Essentially BreadIt is useful to have a porch with chairs on it. I am happy to have on of those, now, although it is not a community porch. It does not face the street, nor give rise to waiving to neighbors. Instead, it faces the back yard, a sheltered cloister of trees and shrubs with the occasional cat. This place used to have a proper front porch, and one of the long term hopes is to put the thing back, or at least put something in place to honor what once was.
I know others with front porches, set out by the sidewalk, within easy distance of waving and possible (if unlikely) conversation. Christopher Alexander has some good thoughts on this sort of thing. I highly recommend it on general principles; when the weather is nice, it is difficult to spend better evenings. We had a pizza, and we ate it, dusted careful with habanero pepper powder. Joggers waved as they passed, lost deeply in rhythm and iPods. The sky turned to twilight, then dusk. It is good to fill the evening with comfort foods and conversation.
Also: Shadyside is improved by Simon Postford. I did not expect otherwise.
All content under copyright by the author. Dancing is permitted. The strange deltic glyphs in the sand under tidal flow are a pleasure to watch in their deepening. Offer not valid in Kansas. We put it down and then we lost it. It all happens in the corner of the eye. Mail accepted for the bears in the basement. We have a dog, but we do not own it. Thank you.