Time Well Wasted

Still A to Z-ing... and for some reason I have three different sized fonts in this post that do not want to be made right. I'm going to live with it. 

Day 16-P is for Porch Sittin' 

Time spent on the porch is never wasted. Isn't that how the saying goes? Porch sitting is high on my list of favorite things and it never gets old. We have a covered deck, a screened in porch, and a lower level mostly covered patio and I love them all. These are the places and spaces I nap, pray, read, have heart to heart chats, watch college football, dine, stargaze, listen to music, and relax. 

You cannot be stressed out on a porch. It's the law. 

Also, hubs and I are not the only ones who love a little porch sittin'. 

I'd post some current pictures but all of our furniture is still under wraps due to another P word this part of the country is famous for-pollen. Pollen makes my list of least favorite things and in the Upstate 'tis a season all its own. 

To make post-pollen cleanup easier we bring cushions inside, roll up the outdoor rugs, and cover the furniture, typically end of March through mid-late April. Then hubs gets out there and scrubs the decking and washes the porch screens and we pull everything back out and enjoy. We're preparing to re-stage this weekend and we're both so ready. 

While I love all the porches here, the covered deck is my favorite 'room' in the whole house and where I spend the most time. We have a fire table on our covered deck and most mornings I take my coffee and sit out there. We spend most evenings out there too because it's peaceful. 

Hubs loves to hang out on the lower level patio since that's home to our Big Green Egg. The view from that particular vantage point is not too shabby either. 

We have a TV and a fireplace on our screened porch which is just off the kitchen. Come fall you'll find us there most weekends watching college football. We have a dining table on the screened porch too, and eat breakfast-lunch-dinner out there when the weather is nice.

If there's a crowd we move to the lower patio and the bigger table. 

We've got options and they're all good. When people ask for tips on building a lake house we always say pay as much attention to the outdoor spaces as you do the indoor. We pretty much live out of doors here. 

Except during pollen season. 

Which isn't all that long and also isn't snow.

Even this guy will tell you it doesn't matter which porch you choose-

There is no wrong answer. 

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 459

Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here tomorrow to add your link to the party. See you there! 

1. What's something you wish you had spent more time doing when you were younger? Explain. 

2. Who inspires you to be better. Tell us how. 

3. Share a money saving tip with us. 

4. It's National Garlic Day...are you a fan? Your favorite dish that includes garlic? 

5. Would you describe yourself as decisive or indecisive. Elaborate. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Come On Over

Good Monday morning. I hope you all had a joyous Easter Day. Ours was lovely with beautiful weather, a really great church service, and a delicious meal shared with several couples from our church who also happen to live in the neighborhood. 

Hubs came home and washed my car. I came home, put on my yoga pants, and took a quick nap. 
Hey, we all have our superpowers. 

Continuing now with this month's A-Z Blog Challenge...

Day 15-O is for Out Of Town Visitors 

I know not everyone feels the same, but we love company. When you move around a lot you end up with friends in every corner of the world, and connecting when they pass through town for a night, a weekend, or a few days mid-week is something we welcome and enjoy. 

That being said unless you're related to me, a few days is good. Ha! We have the room so physical space isn't an issue, its more the mental space for me. I like activity and then I like quiet. I love seeing friends pull down the drive and I love waving goodbye when it's time to go. 

We've had a lot of company in this house. Our many visitors have been great, turning up with wine and treats and sometimes even their own bath towels (less laundry for me) and rolls of Bounty since paper towels are something we seem to run through when company comes to town.  

One thing I've learned is I'm far more anxious about the menu, the plans, and the accommodations than my guests are. I want everything just so and they want to go for a boat ride, sit on the porch with a glass of wine, and catch up. I try to remember this and not overly stress about something that in the end isn't important. I love make ahead dishes that allow me to hang with my guests rather than spending a lot of time in the kitchen while they're here. 

People almost always offer to bring something and rather than saying no thanks, I've learned to say sure...bring boat snacks or a fruit salad or bagels for breakfast. People want to contribute and I need to let them. We love our charcuterie boards and if I'm having a big group here I tell everyone I'll do meats and crackers and they can all bring a favorite cheese or 'relish item' to add to the tray. This has worked really well. 

While we do have room for a large crew here we, more often than not, have a larger than large crew come to stay. This year we added a Murphy bed to my office, designed, built, and installed by our cabinet makers. We couldn't be happier with the end result. 

It hides a queen-sized mattress and the design makes it feel like the bed has always been a part of the room. 

I still need a chair and a small table for the sitting area, and we still need to hang some art, but this bed has been slept in more than once since the install and it's not even summer yet, so a good investment. While the room may not be 100% done, people are sleeping in there because they don't care that I haven't hung the pictures or landed on just the right piece of furniture to add between the chairs. They just want to come hang out and we want them to come hang out. 

In this age of social media we can start to feel like our homes need to be picture perfect and our guest accommodations over the top luxurious before we invite friends to stay. But once upon a time people would come to your house and kids would give up their beds and enthusiastically move to a pallet on the floor or a blanket on the couch to make room. More chairs were squeezed around an already crowded table, hamburgers were cooked on the grill, and the bathroom was shared with whoever lived in the house.

We're all a bit spoiled in this new century. We need hotel quality pillows and a private bath and soy milk- no gluten options wherever we go, and honestly that can be a little bit intimidating to a host. 

Host anyway. 

Welcome people into your home and your life and your heart. Make memories. Build relationships over cups of tea and a lazy afternoon spent floating on the water. It might not solve all the problems of this world, but it definitely solves a few.  

Lake life is meant to be low key and casual. If you need a special pillow or a certain kind of bread bring it with you. Come enjoy the spectacular view, the serenity of nature, the quirkiness of a small rural town, and most of all your people. Come and enjoy your people and the gifts of time and togetherness. 

The door is open and the kettle is on. 

Small Niceties

Saturday blogging in the A-Z Challenge means a list. Still 'a few of my favorite things', but in list form using the letter of the day. And I always start off by saying, 'in no particular order' but that first thing on the list is definitely the first thing on my list -ha!  

 Day 14-N is for Small Niceties

naps
nice neighbors
non-complainers
being a Nana
baby boys nestled into my lap
good news
Nestle's Toll house cookies right out of the oven
love notes
eggs in a bluebird nest
The National Anthem sung by the crowd
NJ bagels
the beauty found in nature
nostalgia
The Nutcracker ballet
nieces and nephews
a well written novel
our national parks 
moonlit nights
navel oranges
new shoes 

By Design

We're midway through the April A-Z Blog Challenge on this good Good Friday. Have a joyous Easter everyone!

Day 13-M is for Motherhood

Going with something obvious today. 

Obvious, but not easily captured in words. 

There are very few things in this world that completely engage you the way motherhood does. In fact I'd be hard pressed to come up with anything that even comes close. 

My theme in the A-Z Blog Challenge this year has been, 'these are a few of my favorite things', and of all my favorite things motherhood ranks at the top of the list. 

Being a mother, loving my own mother, watching my girls become mothers.

What else can fill your heart to overflowing, break it, mend it, keep you on your knees, make you laugh til you cry, stretch you, grow you, frustrate you, and have you feeling on top of the world, sometimes all in the same day? 

Motherhood is the place where I'm my harshest critic, but also my best self. 

Motherhood changes you, and it continues to change you as you adjust and embrace each new season of parenting. Like the earth itself, the seasons of motherhood are fluid, and while you know this in your head, you still won't always succeed in seeing your grown adult children as the grown adult people they've become. 

Sometimes they're still the little girls whose hair you brushed and whose tears you dried and that's okay too. It's more than okay really. 

Mothers need grace too. 

My mom is in her ninth decade, still listening to my problems, still asking me if I got enough sleep, still telling me how to drive. She can't help it. We can't help it. We're moms from the moment our first born draws a breath to the day we take our last.

 Motherhood is the hardest best thing I've ever done. It's the gift I keep opening, that keeps on surprising...

...and it's my favorite. 

Life Is Better At The Lake

You may have noticed I missed a letter this week. Or you may not have noticed and that's okay too. This alphabet thing is a lot, isn't it? I'm still trying to decide if I want to go back and fill in the missing letter or just keep calm and carry on. 

For the record, it would be hard for me to keep calm with one letter missing, but it's only Day 12 so I've got time to figure that out. Let's press on-

 Day 12-L is for Lake 

Lake life to be precise. 

It's lovely-

Laid back-

Life here moves at a leisurely pace...

Lazy in a good way-

The big fun here can be loud-

But the stress low-

Beauty lives large at the lake- 

We feel lucky to call it home-

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience." 

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hey Peeps! It's Hodgepodge Time

Welcome to this week's edition of the Wednesday Hodgepodge. If you've answered today's questions add your link at the end of my post, then hop over and leave a comment for your neighbor there. Here we go-

1. Do you celebrate Easter? If so what are your plans this year? Did you have egg hunts as a kid? 

Yes we celebrate Easter, or as my grandson says, 'good news'! The events of Easter are what give me hope in a world gone mad. We don't have any big plans this year. Both girls will be here in early May for a baby shower and it's a bit of haul for Daughter1 to make the trip twice with toddlers in a short span of time. Daughter2 has been in clean up mode from a water leak so they need some time to regroup and relax. 

We'll attend church. I'd love to talk hubs into the sunrise service and the weather looks like it might cooperate, but he may prefer to stick with our usual later morning service, and that's okay too. A church friend who is also a neighbor invited us for lunch with two other couples and we'll all bring a dish and share a meal. Afterwards I'm thinking a nap. Sunday afternoons are made for naps. 

We did have Easter baskets and egg hunts when I was a kid. I don't remember ever going to any huge egg hunts, but the living room was still a lot of fun. 

2. What's your favorite bread to find in a bread basket? 

Not too particular about the type of bread but make whatever kind it is warm and the butter soft. 

3. Your favorite chick flick? 

It's hard to pick just one, but a few favorites are Under the Tuscan Sun, Sweet Home Alabama, 27 Dresses and My Big Fat Greek Wedding, 

4.Tax day is rapidly approaching in the US of A...what's something you currently find 'taxing'?

Besides taxes you mean? Because I still find those taxing. We just had a dead tree removed and have quite a few other outdoorsy projects that need doing and paying for and prioritizing and I find just thinking about it all somewhat taxing. I prefer sitting on the porch with my iced coffee and a good book. 

5. Have you ever ridden in a taxi? Do you have a funny-scary-crazy-interesting taxi story to share? Do you use any of the newer taxi-like services such as Uber? 

I have ridden in many a taxi and have had more than a few scary-crazy rides. London cabs are the best by the way. Don't even try to convince me otherwise. 

We use Uber when we're in a place that has Uber. Not really an option out here in the country. 

One of the 'scarier' taxi rides I experienced was in the Bahamas. I was meeting hubs at the end of a work thing there and another woman was supposed to be on my same flight but missed her connection. We were going to share a cab but it ended up just me and the cab driver in the dark of night and this was back in the olden days of no cell phones. 

We were driving along when he suddenly pulled into a small apartment complex, told me he'd be right back, took a paper bag from under the front seat and dropped it on someone's doorstep. He then carried on driving me to the hotel as if nothing had happened. I lived to tell the tale so maybe it was simply take out for his momma as opposed to something nefarious? Right. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Using this space for today's letter of the day in the A-Z April Blog Challenge. My theme this year is 'these are a few of my favorite things'...

Day 11-K is for Promises Kept

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