porch charm

We all have days loaded with 'to dos.' This was ours. Ed had a list, I had a list. Both were terrifically long.

Rosie springs into action. I’ll help! Need a filter for your camera lens? Let’s go! And she takes me right to the store on Capitol Square and parks her sweet little butt right in front of the door of where I want to be. This is how things look from Rosie’s saddle:





Meanwhile, Ed’s revving up to tackle his list. Wait, not just yet. First, he needs to figure out what those coupons from Copps are all about. Monopoly! If you fill in one square, you get stuff! Grocery stuff! Here he is, plugging coupons onto the Copps “monopoly board” as if he hadn’t a single other thing to do on this day.

You think you’re going to make a killing that way?

No, I’m just killing time.

Do you have time?

I’m idling here waiting for you.

Okay, he’s right, I am rushing this way and that, and boiling potatoes and cleaning the farmhouse and boiling sour cherries – the list continues. Sorry, Ed, for running four minutes behind schedule.

We dash for coffee, and dash to the Fitchburg Farmers Market... (Just six ears of corn, that’s all we need...)





...and dash home again, because we have company for dinner. Not a big deal meal, it has to be simple, but simple in August at the farmhouse is fun and rich in foods from the fields around us. To the shrimp, add potatoes, and our own garden tomatoes, and basil. Then there’s the local corn for the grill. And chicken brats with sauerkraut, or, if you prefer – with a meaty heirloom tomatoes from the yard.

Our guests are perfect porch guests – two generations: her kid, my kid, then there’s Ed...





For dessert – macerated peaches over homemade sour cherry ice cream.





Three times as many cherries as yogurt/milk. I cannot tell you how cool it is to decide your own proportions!


So the light fades and the leftover ice cream is melting, but who cares, it’s all good, all wonderful, because kids, adult kids, summer food, traveling companions, they really make you feel like you’ve got nothing in the world to fret about. It's my belief that the porch brings out those kinds of feelings.