SOLSC 3/17/14 - Remembering The House Where I Grew Up

Yesterday's post about our dining room table got me to thinking about the house where I spent the first eleven years of my life.  The house was built in 1900 and my grandparents lived there in the late 1930's until my parents returned in 1945.  Grandpa retired from farming and my Dad took over.  I came into the picture in 1948.

The main floor consisted of a kitchen, pantry, bath (with a claw foot tub), formal dining room and living room and a small room used as a play area with a daybed and piano and a closet.  The closet was my hiding place where I played with my dolls and read books.  We used the daybed when Allan or I were sick.  I learned to play the piano on the old upright. 

There were five bedrooms on the second floor.  I remember over the years that I changed rooms several times trying to find just the right one to call my own.  The front bedroom which was one of the larger ones, was for company and we kept it closed off during the winter months.  Every spring when it was time to open it up and air it out, I would step on a dead honey bee and get stung (I liked to walk around barefooted).  You would think after once, twice, three times I would figure it out that I shouldn't walk in that room barefoot.

The third floor was the attic which was a big open room used for storage.  When my cousins came to visit we would go up there and search to see what we could find.  At the time they were just OLD things, but if only I could see them now.  What treasures they would be.  But, they are long gone - sold on the farm sale when we moved to town.

There was also a basement.  I remember that I didn't like going down there.  It was scary.  When we were milking cows, the pasteurizer was there along with the old wringer washer which stood stately in one corner.  There was a cistern that was full of water.  I remember the hole in the wall that (if you were tall enough) you could see the dark, creepy water.

Another room in the basement housed the coal furnace and coal chute - at some point it was converted over to hot water radiator heat.  Mom did a lot of canning and she stored all of the year's crop in the coolness of the basement.  The rest was used for storage.

Many memories were created in that house and it's been a long time since I was last there.  At one time, Michelle was taking a photography class and wanted to take pictures of old houses and barns.  We were visiting my Dad and took a drive out to the farm.  We stopped along the road and she took some pictures and I did some reminiscing.  It didn't take long before the owner came out of the house wondering what we were doing.  So I explained that I had lived there in the 50's and that my daughter was taking pictures for a class.  She asked if we would like to come in and see what changes had been made over the years.  What a delight!  They were remodeling it and trying to restore it back to the original style. We had a wonderful discussion about what they were doing and what I remembered.
The picture above is one that Michelle took and is now hanging in a prominent place.

Memories - wonderful moments to embrace.