Friday, June 3, 2011

Welcome To My Front Porch

I have always wanted a big Victorian  or country porch, but unfortunately, I've never lived in a house that had one.  I think that some of what ails this generation could be eased if we all developed a more social porch life.  Back in the days before air conditioning people used porches as an extended living room.  Children had tea parties on the porch with their dolls and teddy bears.  Little boys played with their toy cars or soldiers.  Mothers shelled peas while grandmothers did their knitting or mending.  Neighbors exchanged news while waving to the people passing by.  Young lovers sat on the porch swing and held hands. Today, we drive up to a garage which is opened by a garage door opener and we zoom into our air conditioned cave and the world is a poorer place because of it.

I have been giving this some thought for quite some time. I wanted to work with what I had.  I had some challenges.  I have a small porch.  I had a large tree in a small patch of earth in front of my window.  I have three other trees (in a very small front yard)  which produce a lot of shade.  I have never been able to grow anything in the front part of my yard because of all of the shade.    I wish that I would have taken before and after pictures so you could see the difference.

Allen, my husband, chopped down one of the trees in the front which gave me a nice space for a flower bed.  My sister-in-law, Mary, helped me to pick out some plants and she helped me plant the first flower bed.  She also put the thought into my head to think about some plant loving plants for the other part of the lawn.  I had recently discovered the wonderful little shade loving hosta plant and I decided to plant a hosta garden.  Allen put a lot of sweat and back bone into digging up roots, and preparing the bed.  Then he and my daughter, Sarah, planted my little hosta garden.  I now have a beautiful peaceful entrance to our home.  I enjoy sitting on my little front porch.  I hope that my little front porch says, "Welcome, you are invited to come and sit a spell".