One of the most amazing houses we lived in growing up was this big folk farmhouse that boasted a wide three-season porch. We had our favorite playthings out there, the dollhouse, dolls, tea party set, blankets for making tents, books, and lots of boxes and papers for sketching and crafting all of our bright ideas!
Many summer days began with a tea party on the porch. We set the table with our little plastic set of cups, saucers, and spoons, and dressed in our finest dress up clothes. My sister always invited ALL her dolls to the party (much to my annoyance) which meant another several minutes of situating them around the table in chairs or on cushions. When we finally sat down we chatted in our most proper tones, pinky extended, and shared our most adventurous schemes.
I remember during one of our creative Sipping Sessions I told my sister how I really wanted to create a library. The porch was the perfect location for the business venture, of course, and we could invite the neighborhood kids to come browse our selection. It was a brilliant plan! That afternoon we sat tirelessly cutting old school folders into pockets placed in each book to hold the check out slip. We organized the books and made a comfy space to sit and read. At the end of the day we were so excited to begin our new business venture!
Over the next few weeks we had several visitors to our Porch Perch Library, but we wanted to expand our services to a larger audience.
Our young minds got to work once again. We pulled out the tea set (and dolls) and began brainstorming possibilities for our quaint little space. Several hours, lots of conversation, and an afternoon snack went by. It was then that my sister, chewing on the end of her sparkly colored pencil, started bouncing with excitement. She assured me she had the perfect idea and began talking non-stop, pointing frantically around the porch. In the end I think I pieced together that she wanted to create a...Store! We would use Monopoly money and our little plastic cash register, she explained. The old treadle sewing machine would make a perfect counter. We schemed how we would advertise to all the neighborhood kids and when we were open they could use the Monopoly money to 'buy' things for a day or two and then return them. Yes, I must grudgingly admit that I thought my sister's idea was brilliant--And it worked! What had been a long lonely summer became a booming business with visitors to our Porch Playhouse stopping by on a regular basis. Sometimes we would close early for a tea party or build roads with our brother, or maybe even join in the community kickball tournament, but our favorite days were hanging out in our created space, chatting with friends and making plans for our next adventure!