Porch Perspectives

9/2/11 Porches. What are they good for? Absolutely everything!!

Growing up, it seemed that all the houses on my block had porches. 2211 had two. The front porch was perfect for whiling away the hours in the 1950 era summertime as you kept cool and kept up with the goings on of the neighbors.

We also had an L–shaped back porch that was latticed. It was a shelter from the elements. On rainy days Mother hung her “delicates” on the old wooden drying rack ad I played with my Terry Lee doll. It also had some rickety open shelves, one of which, housed our “exposed” house key which IF we ever locked our house (which I have no memory of every doing) we and our neighbors and everyone else could readily access. The steps of said porch were where I sat with Daddy as he taught me the intricacies of opening and eating sardines---those tins with the key on the side that took some ingenuity to get to roll open the can in order to partake of those oily little stinky fish inside. I don’t know how much I liked the sardines but I d remember liking the time with Daddy. He loved them.

It seems that I equate porches with relationships. Growing up they were gathering places for family and friends. Folks would often stop just to sit a spell if we were sitting on the front porch after dinner. Some of my favorite old pix are with my own family sitting in the metal porch furniture at Mother and Daddy’s for a quick Kodak moment. Probably because they take me back to simpler, slower, quieter times----times of relationships.

It seems to me that we could all use some porch sittin’ in our lives. Since our porch is nothing more than a small "one-step up" entry and the heat has me retreating to the coolness of the AC, I’ve decided to put two chairs out front under my birch tree. It seems like the neighborly thing to do.

I’ll let you know how it goes.