Front Porch Views — Donna Hopkins

I pass this house regularly when I visit Charlottesville to pick up my favorite sourdough English muffins. I’ve met the owner a few times, an elderly lady who loves to sit on her front porch. I’ve noticed the tree in front of her home is always decorated for the season; she tells me her granddaughter does this for her. And she beams with pride over both the decorations and the granddaughter. Her story is a love story.

I think of how my mother loved to sit on her patio and watch people walk by, too. She furnished that space with an old metal glider, comfortable chairs of all sizes and shapes, and an electric fan. She decorated with wind chimes and anything that would spin on the bay breezes.

Nowadays many subdivisions have home owner associations that would likely forbid such decorations. I’m not sure who gets to say, or what determines, which decorations are tacky and which are appropriate. But I’m sure of this: I’m glad this is not my job.