Porch Parties

I attended a porch party this evening; for those who are kind enough to pop onto my blog from other places, this is a Seminole Heights tradition-I'm sure there are similar events in other neighborhoods; each month a neighbor hosts a pot luck gathering at their house. It is a way to meet neighbors, visit with neighbors you might not have seen lately and continue conversations started earlier in the day/week/month. What I like about these porch parties we have here is the fact that no one who attends feels like they have to because the association says they have to...these people gather because they want to chat with their neighbors. They want to meet the people who moved in down the street, or a block over.....they want to relax with people who have at least one thing in common with them-they live in this great neighborhood! (plus they are probably a little curious about their neighbor's houses.....nothing wrong with that!) I think these events may be a little more common in historical neighborhoods because most people who live in these places have the same interests, concerns and hobbies (fixing their house) as everyone else. We lived for a while in a newly built neighborhood and there was this pressure to do "neighborhood things".....have a community barbecue, yard sale......anything to get everyone together, and unfortunately it quite often turned out to feel more like a chore than anything else. "We MUST participate in this because these are our neighbors and the association says we must....this is a friendly, family oriented neighborhood so we must enjoy ourselves at these events". It just wasn't the same........not that we hated our neighbors, on the contrary, we had some very cool neighbors- but there was something very artificial and forced about the whole thing. I was happy to note that I knew almost everyone there...if I didn't know them, I certainly tried to meet them and introduce myself. Suzanne's house as usual looked lovely, and her backyard was awesome.She has done the same thing I am planning for my backyard.....no grass; mulch, paths, and lots of plants along with some statuary and wood structures. Candles everywhere and places for people to sit and chat abound. What a great evening! I will plan on hosting a Porch Party after summer.....surely the backyard will be done by then...and maybe the sod out front will still be kicking....
For those of you not in my neighborhood...I hope you have something like this where you are..if not...start! It's not expensive or pretentious....just nice.