
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Spring of Deception
A few days ago heralded the first day of Spring, the Vernal Equinox. We have arrived, and despite a few wistful sighs and moans, this area has mostly gotten off easy as far as a Winter goes. Of course there … Continue reading
Posted in Are you kidding me?, Birds, Coping, Humor, nature, Perspective, Seasons, Spring, Uncategorized, Weather, Winter
Tagged Birds, blossoms, broken washer, fake out, false spring, laundry dilemma, northeast seasons, scilla, spring blooms, Vernal Equinox, washing machine blues, winter returns
2 Comments
The Waiting
If you pay attention you can already detect the scent of green – I love how the color is synonymous with the fragrance. The trees here are still in their remission, but the promise of verdancy is in the air. … Continue reading
Posted in Cooking, Coping, Food, Gardening, Mushrooms, nature, Perspective, Photography, Seasons, senior musings, Spring, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, treasures, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather, Winter
Tagged almost equinox, another year, anticipation, green, interesting fruits, lychee, moods, persimmon, seasonal changes, seasonal moods, seasonal shifts, small joys, spring is almost here, vernal, waiting for spring
5 Comments
Control
Due to the wildfire smoke moving down from Nova Scotia and Quebec, there will be no lengthy observations while actually sitting out on The Urban Porch ™. There is an ominous, post-apocalyptic tint to the sky at the moment. Odd … Continue reading
Posted in Birds, Coping, nature, Perspective, Seasons, Spring, summer, The Urban Porch ™, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather, Weird
Tagged earworms, helpless in nature, in the grand scheme of things, neighborhood street art, no honest politicians, smoke in the sky, tiny installations, wildfires
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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
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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
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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
Uncivilized
Because it has been so weather-glorious, I’ve waffled back and forth about whether to do the happy thing and share a bit more about blue skies, nature discoveries and snippets from The Urban Porch ™ ……or instead launch into a … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Are you kidding me?, Perspective, Rant, senior musings, Spring, The Urban Porch ™, Uncategorized, Vent, Weird
Tagged angry americans, back in my day, born into an uncivilized world, collapse of society, disrespectful people, lack of courtesy, rude people, something's gotta change, what is wrong with people?
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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?
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Out of Focus
Everything feels out of focus this week. Making order of the thoughts in my head has been almost impossible – an inability to hone in and complete most things without becoming distracted. Events occurring in the news are probably a … Continue reading
Posted in Birds, Cooking, Deafness, Food, Hearing Impaired, nature, Perspective, Spring, The Urban Porch, Uncategorized, Wildlife
Tagged cooking fail, disconnecting, distraction, external reactions, internal feelings, low-end hearing loss, RSHL
1 Comment
In Print
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
Linden
This is a rather longish post concerning the frustration of municipal red tape and the loss of a friend, of sorts. It is one of those “shaking my head” type posts. It is also about quality of life, trying to … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Are you kidding me?, grief, Perspective, Rant, Regrets, Spring, Uncategorized, Vent
Tagged arbor, city ordinances, Linden tree, losing a tree
4 Comments
Appreciation Day
My Facebook feed has been exploding with pink gorgeousness from friends doing the “oooh-ahhh” from Japan, Washington D.C. and other places around the globe. The cherry blossoms have been blooming. K. and I were reveling in the herald of Spring … Continue reading
Posted in Holidays, Spring, Uncategorized
Tagged appreciation of beauty, Holidays, in touch with nature, mother earth, rebirth, spring celebrations
2 Comments
Miracles and Magic In Your Hands
Have you stopped to notice all the little miracles that pass through our hands daily? While skimming through a number of recent and stored photographs, I could not help but realize how many beautiful things these worn out old hands … Continue reading
Posted in Perspective, Photography, Spring, Uncategorized, Wow!
Tagged beautiful earth, beautiful nature, gifts of spring, miracles, nature, small wonders, these old hands, wonder, wonderous things
1 Comment
Buzzed
Our local nursery was having their annual Spring flower display, an early teaser, and it was raining, so I stopped there to get high. On flowers. I get pretty buzzed on flowers – it’s true. Obviously I am not the … Continue reading
Posted in Gardening, Photography, Spring, Uncategorized, Wow!
Tagged Color, garden center, high on flowers, spring flowers, spring preview, things to come
5 Comments
West Wind
Last night the west wind blew down all the cherry blossoms from the tree across the street. They landed on our side of the road, gathering in a lovely line of candy-pink bubblegum bliss along the curb. I was filled … Continue reading
Posted in Perspective, Spring, Uncategorized, Wow!
Tagged beauty, cherry blossoms, early morning, Spring, wonderous things
5 Comments
Cheese Puff Bliss
You never know when and where you might discover a moment of contentment. It feels like a gift when those times happen unbidden and unexpectedly. Having just finished shopping and while loading my groceries into the trunk of the car, … Continue reading
Cicada Love
They have arrived in some areas here, the emergence/invasion of the cicadas….pockets of ringing, singing, screaming cicadas. Then you turn the corner to meet a vacuum of silence where there are none. I stood among them watched them climbing the … Continue reading
Posted in Are you kidding me?, Photography, Spring, Uncategorized
Tagged big bugs, cicada invasion, cicadas, insects, Summer, the magical cicada
2 Comments
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
The Season of White Jordan Almonds
There is something about the blossoms of spring and those white Jordan Almonds. They are connected for me. Weddings and blue sky and white, white sweetness. That little bundle in the mesh bag, a small handful like tiny birds eggs; … Continue reading
Posted in Spring, Uncategorized
Tagged cravings, Jordan Almonds, Memories, Spring Blossoms, weddings, white Jordan Almonds
5 Comments
daeja's view 