Look through any window….

A blog from a couple of years ago.  Hope you enjoy it again or maybe for the first time!

Today I was reminded of how lucky I am by, of all people, the furnace repair man.  It was time for the furnace A/C maintenance check which happens twice a year and consists of the repair man checking out the equipment and usually changing a filter or nozzle.

He came inside the kitchen to check the thermostat, stopped, and  glanced through my kitchen window.

the view from my kitchen window

“Wow. What a gorgeous view! You are so lucky to live here.”

He was right.  Standing at my kitchen sink isn’t usually my favorite place to be, because it means I am probably preparing a meal or cleaning up after one.  But the view from my kitchen window is pretty awesome.   I had forgotten how lovely it was.   In the spring I can see the ice slowly melting from the surface of the pond and can imagine all the good times to come in the summer.  The day lilies are starting to green and the evergreen trees push their new growth out of each limb.   In the summer,  there are friends or neighbors who stop by for a quick swim.  The grandkids can be seen jumping off the high dive and arguing about who gets the best floatie.  Geese stop by on their way to their winter destinations.  Killdeer screech and run about along the shoreline. In the fall, my honey locust tree starts to turn golden and frames the pond from where I watch.   You can see the fire ring and soon there may be a bonfire with hot dogs and marshmallows melting at the end of sticks.  In the winter, the water freezes in interesting patterns and the snow piles up between the evergreens.

The tiny Eiffel Tower on the window sill reminds me of good friends who think of me when they are across the ocean and bring back a souvenir.  The red barn suncatcher I purchased at a hospital gift shop for my husband who was laid up for a while many years ago.  I hung it in his hospital room so he wouldn’t miss the farm.  (It didn’t work)   The tiny wooden schoolhouse is a memory of the career I loved for many many years.

But the repairman wasn’t done being amazed.   He went outside through the patio door to look at the air conditioning unit, and again exclaimed, “This is a beautiful patio!  This is really nice.”    Again, he was right.  We don’t live in an upscale neighborhood with perfectly manicured lawns and flower beds, but what we have is good for us.  My neighbors are barely in “hearing” distance.    It’s quiet and peaceful (if you don’t count the highway traffic speeding past our front lawn, and if you disregard the building industry just across the road)   It’s not perfect, but it’s home.