Porch Posts

Sometimes I sit here enjoying the joys of Nature. I'm grateful to have a front porch, even though it's small. It adds another element to my cottage home, bringing me closer to the garden plantings and abundant wildlife. At dusk I've watched the fox walk across my lawn to reach her young at supper time. The squirrels scurry up and down the oaks where they have their nests, stopping to drink from the fountain and nibble from a nearby bird feeder. Add the possums, the chipmunks, an occasional raccoon, the evening bats, the neighborhood cats.............you're getting the idea aren't you, a very busy place. But then there are the birds, so many species, colors galore, warbling their soothing songs, too many to list right now, but had to tell you about this special little one.

This Carolina wren has taken up residence on the porch. For the past ten nights, this little guy has slept in a corner of the porch ceiling facing in toward the wall. Who says birds don't sleep? This bird arrives each evening a little bit earlier than the night before as the evenings draw in - today it was 7:20 PM. It appears to go to sleep almost immediately, and doesn't wake and leave until the first rays of dawn hit the porch. How do I know? Like an idiot I set my alarm early, get to the window and watch through the blinds. One morning it awoke, flew to the chandelier, opened it's beak and grabbed a nice juicy moth as it flew by........................breakfast on the porch, a great way to start the day.

These pics of the wren are little blurry as I took them through the window.

If you look at the top left hand corner of the porch, beyond the chandelier, you can see the little ledge where Jenny or Johnny wren sleeps.Newfangled........................."new and often needlessly novel" (American Heritage Dictionary). And what is this newfangled, bedangled, twiggy thing you say? My amazing outdoor, gently electrified, lamp created by a local artsy twig lady. Although comfy in it's former home, it begged to leave SuzAnna's shop to come sit a spell on Mary's front porch. Now, I have lamps, and being a lampshade designer/maker, I love lights and shades. But this lamp spoke to me........please pick me, take me to light your porch with a glow from the lovely angel with wobbly wings.........smile at my little attached birdhouses, feathered and bark birds..........despite my twigginess, my iron limbs are sturdy and my finial shabby chic.

For Christmas I will add white fairy lights - Valentine Day red hearts - there will be no stopping me when it comes to lighting up this "twiggy's" life.