My favourite place for relaxing is the veranda, an intermediate zone not really inside and not really outside. I like to go out onto the veranda to watch the world go by, the birds go by, the sun go by, or maybe to enjoy a book, a cup of tea, a sundowner, a conversation, or simply just to sit. The veranda can be a meditative place. 

Many styles of architecture across the world feature such roofed spaces providing shelter and a place to relax alongside the exterior of a building. The word “veranda”, from the Hindi word “varanda”, came to the English language as a result of British imperialism in India. In South Africa, the word “stoep”, derived from the Dutch word, is also commonly used, and several styles of vernacular houses have verandas.

Our house has a homemade deck roofed over with thin poles under a rainproof roof to simulate a veranda. It is a relaxing place overlooking the garden. In the tradition of many homely verandas, its pot plants include a maidenhair fern. This particular fern I inherited from my aunt. It is likely to be the Common Maidenhair fern (Adiantum aethiopicum), or it might be Adiantum capillus-veneris. Both are cosmopolitan plants, occurring naturally in suitable places in South Africa and across the world – rather like verandas. In my view, the relaxing ambience of a veranda can only be enhanced by the evergreen filigree of this old-fashioned fern. ★

Posted by Carol at letting nature back in

 This week’s Weekly Photo Challenge theme: Relax