The Front Porch

 

When I was a youngster, one of my summertime pleasures was getting to go to my grandmother's house in town for a few days.  Perhaps a week.  The house above is where she lived when I was very young.  

Back in those days, the porch had a railing across the front and a porch swing.  The house was divided into two apartments, with grandmother living on the left side and her tenant on the right.  

Many evenings would find my grandmother and I sitting on the front porch and Mrs. T would join us.  We usually sat there until it was bedtime.  No television watching in those days.  Plus it was much cooler on the porch with the summer breezes than in the house that didn't yet have a/c.   The women would visit and I liked to try to guess what color car would be the next one to drive by. 

A silly little game I played was trying to fool Mrs. T into thinking I had a twin sister.  I would go in the house and change into a different shorts set and comb my hair different and come out and pretend to be my twin.  lol!  I don't think Mrs. T was fooled for a minute, but it was a fun game for me to play.  Isn't it funny, the things we remember? 

I also spent many an hour roller skating around the block.  There wasn't a great deal of concrete on the farm until our house was built with a basement.  So, I took my clip-on skates and had lots of fun skating.  Anyone old enough to remember clip-on skates?      

The house above was the next house that my grandmother lived in.  I was older and in high school by then and wasn't much interested in roller skating any longer.  I did sit out on the porch with my grandmother in the summer when I visited her and I did visit quite often.  Gran always greeted me at the door with huge smile on her face and a hug.  I miss those porch visits.   

So many of the older houses have front porches.  

I suppose porches weren't added on to new houses as often after air conditioning became popular.  I remember the first house I lived in, before it burned down when I was 9 years old.  It had a front porch and my mother often sat in the swing, if there was a breeze, just to cool off during the heat of the day.  She also sat on the porch and snapped green beans for canning or worked on some hand sewing. 
    

She also sat on the porch swing while my brothers and I were chasing fireflies during those hot summer nights. 

I've always loved porches.  Many new homes have them now and if I ever move again I hope the next house has one. 

This is my new front porch.  Sans a roof.  For new readers, we had foundation work done over a year ago and the old porch was torn out.  We don't really sit out here much, preferring to sit on the patio in the back where we can gaze over the Back 6 and see the pond.

Many of you have wonderful porches.  Sue has one of the most beautiful porches I've seen anywhere.  Does anyone take time to sit on their porches like we did in the olden days?  I still think it is one of summer's simple pleasures.  

Happy Friday to you and have a nice weekend!
xo Cheryl