Everyone needs a front porch!

 

The garden swelters under the heat. For that matter, so do I, but then again, you all know I love the cooler weather. I am grateful for air conditioning even though I really,  dislike using it. It seems as if our windows and doors are shut most of the year, and I love billowing curtains. The time will come for billowing curtains when Autumn comes calling.

I do not remember air conditioning anywhere when I was a kid. I know my grandparents didn’t have it, and neither did we. Of course, there were those long, hot nights with sweaty sheets and just a box fan. It was summer so, well, that was the way it was. But, there were porches.

My grandmother had a front porch complete with a porch swing. She had a porch light that she often blinked if I was staying with her and my date stayed too long. She never actually came out to the porch, but just kept blinking the porch light! During the day that same porch was where we cleaned beans for dinner, darned socks or chatted with neighbors walking by.

My farm had a great porch too. That porch had a swing and, in those days, without stop lights or businesses, all that the eye could see were Doc’s fields and apple orchards filling the gaps into town. In the summer it also held three butterfly nets for the boys and an old pan to fill with water to wash their feet before they came in for the night. I don’t remember anyone wearing shoes during the summer! It was quiet too. In the winter the porch was a mainstay. We filled it with firewood, work boots, and a snow shovel, of course! My front porch was also where we read books, told stories, and cleaned beans for dinner.

Later on in my life, when I bought my house in town, I knew I wanted a porch. I found the perfect house for that. Once I moved in, I realized all the windows were nailed shut and the ropes had been cut. My first order of business was to get those windows open. Lee made screens for each one and we had to number them as each window was actually a different size.  Lee replaced all the old-fashioned ropes. Once the weather warms in April and before the heavy frost in October, my porch is my go-to every day. There is no air-conditioning, but I have a great ceiling fan and those lovely windows. My porch faces east so I get the morning sun, and the heat of the day stays in my backyard. I don’t have a porch swing, but lovely wicker furniture and stacks of books. I love my porch as I also have it surrounded by bushes so that I can watch the world go by, yet I am a bit hidden.

How and when did we lose these glorious additions to our homes? There really are two major factors contributing to the demise of the front porch. You guessed it. Air-conditioning and the invention of television. Once folks were comfortable inside, why go out to the porch? It was cooler and more entertaining inside. Ah, but was it really? Now my family wasn’t musical, so I didn’t learn the banjo or hear my grandpa play the harmonica on my porch, yet I love them. My dad lived with his grandparents for several year during the Depression. His room was up in the attic with a bed of straw-filled ticking. He often told stories about going to bed early and listening to the old men talk on the porch as they sharpened their knives on the whetstone every night. What a lovely memory to have.

In my neighborhood, there are porches. Probably because most of the houses are close to a hundred years old, such as mine. Sometimes Lee does play the banjo on the porch. My neighbors, Larry and Cheri, spend hours on their porch with their dog, Molly. People stop by to chat every afternoon.

If you don’t have a porch, maybe you have a stoop? It seems everyone has a back deck which is not quite the same, but at least you are outside.

This week the temps will cool so a perfect time to sit outdoors and watch the world go by during the day and stars by night.

 So come and sit a spell for stories, for music and to help clean those beans!