"If the world had a
front porch like we did back then, we’d still have our problems
but we’d all be friends; treating your neighbor like he’s your
next of kin wouldn’t be gone with the wind, if the world had a
front porch like we did back then.” These
familiar words were presented and performed by Tracey Lawrence
beginning in 1994 and the concept continues to be true today.
David and I grew up in
a new brick home that was custom built for our parents; we moved
into it before I started to school. We
had no more than a postage stamp front porch there on Nicholson
Street (Lumpkin highway) in Richland, it was not the fashion in
1955 when it was being built, but Nanny had an unforgettable
front porch at their farmhouse in nearby rural Terrell County
where we visited often.
Nanny used her front
porch as another room of her house nearly year round, the
structure was located near the country crossroad and people
stopped by frequently to visit and catch up on the community
news. When David and I
visited our grandparents, we spent a lot of quality time on
their porch; there were rocking chairs, at one time an old
fashioned metal divan, several footstools and a wooden
porch-swing.
I have written several
narratives about my front porch here in Baldwin County but the
other stories have been penned during the spring, but this time
it is autumn and the facts differ tremendously. In
the spring I have to contend with that nasty pollen that makes
us sneeze and gives us puffy eyes but in the fall I spend a lot
of time removing the falling leaves and those pesky acorns from
the massive oak tree in the front yard. Otto
often said that the oak tree was too big and needed to go but I
have not yet been able to consider having it removed.
I spend a lot of time
on the porch during the warm months, enjoying the sunny days and
when it rains, but as the days become shorter, it is increasing
more enticing to linger in my rocking chair and enjoy the
cooling temperatures. I read
the Stewart Webster Journal, work a Union Recorder crossword
puzzle and relish the autumn breezes.
All those attractive
plants that flourished during the warm months are beginning to
yellow and wilt away and the hard decision has to be made about
which ones to try to keep alive over the winter months and which
ones to discard. And, then
you have to find a place in the house to over-winter the chosen
plants, which creates more decorating decisions to be made.
The colorful
hummingbirds have left for warmer climates and those containers
have to be cleaned and stored away. But
it seems that as cooler weather arrives, the birdfeeder is now
less popular and only needs refilling every few days.
"If the world had a
front porch like we did back then.”
