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The Morning Porch

Daily short takes from an Appalachian hollow

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jewelweed

August 14, 2023 by Dave Bonta

At ten minutes till sunrise, the first hummingbird buzzes in to the orange touch-me-nots. A wood thrush calls from the woods’ edge, but doesn’t sing.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags jewelweed, ruby-throated hummingbird, wood thrush
September 3, 2022 by Dave Bonta

As above, so below: white sky, white snakeroot. A hummingbird buzzes in to bother the jewelweed below the porch.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags clouds, jewelweed, ruby-throated hummingbird, white snakeroot
August 3, 2022 by Dave Bonta

Cool and crystal clear. The buzz of battling hummingbirds below the porch where jewelweed has eluded the deer.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags jewelweed, ruby-throated hummingbird
September 9, 2017 by Dave Bonta

I notice a new patch of touch-me-nots in the tall weeds, beaded with rain, their nectar-filled tails curled primly in wait for hummingbirds.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags jewelweed
July 26, 2016 by Dave Bonta

A hummingbird buzzes below the porch, looking for the touch-me-nots that the deer have eaten. Fly on my shoe, is it everything you’d hoped?

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags flies, jewelweed, ruby-throated hummingbird
July 10, 2016 by Dave Bonta

Overcast and cool. A buzzing below the porch: when I lean over the rail to look, a hummingbird rises from the jewelweed to meet my gaze.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags jewelweed, ruby-throated hummingbird
June 21, 2016 by Dave Bonta

Overcast and cool. Below the porch, a single orange jewelweed flower and a traveling shiver in the grass where a vole is foraging.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags jewelweed, voles 1 Comment
August 1, 2015 by Dave Bonta

Below the porch, I notice a single orange jewelweed overlooked by the deer. The hummingbird zips right past it on her way to the garden.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags deer, jewelweed, ruby-throated hummingbird
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On This Day

  • September 4, 2025
    Sun through a scrim of cirrus. The hillside ticks with chipmunks. Two white-breasted nuthatches call back and forth at the woods' edge.
  • September 4, 2024
    Another cold morning. The sun through thin cirrus casts a wan light over the clouds of blossoming snakeroot.
  • September 4, 2023
    A warm wind before dawn brings a feeling of dread for the coming week. The sound of a raccoon flipping rocks in the creek.
  • September 4, 2022
    Overcast with a restless feeling to the air. When the rain comes it is an autumn rain, quiet, lacking the exuberance of breeding birds.
  • September 4, 2021
    The sun passes through windrows of clouds. It’s quiet. I look forward to another day waiting for the Godot that is a Verizon repairman.

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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