bringing back the front porch
i'm so glad i happened to set the recycling on the curb when i did. last week, i met the nicest people. turns out we were both house & pet sitting across the street from each other. unlike myself who lives here, they are visiting from minnesota.
within three minutes i found out the husband was a retired K-12 art teacher (i'm an art teacher). he loves middle schoolers (i love middle schoolers). he and his wife had just gone birding (i love bird watching). his wife invited me over to a front porch picnic after we had all done our chores.
we pieced together a delicious mixture of our own food plus items from our various house sitting kitchens and spent four hours on the front porch. his wife is a poet (i love to write poetry). they both know who gerard manley hopkins is (he's my favorite poet). they love to kayak (it's one of my favorite outdoor activities). to top it off, they are of czech heritage and one of the things they still wanted to do during their time in portland was visit a food cart (i have czech friends who run a delicious food cart).
because of this time on the front porch i was introduced to a fabulous contemporary author i want to share with you. his name is christian wiman. they brought over one of his prose books for me because it reads like poetry, "my bright abyss" it's titled. i read it half of it for my sabbath time last sunday and am still thinking about it.
yes, i think it was meant to be. true, slowed down hospitality in a world that prizes being busy. a happy connection born from being at the right place at the right time.
within three minutes i found out the husband was a retired K-12 art teacher (i'm an art teacher). he loves middle schoolers (i love middle schoolers). he and his wife had just gone birding (i love bird watching). his wife invited me over to a front porch picnic after we had all done our chores.
we pieced together a delicious mixture of our own food plus items from our various house sitting kitchens and spent four hours on the front porch. his wife is a poet (i love to write poetry). they both know who gerard manley hopkins is (he's my favorite poet). they love to kayak (it's one of my favorite outdoor activities). to top it off, they are of czech heritage and one of the things they still wanted to do during their time in portland was visit a food cart (i have czech friends who run a delicious food cart).
because of this time on the front porch i was introduced to a fabulous contemporary author i want to share with you. his name is christian wiman. they brought over one of his prose books for me because it reads like poetry, "my bright abyss" it's titled. i read it half of it for my sabbath time last sunday and am still thinking about it.
yes, i think it was meant to be. true, slowed down hospitality in a world that prizes being busy. a happy connection born from being at the right place at the right time.
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