Category Archives: between books

A House or a Home – –

Posted on by
2

Jack fails again to get his Wednesday post up in time –

Wendy and I have moved house six times so far and it’s always taken us a while to get each one organized to our liking.

Our current abode/house/home

We started out in a small ground floor apartment in Rosyth in Fife and there wasn’t much choice there, with just a sitting room, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and guest room. Then we moved to the wee village of New Gilston at the other end of the county and into what had been the schoolhouse. We were there for five years and it took almost all of that time before we finally decided which rooms suited which purpose!

After that to Padiham in Lancashire, England and a gatehouse built in 1790. It had been extended over the years and with lots of nooks and crannies. Once again we had two small spare rooms and once again it took almost until we left before we finalized which room was a home office and which was the guest room.

From there to White Springs in Florida and although the house had an obvious sitting room/dining room/kitchen, there were two bedrooms and again it took us a long time to decide which was which and which could also be a home office.

Continuing to Big Stone Gap Virginia and our bookstore, where we lived for fourteen years. The house was enormous and we started out living in the top story but over time that became part of the bookstore and our sitting room there became the ‘2nd Story Café’. I eventually converted our very dark and dingy basement into our bright and cozy apartment.

Finally here we are in Wytheville Virginia and in a lovely, well cared for, old house again. The lady we bought it from left a great bed and dresser in the main bedroom upstairs (mainly because probably she couldn’t get them out). So for the first couple of years we left things pretty much ‘as is’, including the well cared for back yard. In other words we continued to live in someone else’s house!

But now we’re beginning to make it our home and doing all kinds of changes that the poor previous owner would probably not approve of, although she might like the extended vegetable garden.

I suppose the message for today is that a house can become a home, but it can sometimes take quite a while!

Curiouser, Curiouser and Back Framing – –

Posted on by
Reply

Jack makes it on time for a change – – –

One of my weekly jaunts over the time we’ve been here is the trip to the local recycling center with our garbage. Carefully bagged into different stuff – cans, plastic, cardboard and ordinary trash. When I get there it goes into different dumpsters (skips for my Scottish readers). There’s a rotation of elderly guys who make sure you do it all correctly and help you if you need it. 

They are all very pleasant and chatty and very often interested in my accent, asking ‘where y’all from?’ or ‘y’aint from around here’.

But today was a bit different. I usually take our trusty SUV ‘Angus’ (named because he’s black) because he has plenty of room in the trunk (boot for my Scottish readers). But he was full of stuff Wendy has collected to use for one of her projects, so I used our equally trusty wee red Prius this time.

I drew up as usual between the dumpsters and there was one of my elderly guys who engaged me in the usual conversation – the weather (it was dreich for my Scottish readers), and other pleasantries. Then he asked about the Prius, and I suspected he maybe hadn’t seen one before. He was most interested in its gas mileage (miles per gallon for my Scottish readers).

His final comment was “I’m surprised somebody hasn’t tried to back frame you”. I pondered this for a minute and then gave him the quizzical look I reserve for those occasions. He repeated “I’m surprised somebody hasn’t tried to back frame you”. I gave him the bland neutral look I also reserve for those occasions, offered a cheery wave and drove off. I had pictures in my head of some local big guy in his big truck deliberately nudging the back of our very out of place wee Prius!

But there was a nagging feeling about the times I’d been on the receiving end of those bland neutral looks as I tried to navigate the differences between American English, British English and Scots. So I tried to decipher what he had said to me –

Halfway home it suddenly dawned on me what he actually said, which was “I’m surprised somebody hasn’t tried to buy it from you”.

Yes, well…..