Our New Old House

This week I’ve been taking off the wallpaper in the back bedroom. Yeah, this wallpaper:

And behind the door I uncovered some pencil marks. It took me a minute to figure out what they were. See if you can tell:

Give up? It’s a child’s height and weight and the dates! The dates being from 1944 and 1945 and the height and weight matching the size of a five or six year old, I figured it must be my friend Judy, who lived in our house until the summer of 1945. She was six when they moved up the street to a bigger house.

Just below the measurements was another set of pencil marks:

Judy must have been practicing her numbers. (Sorry that picture came out blurry.)

I finished working on that room with a big smile on my face. Pictures of the back bedroom to come soon.

Well, two to be exact, and one’s actually at our OTHER new old house. But you want pictures, so here you go.

This is a small rose bush I planted last spring. It didn’t bloom then, but this year it mustered up enough energy to give me one beautiful red bud. I haven’t done as well as I should at keeping pests off it, so unfortunately the flower got eaten by a grasshopper soon after this picture was taken, but I did get a good sniff of the blossom and it was magnificent! Think of old fashioned rose perfume.

The second rose bush is at our house in Clear Lake. My grandparents built the house in the 60s and at some point planted this rose bush. I have no idea how old this rose bush is, but it’s been around as long as I can remember, and when we bought the house, it was still going strong. It’s had rough years and this year I was worried about it, but with a little care and pruning it came back like it always does. I’m so proud of this little rose bush! And caring for it is one of the ways I continue to feel connected to my grandparents. These flowers have a creamy, almost vanilla scent, kind of like butter cream frosting.

Here’s the back gate in my back yard.  It’s in the middle of an incomplete fence which is not going to keep anyone out of anything.  But it is heavily fortified against anyone who’d try to wrestle it open through the trees that have grown up through it.  I guess the previous owners thought a heavy chain and padlock were necessary for the protection of the weeds in the back yard.

We’re going to tear this gate and fence out at some point anyway, so I wasn’t worried that I couldn’t find the key to that lock. But one day I was going down the basement stairs and the light was just right and something caught my eye:

It’s a Master brand key. I haven’t taken it down to see if it fits the lock yet, but it’s nice to know it’s there.

[tags]yardwork, previous owners, photos[/tags]

This is Mr. Louis Halden and his wife, Delta in the early 1940s. They lived in our house from 1941 to 1946. Their daughter, Judy, has been corresponding with me about the house and was very kind to send pictures. This picture was taken in our back yard. You can see my neighbor’s house in the background. Aren’t they a nice looking couple?

Here’s Judy as a little girl playing near our front steps.

Judy and her dad, Louis in our backyard. That’s our house behind them.

Here’s Judy a little older in our backyard again. I believe the garage in the background belongs to our house.

Check back for some more pictures from the neighborhood soon.

[tags]photos, old photos, 1940s [/tags]

1941

[tags] old photos, 1940s [/tags]