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Category Archives: Weather
The Bathroom Window Does Not Disappoint
They’re back! An annual perk of Winter – stumbling into the bathroom at dawn to be greeted by ice art on the window. It has only just begun and so far the daily frost landscapes painted by nature have not … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, nature, Perspective, Photography, Seasons, senior musings, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, treasures, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather, Winter, Wow!
Tagged abstract ice, bathroom window, cold bathroom, cold mornings, cold weather art, crystal formations, dawn abstracts, from my window, ice, ice formations, my imagination, nature's art, view from my window, window art, winter art
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First Day of the Last Month
It looks like we might have our first significant snow storm of the season tomorrow. Of course that prediction could easily change, but I rescheduled a long-distance appointment anyway. As always, over the last month or so the geese in … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Autumn, Cooking, Dogs, Food, Holidays, House plants, nature, Perspective, Seasons, senior musings, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather, Winter
Tagged December, End of November, fallen leaves, impending snow, intention, Japanese Maple, medicine card, missing loved ones, move with intention, murmurations, my red tree, northern lights, one flower standing, onward, Papi-Chi, papillon, The Antelope
1 Comment
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
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Weather Roulette
As usual, where I start with these posts is not always where it ends up. One of my kids sent me photos of outrageously massive, crashing and cresting waves on the ocean near where she resides, an effect produced by … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Are you kidding me?, Autumn, Coping, Flashback, kids, Memories, nature, Perspective, Seasons, senior musings, Uncategorized, Weather
Tagged 1960's parenting, big waves, childhood memories, climate change, dinner bell, earthquakes, first grade, flooding, geological, hurricanes, meteorological, microbursts, parental mistakes, parenting faux pas, running through the neighborhood, six years old, storms, tornados, walking to school, Weather, what was she thinking?, wildfire smoke
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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
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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
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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
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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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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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Radiant
There is a bit of magic in waking up to trees glazed in icy wonder. As the sun dodged in and out from wolf-gray clouds, I kept stepping outdoors into the frigid air for brief moments to admire the prisms … Continue reading
Posted in nature, Perspective, Photography, Seasons, senior musings, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, treasures, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather, Winter
Tagged diamonds, frozen, frozen world, glazed trees, ice, photography, pine needles, prisms, radiant sparkles, rime, shadows, silhouettes, sparkles, stalactites, unicorn icicles, winter gifts
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What’s On Your Nightstand?
It has been too easy to hunker down, gazing at winter skies, finding excuses to ride out the coldest moments indoors (unless you are one of those winter outdoor types – me, not very much). Despite a predisposition to remain … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Earworm of the day, Flashback, Food, Friends, grief, nature, Perspective, Seasons, senior musings, Uncategorized, Weather, Winter
Tagged a lot of books, books, books on my night table, cozy, distractions, e-readers, friends passing, papillon, reading, reading more than one book at the same time, snowy days, the nightbird, too cold, unfinished, unfinished books, winter
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Diversions – A Few November Details and Images
I’ve stopped watching and reading most of the news these days. Never one to hide my head in the sand, at this point I’m saturated and have had enough. All this angst in the media can’t be healthy. My gaze … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Autumn, Cooking, Coping, Food, Gardening, Holidays, nature, Perspective, Seasons, senior musings, treasures, Uncategorized, Weather, Weird
Tagged black and red cowboy boots, childhood memories, cloud dolphins, cloud whales, deities, ghost cat, halvah honeycomb icecream, lenticular clouds, light a candle, media anxiety, off-loading my cowboy boots, plantar fascia tear, prayers for my mother, radioactive dinosaur, seed catalogs, shakshuka, super moon, thanksgiving snow, the beast from 20000 fathoms
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Silver Linings
There has been a dark cloud around my heart lately. It happens sometimes. I think pretty much everyone knows the feeling. Late afternoon, heading out the door with the dog, leash in hand, pausing for a moment on the porch … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Coping, Earworm of the day, Perspective, Photography, Seasons, senior musings, summer, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, treasures, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather
Tagged cloud rays, clouds, dark cloud, dark feelings, emotional pain, God-light, grace, Grateful Dead, hope, hopefulness, light beams, onward, silver linings, sun rays, Touch of Gray
2 Comments
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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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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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
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
Funny What the Weather Will Do
January is bouncing all over the place in both weather and emotions these days. Views From the Urban Porch have been varied and unpredictable. One day I’m staring at an atmosphere so vibrantly blue that it conjures up tropical skies … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Cooking, Coping, Dogs, Earworm of the day, Flashback, Food, Friends, grief, nature, Perspective, Photography, Seasons, senior musings, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather, Weird, Winter
Tagged Changes, changing weather, diversions, earworm, grief, ice, January, january deaths, mood, most deaths in january, passages, personal history, retail therapy, sky, sky changes, snow, snowmelt, weather changes, youth
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Gifts From a Bathroom Window
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
First Snow
January has brought our first real snowstorm. It is so fresh and lovely. The Japanese maple leaves on My Red Tree had never quite let go this past autumn. Now they are heavily laden with fluffy clumps, soon to drop … Continue reading
Posted in Dogs, nature, Perspective, Photography, Seasons, senior musings, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, Uncategorized, Weather, Winter
Tagged cozy, first snow, first week of january, haiku, January, Japanese Maple, little dog problems, little dogs, maple syrup snow, Matsuo Basho, my red tree, Piette's House at Montfoucault, Pissarro, snowfall, snowstorm, the white of winter, winter, winter haiku, Winter Solitude
2 Comments
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
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Patience
Not too many days ago a friend and I were lamenting to each other on the phone about how the autumn foliage is not as dramatic, that the absence of serious color is a bit disappointing. How everything is either … Continue reading
Posted in Autumn, Earworm of the day, nature, Perspective, Seasons, senior musings, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, treasures, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather
Tagged colorful leaves, everything in its own time, fall foliage, get centered, late october, slow autumn, waiting for foliage, where is the color?
1 Comment
Looking for Light
There is too much to say and nothing to say at the same time concerning the painful state of the world these days. We are on visual and emotional overload. My rants on this blog (and there have been a … Continue reading
Posted in Autumn, Coping, Holidays, Perspective, Seasons, The Urban Porch, The Urban Porch ™, Uncategorized, Views From he Urban Porch ™, Weather
Tagged Autumn, avoiding the awful, circle of life, climate, coping mechanisms, dealing with stress, diversions, dull foliage, fake spider webs, Fall, Halloween, halloween decorations, no fall color, not looking, sleeping bees, weird seasons
2 Comments
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
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Water
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
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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
Thoughts From the Shower
The wildfire smoke has returned. Perhaps that has something to do with the lessening of the late afternoon mosquitos out on The Urban Porch ™ . I’m not sure if that’s the case, but it could be possible. While standing … Continue reading
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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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
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
Winter Prints
It’s been a little freaky having northeast February days hovering around fifty degrees, but I admit it has been nice to get outside in it, even though this weather is most likely global warming right smack in our faces. I … Continue reading
Posted in Birds, nature, Perspective, Uncategorized, Weather, Wildlife, Winter
Tagged freaky February, prints in the snow, small observations, unseasonably warm
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Clouds
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
