SoozieQ brought up an interesting point about the loss of front porches so maybe we could talk about that some more? It always interests me how something, simple in concept, can have far reaching consequences not thought out at all. Burning bacon in a teflon pan causes cancer but we eat it anyway!
I have no memory except from the movies and the illustrated jackets of Southern Novels about the great American Architecture found in the front porch. Certainly a style that must find its origins in the warmer climate of the Southern States where evenings were still warm and the scent of gardenias filled the air. Even in colder climates, all across this country, houses were built, sometimes with a total wrap around front porch.
These were big porches which allowed real furniture, comfortable chairs and couches, not the plastic stuff of today. Comfortable places inviting relaxation and conversation. An era of slower time where we might actually enjoy to sit a spell and "shoot the breeze".
Front porches could be cleaned with a quick sweeping or a garden hose, not like maybe having to do the whole house in a proper Spring cleaning to have company. Front porches invited spontaneity, neighbors could drop by and friendships created. All without a lot of effort, it was front porch conversation. A place where concerns and compassion could aspire and even a place where politics can be discussed!
Some idiot architect decided to wall in this area and increase the square footage of a home without thought to what it would mean! We lose a lot in our privacy, our isolation.
New construction offers no porches, in fact, no neighborhoods at all.
Another thing missing in new construction is attics. There will be no baseball card collections in the future. No wooden rocking horses, no baby's first shoes, no comic books saved and put away in the attic. We still buy this stuff out of habit but having no place to put it we toss it.
We are rapidly becoming a nation of apartment dwellers and that will have consequences too. It will change our psyche considerably when "home" can be left with a simple "30 day's notice".
I am always HERE
I have no memory except from the movies and the illustrated jackets of Southern Novels about the great American Architecture found in the front porch. Certainly a style that must find its origins in the warmer climate of the Southern States where evenings were still warm and the scent of gardenias filled the air. Even in colder climates, all across this country, houses were built, sometimes with a total wrap around front porch.
These were big porches which allowed real furniture, comfortable chairs and couches, not the plastic stuff of today. Comfortable places inviting relaxation and conversation. An era of slower time where we might actually enjoy to sit a spell and "shoot the breeze".
Front porches could be cleaned with a quick sweeping or a garden hose, not like maybe having to do the whole house in a proper Spring cleaning to have company. Front porches invited spontaneity, neighbors could drop by and friendships created. All without a lot of effort, it was front porch conversation. A place where concerns and compassion could aspire and even a place where politics can be discussed!
Some idiot architect decided to wall in this area and increase the square footage of a home without thought to what it would mean! We lose a lot in our privacy, our isolation.
New construction offers no porches, in fact, no neighborhoods at all.
Another thing missing in new construction is attics. There will be no baseball card collections in the future. No wooden rocking horses, no baby's first shoes, no comic books saved and put away in the attic. We still buy this stuff out of habit but having no place to put it we toss it.
We are rapidly becoming a nation of apartment dwellers and that will have consequences too. It will change our psyche considerably when "home" can be left with a simple "30 day's notice".
I am always HERE
6 comments:
Hi Stonepost - Because there's so much misinformation out there about the Teflon® brand, I'm not surprised that you are concerned. I'm a representative of DuPont though, and hope you'll let me share some information with you and your readers, so that everyone can make truly informed decisions.
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I think Front porches served such a huge purpose in communities. You knew who lived next door, you knew their kids, they had a connection. You could even disciplined someones kid and it was a good thing. It made everyone more aware of watching out for each other. Then.... air conditioners came and we went in. TV came and we went in. Now we wonder why we have no connection and the young are running amuck ~ no one is watching them their too busy watching TV in their air conditioned living room. Then... Mom went to work and no one's home. I was lucky enough to grow up in the country, raised by my Mom, grandmother, great grandmother ~ the men sort of stayed out of the way it was a force to be reckoned with! I'd like to go back to the 50s! I do think there are places where they are trying to revive that old feeling. Just like fashion that comes back around every 30 years, perhaps it will. The sad thing.... electric blue spandex will be really popular just when they just don't do a thing for me any more! Dang IT! Oh! was I the only one wearing them?
Wow, Sara, I had no clue anyone of any importance was ever reading my blog! Just my friends! So, this means I can burn bacon? Great news!
Soozie, by the time you get here we will both be in rockin' chairs! but you are welcome on my porch anytime! I had bell bottoms though, I admit that.
Oh, thanks a lot. Jerry .... just your friends, but no one of importance... WoW .. we know what line we're in !!!
Hey , the front porch thing.. oh how I would love that , I did live my first 5 years, in an old farm house in South Jersey, and it had a front porch .. yes, a farm , me ... on a farm..It was called Maplebrook Farm... isn't that a little like Rebecca at Sunnybrook Farm?
Here in Florida there is an effort to bring back the front porch.. communities. like Celebration ( google it ) in Orlando.. have porches, and I believe up in the Panhandle along the coast.
If you remember just a few posts back on my blog, I posted a photo of a beautiful front porch while I was in Havana (Tallahassee ) ... well I know this is not as important as the teflon story,, but it's mine.. BJ
Out here I still see an occasional beautiful new construction with a huge wrap around front porch. They are a thing of beauty, though with our heat and bugs, probably not a place I'd enjoy all that much except in the spring and autumn, if not too cold or too hot! LOL Mosquitoes and gnats are horrific out here.
Still, I get your point and I too love the idea of the olden days, when times were simpler and often feel a bit gypped by missing that era. And I feel it for my kids too. Who knows...maybe some day our kids or our kids' kids will get it right.
Fortunately for me, I don't use Teflon pans (not because I don't like the idea of them, but because they always scratch and flake over time and look horrendous). I stick to my uncoated pans. And? I don't buy bacon because I hate the splatter and clean up. I just order it at a restaurant on the rare occasion we go out for a decent breakfast.
By the way, Jer...Please tell me that the 10 lbs of tomatoes we ate in one sitting were no longer 10 lbs by the time we ate them...!
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