Come On In

When you live in the country every door is the back door. No matter how attractive you try to keep the entrances to the house, there is always the need for something to be piled, stacked, placed or maybe just thrown outside the door. In our home we have the wood for the wood burning stove we use in real cold weather outside the door that leads to the deck. Of course that is logical because it is the door closest to the stove in the View Room.

The door that leads to the driveway which probably would be considered our front door has a supply of birdseed by it, plus a scooter, bicycle, and sometimes even a tricycle. No one is small enough to ride the tricycle anymore but it can be used as a makeshift scooter when necessary to accommodate two children. (We only have one scooter.)

The door that leads to our storage room sometimes has garbage cans and other containers that are used to take all our stuff to the recycling center. The door to the breezeway has containers for feeding our outdoor cats. In really cold weather those containers get moved inside the sliding patio doors so the cats can eat the food before it freezes.

However that hasn't been necessary very often this year.

The door that should really be considered the back door leads into our old cat's room with the heat lamp.

There is no telling what may be found at that door since it is out of view of anyone except those who go clear around the house.

Now we have one more door since we are in the process of turning our garage into a study and guestroom. It is too new for us to have formed any habits about its use. In fact I even forget that it is there sometimes and go around through the breezeway to get into that part of our domicile.

Many of our neighbors have lovely homes where the most used entrance is the back door. In most of these cases you enter through this door into the kitchen and then go on into other parts of the house. The walk from the driveway to the house takes you to this door so there is no question but what that is considered the most important entrance. There is another door that usually leads into the living room or a hall, but that door isn't used very often.

I like this practice. It seems so friendly when the residents are willing to let their guests share a glimpse of the heart of their home before passing into the more formal parts.

Some of these homes have either an open or enclosed porch before you get to this back door so the friendliness is even more pronounced. You see potted plants, hanging baskets of greenery, hummingbird feeders (in season), chairs or benches, and places where you can set down a sack of groceries. This is all very inviting.

In the days when these doors were used by farm families that had daily chores to do, the back door entrance also served as a place to get rid of muddy boots, extra wraps and maybe even buckets of milk.

Not too many of my neighbors now have that type of chore, but all remember when it was their way of life.

No matter which door we enter on a visit, it is always special when a friend asks you to "come on in" for awhile.