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The Morning Porch

Daily short takes from an Appalachian hollow

The Morning Porch
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October 25, 2022 by Dave Bonta

Overcast with fog that thins out for the purported sunrise. It’s warm enough that one tree cricket trills in the herb garden.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags clouds, crickets, fog, sunrise
October 24, 2022 by Dave Bonta

High, slow-moving reefs of cloud at sunrise. The white-throated sparrows in the meadow conclude their chittering and go their separate ways.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags clouds, white-throated sparrow
October 23, 2022 by Dave Bonta

Dawn. Low over the trees, the last sliver of moon like fangs of a snake trying to swallow a dark, glowing egg.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags dawn, earthshine, moon 1 Comment
October 22, 2022 by Dave Bonta

Clear and still. I watch the sun inch through the half-turned canopies of the oaks. A chipmunk begins his morning chant.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags chipmunks, fall foliage
October 21, 2022 by Dave Bonta

Two degrees below freezing and clear at sunrise. A falling tulip tree leaf lands with an audible tick.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags cold, fall foliage, sunrise, tulip tree
October 20, 2022 by Dave Bonta

Dawn brings a chittering of sparrows from the meadow. It’s cold. Frost edges the periwinkle leaves.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags dawn, myrtle
October 19, 2022 by Dave Bonta

In the half-light of dawn, wet snow falls through the dimly glowing autumn leaves. A white-throated sparrow’s plaintive note.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags dawn, fall foliage, snow, white-throated sparrow 1 Comment
October 18, 2022 by Dave Bonta

A cold and windy dawn. The crescent moon drowns in a sorcery of pink.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags clouds, cold, dawn, sunrise, wind 2 Comments
October 16, 2022 by Dave Bonta

Colors so much warmer than the air. Halfway through the morning, the sky clears. Sun in the treetops. A phoebe calls.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags fall foliage, phoebe 1 Comment
October 14, 2022 by Dave Bonta

A hair above freezing. A pair of jays fresh from their ablutions ascend a flaming birch, gleaning insects on their way to the oaks.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags black birch, blue jays, fall foliage, red oak
October 13, 2022 by Dave Bonta

Rain tapering off by mid morning. The sun even emerges for one or two seconds, setting off a crow.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow, rain
October 12, 2022 by Dave Bonta

Slightly warmer. Alarmed chipmunks go in and out of sync. The slow hegemony of clouds.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags chipmunks, clouds
October 11, 2022 by Dave Bonta

Sun in the treetops and a small flock of migrants just below, catching some breakfast. A chipmunk’s motor slowly runs out of putts.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags chipmunks, sunrise
October 10, 2022 by Dave Bonta

Sunrise has been delayed by clouds, but I hold out hope. A wren tuts impatiently. A train horn blows a flat minor chord.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags Carolina wren, clouds, sunrise, train
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On This Day

  • November 8, 2025
    Mostly clear after last night’s rain. A flat-tire moon hangs low in the west. The wingbeats of a raven are, for a few moments, the loudest sound.
  • November 8, 2024
    Clear and cold. The red squirrel makes its usual racket while the gray squirrels leap silently through the treetops. The western ridge turns red.
  • November 8, 2023
    The sun clears the ridge and I’m blinded—the oaks are mostly bare now. Those that aren’t, glow red like a scattering of old barns.
  • November 8, 2022
    5:20. Bleary-eyed smudge of an eclipsed moon above the western ridge. 6:20. Pink clouds turn orange. The first song sparrow.
  • November 8, 2021
    Yet another bright blue October day a month late. The scarlet oak Dad and I planted 25 years ago is in its glory, redder than the sunrise.

See all...

Related book

Cover of Ice Mountain with a linocut of a big ridgetop tree.

What I do after I sit on the porch. One winter and spring's daily walks distilled into short poems with linocut illustrations by Beth Adams.

Header image: detail from Paper Garden by Clive Hicks-Jenkins (used by permission)

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