Growing up in Michigan we had the land of lakes all around us and in our backyard lake a wooden tank of a row boat. It was huge, dark grey- green and deep enough to hold my brother and me, our equipment for fishing, swimming, and the dog that travelled the lake with us. Though I was the younger, I did most of the rowing, slave sister that I was. I got lots of practice rowing backwards to go forward. The rewards were landing on the island in the middle of our kingdom, unwrapping our now soaked peanut butter and mayo sandwiches, taking yet another swim and exploring our island.
Going backwards to go forward.....a curious notion and a concept worth considering. Renovating a house requires a looking back inorder to go forward. What came before gets considered inorder to appreciate and understand the materials and its’ structure. I know little of this simple cottage and it's history. What we did learn in ripping out the kitchen was about insulation. We found an impressive amount of 1923-1924 newspapers stuffed into the walls.. No wonder the kitchen was cold. I saved some of these crumbling and now sepia colored newspapers as recorded history and noted the August 28, 1923 New Haven Evening Register ad run by The Lomas & Nettleton Co. of New Haven offering first time morgage loans at rates of 6% - 6.5% in amounts from $500 -$25,000. What could you buy today for $25,000, let alone $500?
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3 comments:
Hi Jill, Just found your blog, enjoyed your posts, particularly the gardening one. Makes me think of a great line from Ray Bradbury's Danedlion Wine ... "Dig in the earth, delve in the soul."
Hi Jill - I too, have just discovered your blog. I spent three years in Paris back in the '80s (10 yrs. in Europe) and finally returned there last summer for my honeymoon (second time around). I saw your article in The Hartford Courant this week and look forward to checking out your new book. Your guide to Paris was in the apartment we stayed in last summer - I recognized your illustrations.
Anyway - just wanted to say hello from another former ex-pat in CT.
Interesting find in the kitchen, news papers, saw dust, all sorts of things were used as insulation - My co-worker bought and restored a house on Sachem's Head (Guilford) and found evidence his cottage was a Sears and Roebuck catalog cottage - Really neat history.
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