We gathered at the house this weekend to remember our years together as a wonderful family. Others joined us.......children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, aunts, cousins, friends, neighbors and all of those who remembered with us. Our parents moved to this house from North Dakota in 1961. It is a solid craftsman style with architecturally- rich details and fine finishes. Mother loved this house and it's gardens which became her trademark and her therapy and her rewards. Dad kept it all in pristine shape as the ultimate Mr Fix-it. It became the haven to return to with it's large comfortable rooms, it's kitchen designed for a crowd (despite the small single oven) and the deck Dad designed to enjoy the California evenings, shaded by magnificent trees. On Saturday, it was filled with almost 100 who came to share their stories and offer their condolences. We laughed and ate and looked at the photos of all those years gone by so quickly.
It will be so strange not to return to the house in the middle of the vineyards. It has already been sold to the owner of that acreage and altho our brother Tom will continue to live there for awhile, we won't go home again. The 4 of us will gather but it will be somewhere else....... but we won't forget the red house in the vineyard, nor our Mother and Dad who made it our home.
Sandy, Tom, Maureen and Me.........and in the background, the largest of the many carousel horses that Dad carved.
How bittersweet. What a wonderful home to have grown up in. You've gone natural~I like it.
ReplyDeleteThe balloon pictures are amazing!
To have the memories is one of the best gifts we can have!! Thanks for sharing an insight into your family!
ReplyDeleteThough it won't be the same, the memories will keep the house alive for you.
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