The Glendorn Diaries (Part 4): Screened-In Porches

Perhaps no room is more wonderful in the summer than a screened-in porch, as I was reminded on our recent trip to Glendorn. Ideally it will look out onto the trees, yet remain bug-free.
When I grew up in Pittsburgh, my family's house had a screened-in porch where I used to sleep on the couch in the summer. We had old furniture like this and I used to love staying up late to read under a single light, accompanied by the sound of the cicadas, or sometimes -- when I got a little older -- staying up late to watch music videos on the late-night television show that aired on (if memory serves) TBS. We didn't get MTV at the time, so I missed out on some videos (Duran Duran) but not others (Men Without Hats/The Safety Dance).
Some nights I would wake up to the sound of thunder, and the rain would be spraying through the screens onto my face until somewhat bleary-eyed I would get up to close the awning, which would then billow out like a sail in the wind as the water seeped downed over the sandstone walls. Many nights one or both of our dogs (Chico and Zeppo) would 'sleep out' with me, and sometimes they barked furiously at the raccoons that used to climb up and down the nearby trees, some of which were only a few feet from the porch. 
(This shot is of the adjacent patio, not the porch, obv.) Being in Glendorn made me long to live again in a house with a screened-in porch.
I've reached an age when I want to see the world but remain somewhat insulated from it.

Comments

[Chet]

As a kid growing up in Minnapolis we lived in a big old house (since given way to high rise apt building) on a hill overlooking Lake Harriet. We had a screened in porch that went 1/2 way around the house. I too used to sleep out there & loved the sounds of rain & birds. I'd pretend it was a passenger liner moving in the fog. Loved reading of your stay at Glendorn!

[Matthew Gallaway]

THanks, Chet -- sounds like a great house!