Personalizing the Porch

When i first moved over from my apartment i had a number of things i meant to hang on the porch that had been hanging above the patio at the apartment. I never got around to it because it would have involved a ladder, time, and patience, and it just took me that long to muster all 3 in the same place at the same time. I had a day off and i had finished most of my chores and i thought, “Today’s the day.” So, i climbed up the porch railing with a drill, some screws, a hammer, and some hooks, and set to work personalizing the porch. The little garden bell was a gift from my sister. Apparently in Japan you can ring the bell once and it will help the plants live harmoniously together in the garden. I ring it once a day, usually in the evening because it’s dark when i leave in the morning. It is a much cherished gift as it reminds me of my sister and brother in law whom i don’t get to visit often. The thermometer was my grandmother’s. It lived in her garden for many years and she gave it to me when she moved out of her house. They just don’t make them like that anymore. The tile depicts a scene of hummingbirds visiting flowers. I fell in love with it once at a plant nursery and it came home with me. I screwed some hooks into the porch roof for future hanging plants. I also hung my wind chimes. The blue and purple ones have been with me for years but the little silver one with a hummingbird hanging from it was a gift from my grandmother and has a higher pitched and lighter sound to it. I use the wind chimes to let me know when weather is coming. The wind always picks up when a storm or front is coming through. You just can’t trust the weathermen out here. You have got to rely on wind chimes, spiders taking down their webs, humidity, and the ability to see clouds coming from miles away over the undeveloped land to tell you everything you need to know about weather because there is one weatherman for a vast area out here and there can be a big difference between the temperature in the hills and the temperature in a valley. Frequently the weatherman tells me over the radio that the low for tonight is going to be 41. I wake up and there’s ice on everything. They can’t be trusted, especially when it comes to your young fruit trees. No, you’d better forecast the weather yourself in the hill country.