Back Porch Step

Monday's ordinary thing is the single step to our back porch, the place where I wrote today, with just enough sun to warm my legs, just enough shade to see my work, the plink of the windchimes, the cat nearby nosing the potted herbs.

There's something magical to the words back porch, isn't there? I also like back step. Putting them together, back porch step sounds comforting and solid, low to the ground but useful, close to a door of mystery. A porthole, like Lewis's wardrobe, which may have been inspired by an actual furnishing.

I think too of the words in"Donny Darko," where the English teacher (Drew Barrymore) informs that the words, "cellar door," are the two most beautiful in the English language.

A part of us is always surprised that the ordinary can be so beautiful.

Tell me, what adventures have you had on the back porch step?