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The Morning Porch

Daily short takes from an Appalachian hollow

The Morning Porch
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bumblebee

September 7, 2026 by Dave Bonta

Sun glistening in the treetops. Down-hollow, a pileated woodpecker drums on a baritone snag. The first bumblebee visits the jewelweed, no crickets to muffle the hum of her solitary motor.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags bumblebee, jewelweed, pileated woodpecker Leave a comment
May 27, 2026 by Dave Bonta

Light rain. A large bumblebee buzzes past. The phoebe keeps making his sorties from the ring of old fencing around a volunteer red oak seedling, which no doubt appreciates the extra fertilizer.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags bumblebee, phoebe, rain, red oak
August 16, 2025 by Dave Bonta

In the wake of a quick hummingbird with her elegant wand, a bumblebee continues to work the jewelweed, clambering up into each orange throat.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags bumblebee, jewelweed, ruby-throated hummingbird 2 Comments
August 14, 2024 by Dave Bonta

Cool and clear at sunrise. A yellow walnut leaf rests on the end table instead of a book. The slow motor of a bumblebee.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags bumblebee, fall foliage, sunrise
July 16, 2021 by Dave Bonta

The sun catches a tiny, white spider ballooning past the porch on a long strand of silk. It touches down in the bergamot, among bumblebees.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags bergamot, bumblebee, spiders

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On This Day

  • September 29, 2025
    A sunrise muted by cirrus. Dew dripping from the roof. The undeniable brownness of leaves that had been bright as holiday cards: death has taken that holiday, it seems.
  • September 29, 2024
    The rain goes on and on for hours. I watch a drenched squirrel at the end of a branch lose his grip on a walnut. A small brown moth circles my face.
  • September 29, 2023
    Every morning more yellow in the woods. What’s happening while we sleep? An unseen full moon. Migrant thrushes descending through the clouds at dawn.
  • September 29, 2022
    Breezy, cold and clear. Perfect weather for my favorite autumn sport, watching leaves fall: those that tumble, those that plummet, those that twirl.
  • September 29, 2021
    Partly sunny and cold. The kak-kak-kak of a Cooper’s hawk up in the woods. Polyrhythms of scolding chipmunks.

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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