June 6, 2010
My Front Porch
Nicky painting; Grandpa and Sam playing chess
Sitting on the front porch of my little cottage near Lake Michigan is one of my favorite activities.
The porch is spacious enough to hold a large wicker sofa that we got from my friend Jan. Next to it we have placed an old blue bench that we cover with soft cushions. All around are chairs – from rockers to cheap IKEA models. In the middle of this grouping sits a little table just waiting for that coffee cup or a tall lemonade glass. My husband Jeff had put the table together from a hand painted metal platter that my friend Ann gave us as a housewarming gift and a metal base that I found in a junkyard. They fit together beautifully.
On the other side of the porch, there is room for a large old farm table that I actually paid money for in a moment of sentimental homesickness. It reminds me of Serbia. The top is painted light pealing green, the base is black. It is beaten, uneven, and uncomfortable for big people because there is no room for their legs. The tall man in my family hate it, but the girls love it. The table is surrounded by a flock of light, cheap, black IKEA chairs.
My favorite activity at this table is to clean green beans. I don’t know why. Maybe just the idea of sitting there on that lazy porch, having the time to clean green beans that I have just purchased at the farmer’s market that morning invoke for me the idea of a perfect summer moment.
Other things I like to do on that porch: sit on the wicker sofa and read; take a nap in the sunlight; sit there in the morning before anyone wakes up, drink coffee and look at birds; serve Turkish coffee on a pretty platter in small cups in the afternoons; sit with family and neighbors in the evenings with a glass of wine or beer, and talk about everything.
We had a large group of family members at the cottage for Memorial Day weekend. The front porch was everyone’s favorite place to assemble. My father played countless games of chess with his grandchildren. My niece, Nicole, painted the scenery. We ate our meals there. We had our drinks there. We talked. We talked more. And early on Monday morning, we watched as the Memorial Day parade procession passed by our house.
Gracious Living - Day by Day 