I had to laugh. I did an image search for "porch" and all I came up with was page after page of bland, cutesy, empty porches. As if the porch exists best as a state of mind, unsullied by the messiness of actually living. Our porch is slanted, vaguely dangerous, occasionally marked by cats, sat on by random people having a smoke, facing a busy street, the best place to watch the ambulances, firetrucks, people walking by. Sit on the porch with a cup of coffee and soon neighbourhood dogs will wander over to lick your hand, someone will ask you for change, a cop car will cruise by slowly, a squirrel will challenge your right to a peaceful moment of silence, the wind will shower blossoms everywhere. It is messy and chaotic and alive.