The following is an excerpt from “Every Home Needs a Front Porch” by Bob Sanders.
“Aunt Clara’s [porch] was painted. But then she was the aunt who lived in town. She had mowed grass in her front yard, and a railing around the porch. But it was still an uncommonly comfortable porch. It even curved around two sides of her house. It was shaded by a big magnolia. Yes, a very nice porch. I remember visiting her when I was, oh, eight or so. I was always a little overwhelmed there, afraid I might do something wrong, that indoor plumbing and all. Cousin Lema Dee and some of her teenaged friends were having some kind of little party, playing some Glenn Miller (I discovered much later) records and “The Beer Barrel Polka” which, Momma said, was kind of pretty, “if it didn’t have that old beer in it (the “beer” expressed with a shudder of disgust).”
