A Dream of a Stillwater Porch

Today I’m sharing with you the background for three recent decisions I made, beginning on Sunday July 1. In this posting I’ll set the scene. Next Sunday, I hope to share the decisions.

I lived in a lovely 1870 lumberjack home in Stillwater, Minnesota, for 32 of the 39 years I lived in that northern state with its blizzards and wind chill. The home had a screened-in, side porch, off the kitchen, that had been built in 1910. Nothing had been done to it since then.

That porch became my favorite part of the house. The cats with whom I lived loved it too. They’d bask in the sun while lying on the ledge where the single-pane glass windows met the non-insulated three-foot-high wall, which sat atop a concrete slab that let in rain water and melting snow. Of course, during the winter, the porch became a deep freeze. No sitting or basking then.

I’d spend my time on the porch, reading, writing, visiting with friends and neighbors, holding a cat or two, or simply looking out the screened windows to the perennial gardens beyond. It was a place of conversation and also of retreat.

 The 1910 screened-in porch with the side perennial garden, the driveway, and the garage.

In 2001, I was finally able—financially—to hire a contractor to turn the porch into a four-season one. Within a short time, it boasted modern windows that kept out the heat in summer but retained the inner heat in winter; a heating-and-air-conditioning unit; a new concrete slab that wasn’t cracked and on which the insulated walls fitted snugly; and a lovely color of paint called "Bee's Honey." 

That porch simply delighted me. It was as if it had arms it could put around me—to comfort when I was in the throes of Meniere’s Disease. To listen attentively when I visited with friends there. To inspire my writing. To calm my soul when the vicissitudes of life threatened my inner peace and left me feeling adrift.

I lived in that home—with that welcoming four-season porch—for eight more years after the contractor completed the work: from September 2001 to June 2009. At that point I moved here to Missouri. I now live in a one-story home that pleases me in every way but one.

That one thing that needs change is the southern-facing patio that is attached to the living room. I go out onto it from glass sliding doors. It has a concrete slab and a roof held up by three pillars. My porch furniture from Stillwater fits there.

However, the weather is so hot and humid here and the bugs so plentiful that I spend little time there during the summer. And, of course, I cannot use it during the winter. Spring and fall are the patio’s seasons but with climate change even those times tend to be problematic temperature- and weather-wise.

When I first moved here, I thought of turning that patio into a four-season porch similar to the space I’d enjoyed in Stillwater. However, money was tight and rather soon after moving I began to have a series of physical problems that sapped my energy and preoccupied my thoughts. Necessarily, I let go of my yearning for a porch on which I might sit with the cats and enjoy the morning bird song and the apricot sunsets of Missouri.

Then in 2013, my health improved; a friend and I visited seven showrooms to get an idea of what a four-season porch would cost here in Missouri. Rather soon after that, however, my health declined again. I had to deal with cancer, Glaucoma and near loss of vision, and a serious back operation. That brings me to July 1, 2018. Next week I'll share what happened then.

Peace.