The Porch Chair Quandary

When some porch chairs with creative innovations are separated in the spring weather, Susanne and Manfred have to figure out where like sitting best, or do they. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to the Happy to Be Canadian Podcast. I'm Suzanne Spence Wilkins, a writer who lives in rural southwestern Ontario, Canada. Each week I share an original, very short story that will have you laughing and reflecting on the simple moments of our lives. Now, on to today's episode. Happy to be Canadian, episode 46, The Porch Chair Quandary. Innovator or adapter? Which one are you? Last week it was mid-March in southwestern Ontario and there was a warm burst of spring weather. Manford decided to move the Adirondack chairs onto our back porch. The brilliant turquoise chairs usually traveled as a foursome. Last winter they had all migrated to the front porch while the back wooden deck was stained. They remained at the front, tucked under a protective ceiling for the winter. So on this warm morning, I suggested we split up the pair. Leave one set at the front where we can watch the sunset or oversee the weeds poking up in my flower gardens that encircle the front of the house. Also, from there, we can watch the traffic. Which, unless I'm waiting for our grandchildren to arrive, I don't find that that fascinating. The view from the back deck is more exciting. It looks out onto a gully that was grazed by dairy cattle almost a century ago. A meandering creek, treed hillsides, and small pockets of farm fields. Deer, coyotes, eagles, crows, and bunnies appear in the wild on a regular basis. Songbirds flit among the junipers and swallows swoop through the pillars of the porch. Last spring, I was sitting on my deck enjoying the sunrise. It was a delightful morning. Cool, no mosquitoes. If you know, you know. Most mornings, Manford is out on the porch by 5.30. I rumble out around 6.30 when I know the coffee is made, mugs are warmed, and my cushion is on my chair. Did I mention we love our deck chairs? I was sitting in one that morning contemplating life, and I remembered our chairmaker Mo. I discovered him on Facebook. He was advertising his modified Adirondack chairs. I contacted him and found out he lived in Bell River. This is about an hour and a half from our home. But luckily, I was in the midst of protracted dental work in Windsor, and that was near his shop. We made our appointment to meet Mo to order some chairs. Turns out Mo was an 80-year-old plus retired cabinet maker. But even though he had a mechanized voice and had slowed from his youthful production, he was still a woodworker. Mo was making the chairs that are common at lodges, beaches, and fire pits across North America. But his chairs are a much improved version. Mo adapted his chairs with a delightful innovation. After most of us have plopped down into the restful, leaned back position of the Adirondack chair. We have to face the struggle to pull ourselves upright once the gathering is over. Usually, some pride remains stuck to the seat. Mo eliminated this situation by creating a more upright and curved seat that retains the comfort and enhances your ability to stand up without the assistance of a crane. Another Mo-inspired feature of these chairs is the high-quality central swivel on the base that allows for you to swing the chair around 360 degrees, enjoying all conversations, birds, deer, and other treats of nature. You don't miss a thing. I don't know if Mo still sells these chairs. If you wish, look for Mocha in Bell River on Facebook Marketplace. I tell you this because I'm impressed with the adaptations that Mo made to this well-known chair. And it makes them even better. It got me to thinking about the difference between being an innovator and an adapter. Which one are you? I'm not an innovator. While I have created many events and services that didn't exist in my area, I'm not an Edison or a Bell who experiments until they create an item that is patent worthy. And of course, it could be argued that those gentlemen were adapters, developing the ideas and experiments of those who had gone before them. I'm an adapter. I like to take things and change them to make them my own. I guess the crazy barn is the best example. We took a decrepit barn and transformed it into a modern building that boasts many eco-friendly features. Inside our octagon barn, Victorian-era house doors became counters, greenery boards, cover interior walls, and wooden barn braces became the base for the bathroom sinks. One thing became another as the line between innovator and adapter became even fuzzier. Sometimes it's difficult to see which one is which. When the weather warms up, I may have to spend some time contemplating that. On one porch or the other, but definitely in a new and improved Adirondack chair. Thank you for listening to this week's episode of Happy to Be Canadian. If you would like to receive an email each Saturday morning that features new short stories and more, you can sign up on my website, www.crazy8barn.com. If you would like to meet me in person and discover another way that we tell our rural stories, please join me at a Barn Quilt Painting Workshop at our beautiful eight-sided barn in Palmyra, Ontario, along the North Shore of Lake Erie. You can find me on Facebook and Instagram at Crazy8 Barn. If you are an Apple Podcast listener and enjoyed this podcast, I would appreciate it if you could leave me a favorable review. And that lets Apple know that Happy to Be Canadian is a valuable podcast and it shares it with other potential listeners. I'm Suzanne Spence Wilkins, and I'm Happy to Be Canadian.