THE DISTINGUISHED QUOTE CORNER:

“I’m an old fashioned guy…I want to be an old man with a beer belly, sitting on a porch looking at a lake or something.” ~ Johnny Depp.(I can just imagine him saying this too!)

“When I was about three, my grandfather used to give me and my sister a nickel to sit on the front porch with him and sing songs.” ~ Tommy Shaw

“I live in New York and it’s the greatest city but sometimes I want to move to the place with the porch and the lemonade and the farm.” ~Leelee Sobieski

“Our Porches! They invite cozy conversations, mirthful celebrations with friends and family and hours of  blithesome repose.”

Whether you call it your front porch, the verandah, your back porch or the piazza , this special place that we absolutely love to spend as much time as possible, truly is a gift, a lagniappe that is greater than the structure of it’s four walls.  I have often thought to myself,  “If this porch could hear, I can only imagine the secrets it could tell as well as the books it could write on all that it’s ears have taken in.”

Our porches, just like our homes, reflect our personalities. Some porches are ‘for looks only,’ while others carry the demeanor of being broken in and lived upon daily. They are as much fun to decorate as the rooms in your home as you fill them with all the things you love, your favorite colors and  your very own signature STYLE.

I absolutely adore this home, or should I say this waterfront , par-excellence mansion,  classy estate or  bite-size castle?  It is alluring to the senses, showstopping with it’s divine structure, period look, and is so stunning as well as  junoesque. It encourages one to dream of many happy years within (and outside of) it’s borders.  A porch this large is the perfect place for an evening of delectable appetizersand fine wine,  a ladies Tea or telling ghost stories in the summer months with the thunderstorms in the background,(the most excellent and ideal milieu.)   (We can always dream, can’t we?) 🙂

This porch is dressed to the hilt for the Christmas season... It’s not only inviting but beautifully creative. I love the red check pillows amidst the black cushion, cuddly brown pillow and fresh, crisp white embroidered linen. What a classy combination. The grey wicker furniture is a perfect match for the colors chosen as it only enhances this porches cozy  and warm appeal. This sweet and winning verandah beckons you to grab a warm sweater, a soft throw to snuggle up with, a hot cup of coffee and to come, sit and stay awhile!I

How about a lovely, romantic dinner for two on your porch? With the ideal weather,  ethereal temperatures, captivating table setting  and  shimmering candle light, this porch is an excellent stage for an intimate dinner with the one you love, (or are falling in love with 🙂 ) Very impressive!

This porch is large enough for a potpourri of tables to be set up for a small gathering or   a glamorous and enchanting night of formal entertaining.  The view from this verandah is so exhilarating and soothing to the soul with all the lush shades of green…it exudes LIFE!  I could see myself out here every morning with my coffee, magazine, beloved novel or my journal. (And a space heater if the winter season has arrived.) 🙂

I loved the quote above, by Leelee Sobieski about living in the prominent city …There are so many blessings in living “the big city life.” Especially in such fascinating and timeless metropolis’  such as Washington DC, New York, Chicago or the midtown and port of Philadelphia. Penthouses, apartments and condominiums are wonderful abodes, but often times, they do not offer the luxury of a piazza. If you are in a home that does not have a porch, but you are blessed with a back yard, I love the idea of creating a resplendent and graceful sitting area out doors that friends can gather, or a place that you can saunter off to, that brings you gladness and many hours of pure reverie.  This outdoor creation will not only enhance your life, give you an additional room to your home but will bring you an outflow of joy , happiness and beauty.

Two of these back yard works of art, are very fancy and formal, while the third back yard is beautiful with nature doing all the hard work! 🙂  Your backyard creation can be whatever you would like it to be, a picnic table or wicker furniture, adorned with bright pillows, and striking throws. Fresh flowers, dried roses or incandescent painted chairs create color and are eminently inviting. We have a homemade bonfire pit in our back yard and some of my most treasured memories are those we have made sitting on a plastic chair, wrapped in a warm jacket, glass of wine in hand, enjoying hot appetizers with great company!   I guarantee you, it will be the conversations, laughs, smiles and friendships your amongst  that will create your fond and precious memories .

As a little girl, I will never forget visiting my father’s family in North Carolina. (Having lived In South Carolina,) I will tell you that besides their adoration for delectable “home-cooking,”  the residents of the Carolina’s are lovers of front porches, back porches, side porches, you name it!    My father’s aunt sat with me on her front porch, (she had a beautiful cottage style home,) teaching me how to prepare fresh, green beans in the sweltering southern heat. ( Southerner’s  know this…the humidity in the summer is so thick that you can cut it with a knife.) 🙂  As the perspiration was dripping down my face, I learned how to pick the best green beans, how to snap them correctly and get them ready for cooking. I felt so grown up! (I also got to hear lots of talk about how beautiful and exquisite  my mom was in her twenties, and how her nephew was the one that caught my moms heart, out of all the beaus she could have had.) I already KNEW the story, I just wanted to hear it again, and again!) 🙂 I can’t leave out all the times my husband, Graham and I sat on the porch of my cousins antebellum  countryside home, watching his kids set off fireworks over their many acres of land, and eating scrumptious boiled peanuts! Those were the days! There is nothing like  the mighty Oak tree in the south, (and I am still looking for the scrumptious boiled peanuts in Delaware.) 🙂

Our dear friends and neighbors have a beautiful screened in back porch. All of the mornings, afternoons and evenings my husband, Grantham and I have spent on their endearing porch remind me of the quote by John Masefield.  “Happiness flutters in the air while we rest among the breaths of nature.” Talk about an atmosphere filled with Sylvan charm, their garden amidst the lush grass, the undomesticated woods that line the back of their lot is like encountering a spring time pageantry. The hours spent on this piazza were hours of pure joy, felicity and blissfulness as we told stories, shared our lives, laughed, cried, prayed, reminisced together, tasted delicious snacks and appetizers as well as shared many a cup of Starbucks coffee, fine wine or an ice cold beer.  Right outside the screens of this porch is a view that took my breath away… often times, we’d see baby deer eating fresh corn on the lawn and chubby groundhogs waddling in circles, (they love to ruin your gardens you know? ) 🙂 (But they are so darn cute!) We also beheld an abundance of squirrels scurrying , picking up whatever they could find to eat, wild turkeys yelping as they trotted across the lawn, bunny rabbits with their adorable babies and of course the magical twinkling fireflies charming us all as they gathered by the porch but also presented their show afar in the  wild ivy and trees of the woods.

Then of course there is ‘the porch swing’ stories….that is another blog at another time! 🙂

Whether you have a grandeur verandah,  a cozy, inviting screened in backyard porch, a  piazza in your front yard where you sit and chat with friendly neighbors or an outside area that you’ve created yourself, take time to make it your own, and  spend as many hours as possible within it’s glorious presence, creating many a heartwarming memory to bring you an abundance of smiles now and  in your future.

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LINKS: If you would like to learn more about the purpose of the newly added ‘links’ within Living Winsomely, read the blog; “WE NOW HAVE LINKS.” 🙂

Additional Links:
Victoria Magazine
Country Living magazine