Come Sit a Spell

Posted on by Cheryl Capaldo Traylor

It’s still summer here in the Northern Hemisphere, and for many of you that’s a glorious thing! So hey hey hurrah! Me? I’m looking forward to chillier mornings and cooler evenings. Wearing my tattered, holey-most-holy Duke hoodie. Sitting by the fire pit sipping decaf infused with Bailey’s. Ample Bailey’s. Walking through my garden and not emerging with a dozen mosquito bites. Hot cocoa. Leaving the oven door open after baking cookies. Gardening morning to evening and not even noticing the passing sun. Yes, I love autumn and winter. 

As I sit outside a lovely cafe near my house, Chanticleer Cafe and Bakery, and write this post, sweat is dripping down my back and the sun is baking a crumb of quiche left on the plate. I know. I know. Complaining doesn’t make it better, but it feels like at least I’ve tried.

Onward!

Siting in my garden is a favorite pastime. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be than on my pergola swing or my meditation bench that my brother Bill gave me shortly before he died. There’s also the chairs by my fire pit. I love gazing into a fire and pondering. It seems passive, but it most certainly is anything but. I’m dreaming when I peer into those flames. I’m wishing. I’m hoping. I’m thinking deep thoughts. Except when I’m not. Sometimes I chat with a companion, most often Chuck. Sometimes others. Fire-watching hearkens back to earlier times when our ancestors–both recent and ancient–depended on fire for survival. They also used the fireside to tell stories, remember and share myths, and come into communion with one another. Maybe that’s what I miss most about these modern times–there’s not enough fireside storytelling. 

I wrote about sitting in my garden and the uses and beauty of garden benches for the Fall issue of Seasons Style & Design magazine. Take a look, then please let me know your favorite spots to sit in your garden or elsewhere. Do you enjoy the fire as much as I do? What draws you to certain places? Here’s the link to the column: The Garden Guru

And now, for the next issue, I’m writing about winter and one of my favorite winter-blooming plants: hellebores. Yes, I’m sitting here dripping sweat and pounding out words  that describe these tough-as-nails, yet exquisite blooms that bloom in the coldest weather. Chalk that up to writer’s imagination.

Then I’m going to go home, sit down inside my air-conditioned home, and do what we southerners call sit a spell. And read some stories. Wish you could join me. Or maybe you’ll want to wait until I light that fire pit up and pour the Bailey’s. Come on now–come sit a spell.

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33 thoughts on “Come Sit a Spell”

  1. I’ve been feeling sick sick sick of this heat we’ve been having. It makes you feel as if you must be outside, not simply sitting outside but doing stuff, and the stuff I want/need to do is indoors! Bring on the cool strains of autumn of cold overcast days or bright and breezy days where I will have full permission to do my creative stuff – firelight, even better and the crackling sparks of the logs in the evening to invite reflection…

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  2. Oh, I look forward to cooler weather although I probably still wouldn’t spend much more time sitting outdoors. Mosquitoes spring eternal in Florida. With cooler temps, they may move slower but they antagonize me nonetheless. Then again, I haven’t really tried in a long time. We have a screened-in back porch which really helps, though. We had the porch put on within a year of buying our house 😉

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    1. Year-round mosquitoes? I couldn’t handle that! I’m glad you have the screened-in porch. I keep saying I’m going to have one built onto our deck. Maybe someday. I love being outside, but not with mosquitoes. They don’t bother Chuck, but they love me! 😬

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  3. We are fans of fireside storytelling too. We live in a condo so we have a pretty fire pit on our deck. But I love a fire in the fireplace most of all. I have a fire almost every day the weather even marginally calls for it! I love reading by a fire, sitting and talking by a fire…and the Baileys and decaf sounds splendid, so it may just become a new tradition, too. 😁 Looking forward to reading your magazine articles. ❤️

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  5. Sitting in your garden sounds like a wonderful haven, Cheryl, with friends or in solitude. I do believe gardens are a magic balm to the spirit.

    How thoughtful of your brother, also, to leave you with a long-lasting reminder of his love for you and a way to still share garden time with you.

    Wish I could join you to sit a spell too. It sounds like the most delightful way to share an afternoon or evening.

    Soon the weather will cool and you will be enjoying cocoa while I will be looking forward to temperate Spring. How blessed we are with the changing seasons.

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    1. I would love to sit and chat with you. Who knows? Maybe someday. We aren’t that far apart. I do love the changing seasons and as much as I complain about summer I still love all of her delights. Like tomatoes! And peaches! And cucumbers!

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      1. 🙂 This is true, Cheryl. Asheville is still on my bucket list and I’ll probably add some other NC places shown in Outlander too, so a visit has the potential to become a reality sometime. And if you ever visit Omega again…well, you never know. All good things to keep in mind. Your long distance friendship is already in my heart.

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  6. Your article and post are beautiful Cheryl, you make we want to sit and ponder on your bench or chat on the pergola swing, or stare into the fire. Sadly I don’t have room for a swing (always wanted one) or a fire, but there are still places to sit in my small yard – cast iron chairs and a mosaic table in between bamboo and passionflowers, comfy chairs in the sunny corner beside the jasmine, sometimes the step in front of the gate beside the little fountain…

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  7. Beautiful post and article, Cheryl. You paint such vivid and welcoming pictures with words. Mmmm, Bailey’s! 😉 Plus, new word for me: mammon. Nicely done.

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  8. Alas, I do not have the property that affords me a bench in a garden (or really even a garden!), but that one of yours looks so inviting, I’d love to come sit with you and just chat. But I get the idea — I like to curl up on something comfortable on my back porch and read, daydream, write, whatever. A recent spate of bug bites has me, too, longing for the crisp weather when they won’t be an issue. Sitting a spell? Happily, one can do that anywhere, even b y a window. Lovely garden post, BTW.

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    1. I’d like that, too, Jeanne! I think we’d find a lot to chat about. I love sitting on my back porch, too. Heck, I like sitting anywhere outside, or as you suggested, by a window looking outside. My indoor reading chair is by the glass porch doors and I pretend I have a sunroom (I wish I really did!). Have a lovely rest of the weekend:)

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  11. Here in the Pacific Northwest, we’ve had an on-again-off-again summer, with cooler temps and much more rain than usual. Even though it already feels like fall, I’m not quite ready to give up on summer. For as long as I can, I will sit in my backyard and read while I also watch the birds in the bird-baths and the bees in the bee balm.

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    1. Backyard sitting is the best, Donna! I find that I’m both relaxed and engaged while sitting outside. There’s so much to see, but I don’t give in to the overthinking that plagues my mind indoors. For me, my garden is truly healing on many levels.

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  14. Loved, loved, loved this one Cheryl! Such inviting imagery! I’m headed to my back porch now to sit a spell! Well done!

    On Fri, Aug 16, 2019, 1:41 PM Giving Voice to My Astonishment wrote:

    > Cheryl Capaldo Traylor posted: “It’s still summer here in the Northern > Hemisphere, and for many of you that’s a glorious thing! So hey hey hurrah! > Me? I’m looking forward to chillier mornings and cooler evenings. Wearing > my tattered, holey-most-holy Duke hoodie. Sitting by the fire pit ” >

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