A Piece of History

So much rust on this old steel patio glider with its decorative pattern cut out of its seats and back. The small areas of paint left appear to be white but I see a few flecks of Pacific blue at the top of the back. It’s a long way from the 1930s or early 40s to here, but these were everywhere when I was growing up in the 60s, a cool place to sit on a hot summer evening on the back patio with a glass of iced tea or lemonade, the one-piece back and seat gliding slightly forward and back. Each piece carefully repainted every few years, sometimes choosing a new color or two-color pattern to match a change to the house. Imagine people in the Depression era working to pull together enough money to be able to buy one of these and treating it like gold when it was home. Imagine the history this thing saw, the decisions it heard, the kids that crawled on it and then grew up to sit next to Grandma. A real piece of history.

I didn’t have a chance to see if this one still had its smooth glide back and forth but I was sorely tempted to take it home and give it some love.

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