The porch

After nearly 14 months of work (not mine... I only painted the ceiling and filled some holes), our front porch is 98% complete. It looks stunning, if I do say so myself. Rob and my dad have worked their butts off and it has paid off.

We've been using the porch every night this week, to feed Ty, eat our dinner, read the paper, enjoy some light chat with the neighbors and walkers passing by. It's been nice. However, we've had some surprises with the unveiling of our porch, as well... it attracts TONS of Chatty McChatters. Every night this week, we've had a visit from Trebor, our friendly local expert on reversed words and palindromes. He prefers to speak entirely backwards, which can be difficult for me to decipher when feeding bananas to a hot, impatient Tyler. We also can count on a visit from Euro, the small pug who walks her human every night. Euro likes to see what's on Ty's menu and if there's any left for her.

Thank God we're social, because while this porch has plenty to offer in terms of cool breezes and great scenery, it completely puts us on display. As goofy as it may seem though, I like it a lot... it's sort of what I imagine life being like fifty years ago, when people knew their neighbors and looked out for one another. I like that I can hand Tyler to "Ms. Ellen" "or "Ms. Marion" while I throw in a load of laundry, knowing he'll be completely safe. I like that at any given moment, there are three or four people crowded on the stairs, talking about the Sox game, or just stopping by to check in on how Ty is growing.

Our porch has been a great gift to our family- giving us a glance into the past, a vibrant present, and an eye for the future (a nice brick patio in the back of the house for when we get sick of all the company!)