It is a peaceful evening with another couple hours before sunset. A couple of hours ago, a storm of clouds rolled in, bringing another wave of stifling humidity, but now those same clouds are blocking the sun, thus casting full shade on the backyard, accompanied by a consistent breeze.
I have moved from my back porch to the swing in my backyard. I remember when I first saw the swing, which awkwardly sits in the middle of the grassy portion of the backyard. The swing seems out of place. I thought that once I moved in, I would get rid of it, or take the porch style swing down and replace it with a child’s swing for my nephew’s visits. Instead, the swing has become my reflection place.
Sitting here, I view the back of my house, instead of a traditional backyard view, which looks away from one’s house. My house is simple, above the house is a perfectly set tree line that seems vast from where I am sitting. In truth, the tree line ends just after my street where my neighborhood ends.
I sit here rocking in the swing, with the freshly cut grass underneath my feet. My dog, Potatoe is lounging by the pool filled with sparkling blue water. My little cat Pumpkine is laying underneath the table on the porch, which sits underneath the porch roof, which bows slightly. To the right there is a large kitchen with a working sink and refrigerator, and a grill that I am determined to get to work without replacing.
To the left of the porch is an outdoor room with rusted iron bars in the windows. I have yet to decide what I am going to do with the unique space, but I think that I have decided that I will keep the structure. To my right, beyond the summer kitchen is a two car garage with an attached garage apartment where my two boys are hanging out and playing video games. On the side of the apartment is a tin roof over hang that is fenced in with chain link fencing. We use it to store all of our pool toys.
To my right there is a fence, and on the other side of the fence is my barn. I love saying that I have a barn. The barn just stores stuff. I hope to have chickens one day, but right now I am afraid of what my cats might do with chickens.
<My sister called; I stopped writing for a moment to talk with her about her dog search. Her dog, Bentley really wants a buddy. This family zoo thing runs in our blood.>
After I got off the phone with my sister, the clouds darkened, there was a brief moment when the sunset, which was to my right, started to beat down on my fully shaded yard. Before long, the sun found its way on the other side of the Earth, and I had my shaded yard back again. The clouds again turned dark, and the smell of rain graced the air. I sat for a bit, feeling the drops of rain on my face, arms and legs. Then I went to the back porch with my doggie and my laptop as neither would fair well in the rain.
The rain was short, just enough to quench the thirsty earth and make the grass that much greener. The rain has now stopped, but the water still drips from the overhang of the bowing roof. I probably need to clean the gutters. Two birds are now perched on the back of the swing where Potatoe and I sat.
The boys, the fur kids, the trees, the green grass, the simplicity, I feel an inner peace here that I cannot quite explain.