Sunroom as Beach House

I recently re-arranged the furniture in the sunroom. The new arrangement gave me room for the antique book shelves I schlepped across the Atlantic last summer from Norway. It’s so much cozier now that I spend almost all my at-home time in this one room. In the winter, the favored room is the living room because of the fireplace. But, in the summer, the sunroom reigns supreme. I have my morning coffee there and spend long evenings reading there and have spent several nights on the daybed there taking advantage of the cool breeze.

And, when the power went out last night because of severe storms and tornadoes, the sunroom was where Monty and I retreated to with the flashlight, battery-operated clock, cell phone, jug of iced tea and paperback murder mystery. With windows on three sides, it was both the coolest place and the lightest place to be. It reminded me of the summers our extended family would spend at the summer house in Smithtown, New York.

At Smithtown, we’d spend our days at the beach and then after dinner grown-ups played cards by kerosene lamp and kids would read books and tell stories by flashlight on the sleeping porch. Yesterday, I weeded and planted and watered in the bright sun and then read a paperback murder mystery by flashlight in the sunroom.

My grandfather bought the house for my grandmother when they were newlyweds! It had no electricity or indoor plumbing for a long time. Electricity arrived before I did. I remember my mom and aunt cooking on a hotplate. Plumbing didn’t arrive until the early 70s. We fought about who had the honor of the “first flush.” (My cousin, Karin, won. She’s the oldest, she argued.)

The power came back on this morning – almost exactly twelve hours after it went out. So, I don’t have to finish my murder mystery by flashlight, and I can use the computer to tell the story!