Remembering a grand old home...

If you regularly read this blog, you know how much I love old homes. In the back of my mind I still envision myself living in a nice vintage home with a big front porch, set in a small historical town in NC. Of course, that may never happen, but if not for our hopes and dreams, where would we be?

A few years ago The Mister and I hooked up with a realtor in such a town a few hours from here, and closer to Hendersonville where we have our getaway place. One of the houses that we looked at that day was the one seen in this post. At the time I didn't mention where it was because I didn't want anyone to rush over there and buy it out from under us (ha ha!). That one, and the one below, were my two favorites, both in one of the historical districts. And the two of them were the only ones that were actually "move-in ready". At the time there were other considerations that we had to make, one being that neither would accommodate our motor home very well, and alas, a historical home for us was not meant to be at that time. Another issue was that we wanted one with the master bedroom and bath on the first floor, and neither of these had that.

This home had special significance to me,

as it was "born" in 1923,

the same year as my dad.

Here is hubby standing on the front porch.

The houses in this district sit up high off the main road,

with parking in the back that you access from

a rear alley.

I like that concept, as I don't think garages and

parked vehicles look very pretty...

Shortly after we saw this home,

the listing was removed,

but I don't think it was sold.

If it had been my home I don't think that

I could have parted with it either.

We didn't really know who owned the home,

but it was decorated beautifully...

We saw several houses that day,

and I took many photos.

I'm not sure why I never took a photo of

the kitchen,

but I remember liking it.

Here are some of the rooms that I did take photos of...

I am still on the realtor's email list so that I can continue

to get updates from him.

He recently had a post on his blog about the

community coming together to help the victims

of a house fire that occurred on Dec. 30th.

The photos below appeared on a local news website.

I thought the house looked familiar.

My own photos state that they were taken at the same

address where the fire occurred...

To think that my husband stood on that porch

is bad enough.

But when I think of the loss suffered by this family

I am immeasurably sad

and cannot stop thinking about it.

I have not seen any news on what caused the fire,

but I so hope that it wasn't arson.

Fortunately, the family was not in the house

when the fire started.

They were on their way

to an annual camping trip in the mountains.

I feel a special kinship to the family that lives here.

According to what I saw on the news,

the owner is apparently a hardworking single mom with

three children.

This hit home with me because I also raised my two

children as a single mother,

and I cannot even imagine how I would have felt

if this had happened to me.

Kind members of the community rallied together,

boarded the windows,

boxed up what they could of the family's belongings,

and started a fund to help.

The irony is that the mom is a social worker who

spends her life helping others.

Though I'm sure that this family is grateful that their lives were spared, I know that starting this new year cannot be very happy for them. I pray that their love for each other can overcome their sadness and that their beautiful home can soon rise from the ashes.

Christmas outside. Christmas inside.

Hello dear friends. I hope that you are doing well and enjoying the Christmas season. We are taking it easy this year as it was a busy and hectic year with Mr. Perch's leg. As usual, we decorated the inside of the house very minimally, but this year, right after Thanksgiving, we also did the outside in a minimal fashion since I basically had to do it all myself. Below are a few photos that I took last week or so.

We didn't put the lit garlands on the porch railings

this year.

I decided to use garden lights instead,

telling myself KISS: Keep it Simple Stupid!

I'm sure that there are those in the neighborhood

who surely think that I lost it.

I couldn't agree more...

To further antagonize those who never

want to march to a different beat,

we used the excess lighting

around this old primitive tree that we had

up in the attic and just left it on the porch

swing.

Do you want to guess if more than one

person has asked me if I needed help

standing up the tree?

I politely reply: "No, thank you."...

We put our old metal snowman from

the fifties by the steps going up to the porch...

I am a person who would father eat live

goldfish than shop on Black Friday.

I have never bought into the argument

that the good sales are only on that day.

Point proven:

Last week I went to Michael's and lots of

stuff was 70% off, and with quite a lot

of stock to boot.

I bought these lovely wooden

"Joy to the World" tags...

...and this nice wire basket,

with the fabric Noel painted in grey...

...although the fabric Noel was originally red, as seen below.

No problem, I just painted the letters grey with cheap

Walmart chalk paint.

At 70% off $19.99, who can go wrong?...

In that drastically reduced stash I also bought this

beige knit stocking, topped with fur,

and coordinating throw pillows, not seen

here, but I use them on the black rockers.

Also the twiggy heart below.

The greenery was also on sale...

Of course, I couldn't resist taking a winter

 photo of the back yard.

Not for any decorating reasons, but because our lawn is

back to being pretty and green,

thanks to our yard crew who did an outstanding job

of reseeding it this fall after we lost practically the whole

thing this summer while the Mister was in the hospital and the

sprinkler system let go...

But the best view of all is Mr. Perch,

for the first time since early August,

standing on his "own two legs" in front of

the fireplace last Friday after we got home

with his new leg...

What a wonderful sight to see!!