In the Kitchen Window

I often stand at the kitchen sink, staring out at the view toward the back of our property.  From here, we see the Greenhouse, Shack, Garage, my trusty pick-up truck, and the Barn.  (I also see lots of soggy ground, because we got a whole bunch of rain yesterday.)  What I don't see, however, is much of the garden ... weird, I know.

Looking down onto the windowsill (which is 12" deep) is like my own private game of Seek & Find ... you know, those photos where the idea is to look for certain objects in a composition of lots and lots of items.

I see:  three orchids, a spiderplant, a vacuum-type wine stopper, two thermometers, a whole bunch of paintbrushes, a toothbrush, two paint stirrers, nail clippers, and a cactus.  This assortment appears to accurately represent the mess of stuff that also accumulates in my brain ... seemingly unrelated stuff that all has a common theme.  In this case, it's stuff that I use (paintbrushes, nail clippers, wine stopper) along with stuff that needs to be here (all of the plants).

(Notice that two of the orchids have flower spikes!!  They're Cymbidiums, impulse purchases from Trader Joes, and they reliably rebloom at this time each year ... despite my ignorance at how exactly to properly care for them.)

In winter, staring out the window is how I get most of my exposure to outdoors ... it's too cold most days to do as much outside as I would like to.  This window, and the one in the dining room further down this wall, have my favorite views.  

What's your favorite place to stand and stare out the window, and what do YOU see?