Porchville!

   At one time or another yesterday two of my
daughters and three of my grand kids, my wife
and I spent some time sitting and talking
together on our front porch.
    The screens kept us generally free from
insects and allowed the fairly constant breeze
to provide some natural air conditioning.
    I was reminded of my growing up days in
Hazleton when our L-shaped porch provided
a fort-like playground, a shelter from the rain,
and a place to grill steaks even when the snow
was falling. It was a great place except, perhaps,
for the time I came back out and found one of
my T Bones missing! I never did figure that
one out.
    I routinely greeted people walking by and
called to neighbors on either side and even
across the street. All of them could usually be
found enjoying some time in "Porchville."
    But these days the only thing sitting on
porches seems to be furniture!
    So my question is.....where did everybody
go?
     A late afternoon walk took me past plenty
of very impressive front porches!
     Some were huge! Most were filled with
gliders, lawn chairs, rockers, and tables of
one sort or another.
     But NONE had any people!
     I'm sure, had I looked hard enough, I
might have found somebody enjoying some
pleasant relaxation on their front porch
watching the world go by. But none of the
porches I passed by were occupied.
     Maybe everyone was having a late
supper. Or, perhaps, TV was better than
we've been lead to believe last evening!
Why don't I believe that?
     I guess neighbors and neighborhoods
have changed over the years. I used to
know the names of all my neighbors. Now
I think I know about three of them....and I'm
not sure their last name would come to me
very quickly!
     It's kind of a shame though!
     We should all go outside occasionally
to try out all that neat furniture! We could
say hello to some of those neighbors...if
they ever come out!
     We could cook up a couple of steaks!
     And we could watch to make sure they
stay on the grill!
      Hope you're enjoying that front porch
rocker and that all your NEWS is good!