Good Old House

We came across this amazing old house while out walking one day

The other side really shows the dis-repair:

This poor old house..........

I was intrigued to find the remains of someone's once beautiful garden:

it's an overgrown and wild mess right now......

but was obviously cared for and loved in it's time.

Vines tumble down the creaky old gate

and weeds try to take over.

And I know someone enjoyed and loved this garden at one time in history. They sweated and  weeded in the hot Charleston summer and they stood and admired their flowers blooming. They might've picked red tomatoes and pulled potatoes and grew tall sunflowers.They rejoiced when the hard rains came and gave the garden a good long drink. Fragrant green onions and lacey carrots grew and were picked and put into a white enamel bowl to be taken inside and cleaned and chopped for supper. Maybe they had a rose bush or two and deep blue morning glory vines? Do you think there is a camellia bush hidden back there?

The front door:

I love the decorative fence

I think it was a good old house. It sheltered it's people from lighting and thunder and winds in the summer. From the chilly damp of a Carolina winter. Children scampered home from school and ran up onto that porch, eager for a cup of cold cherry Kool-Aid or lemonade and to tell of that day's adventures. I think men smoked cigars on this big long porch and ladies in pastel dresses and nylons and black velvet chokers had delicate cups of tea and egg salad sandwiches on spring afternoons. The men talked about a place called Saigon and the ladies discussed Jackie's new dress and pillbox hat.
 I think a Grandma knitted scarves and mittens up there and I think someone had a green rocking chair. I bet a Mom shelled peas or snapped beans for supper and scampering puppies and blue tricycles littered the lawn.

Maybe in the evenings there was the warm and welcoming glow of lamplight and maybe one could hear music coming from the house--perhaps one of the children practicing their trumpet or flute? Or maybe it was the white plastic radio out in the kitchen and it was a Johnny Cash song. Maybe in passing by you would catch a delicious whiff of frying pork chops and hot biscuits. In summer's swelter, these windows were probably thrown open to get air in, and sheer white curtains would blow lightly when the breeze finally came.

I think this porch saw alot. I think it saw new babies arrive home, snuggled and cuddled in soft blankets and crying off and on all night long for many nights.... and before you knew it---they were toddling around and Mom was chasing to make sure they didn't fall off the high porch. I think this porch saw a clothesline full of white sheets, clean diapers, and towels drying in the hot summer sunshine and a corner of the yard with tall red and orange cannas blooming all summer.
Summertime meant canning---green beans, corn, tomatoes. It was a hot and messy business in kitchens with screen doors and windows propped open for a breeze--any breeze. Coming out on this porch for a break would've been a welcome respite, especially with an ice cold Coke in hand...the kind that came in glass bottles. And I bet they had a bottle opener securely attached to the wall right out on the porch to pop those tops right off.
 I think it saw hands being held on winter nights as the frosty white moon guided the teenagers home from the school dance. This porch has been here a long time---dances it might have seen practiced were the Charleston, the Lindy Hop, the Stroll,  mashed potato, the Jerk, the Pony, the Watusi, the Swim, the Twist, the Hustle, the Bump and the Electric Slide. Maybe more than one daughter came out on that old porch in her long white dress with the train and the pink flowers in hand and more than one Daddy said "let's get you to the church".
 And I think it saw sons go off to wars and then the rejoicing as they came back home again. And the heartbreak if they didn't.
Clumsy moths battered around on hot summer nights, attracted to the glow of the "new fangled" electric porch light. The family might have gathered out here on battered chairs and hoped for a cool breeze on one of our muggy Charleston July nights and every single one of them might have enjoyed a bright red cherry popsicle from the brand "new fangled" electric refrigerator that had a tiny freezer box and actually made ice cubes!--imagine that! What a luxury! 
How  many Daddies did this porch see off every morning as they headed out to work, lunch box in hand? How  many kids did it see go to kindergarten in their new Keds shoes and excitedly twirl in long cap and gown as graduation day finally arrived? How many cousins came to visit and played ball and Red Rover in the yard and screamed down the swing-set slide and brought bubble gum to share? 
I think this porch saw that there was a bright tinsel-shimmer Christmas tree the week before Christmas and I think the Mom scotch-taped snowflakes the kids made at school to the windows and maybe Santa Claus really did come visit and stuff those stockings with nuts and oranges and new pencils and little bouncy balls and jacks and tiny cars. 
Yes, I think it was a good old house. 

I can't help but wonder what happened to it and why/how it fell into such disrepair and has been left, seemingly abandoned, lonely and without a family to shelter and protect for many years now.
What will happen to the house?