Musings about a "Thotful Spot"

Everybody needs a "thotful spot."  (The spelling comes from A.A. Milne's wonderful creation, Winnie-the-Pooh.)

Currently, mine is on my front porch.  I'm sitting there, right now.  I bought a cheap tv table at Target so I'd have someplace to put my laptop, or Nook, iPod and/or speakers, and, of course, my Co-Cola.  I like to sit here.  The street is pretty quiet during the day, I have a hummingbird feeder that gets plenty of visits, I can catch a nice breeze, and if the boys come outside, I'm here to monitor in case things go from DEFCON 1 to DEFCON 4 (and believe me, with two boys and hose, it's almost a guarantee).  I've seen a hawk with its prey (either a mouse or a small bird), bunnies galore (sometimes I think I'm running a bunny preserve), and, in the evenings, tons of fireflies.

Sometimes in the evenings, one of my neighbors will come over.  I'll go inside, get some glasses and a bottle of wine and we'll sit out and just talk about... whatever.  Kids, travels, dreams.  Nothing, and yet, everything.

I like to just sit and breathe sometimes.  During the school year, I sometimes forget to do that.  I'm busy, subbing, making sure my kids have what they need to be the most successful that they can be in school, trying to make sure we have enough clean clothes.  Thankfully, my children aren't interested in playing sports.  Sometimes, I wish they did, but mostly I'm glad that I don't have to get them to practices and games.  Summertime is when I get to do most of my breathing and I try to store it up for the winter, when it's too cold to sit outside and contemplate the Universe.

If it's raining, it's really nice to sit out here.  We have aluminum awnings, so the rain get properly noisy.  Yesterday, we had a great storm that lasted almost two hours.  Sometimes the rain was almost gentle, but mostly it came down in torrents.  It was glorious!  (Of course, I love rainy days... unlike the Carpenter's song, rainy days and Monday rarely get me down.)

So, if you happen to be in town, at loose ends, come on by.  I'll probably be on the porch and I'm always willing to drop what I'm doing to have a chat with a friend.  We'll aMuse each other.