Today’s guest post was written by Tamela Cook.
I spend a lot of time sitting on my porch. It is a comfortable and serene spot to be. Mine is especially enjoyable because it is screened in and keeps the bugs and other critters away. I often sit and reminisce about the porch on Sallie Mae’s house. Actually, her house had 3 porches. There was a front porch, a back porch and let’s call it a side porch.
The side porch was where the main entrance to the house was. That is where we hung out. That was our safe haven during rainy days. I recall a valley at the corner of the house which was right off the right side of the porch. When it would rain, it was a custom for us grandkids to stand right under that valley and get drenched! I would even guess that we might have even taken a shower there complete with soap at one time or another! Another common thing to do was to run to the end of the short sidewalk and back. Not a care in the world was had. The simplicity of playing in the rain was so very innocent.
Another common thing that we would do is take flyswatters to the porch and kill flies. We would even have fly-killing contests to see who could kill the most. The flies especially enjoyed gathering on that porch when it rained. Little did they know that they were flying into certain death!
The porch was where the tater box was. Grandma and Papaw always had some chairs of some sort out there to sit on. I remember they had those metal chairs from probably the 1950’s. All houses had that kind of furniture. The chairs were like rockers but instead of having actual rockers on them, they had metal legs that were flexible and would kind of suspend you in the air which allowed you to rock back and forth. I recall someone (maybe my Uncle Ed) sitting down in one of those and the whole chair just folded down upon itself. He got up, unbent it and pulled the chair back upright, then chose somewhere else to sit.
I remember Poochie would sit in the tater box on the porch. He was a rambunctious little pup. I would say that he most looked like a feist but in reality, he was probably a mutt or Heinz 57 dog as we used to say. I don’t remember a lot about him nor for how long he was around or what happened to him but I remember my grandmother loved him and he loved her. I never met anybody that didn’t love her, come to think of it!
I remember playing with my dog Sam on that porch and watching him run around in the yard. He was a cocker spaniel. My mom brought him home when we lived on the farm. She was a nurse and she worked night shift at the time and someone at the hospital gave the dog to her. I remember that she woke me up in the morning by putting him in the bed with me. It was the only dog I ever had that was actually mine. I have had dogs, but they technically weren’t mine. They thought they were, but they weren’t. Instead, they belonged to the neighbors.
Sam met a tragic death that I did not know the details about until I was in my 30’s. My grandparents’ house was situated on a long, straight stretch of country road and people were apt to speed by. Well, Sam had gotten in the road and he got ran over. I was in the house so I was oblivious to what was going on. I must have been around 7 or 8 years old. I remember Sallie Mae taking me to the bedroom and she asked me if I wanted to hear some music. So, I remember putting on the “Grease” soundtrack to listen to. I bet I listened to that album a thousand times. It was my favorite movie at the time.
So, my mother tells me some 20 years later the real truth about what happened to Sam. He did indeed get ran over but he was injured so badly that he had to be put down. Going to the vet was not an option. Back in those days, you had to do what you had to do. My mom had to shoot him. The whole going to the bedroom and listening to music ploy was all a diversion to cover up the sound of the gun going off.
Additionally, another tale of the porch involved the goats. The next-door neighbors, the Sorrells’, were goat farmers. It was a daily ritual to sit on the porch and watch the goats escape from their pen. It was an adventure. My Papaw, near the end of his life, had gangrene in his foot and he was in a wheelchair. My uncles built a wheelchair ramp connected to the porch so it would be easier for him to get in and out of the house. One morning, we were awakened by a clamor on the porch. My grandmother went to the door and lifted up the retractable, roll-down window shade covering it and reported that she saw goats going up the ramp and jumping off the porch. They were all lined up and they looked like kids on the playground awaiting their turn to go down the slide or something.
It must have become a habit for the goats once they learned the ramp was there. Either that or the goats just enjoyed being in my grandparents’ yard. I can remember my Uncle Jerry who had a cast on his leg at the time because he had recently been in a wreck and even my Papaw in his wheelchair would go out in the yard and shoot off bottle rockets at the goats to try and deter them from getting in the yard.
I think that the best part of the house is the porch. Do other rooms perhaps vie for who is best? Different rooms have different functions and different meanings for each individual. The porch is my ’serenity now’ place. It’s a place to relax, listen to your surroundings, be thankful for what you have and to sort through your problems. It has provided me with multiple leisurely hours to ponder things. It is one of the very best places on the planet to be fully present.
—Walnut Grove Memoirs “Porch” written by Tamela Cook July 2024
I hope you enjoyed Tamela’s guest post as much as I do. I was reminded of many of my own porch memories including one time when two of my friends and me were sitting on a porch swing in the dark being silly and the whole swing fell with us. Grownups came running to see what the commotion was but we were laughing so hard we couldn’t even tell them what happened 🙂
Last night’s video: Favorite Tomato Tart with Fresh Corn, Cantaloupe, Grape Juice, & Cucumbers.
Tipper
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Loved this story and yours too Miss Tipper. We had some porches in my lifetime and this brought back many great memories. Thanks to both these wonderful story tellers. Made my day. Tipper dinner looked great last night. The corn, cukes, that beautiful cantaloupe and the tart. Wished I’d been there. Yummmmy. Jennifer
Thank you, Tamela, for bringing back sweet memories!
We had a porch all across the front of our small house when I was growing up. On one side there was a long, wooden porch swing and the other side had rows of clothes lines all across the ceiling. On hot, summer afternoons, I sat on the swing with my paper and pencil, sketching anything I could see—the little gas station across the road, one of the neighbors homes—or just something from my imagination. In the evenings, my parents would sit in that swing, drinking coffee, and watching us kids having foot races or playing ball in the front yard. I sat there on many evenings, holding hands with my boyfriend, who is now my hubby of 43 years. My mama hung clothes to dry on that porch on rainy days. In the winter, dad would enclose it in plastic so we had a place to keep firewood dry, and for us kids to still come out to play. I have a big front porch on my house now too. It is my favorite place to be. It is a place to read and think—to enjoy a morning cup of coffee—to have supper with my hubby. It is a gathering place for our family. It is a place where the grandchildren make forts with old sheets and blankets. It’s a place to observe the birds— a place to watch the rain—a place to sit and talk with God and neighbors. The front porch has always been a special place in my life.
Aw, shucks! Thanks a million, y’all. I enjoy writing as a way to escape the hubbub of the world. Walnut Grove is located in rural West Tennessee. The terrain is flat like a pancake. It’s cotton, soybean and corn country, it’s fine land for farming. The soil largely consists of red clay. It is a community, you won’t find it on a map. It remains in my heart still today. I spent time there in the early 70’s through the late 80’s.
I believe in giving credit where it’s due. A coworker gifted me with Tipper and Jim’s cookbook. Then I found her You Tube channels and this blog. I haven’t looked back since. My coworker and Tipper inspired this work and I hope there will be more to come, for this is just one part of a larger work that I started in 2012. They truly rekindled a fire that began long ago.
Thanks, Tipper!
My grandfather’s porch had concord grape vines all along the southern side. The leaves of the vines gave the porch almost full shade, and had spots you could look thru. The vines provided us with grapes we would squeeze the skins and suck out the insides. You don’t think of how lucky you were when growing up, things were just the way they were, but now, now I miss much of those times.
Rural front porches, especially in the holler, were always where lots of socializing took place. Many had a least a couple ladder back chairs and often a swing. Ours always had a bucket of spring water hanging conveniently on a corner for passerby’s. Needless to say we all used a common dipper; got your drink of water, rinsed it out, and hung it back up on a nail. Seemed we always had a breeze to enjoy • even during dog days. So many good memories …..
Porch memories for me are my daddy, brothers and me making music and singing Birmingham Jail, kids picking a color of a car then count the number of cars with that color going up and down the road, screen doors slamming and enjoying family time! Today, porch time for me is enjoying morning coffee, Bible study and prayer time!
Often times my son, who is a pastor, talks about memories from his childhood from the pulpit, stating he remembers sitting on mamaw’s porch playing the car game. Makes my heart swell up because they never forget porch time with family!
Everyone have a good weekend!
The home I grew up in had two porches, the front porch and the South porch. The South porch was my favorite. It was right off the kitchen and being to the south, it was often sunny and it opened right on to the grassy yard.
I loved Esther Williams, the movie star who appeared in all those technicolor movies featuring her swimming talents. I would stand on the South porch, fully dressed in my play clothes, walk eloquently down the two cement steps my father had made and lunge into the yard, on foot, pushing the imaginary water to the side, just like Esther did. I did the back stroke just like Esther and turned and smiled back at the imaginary camera. After circling the side yard, I would make my way back to the porch where I turned and stood in a statuesque stance, just like Esther did. I could just feel the studio lights glancing off my sequined green swim suit and the tiara of diamonds sitting on my perfectly coiffed hair.
I often wonder what the neighbors thought I was doing as I ran around the yard doing the backstroke and pausing for my close up.
The one thing that I remember about porches is that most of them had a porch swing. Just sitting and gently swinging was one of the great pleasures of my younger life.
Jerry, I didn’t mention it in my comment, but there was a swing on my grandparents porch.
Porch sitting is one of my favorite pass times. I remember sitting on my granny and pawpaws screened in porch off of Warwoman rd in north GA and listening to the whipporwhills of an evening when I was growing up. From there on out I’ve always been a porch sitter. I’ve always wanted a house with a big wrap around porch…wouldn’t matter to me if the house in the middle was Itty bitty, as long as I have plenty of porch!
I love her memories of her porch growing up. It made me smile, tear up and laugh. It also brought back memories of my own childhood porch that was a safe haven for me too. She writes very well and I appreciate you for sharing her story with us.
This brings back alot of memories for me. Even though my parents house didn’t have what you would call a real porch, my grandparents house and my aunts house did. My Granddad’s house had an L shaped porch and one of my earliest memories is standing under the roof where the two porches met when it rained and playing in the water as it ran off the roof. I can remember having contests with my brother to see who could kill the most flies too. That was back in the early and mid 70s. Times were simpler and there were no computers or video games. The days were long so you had to make your own entertainment.
I grew up in a two-story house that had front porches for both stories. We also had a back screened porch where the washing was done, any canning was done, and was the entrance most often used. Many happy memories surround the porches from my childhood: sitting on the front porch in the metal
rockers and glider, watching heat lightning or rain; sitting there on Saturday afternoon breaking green beans or on Sunday after church having dinner. Always lots of aunts and uncles and cousins around. I loved every minute of it but didn’t realize how quickly it would only a memory!
A porch, carport or shelter is a very peaceful place to be during a storm. I enjoy watching the rain, wind and lightning.
We had a front porch on the little log house my dad built when my older siblings were young. It was high off the ground. I wish I had a nickel for all the people who sat on that porch. Our dogs weren’t allowed on it. In the summer it was the center of family life. We were in a secluded holler but lots of relatives and friends visited. There are many photos of people on that porch. We had a back porch too. The house had to be torn down a few years ago but has been replaced and it also has a porch. When I visit my nephew we sit on their porch in the same spot. I insisted on a wrap-around porch on my present house with part of it screened in. I spend as much time there as almost anywhere in the house unless the weather keeps me off. I can’t imagine a house without a porch! So many memories. Thanks, Tamala.
Yep, before air conditioning porches had a big place in life, especially in the country. My brother and I spent many an hour sitting with my Grandma on the front porch peeling and slicing apples, stringing and breaking beans and other such activities. I am not a fan of decks so much but I think every house should have a porch. They can be used so many ways and in all weathers. That can become a problem actually because the original idea can get lost by being taken over for use as a mud room, a work room, a game room, a plant nursery, a dining room and so on. Then it’s time to add more porches!
Where is the aforementioned Walnut Grove, if I may be so bold as to ask?
Living in an apartment I really miss having a porch to sit on in the evening. A fond memory from childhood is making ice-cream on our back porch in the summertime, usually on Sunday afternoons. I think society could benefit from more porch time and less screen time.
I enjoyed reading Tamelas memoir although it had bits of hard truth not easy to swallow. The porch is a place of tranquility and peace in Appalachia.Some of us are known to sit out in the snow wrapped up just enjoying being on the porch and looking about us. Part of a very big reason I bought this house was its porches. One in the front snugged right between kitchen and LR outside formal dining area. It overlooks the mountain. The porch in the back is a concrete deck extending the width of the house with half covered. If I couldn’t get outside on the porch, I’d rather be dead and I mean it. Be blessed as the Lord Jesus is saying “last call!” “Last call!” Don’t miss getting saved!!! If you’re beyond loving or help, you’re exactly who he’s hoping for to come!!! He loves us all!!! He specializes in broken spirits and people!!!
The home I was raised in had 3 porches, a small front porch that we called a stoop, a side porch and the screen in back porch. We used the side porch and back porch as our main entrees. Both of my grandparent’s homes had large front porches that we all would often sit on during the warm weather months. We lived beside of my maternal grandparents and would sit with them in the summer evenings and sometimes help one another break or shell beans or peas while enjoying just being together. I had many Heinz 57 dogs when I was a kid, they were mixed up breeds of dogs and were on their own as far as taking them to a vet, we didn’t have money to go to a doctor ourselves much less to take a dog to a vet.
This talk of porches brings back good memories of my time as a child spent with my family sitting on porches. It also brings back a very sad memory my wife, when she retired, she said she wanted her a two seat chair that would slide back and forth (glider) and was going to sit on our front porch and watch the cars go by, we give her this chair for Christmas and have a picture of her sitting in it on the cold Christmas Day but she died before she could enjoy it during warmer weather. It is now wrapped up in plastic and still sits on our porch. Now I very seldom even go out or to the front porch, we go out the back door, but I do see her chair when I cut my front yard grass and will think of her and sometimes shed some tears.