I always enjoy sitting on the front porch of my son’s home in North Carolina. His house is at the end of a cul-de-sac, next to a wooded lot, that in winter and without the leaves on the trees, you can see a sliver of Lake Wiley.
Even in the winter, when it’s about 45* here, I still like to grab some blankets and bundle up and sit out on the front porch with a cup of coffee.
Occasionally we can see deer, and always lots of birds.
Yesterday I saw four deer and this morning I saw a red-headed woodpecker, my first robin of the season, a beautiful Eastern bluebird and, something new to me that I identified as, a Ruby-crown Kinglet.
I enjoy seeing the birds and listening to their singing, and also watching the squirrels scampering to and fro. Squirrels are fun to watch in the woods (not at one’s bird-feeders!)
We’re back on our son’s front porch in North Carolina. The temperatures are mild, and it’s wonderful drinking our morning coffee out here. Yesterday, a long, gentle rain fell, but we could still sit on the porch and watch the rain fall, and it was lovely.
The woods next door offers a beautiful view of fall colors. We get to experience an extended fall season.
This morning’s show included an occasional leaf gently floating down and many active birds…the ones I could identify were finches, eastern blue birds and a woodpecker. The cardinal is the state bird of North Carolina, and I’ve seen many already, just not this morning.
Visiting someplace new is always fun. And staying in a private home instead of a hotel is delightful. And having grandchildren at that home is the best!
A new home in North Carolina.
We spent eight days in a suburb south of Charlotte, North Carolina visiting our youngest son and his wife and two children. They recently moved into a new home there, leaving a two-bedroom apartment in Colorado. It was great to see their new house and their neighborhood, to actually see their faces to know how they are doing, and to hug the grandchildren.
I enjoyed choosing a photo – or two – every day to send a “Photo of the Day” to our other son and his family back in Minnesota. It gave a glimpse of some of the things we were doing during our time away…like going to a fireworks display on the fourth of July, or going to the neighborhood swimming pool, building a workbench,
Building a workbench.
working on art projects, playing dominos, going to parks and playgrounds, going on a picnic, going out for ice cream.
A “spin art” project.
Playing dominoes.
At a playground.
And simply sitting on the front porch every morning, drinking our coffee, waiting for the kiddos to wake up and come down to greet us each day. Hopefully creating memories for the grandchildren.
Lovely mornings on the front porch.
Being silly.
Their house is next to a wooded lot so we saw deer several times, and lots of birds. We heard interesting creatures (insects and/or frogs) at night when we ate dinner on the veranda, in the back of the house.
The covered veranda at the back of the house.
As we sat on the veranda on our last night before returning to Minnesota, we saw two fawns and a mama deer in the woods. We talked about how curious we were as to what was over the hill and down the road in the wooded area.
The “Private Drive, NO TRESPASSING” sign.
A “Private Drive, NO TRESPASSING” sign was posted at the entrance to the driveway leading into the property, at the end of the cul-de-sac, next to our son’s property. We had seen little activity there over the past week. Our son and daughter-in-love had not ventured past the private property sign since they moved in, about a month ago. We had been there only a week and were curious!
The wooded property at the end of the cut-de-sac.
So Andrea and I decided to venture down the drive that last night. We bravely walked down the road, arm in arm. The deer saw us and ran away. We approached a modest house on a lake, and took a look at the surroundings. Our curiosity satisfied, we turned around and walked back up the drive. Just then we saw a car’s headlights! The occupants were coming down the drive.
We were busted!!!
After all the times of no activity… and then…here they come when we are trespassing.
Our son’s house next to the neighboring, wooded lot.
The car stops, of course, and two young men in their 20’s rolled down their windows. We greeted them and told them we are from the house right past their driveway and we were just curious to see what was down the gravel road. Thankfully they were very nice about it. After a little small talk we continued on, walking very quickly back to the veranda where our guys were waiting, curious to hear what happened. They had seen the car go into the drive and wondered what kind of reception we’d get.
We settled back on the veranda, let out a sigh of relief, and then had a good laugh.
