An All American Front Porch

When I was a little girl, we moved from the country to the big city of Brilliant, Ohio,
population about 1,000 when the street fair was in town.
Of course, when you're little everything seems so much bigger.
On a recent trip back to my old home town, I was surprised at how small everything was.

Today, I can't think of our house on Market Street without remembering its huge front porch. 

Well, it seemed huge to me.
Too bad I don't have any photos of it. This is our front porch now. 

The welcome mat is out. Come on in and let's chat.

We spent countless lazy hours on my childhood porch watching the world go by,
gossiping with neighbors, sipping lemonade,
and strapping on our clamp-on roller skates to zoom back and forth on the uneven sidewalk.

The front porch was where I watched parades march by and wished for a pony
(which I never got, thank you very much!)
and a few years later where Mom kept an eye on me and my sister
parked at the curb with our boyfriends. 

Ah, the wonders of the big city.

Now that I live in an actual big city, population nearing 700,000, I still love my front porch. 

I may not know all of my neighbors like I did back home, but saying good morning to passersby
with their dogs, makes me feel part of the neighborhood. 

Our little dog, Roxy, loves the porch too. 

She must feel like queen of the block from her elevated perch. 

If Ron is on the porch she feels it's her duty to protect him (but not me??)
by barking at passing dogs unless they're neighbor dogs whom she knows.

I love our American flag whether it's floating loose or snapping in the wind. 

Ron purchased it for me when he visited Mt. Vernon. 

This special flag flew over George Washington's home and I'm proud to display it.

It reminds me of a fond childhood memory. 

Growing up, my sister and I always thought everyone was celebrating our mother's birthday 

on June 14 by hanging out their flags. It took us a while to figure out it was actually Flag Day.

I probably have too much stuff on my front porch but my collecting habit has spilled over there. 

This primitive bench found a home after I discovered it in the mud at an estate sale, too shabby to sell. The red pump came from my parents' pump house and the chair from Dad's garden.
Maybe these objects from home make this front porch feel, well, more like home.

I do love alley shopping and was thrilled when we found these two rocking chairs thrown
in the alley for trash pick up. After a lot of scraping, sanding and painting,
they're the perfect chairs for sittin' a while with a cup of coffee in the morning sun.

A blogger from Europe once mentioned how much she loved our American front porches
because they didn't have them in Europe. I hadn't realized that until she pointed it out. 

I guess we had more room to spread out when building houses
in our wide-open spaces in America. 

So glad someone thought of adding a front porch to their house.
It wouldn't be home without one.

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Linking with:
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21 Rosemary Lane, Peonies and Orange Blossoms, Adirondack Girl at Heart,
French Country Cottage