Chats On The Farmhouse Porch

Welcome to our chat, a day late.  It is an absolutely beautiful day outside, though not quite shorts and t-shirt weather.  It's still warm enough we can sit out on the porch to have our chat.  Won't you join me?

 

1.  What is your favorite room of your house or apartment? 

 I can't really say I have a favorite room in the house I live in right now.   I guess it would be the living room, since that's where I spend most of my time.  But if I ever get to build my dream house, it'll be the library.  It'll have a huge stone fireplace, and a window seat big enough to get really comfortable for a few hours of reading.  And of course, shelves and shelves of books along the wall, and a overstuffed leather sofa in the middle. 

2. What's your favorite topping for pancakes or waffles? 

 Maple syrup.  I've never been one for putting things like fruit and whipped cream on my pancakes or waffles.  We just didn't do that while I was growing up. 

3. Do you like dried fruit?

 No, not really, except for dried papaya and pineapple that you sometimes find in trail mix.

4.   Please finish this statement. "As soon as we have good spring weather, I'm going to_______." 

 Get my flower beds planted!  And go fishing again.  It's been quite a while, and I miss it.

5. Tell me a memory from your childhood.

OK, this is a photo of the church I grew up in.  The church has built a new building, so this one stands empty now.   It makes me sad, because I spent many childhood hours here.

Monday evening, the dome on top caught on fire, though they don't really know why.   The memory from my childhood is that when you got to be a certain age-- usually between 4th and 6th grade-- it was a thing to sneak up into the dome.  I remember when I went up there.  It was the music minister's son who showed me the stairs and the trap door to get up inside the dome.  I was so excited, but at the same time, disappointed.  The other kids made it sound like such a big deal, but once I got there, it looked just like the attic at my house.

Still, it was a kind of a rite of passage.  Those who had been up into the dome, and those who hadn't.  After that day, I was one of the kids who had.

I also knew in which Sunday School room you could open the window and get out onto the roof.  That was on the opposite side of the building than the one pictured here.

The porch with the four white columns had a rail around it, and a small ledge around the outside.  When I was in 4th grade, while waiting to march in during VBS (Vacation Bible School), several of us kids would climb over the rail and jump off that ledge.  Then we'd run around, up the steps to the porch, and do it again.  Over and over.  The whole time.  The next year, when I was in 5th grade, I was so excited when it was time for VBS, so that we could jump off that ledge again.  I ran up onto that porch, climbed over the rail, stood on the ledge, looked down, and said, "What was I thinking?"  Then I climbed back over the rail, onto the porch, and never jumped off that ledge again.

So, there you have some memories of my childhood at church.

I hope you've enjoyed our chat.  Please come back next week for another chat on the farmhouse porch.