Nonsense and scribbles scratched on the wall in crayon, pencil, dirt. Names and geometric patterns drilled into the wood work. Floors covered in hay. Mary, Richard, Seth, Sue. I know there were children here before this house became, like so many in rural farming areas in America, storage for hay. Dated February 7th, 1974, the Centre Daily Times (or as I like to call it the Centre Daily Misprint) contains a piece “Weighing the risk Of an impeachment” doing exactly that in reference to a post-watergate Richard “Tricky Dick” Nixon. This is a fantastic parcel of land, and the house is still quite solid save for a crumbling foundation in one corner and a mushy floor on the back porch. There is another house just up the private road. Perhaps they just moved, electing to use their prior residence as storage for hay?
Nota Bene: you can click these and see the full resolution versions on My Flickr, or view a Slideshow of all 32 photos.
Sue’s Handiwork
Beautiful Decay
I love you
Seth’s Scribbles
Comedy/Tragedy
Weighing The Risk Of An Impeachment – 3 photos
View all 32 photos.
Location: near State College, PA
I went home to Montoursville, Pennsylvania for the Thanksgiving holiday. This was my first time home since my father’s death, and I had my doubts about how well I was going to take seeing the house again. Thankfully I was wrong — the work my Mom did is absolutely amazing. As far as the upstairs bathroom and master bedroom are concerned, I might as well have been coming home to boutique hotel. With a 50 gallon bath tub, no less.
View a slide show of all 16 photos
The bathroom is warm and inviting and features radiant floor heating, towel warmer, fifty gallon cast-iron bath tub, and airy glass shower. I’d say the icing on the cake is the HDTV on the swing arm above the bath tub.
The bedroom is the perfect place to crash after a wonderful day, or just to take a nap. My father always said that my mother was a fantastic napper. Our first dog, Boris, would run up the stairs to the bedroom if you asked him “Where’s Mommy?!” Why? because that’s usually where she was!
I love you Mom, you did a wonderful job… and you’re not even done yet!