Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Porches,

(Pictures mostly off the net)

I got to thinking about porches the other day. So I searched the web. I have been in many foreign countries and don’t  remember porches.  Many stoops and covers but none like the porches I have seen in the USA. It could be the climate but probably just the culture or I was not in the right sections.

 

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Except for about 4 or 5 years, we had porches at every parsonage we lived in until I left home. Most of the church members had porches. Most Cotton Mill houses had porches. I courted two girls in my life, both houses had porches. We spent most evenings sitting, swinging or rocking on the porch.

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It was a social center. The folks who worked in the mill would stop and talk on the way to their shift and returning.

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In the summer I loved to sit on the porch when it was raining. Even to a young kid, the smell of a fresh rain on the warm earth was pleasant.

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Some porches had rails to lean or sit on while others with no rails you could sit on the edge of the porch like it was a bench. at times there would be six to ten people on the porch. I don’t remember mean dogs, most dogs wandered, no leash law, and would walk up on the porch to be petted, even if it did not belong to that house.

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It was just the ideal place for visiting and telling stories.

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Sherry’s mama had the springy steel legged chairs and web seating. WE could get close and kiss some, but no serious smooching, She did not have a swing on the porch either, bummer. You could really smooch in a swing, methinks.

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We have a swing now, at our RV port in Belmont where we can smooch, when she lets me.

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Shot-gun house with a porch. above, Below is Sherry on Elvis’s front porch in Tupelo, MS, he was raised in this shotgun house.

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A lot of life’s decisions were made  on a porch and so many memories of the pleasant evenings. The guitar could have added so much to an evening and did on one porch, the one at the Garland Page house in Valdese.

I know that  Ma, Rick, Lucy and the folks in the north woods have nice porches, and enjoy them now. Sheila has one where the ghosts use her rockers.

Nite Shipslog

PS:

Did you ever smooch on a porch?

(To my friend Buddy:You don’t have to answer that!)

( Explanation, my first girl dropped me for him!)

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Elvis’s dad’s car, I think a 1939 Plymouth.

10 comments:

Paula said...

I should look for my poem about porches. When Mel didn't have to go to work the next morning we would sit out on the porch late. We lived on a street that became a wide street all across town. We saw some sights with people going around the barricades after it rained. John is not a porch sitter and I can't understand that.

Sheila Y said...

I love having a porch even if my ghosts get to use it more than I do... Ha. We had a small porch (big enough for two Cracker Barrel rockers) when we lived TX. They are good to rest on when you are working in the yard too. :-) Take care, Sheila

Jean said...

I like the second house with the porch. I would love to live in it. I don't know about having to keep it cleaned up. Grover's dad had two houses on his property that look just like Elvis house (they were not painted) in the picture except they didn't have a front window. It look like it on the inside with just two rooms. Grover and I lived in one for a few months when Ronnie was a baby. I wish we had a big porch here, the small one on the front here you couldn't call it a porch. Smile. Take care Jean

betty said...

Nope, no smooching on porches because we haven't lived where there was a porch. I do remember growing up having a porch around the house and how it was the center of activity. Now we have taken the porches away, people are inside and never meet their neighbors. Maybe we need to reinvent the porch! Could solve a lot of our "world" problems.

betty

I'm mostly known as 'MA' said...

I can't ever remember smooching on the porch, but I do love it and spend a lot of time out there when the weather gets nice enough. No porch sitting here yet, but it won't be long now...

TARYTERRE said...

I have always wanted a covered porch. There is something special about them, that's for sure.

Mevely317 said...

Nope, no porches in my past, either. But it's on the List! :)

Right now we're on pins and needles re. a possible new home w/ acreage for my son and DIL in Prattville. Me thinks their tipping point is its big old wrap-around porch and yes, a swing-built-for-two.

Rick Watson said...

I love porches. We had a porch much like the one on your original home place.
Ours had a swing that squeaked when I swung.
R

Lisa said...

I remember our old porch swing growing up. We spend many hours on that thing laughing and talking with family or friends. We always got a kick out of getting it swinging real good then stop it in mid air causing everyone to slide off. You know you've done that too!

Unknown said...

I love porches!

Yes, Roger and I kissed on the porch as well as everywhere else, lol.