Squatters

This weekend was Allentown's Harvest Festival. I'm not entirely sure there's anything better than walking out your front door and being met with the following choices: BBQ or Thai food? (answer: Thai food) Petting zoo or rescue a kitten? (answer: we already have a kitten, so petting zoo) Make a scarecrow or watch the Civil War reenactment? (answer: Civil War reenactment) Cupcake or ice cream? (answer: both). Kurt and I walked through the festival yesterday morning planning our meals over the next two days. In the past two days, I have eaten a cupcake, kettle corn, a pulled pork sandwich, Thai dumplings and fried rice, a pork kebab, part of a kielbasa, egg, and cheese sandwich, and potato leek soup...and possibly more I'm forgetting. I love Harvest Festival. All day, for two days, Main Street is shut down and filled with vendors selling everything from homemade candles to organic dog treats. I never buy much, but I walk the street at least four times, just in case there's something I missed. 

Every year, the fair attracts some interesting people. This year, the fair attracted people who believed our front porch was public domain. We have a crooked wooden bench on our front porch that was left here by a previous tenant. Almost every time I walked out of the house yesterday and today, there was someone sitting and eating on the bench. Our house is very clearly not a shop or otherwise public property. It is a house. And it's not that strangers sitting on my porch bothered me per se, I just don't understand it. I would never walk up someone's porch steps and plop myself on their chairs or benches. I find this extremely odd. It's the first year it's happened and let me say, it happened often this weekend. Some of the people were the family from one of the vendors (whom we do not know), but some were just fair-goers. Is this odd? Am I being grumpy? Perhaps. But would YOU sit on a stranger's front porch and eat your lunch? If so, please explain this behavior to me, since I am clearly ignorant.