View From The Glen

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Lemonade On The Verandah

We don't actually have a veranda - yet. I have wanted one since I first heard Stuart MacLean talk about them on the Vinyl Cafe one rainy Sunday afternoon a decade ago up at Cape Croker Park where Andrew and I were camping.

It's coming - and for now we have a deck. Doesn't sound like much of a difference - just add a roof! But the veranda is so much more than just a deck with a roof. To me a veranda is a metaphor for the way I want to live my life.

A veranda is speckled sunlight and shady nooks. A place to hide with a book and a place to socialize with friends. A place to daydream with my spouse and snuggle with my children. A veranda says sit yourself down in that deep cushioned wicker chair, and relax, because the world can wait.

Sipping lemonade or iced tea on a veranda in the late afternoon, peeping out through a curtain of clematis and climbing honeysuckle, gently swinging (all verandas need a swing) in the breeze - this is the vision that keeps me grounded when the pace picks up. This is to what I aspire.

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