the porch . . .

One year ago, this past April, we moved into our new house. Brian had wanted to move for a few years, but we never seemed to find a house we could both agree on, until this house. As soon as I saw it I knew it was where we should be. No second thoughts. We went home, contacted a realtor and within 10 days our house was sold and we were able to buy our current home.

In what has already proven to be an awful year, on August 4th Tropical Storm Isaias made her way up the East Coast causing much destruction in NJ, packing high winds and heavy rain. Our new home would feel the wrath of Isaias, a name no one could even pronounce, but now she will forever be remembered, at least in our home. Our new home is nestled in the woods, Isaias made her way through the woods behind our home with a fierce strength. Leaving in her path many downed trees, one particularly large tree came down, hitting the porch, taking a piece of the roof off, then it proceeded to hit the roof of our bedroom, a branch went through our roof, causing a hole before finally falling to the ground. In all, seven trees came down, two trees destroying our shed as well the damage to our home. It basically looks like a war zone behind our home. Although I could show you the destruction that the porch looks out onto, I decided to show the beauty of our porch that I choose to see.

The porch has some damage, which we are still waiting to have repaired. We cannot even get anyone to remove the trees, since so many people were worse off, they came first. So we wait, until a tree removal service can take down the fallen trees and clean up the enormous mess left behind.

The porch, a gathering place, a sanctuary, just a peaceful spot to rest after a long day of work or to begin your day with a nice hot cup of coffee. It’s a safe play area area for our grandson, and a look out for Lily our Dorkie. Our porch, is basically why I fell in love with this house, it is to this home what our sunroom was to our prior home. As soon as I saw it, I knew we were meant to live in it.

This past Sunday, with Brian at work, I had the house to myself, so I set up some still life scenes, taking advantage of the quickly passing summer days. It was extremely hot, the usual summer humidity in NJ, but despite the heat, I felt the desire to photograph our porch sharing the peacefulness it gives me with you. We planted a beautiful hydrangea this spring, which has produced some beautiful purple, blue flowers. I cut a few from the plant, arranging them on one of the end tables recreating a weekend morning on the porch.

I enjoyed watching how the light changed throughout the day. Sunday was an extremely hot and humid day, the sun would often go behind the clouds producing a darkness, as fast as it became dark it would get sunny again, we even had a few showers and thunder. I loved watching how the pattern of the furniture made an interesting pattern on the floor boards of the porch, almost appearing as if it was a piece of lace.

I hope you have a porch or similar place in your home that brings you peace during your day too. If not an outside area, maybe some special spot inside your home where you are able to relax, enjoy the quiet and soak up the peacefulness if only for a brief moment.

Thanks for following along, until next time, stay well . . .

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