The View From My Porch on a Foggy Morning

This photo of my porch is from last summer. I tried to take another picture and send it to my computer, but it doesn't seem to be working. Everything looks much better this year.

This morning I ate my cereal on the porch. While Dave was here we were having bigger breakfasts in the kitchen, but I hate to do that too much and returned to my Fiber One this morning. I feel guilty sitting on my cool porch, watching the cars go by and the fog inch back toward the ocean. I've invited the children to come down. We'll see what another day of 100 degree heat does for them.

Because we don’t have any sort of television receiver here our entertainment is the porch during the day with the radio in the background and movies on the VCR at night. Since it’s Thursday two different trucks will be by today. It is garbage day and it is also the day that the City of Ilwaco sends the street sweeper around to make sure we look presentable for the tourists. I’ll wager there will be a lot of them this weekend coming to escape the heat of Portland and Seattle. The forecast on KIRO radio’s (where my brother-in-law Tim Haeck has been a reporter forever) website says that most of Washington will not be getting the relief that was thought would come today and tomorrow.

The City of Ilwaco has already spruced us up. The chipped yellow fire hydrant in front of the house has been painted fire engine red and the yellow stripe on the curb refreshed. City workers came to do the stripe yesterday and I told them how much I was enjoying their efforts. Our house is located on the street coming into town from Astoria so for folks coming down the Columbia we are the welcoming committee for visitors and although Ilwaco has suffered some tough economic times and there are plenty of buildings that need attention, we are putting on our best face.

Kitty corner from us is another Victorian that’s getting a face lift this summer. The house is owned by a Master Builder and a Master Gardener. When they purchased the place three years ago they added a large kitchen onto the back of the house and shingled it cedar shakes left to weather to gray. The same with the picket fence the husband built—cutting out each and every picket. Unpainted shingles are the way to go down here which is the reason that when we had the South side of our house done last summer we opted to leave it natural. Eventually the whole house will look like that, but the economy has called a halt to further renovations here. In the meantime I can enjoy watching the houses that are getting new shingles or fresh paint this summer. We had to settle for mildew removal on the North side this summer.

Next weekend is our Frieze Family Reunion in Shelton. I will have to return to Gig Harbor in time to cook and bake for the occasion. Mostly I am excited to get to hug people I’ve not seen in years, one as many as 30 and one babe I’ve never met. I am taking my grandmother’s pineapple cookies, soft sweet indulgences that she made for her grandchildren, as well as Aunt Mary’s coleslaw which is different from the usual slaw and is a favorite with us. I love traditions and making recipes that the women in our family might have made had they still been with us makes me feel like they will be there in spirit.

Well, it’s time to move the water and put in another load of laundry. That’s the view from my broom and my porch. My grandmother always said that coming in one door and going out another would bring company so I’ll go through the kitchen and out to the washer at the barn and see if that brings the children!