For the last six days you may have been enjoying your morning coffee or tea on the front or back porch. Porches were originally designed to provide sufficient space for folks to pause before entering or exiting a home or building. Porches in England provided cover for worshippers and for liturgical use. Before a baptism, the priest would begin the service on the porch. In medieval times, a room was added above the porch to be used as a school room, storeroom or armory or as a custodian residence for supervision of the church. I remember our back porch as an area for removal of working clothes, boots and shoes thus decreasing dirt from the interior of the house. Our covered front porch provided protection from sun and rain as a "screened" porch was even more delightful without the bugs. The porch was a place of interaction with family, friends and visitors, rarely experience these days.