“Home is a name, a word, it is a strong one; stronger than magician ever spoke, or spirit ever answered to, in the strongest conjuration.”
I know it is late for me, so late that I almost thought of taking a mini-vacation, but here I am. Earlier I was out on the deck sitting in the shade of the umbrella. The day is another hot one. Gracie, despite lying in the shade, was panting. She wanted in so we both came inside to the AC. She is now comfy and asleep in her crate.
We’re going to the dump later. That’s the only entry on my dance card.
There is something so strongly compelling about going home. When I go back to my old home town, as I still call it after all these years, I take familiar routes, the ones I used to walk. From St. Pat’s to the project there are many changes. Some of the older houses are gone. The railroad tracks too are gone but there is a wide path where they once were. I am sometimes tempted to park my car and follow the path to see if it looks the same. There was a stream where we stopped for water. I wonder if it is still there. The playground where I spent so many summer days disappeared. Where it was is all overgrown now. My house and street look exactly the same except the bushes on the side of my old house are really tall. I don’t know if there is a limit as to how tall they will get. The tops look a bit spindly to me. I always have the urge to get out of the car and walk into the backyard just to peek to see if the in-ground garbage pail is still there, but I figure it would look a bit odd to the current occupants. I wonder what color the walls are now. In my day the living room was green. I suspect the house will look quite small inside to me now. I know the kitchen seemed small even then. Kid’s voices still fill the air on a nice day.
In Bolga, on my trip back after forty years, the first place I went was to my old school grounds to find my house. It was quite easy to find. It needed paint and the back courtyard could not be seen because the current occupants had added to the fence tops to block the view. I wondered about the four doors around the courtyard. I wondered what color they are. Coincidentally they were green when I lived there.
Home is a fluid place. It is both where you live now and all the places you’ve lived before.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: asleep in her crate, Bolga, courtyard, green paint, home, hot day, late, my old house, My school, panting dog, playground, railroad tracks, St. Pat's, tall bushes, up-town
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August 2, 2015 at 2:29 pm
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August 2, 2015 at 2:44 pm
Gnu,
I did it! I stole from myself. I needed a push and that paragraph did it. The rest came from that. Now I’ll delete-the push was enough. Thanks!
August 2, 2015 at 2:41 pm
Whenever I have returned to my old neighborhoods I’m struck by two things. Everything seemed bigger when I was a kid and everything looks more shabby than what I remembered. Like you I’m amazed how the shrubs and the trees have grown in the last 50 years. I hate to bring it up fellow baby boomer, it’s been half a century since we were kids. 😦
We recently moved to a condo in the North Dallas area that I grew up in in the 1950s. In those days the style of upper middle class neighborhoods were large lots and single story ranch style houses. Today people are buying those mid-fifty ranch style houses, tearing them down for the lot and building two story ‘McMansions’.
Nearby is the upper class neighborhood where the real mansions are either being remodeled or replaced by really big mansions. You know the neighborhood where Ross Perot, George W. & Laura Bush and many other members of the Fortune 500 live. 🙂 if it weren’t for the steel gate and secret service detail I might drop in and tell the former President my thoughts on his eight years in the White House. It just won’t be as complementary as his Presidential Library exhibits a couple of miles down Central Expressway on the SMU campus.
We had a cool front come by Friday night and the high today might get to 98 degrees. Still no signs of rain.
August 2, 2015 at 2:51 pm
Bob,
You are so right about the years in between. The houses will look smaller as we are taller but the bushes and trees just keep growing. The house didn’t look happier but the grass did. My dad would have been horrified.
Down here large houses were built by the captains of the sailing ships. New ones just aren’t being built except on the islands. One was build here but it violated some bylaw and they were told to tear it down. Now the court will decide.
No rain here either. It has been far too long.
August 2, 2015 at 3:12 pm
We’ve had a rather nice sunny day here in the village but just a few miules away where I was a few hours the rain poured down. Warmer and sunnier weather will arrive tomorrow and I’m not surprised, after all I start working again after the vacation 🙂
I rarely go back to where I lived when I go back to my old home town. I have a few times and besides all shops are gone much look just the same. Well it is all in a better shape since wealthy people live there now 🙂 the once lively harbour is now quite quiet but it is a place where people like to take walks and even take a bath in the river. I know what hides benetah that top layer of sand at the bottom of that river, once it was very polluted so I would never do it myself 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
August 2, 2015 at 3:25 pm
Christer,
It is still hot. I just let Gracie out and closed the door behind her. She won’t be out there long, hasn’t been all week.
My town square looks very different and had all new stores. My movie theater is for lays now and there are several restaurants around there. The up-town is busy only at certain hours.
There is a reservoir where we couldn’t go but now you can boat on it. The water always looks so inviting.
Have a great evening!
August 2, 2015 at 3:12 pm
Hi Kat,
I’m still in my old neighborhood. It’s very different from when I was a kid but since I’ve been here for the changes, it’s not a shock.
And Bob is right about the size of things shrinking as the age of the observer increases. My house seemed so huge when I was a kid. Nowadays, it’s just me and two small dogs and it seems teeny.
I can remember standing in the pantry with my two younger brothers as we watched my mother do laundry in the old wringer washer. The three of us, the laundry and the machine all fit in there with plenty of room to spare. I stand in there now by myself and wonder how we did. And there’s no wringer washer in there now. Just me and one little Piki Dog underfoot. 🙂
It was lovely this morning on our early walk. The breeze was cool and the air was dry. Now it’s hot and the humidity is rising. I’m resisting putting on AC. If I can hold out until after sundown, it won’t be necessary.
Enjoy the day.
August 2, 2015 at 3:28 pm
Hi Caryn,
My street looks the same but parts of the town don’t. It is even worse down here. From a place with few houses and people, the cape has become suburbia. I’m sorry for that. I loved the winters back when-quiet and few cars.
I’d love a pantry. My sister has one, and I’m jealous. My dishes are all over the place, and I’d like them handier plus I’d know what I have in the back of the cabinets.
I tried no AC yesterday but not today. I’ll have to see what tomorrow brings.
Have a great evening!