Many Pictures

Saturday after the cemetery fiasco------I stopped for a few minutes on my way home at The Farm.  Susan wanted me to see the new back porch and their new fireplace.  I love it!!!!!  They are being so careful to use any and all wood posts, wainscoating  wainscoting (apparently had that spelled wrong--I pronounce it wains coating) and doors from the old house.

You may have to click on the pix to get a better view.

The Farm houses in 1920

1990's

With little house torn down and new garage on back of Big House

November 2012

Old garages removed, new addition.

New construction of kitchen.  Those cupboards (the old ones) open up between

kitchen and dining room on other side.

New large window facing north--she can see the farm where we grew up

and where my son now lives from this view.

The new kitchen plans--the cupboards are Ivory, her appliances are

white--because she (like her older sister) likes white appliances.

The floor is slate tile looking, but it is a laminate.  Her counters will be

granite, also on the island in the middle.  

This kitchen is 6 feet wider then the old one, very open and very bright.  

I LOVE IT!!!

My friend, Bethie, is holding the plans last month when she and

I both visited Susan, after our gal pals luncheon.

The new back entryway.  Note the posts--came off the old porch entry which

was flush with the fireplace to the right.

Now--you have to look beyond all these kids--that HUGE fireplace,

with the mantle, made from a beam in one of the old barns, my Daddy

had built in 1976--it is in the dining room.  The opening behind the girls

on the right, is into the kitchen.  That will all remain the same.

New fireplace in the family room addition.  Note the bead board work on the top--

it matches the wainscoting in the rest of the house.  Facing south--a large door to

the right (west) onto the deck, and the entryway is to the left.

As part of the addition, between the kitchen and garage, she has a large utility room, with an entrance to the 3-car garage, a new small bathroom, HUGE walk-in pantry, the door being one from the old kitchen, and closets, closets, closets and yet, more closets.  There also is a new basement dug under the family room--the old basement was a Michigan Cellar--I had to bend over to get into it.  It still remains under part of the kitchen and is where the furnace, pump, water heater, etc. are.

That new addition has opened up the whole rest of the house--it gives it a different feel--a really nice feel.  The other rooms in the house are small--farm houses may look big from the outside, but they contain many small rooms inside.  Of course, there was always a parlor--used mainly for when the preacher came to visit, where the piano was kept and in my family's case, where all the funerals were held.  Gone is the musty sort of smell of my great grandmother and all the dimness that was this house.  I love the feeling when I go in--it is bright and, once again, IT IS ALIVE!!!!

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The front yard--facing east--on the other side of those woods

is the farm I lived on and where Pammie lives now.  Note:

all the wildflowers growing in the lawn.  

That barn straight ahead is the old horse barn with a great loft upstairs.

My Daddy had a square dance party up there once.

  

The larger barn to the left is for hay in the loft and cattle, sheep and machine 

storage on the bottom floor.

Both of these are in excellent condition.  The pond is to the left of the

big barn.

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This means nothing to anyone except me. 

 It is the driveway into the woods between The Farm and my grandparents farm, where I raised

my children and where my daughter Pam lives.  

Pammie's farm is to the left of this--east.  

This is the woods I roamed in and played as a child and older.  I use to walk through the back of it, over to the Big Farm.  To the right a bit--in that sort of clearing, is where I wanted to build my retirement house. (sigh)

 This is where Fred and I got "married" in our hearts anyway--in the presence of God and the wildflowers.  

We took our "marriage" vows up that lane a bit.  This is the woods I dug up wildflowers and transplanted them here, back at my present home. 

Yes--I know how very fortunate I was to grow up in this area, surrounded by great grandparents, grandparents and friends.  Yes--I know how extra fortunate I am that I can still go back "home".