This evening on my porch, there's a pleasant breeze cooling this unencumbered space. The breeze is manufactured, an overhead fan spinning its magic on a warm October evening. Part of the warmth is the result of some weather front or another that has stalled somewhere nearby, the rest is the effect of my being overdressed. I donned long pants and a long-sleeved Salty Dog Cafe t-shirt in anticipation of a walk around the little lagoon that sits twenty yards or so below this porch.
This month is one of two times each year that the "no-see-ums" reign when the temperature hovers between 68 and 72 or so degrees Fahrenheit. At that temperature, they rise out of the sandy soil and look for me. I am a sort of Pied Piper for these creatures. They come for me first, and those around me, seeing me begin to squirm and scratch as my little friends bite, take this as their signal to move indoors. I combat these followers with a layer of clothes a bit too warm for the ambient temperature. The followers have less exposed skin on which to feast, and they often lose interest, especially if I keep moving.
This evening we had planned a walk, hoping to work out the kinks from two and a half hours of driving to visit children and grandchildren. When darkness falls, a certain member of the aforementioned pair who had resolved to get moving, loses her enthusiasm. The walk has been postponed.
The porch is sparsely furnished. A two-seater love seat made of wicker with soft flowered cushions and a matching end table. I've dragged a small lamp from the living room ("Go ahead, just not the good one."). It has just enough cord to reach the table if i move it to the other end of the love seat, and stretch the cord all the way out to plug it into the only receptacle out here. An extension cord is in a box somewhere and when I run across it, I'll rearrange. I'm not in any hurry.
At the moment, two borrowed sawhorses are folded up in one corner, and a small pile of tools and supplies for replacing screening awaits a day with more than twenty-four hours. When such a day arrives, I'll replace the screening on the second frame I found stored by the previous owner outside the condo under some bushes. Or, for all I know they could have lain there for the entirety of the six years he owned the unit. When I first spied this porch, and noted the absence of screens on the track outside the sliding windows he indicated he didn't know where they were as he never used them. In one of life's amazing turns, the screens, once their coated aluminum frames are washed and new screening is in place look almost like new (to me anyway) and they perform their intended purpose, letting air in, and minimizing the entrance of flying and/or crawling insects.
Having stalled in my efforts to write here on a regular basis, I started reading a few things I ran across as I unpacked yet another box. Allowing myself to get distracted as i unpack containers and boxes is among the several reasons our unpacking ordeal remains unfinished. Another is the dearth of storage space, making us resort to storing things in surprising spaces. If you find my dress socks in the bottom drawer of our coffee table, do not be alarmed, i knew they were there all the time. Yes, we opted for a coffee table with several drawers and baskets that can be pulled out and filled with who knows what, instead of the spare kind of table with just the top and four legs. We need the storage space, you see. That's also the reason we have replaced the sofa table on which you'd place a lamp in the living room with a "console table," another piece of furniture with drawers where an alternative piece would have open (wasted) space. I am pretty sure one of those drawers can be devoted to holding a small hammer, a collection of screwdrivers and pliers, and a tape measure or two. Another can hold duck tape and a can of W-D 40, still another flashlights of various sizes and spare batteries. You get the idea. This piece of furniture is on order. One of us is worried that the color may not go. By now you've guessed it's not me. I am welcoming anything with storage space. I am still looking for a place to store spare light bulbs...
Tonight it's starting to feel like home.
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