Remember the old porch swing? It was a gift on one of the first, if not the first, Mother's Days we qualified for.
You might have noticed it as the backdrop for many NDL photo shoots.
It came from the Sears catalog about 25 years ago. It was 5' long which is hard to find these days. Three medium or up to five small people could sit on it, and one average height man could lay flat out for a nap. It originally was varnished wood , but over time saw at least three different colors of paint.
Finally it could not be glued, nailed, or coaxed back to wholeness. So we took our old friend to the local wood artists at Elm Grove Woodworks where they copied the design down to the last detail and lovingly made a new and structurally improved replica of our beloved porch swing.
Solid Ash with a beautiful grain.
Milled spindles just like the original ones.
Still the requisite 5' long.
Finished by NDL herself with carefully followed directions from EGW.
We were only able to enjoy it for a few brief weeks last fall and can't wait to hang it this spring when the weather finally decides that it wants to be conducive to porch life.
Just like the one we grew up with 50 years ago, and the one our kids grew up with for the last 25 years, this swing is ready and willing to receive babies who need a soothing bedtime ride or a place to go outside when they have woken way too early for the rest of the snoozing household members. It will do duty with the post-preschool set who will want to see to see how high it can go. It might again hold courting teens someday. It assuredly will get much use by a couple of oldsters who like to watch the world go by from a gently swaying perch.
C'mon by anytime you have a few moments to relax and enjoy our view.
4 comments:
Thank you for this post. It brought a smile to my face to start the day. My grandparents had a swing in Wanatah, not on a porch - their house was barely bigger than a porch. It was free-standing, in their yard. (Well, hanging from a wood frame). Many hours were spent on that swing with multi generations, just watching the world go by.
Can't wait to try it out!
found your blog searching Google for images and have added you to my read list. great job. thanks!
What a sweet post! That swing has been a part of a lot of important moments, and lots of ordinary ones too I guess. I have fond memories of it as well, it seemed so quintessentially American to me when I came to visit!
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