porch time Archives - Life with Dee

Porch Time ~ My Favorite Season

March 15, 2016 By Deanna Piercy 3 Comments

It looks like my favorite season is here – Porch Time. Others call it springtime but for me, it’s Porch Time.

Last night David grilled hot dogs to go with the homemade potato salad I had made and we enjoyed our first dinner of the year on our front porch. I brought out the Bose docking station and we listened to one of my (numerous!) playlists named, appropriately enough, Porch Time. (I’ll link it at the end of this post.)

David had to do battle with wasps but otherwise it was a lovely interlude in our busy days.

After we ate, I hurried to finish up my day’s work:

Cleaned the kitchen
Watered my ~~jungle~~ houseplants
Put the freshly washed and dried sheets back on the bed and ironed the pillow cases (of course)
Finished scheduling posts for today on the Life With Dee Facebook page (I schedule several posts per day ahead of time and then intersperse them with other posts written or shared “in real time”.)

Finally, at about 9:30 it was time. Porch Time, that is.

I opened a bottle of wine and poured myself a glass. David had already lit the citronella torch for me. He loves fire (guess that’s a good thing since he’s a volunteer firefighter!) while anything bigger than a candle flame scares me.

I took my wine, phone and light blanket to the front porch, lit a candle and some incense and then turned on my Van Morrison playlist on my phone (I’ll link that one, too.)

It was a lovely night. It was still in the upper 60s and the air was soft and still.

Pretty soon, David came out with Shiloh for his bedtime walk. After their walk, David got himself some rum (he’s a firefighter and a pirate – ha!) and joined me on the porch.

There is something so sweet and meditative about sitting on the porch, sipping wine and listening to music. The stress and busyness of the day fall away and my spirit lightens.

David had had a long day so he went up to bed after about half an hour. I was reluctant to cut short this first night on the porch so I stayed another 20 minutes or so before joining him. Even then, I had to make myself leave my little oasis of peace. But it was just the first of the season. There will be many more. Many, many more. I’m determined to carve out as much time as I can for Porch Time.

Spotify Playlist: Porch Time

Spotify Playlist: Van Morrison

This post from 2012 describes how I discovered “The Pleasures of the Porch”.

Father’s Day and Family Time

June 16, 2014 By Deanna Piercy 2 Comments

What a lovely day it’s been. Last night we attended a birthday party for one of our musicians at Vintage 22 and didn’t get home until nearly 3 a.m. so today got off to a late start. I had to make a quick trip to the store for a few ingredients and then we had my parents and the kids over for lunch. My Chinese Chicken Salad is a family favorite which I don’t make all that often but should. Mom brought some muffins to go with it and we enjoyed a nice meal together.

After my parents went home we sat on the porch with the kids for another hour or so. Justin had brought cigars for the men which they enjoyed with glasses of Scotch (Justin and Chris) and rum (David, the pirate). Lisa and I, the asthmatics, sat upwind a bit and we all enjoyed good conversation and some music on the Bose. It was one of those lovely, simple experiences which I cherish.

The kids bought David “Game of Thrones” seasons two and three (I had bought him the first season for Christmas) and I bought him a Jimi Hendrix double album which I had found at an antique store in Norman. It is in nearly perfect condition.

We just finished dinner, Chris is at his house and David is watching “Game of Thrones”. A few minutes ago I took Shiloh for a walk and realized what a nice night it is. As soon as I publish this post I’m going to make myself a cup of tea and go sit on the porch. If the night sky is clear enough later we might do a little stargazing. Or perhaps we’ll exercise a little good sense and go to bed early. Nah…that’s not likely.

Happy Father’s Day!

Easter Weekend

April 2, 2013 By Deanna Piercy 2 Comments

How was your Easter weekend? Ours was truly enjoyable and the weather was spectacular. David was out of town until Saturday night which means I went to bed very late Friday night – I have a hard time sleeping without him. Sweet Shiloh awakened me at about 8 a.m. to go potty. I had slept less than 6 hours and fully intended to go back to bed for an hour or so but when I went outside and realized how beautiful it was, I changed my mind. Instead, I made myself some hot tea and drank it on the front porch. It was warm and sunny and there was a veritable bird party going on in our trees. I sipped tea and watched the birds for perhaps an hour and then had to get busy.

The woman who bakes the bread for our church communion services injured her back so I volunteered to bake the Easter communion bread. My recipe makes 5-6 regular loaves so in addition to the large communion loaf I ended up with 4 loaves for us, too. I also prepared all the food for our Easter lunch. Our family tradition is to meet at my cousin’s house after church for lunch and an Easter egg hunt. A number of years ago we all decided to make it easy and just bring our own lunches. Most pick up KFC but I prefer to make ours. I fried chicken, made potato salad and coleslaw, and baked chocolate chip cookies. You should have seen my kitchen after all that!

I did take a break from all the cooking to have dinner with Chris and Kadi. Chris picked up some BBQ and after Kadi got off work the three of us enjoyed a nice meal on the front porch. The weather was perfect and I’d have loved to just stay there all evening. But I had to finish the cooking, do a load of laundry and vacuum the Shiloh hair.

I did manage to get all of that done before David got home around 9:30 p.m. When he drove in, Shiloh and I were on the front porch waiting for him. It was still so warm outside that we sat out there listening to music. We took Shiloh for a walk and noticed that despite the lightning in the East, the sky above was clear. David had bought us a couple of zero gravity chairs last week so he got those out of the boxes and set them up in the front yard. We laid back in our chairs and enjoyed the starry night and the light show for close to an hour. It was so good to have him back home!

Around 5 a.m. we were awakened by a pretty impressive thunderstorm. Shiloh was pacing around and acting like he needed to go out so David took him (in the rain). That wasn’t the issue, though, as he continued to walk around, panting in our room for awhile. I think he was disturbed by the storm. He finally settled down on the floor by my side of the bed and went to sleep but by that time I was fully awake. I was just starting to dose when the alarm went off at 7:30. Oh, well.

We needed to be at church early so I could get the bread set up for communion, make sure the Easter lilies had been arranged, and rehearse with the choir before the service. It was nice to see so many folks who were back in town visiting. There were a lot of children:

Easter children’s sermon

After church we ran home to pick up our food and take Shiloh out then went to my cousin’s. I didn’t count but I’d guess there were at least 35-40 there. It’s always nice to see everyone. Lisa didn’t go this time because she was cooking a big meal for her in-laws but Chris and Kadi came by for awhile.

It was a gloriously beautiful day and after lunch and the egg hunt, the kids flew kites in the front yard:

My dad wasn’t feeling well and both of my parents had been up early because of the storm so they stayed home to rest. I had an Easter card and homemade cookies for them so we ran by to drop those off. My mom was asleep but Dad was sitting on the front porch enjoying the weather. We visited with him a little while then headed for home.

Despite the mess in the kitchen (I hadn’t finished all the dishes from Saturday’s cooking spree), we decided it was too nice to be indoors. We took our new chairs out in the yard again and settled in with iced tea and music. We laid out for close to three hours. Shiloh was thrilled to not only be outdoors but to have company at the same time. Finally, around 6 we went in and David helped me finish up the dishes. We ate dinner while catching up on a couple of episodes of The Daily Show.

Then David had a very nice idea. He opened a bottle of wine, took his telescope outside and we spent the next couple of hours enjoying music, sipping wine and stargazing. The only planet visible was Jupiter but that was pretty cool to see. David has an astronomy app on his phone so we used it to check out some of the constellations. We also danced under the stars. But mostly we laid back in our chairs and just enjoyed a peaceful time together.

Around 10:30, Chris and Kadi came home from visiting her grandmother. They had brought Kadi’s little sister (Libby) home with them so they all joined us for a little while. David got out of his chair and let Libby try it out. She leaned the chair back and David covered her with his blanket (it had gotten a little cool so we had brought out blankets earlier). She loved it and said she thought she’d just spend the night in the chair. It was getting late so we all reluctantly called it a night but I foresee a lot more nights just hanging out and enjoying the stars.

So that is how we spent our Easter weekend. David should be home from his firefighter meeting soon and we are going to grill hamburgers. It was another beautiful day and I had hoped it would stay warm enough to eat on the porch. Sadly, the cold front is already coming in and it’s only 59 degrees now. I suppose we’ll have to eat indoors. And no porch time or stargazing tonight. Boo. Maybe we’ll spend a little time listening to records in the library and if we’re smart we’ll go to bed early. Nah. That’ll never happen.

Peace, prayer and meditation

March 19, 2013 By Deanna Piercy 6 Comments

Do you purposefully seek peace in your life? Of course we all desire peace but do you take specific steps to achieve it? I’ve been making a determined effort to flood my very soul with peace. I want to feel it wash over me like longed-for summer rain. I want the people with whom I come in contact to feel it radiating from me. I’ve still got a lot to learn but I’m working on it.

Here is my 5-point Peace Plan:

1. Meditation

In my ongoing quest for a peaceful life I’ve been trying meditation recently. Someone in a group I belong to shared a link to a series of free meditation downloads so I decided to check them out. Without fail I have fallen asleep while listening to them. That’s not exactly the purpose but I figure my body is telling me I’m sleep deprived. I do find that I awaken very relaxed and rested.

Last week Oprah started a 21 day online series of meditations led by Deepak Chopra. I signed up for them and receive a link to a new one each day via email. I’m behind – I just did the third one today – but so far I’m enjoying them.

2. Yoga

Yoga is something else I’d like to pursue more seriously. When I was in junior high I would do yoga along with a program on PBS each afternoon when I got out of school. I loved it so I’m not sure why I didn’t continue. Oh, I’ve done it off and on through the years. We have a Wii-Fit and I’ve periodically done the yoga exercises. And I took a yoga class at our local university a few years ago. I just need to make it a priority.

3. Prayer

I don’t talk about my faith here on my blog all that often but prayer is also an important part of my approach to peace. My prayers are rarely formal but are more of an ongoing communion with God. One of my favorite times of prayer occurs when I’m taking walks outdoors. Now that the weather is warming up I plan to spend a lot more time walking, praying and mostly just sending up thoughts of gratitude. I love the quote:

If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is “thank you,” that would suffice.
~Meister Eckhart~

I am so often overwhelmed with thankfulness for the blessings in my life. When I make it a point to recognize how fortunate I am and express my gratitude, it only adds to my sense of peace.

4. Inspiration

I’ve been reading Peace Pilgrim’s book and finding myself re-reading passages and turning down page corners. I need to keep a highlighter nearby. So much wisdom shared by this humble woman. I find myself thinking of her often these days and hoping I can eventually have even a fraction of her faith, confidence, love and peace. Her book has earned a permanent spot on my desk along with a small collection of favorite books which inspire me.

5. “Porch Time”

The final part of my personal peace plan is dedicated time to simply “be”. My porch time which I began last year turned out to be a true sanity saver during some difficult times. I’ve missed it greatly this winter, although I’ve tried to substitute some quiet time in our library. Sometimes that works but there’s just something about sitting outdoors with candles, incense and music. It was gorgeous this past Saturday so David and I ate dinner on the front porch. After we ate and the sun had gone down, David lit the tiki torches and we talked, listened to music and shared a bottle of wine. Shiloh snoozed, just happy to be near us. We stayed out there until bedtime and both of us enjoyed it immensely.

~~~~~

And that’s it in a nutshell. What about you? Is peace something you actively seek? If so, I’d love to hear your thoughts. And if you have any suggestions for meditations, yoga programs or inspirational reading, please leave me a comment.

Here are some links you might want to check out:

The Meditation Podcast by Jesse and Jeane Stern

Oprah and Deepak 21 Day Meditation Challenge – Perfect Health

Peace Pilgrim

The Pleasures of the Porch

With a spring in my step

March 15, 2013 By Deanna Piercy Leave a Comment

It was 78 degrees today and I couldn’t be happier. I sat out on the back patio this afternoon and when Chris got home from work he joined me. I had some music playing, we each read our books and I even brought out popsicles for us. Bliss. I just wish David had been here to enjoy it. Poor guy has been out of town on business up North where there is still snow on the ground.

I’ve been taking longer and more frequent walks with Shiloh, enjoying the warm sun and observing all the seasonal changes. There are buds on my peach trees and lilacs, and actual blossoms on the apricot trees (I hope we don’t get another hard freeze!). The birds are in a frenzy of activity and I even spotted a Pileated Woodpecker yesterday.

Spring always feels like a rebirth of sorts as the days lengthen and everything awakens from winter dormancy. And I don’t just mean the grass and trees. I tend to hibernate during the winter. I don’t enjoy being out in the cold weather and I also try to avoid crowds in order not to catch any respiratory viruses which inevitably lead to serious asthma attacks for me. While I don’t suffer from true depression, I do experience a mild-to-moderate degree of SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). I’m only half joking when I say I run on solar power. I’ve noticed a tremendous upswing in my mood in recent days which is directly related to these sunny days. It’s not like I was morose throughout the winter but just sort of “blah”. I don’t even really notice it all that much until the first warm and sunny days of spring. It’s this bubbly joy I’m feeling now which makes me aware that I was in need of a lift.

I am more than ready to resume my porch time routine. Last night Kadi cooked dinner and the three of us (again, poor David wasn’t here) ate out on the porch, listening to music, chatting and sharing a bottle of wine. Simple pleasures for which I am truly grateful.

David will be home tomorrow and it’s supposed to reach a high of 83 degrees. I think we will celebrate his return with dinner and music on the porch. Yep, I think that sounds just right.

31 Days of Autumn Nesting: Day 20 – Rocking the Porch Time

October 21, 2012 By Deanna Piercy Leave a Comment

David is away on a business trip and I miss him terribly. However, I’m learning to make the best of these times. The weather is absolutely perfect tonight so I spent the evening on the porch, hanging out with Shiloh and watching our dear friends, Debi and the Deacons, performing in New Orleans via webcam.

Barefeet and a cosmo = perfection:

Bare feet and a Cosmo on a warm and humid autumn night.

Reading a little something I picked up at the library booksale:

You find the most interesting books at library sales.

Steinbeck curled up with Shiloh:

What a beautiful autumn night. If only David had been here to share it with me…

31 Days of Autumn Nesting: Day 12 – Priorities

October 16, 2012 By Deanna Piercy Leave a Comment

Today was another beautiful day here in Oklahoma so even though I had things that needed to be done inside, I spent some time here:

I sat on the porch drinking iced tea, reading and listening to music.

And hanging out with Dharma:

And admiring the view:

I may not have made much progress on my list of fall projects but if there’s one thing I’ve learned in my 50 years it’s proper priorities. I can clean out that closet when the weather turns cold but I can’t recapture today’s brilliant blue sky and golden leaves.

31 Days of Autumn Nesting: Day 11 – Carpe Diem

October 15, 2012 By Deanna Piercy Leave a Comment

This morning I checked the upcoming weather forecast and was delighted to see this:

It is currently 82 degrees and I just took Shiloh for a walk. I purposely took my phone so I could capture a bit of fall color.

That last one wasn’t an attempt to be artsy but a matter of accidentally snapping an extra shot. But the color was pretty so I kept it.

I told David last night to plan on me soaking up a lot of evening porch time the next several days, or as long as the nice weather holds out. I may be trying to prepare for fall but the truth is I am hanging on to the last vestiges of summer with my fingertips.

In lieu of real content…

July 10, 2012 By Deanna Piercy 5 Comments

Lisa and I are leaving in just a bit for our monthly shopping/hippie day in Norman so this will be brief. And mostly pictures.

Yesterday I delivered Meals On Wheels. I just love doing this and the people on my route this time are simply wonderful. One dear lady lives in a terrific old house. She had a little trouble getting out of her chair to come to the door and I asked if she’d like me to put her tray in the kitchen instead of her carrying it. Oh, was I ever glad I had the opportunity to see part of the house. It’s old and could use some sprucing up but it has 12 foot ceilings and that old charm that simply cannot be replicated in a new house.

I snapped a picture of the food trays in the back of my car mid-way through my route:

I then ran a couple of errands, got my hair done, dropped off a book at the library and signed up for a gym membership (more about that later). The sky looked ominous so I rushed home to walk Shiloh before it rained.

Here is a picture of one of our pear trees. I do hope this will be a good year for them and we’ll get some nice, ripe pears:

Shiloh was watching the fish jumping in the pond as it just started to rain:

Pond foliage:

I then went back to town for a meeting of the city’s Multicultural Committee on which I serve. The plan was for David to call in a pizza and I’d pick it up on my way home but when I got out of my meeting I had a text from him. He had worked late and was at the restaurant. Instead of a pizza at home we ate there, which was nice. We chatted with the new bartender and a couple of other people who were there in the bar.

Back at home I heard thunder and an approaching storm. I hurried to get the clean sheets back on the bed, including ironed pillowcases of course, and then made myself a cup of Earl Grey to enjoy on the porch. The thunder was pretty intense and Shiloh was a bit nervous. David was watching tv so I brought Shiloh in to hang out with him while the cats and I enjoyed the summer thunderstorm on the porch. I snapped the picture below first:

And then I decided I wanted more light so I could look at a magazine without resorting to the porch lights. I have two hurricane lamps. One is an antique given to me by my great aunt many years ago and I knew better than to take it outdoors. But the other one is an inexpensive lamp purchased a number of years ago at a local farm and ranch store. The additional light was great and I was thinking about how pleasant and relaxing the soft light was. However, I had trouble getting the globe back on properly after lighting it and it was not seated inside all three brackets. I then made the mistake of moving it a little closer to me. CRASH! The globe fell off and shattered on the porch. Ah, well…at least it wasn’t the good lamp and it can be easily replaced.

It was nice while it lasted:

Despite the mishap I still enjoyed my evening on the porch. I sipped two cups of tea while listening to Van Morrision and the rain, with a cat purring in my lap. Ah, sweet peace…

Daily rituals

June 27, 2012 By Deanna Piercy 4 Comments

I don’t really like the idea of a schedule. “Routine” sounds a little better but also a bit boring. But “ritual” has a pleasant, soothing connotation for me. Over the past few weeks my evening porch time has developed into a ritual of sorts. After all my evening responsibilities are taken care of, I pour a glass of wine, light candles and incense, turn on some music and settle in for a peaceful ending to my day. David often joins me if it isn’t too warm and he doesn’t see any mosquitos. When he’s with me we turn our chairs to face one another and I rest my feet in his lap. Many times I have a kitten in my lap. Most of the time Shiloh is out there with us, too. Sometimes we talk but mostly we just enjoy the music, and lately, the sound of the cicadas. It’s a soothing way to wind down after a busy day and it, along with my red wine, helps lower my blood pressure.

I’ve come to enjoy my porch time so much that I’ve started looking for other ways to integrate pleasant rituals into my daily life. I’ve long been in the habit of drinking my morning tea while checking email, Facebook and blogs. However, I’ve been thinking about instituting a different morning ritual. I’ve tried drinking my tea on the front porch but the cats are all drawn to the scent of my Earl Grey and try their best to get a taste. Batting cats away from my beloved tea is not the most pleasant way to start the day. I do, however, also have a huge balcony off our bedroom which has possibilities. I used to sit out there occasionally but it became a bit of a dumping ground for David’s tools while he was working on replacing the siding. He’s not done so I just left everything (although I did neaten it up a bit). I finally decided the other day that I could put it all in a box for the garage and when he has time to get back to his project, it would be a simple matter to get it back out.

So I did. I also washed and ironed the tablecloth and chair pad covers for the little table and chair set. I swept the leaves and other large debris off the indoor/outdoor carpeting. Tomorrow I plan to vacuum it thoroughly. Last week I picked up a few decorative items at the dollar store and Goodwill. Eventually I hope to have an iron daybed out there but until that happens, I decided I could bring up the tri-fold lounge chair that I use (twice a year – in March) for sunbathing. I have a washable quilt that I can cover it with and I bought a pillow for it. I’m envisioning afternoons reading on the balcony…at least on those days when it isn’t pushing 100 degrees.

I’m also going to buy three ferns to hang out there. I had some which I even managed to over-winter in the house for 2 or 3 years but finally let go this winter as they looked pretty scraggly. Eventually David will be re-doing the balcony and hopefully screening it in, but in the meantime I can pretty it up and make it a comfortable space for morning tea and afternoon naps.

Speaking of naps, that’s something else I could turn into a pleasant ritual rather than simply crashing across the end of my bed when I can no longer keep my eyes open. I don’t sleep well, which is quite the understatement, so a short afternoon nap is a necessity many afternoons. It’s something I wish weren’t necessary. In fact, I wish I didn’t have to sleep much at all because there are so many things I want to do and the days just seem so short. But instead of fighting it, I’m thinking that I should “embrace the nap”. As I child, I recall my grandfather taking a nap every single day just after lunch. No matter what was going on, as soon as he ate he retired to his room, closed his door and went to sleep. Now, Grandma never did this. She seemed to be busy from dawn to dark and I wish I had the energy she had. But it is what it is. I think I will institute a regular nap time – the same every day – and just accept it as part of my daily routine.

Well, I just noticed that it is after 9:30. I have much more to say about all this and more to share about rituals but I think I’ll go ahead and close for now. David just called up to me and asked, “Don’t we have pie?”. Yes, I made a coconut cream pie for my dad and a pineapple cream for us this afternoon. Guess I’d better go make some whipped cream and warm up some coffee. And then it will be “Porch Time”. But do check back tomorrow to read more about my thoughts on rituals.