sitting in a beautiful focal point

This post is not a "Giving Tree" knockoff. Yes the Giving Tree stump was a good place for an old man to sit but that's not what this is about.

In the last three houses my wife and I have called home, we had some wonderful places to sit. We had leather couches, oak floors, entertainment available at the flick of the remote, snacks within easy reach, etc. But that wasn't good enough and I could not be content until I had another place to sit. So I began to create picturesque places to sit and enjoy looking at beautiful flowers, trees, little birds freeloading out of birdfeeders and drinking out of the birdbath (birds don't seem to mind drinking their bathwater). These were places that were created with elaborate landscaping requiring great effort on my part including the following: mulching, fence installing, pergola building and all manner of outside decorating with with stones, driftwood, and outdoor furniture.

The picture you see before you is the most recently completed place to sit. It features a custom built bench from Waverly, Illinois. The wood in the bench is from a locally grown Catalpa tree which fell to the saw to make room for the new town Firehouse. I didn't know Catalpa trees were good for anything, except my wife once tried to smoke a green Catalpa bean.

The cobblestone under the bench is from the Menards in Avon, Indiana. The Arbor Vitae evergreens are from Lowe's in Avon. All told, everything on sale, the total cost of this seating area was less than $300. I've been told it's pretty. I've been told it is a focal point for the landscaping. But I've told myself that I have once again built a wonderful place to sit, but in which I will seldom or never sit.

I've decided I am just not the type of person to sit in beautiful focal points. I like to build them, they're a lot of fun to plan and create but instead of sitting there I'd rather create another place to sit. Yes, the next place to sit will be a patio just outside the back sliding doors. But I won't sit there either, just admire it from the kitchen while eating my supper.

The funny thing is I don't see anybody else sitting in their focal points either. I drive by homes everyday where I'm sure there must be wonderful places to sit, but in spite of that, the homeowners have added on a screen room or sun room, then a patio, then landscaping with a beautiful seating area in an "outdoor room."

I even have books with dozens of pictures of benches in focal points and nobody is sitting in those published pictures of places to sit. There might be an occasional cat sitting on a bench waiting to maul a poor little unsuspecting, freeloading bird but there are no people there.

What is it? Do we admire the concept of sitting? Do we long to sit? Do we fantisize about sitting in a beautiful focal point? Maybe I'll figure that out as I'm building the next place to sit.