In case you missed it: Check out my entry in Nicole B's Scavenger Hunt!
I'm a rarity in Raleigh, NC. I'm a native of the city that still lives here. I haven't spent quite all of my long life (so far) in this town, but the two times I left I came back. Actually, it's three times I've left, but the first time was between the ages of 6 months and 2 years and I have no recollection of it. The first house I have any real memory of living in was this one.This little ranch has three bedrooms, and a bath and a half. Or did in 1972 when we moved out of it anyway. The windows on the left had side (with the air conditioner hanging out of one of them) are in what was my bedroom from 1963 to 1972. The air conditioner wasn't there then, the only unit we had was in the kitchen (not visible from this angle). The trim was painted green then. A rather putrid shade that I think was called "spearmint". The driveway was gravel, as were almost all of the others on this street. The big rock in the front yard wasn't there then either. The tree in the front yard is a pecan, and used to have a mate in the side yard by my old room. And every fall the pecans would rain down from both of them and my dad would pay my kid brother and I a quarter for each grocery bag we could fill with the ones on the ground. And autumn Sunday afternoons were spent watching football and shelling the nuts for my mom to use in her baking, with an old bed sheet on the floor to catch the stray shells that escaped.This was supposed to be a "starter home", a first step, a temporary stop on the way to bigger and better. Temporary turned out to be nine years, three assassinations, three presidents and a large chunk of the Vietnam War. Charlie Manson, Jeffery MacDonald and Kent State. Woodstock, Altamont and Beatlemania. Lost in Space, Hawaii Five-O and The Mod Squad. Sid and Marty Kroft. Space Ghost and Johnny Quest. Creature Feature and Shock Theater. My first dog, first day of school, first bike and the first stitches I can remember (but not the first I got) are all connected to this house on Weston Street. Behind those triple windows is the living room where I taught myself to read, starting with a book I'd heard so many times I practically had it committed to memory anyway.And aside from the paved drive, the new paint and the big rock in the front yard the place really hasn't changed one helluva lot.
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6 comments:
Great looking starter home to have, still cute after all these yrs! :)
it is always so nice to revisit where our chilhood memories lie. I wonder if you have read my Senselessly Constructed House stories. They don't have it any more, they tore it down to build a Girl's hostel over the grounds.
PS I guess you did not read Snow's latest Delia 55ve...
Things are better here and I cannot wait to get back home!
That's a nice little house. I'm still living in our "starter" home here in San Ramon....I'll be retiring in it, too, if I have my way. By the way, that tree is huge! Wow!
and you call this drab? I bet when that tree is blooming its very pretty and not drab at all ...
Last summer we took a trip to the Maritimes. My husband grew up just outside Saint John NB and of course we had to take a tour of his old stomping grounds. The house his father built did have brand new siding replacing the cedar siding his father but other than that it was the same. My husband had to check if his initials were still in the large rocks placed on the front lawn. They were still there. I was waiting for the neighbourhood watch to send the cops after us.
Oh, how nice to share a view of your childhood w/your readers. =)
Yeah, I think a native in ANY city is a rarity these days. When I meet one in my city, I look at her/him like s/he's a unicorn. lol
I'm sure they get that a lot.
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