Porch Sittin' Mamas

During these summer weeks, my days begin early, bustling about the kitchen, mixing muffins, brewing coffee, laying out fruit and yogurt, smiling and welcoming my guests as they begin their day, listening to their plans for adventure.

My days end late, feeding my family, cleaning up the kitchen, preparing food for the morning, wiping and setting the table ... napkins placed just so ... greeting a late-arriving guest, listening to my girls tell about their days, their friends, rapping to the latest song they've written.

Between those beginnings and endings, lie hours of phone calls,  paperwork, laundry, dishes ... and through it all, I keep thinking, planning, working toward the few moments, usually in the late afternoon, when I can slip out onto the porch to one of my "happy places" with an iced coffee and a magazine, book or journal.

 I love to sit at this little table.  We've owned it for almost 20 years now and I still remember how long we debated before that "BIG" $99 purchase.   I've enjoyed countless hours at its side, reading, journaling, sipping coffee under a tree, in a garden or on a porch ...

And my new favorite "steal 15 minutes" spot - a lovely hammock chair that allows me to feel like I haven't a care in the world  - gently swaying, feet propped on the railing, eyes closed ...

But sometimes, even paradise has a few issues ... 

This is the week of the POLLEN INVASION.  It happens every year.  Clouds of yellow dust, swirling, settling, staining the seats of unsuspecting sitters.

 It "flours" the porch floors

It makes it easy to claim which Adirondack chair is yours, but no one is fighting over them this week...

What's a girl to do?  A girl who needs some porch sitting time?

And then there's another little problem ....

 What a sweet, romantic idea to have a mama bird choose your porch as the perfect place to build her home, but ...

 

THIS is what mama bird did to my heavenly hammock!!!

And now I cannot even step on my porch without a severe scolding from the bushes

 

... and if I try to sit down, heaven help us, she moves even closer and lets me know that I am not welcome!

You would think, that with all those mouths to feed, the nest to keep clean, the food to prepare ... she would understand ...

 

That sometimes a mama just needs to sit and rest a bit .... even if she does have to cover the pollen with a towel and ignore the protests of another busy mama in the process.