More memories of that winter...

 

 One of the things that was so good about being with Nancy that winter was that while I was going through that baby-life-adjustment time, the kids could tag along with her. They loved it, because unlike their mother (homebody), Nancy went places.

For one thing, she went to church early (we were always late). 

For another thing, she went to all the church parties (being so far out of town, we often stayed home, and worked on the house instead). So suddenly the Game Night, the Christmas party, the gingerbread house making party, the Christmas tree hunt, the New Year's Party, every potluck, every fancy dinner, every shared meal, and anywhere Nancy went were easy to attend. 

The best part though, was watching Nancy prepare for these events. She would not show up empty handed! She was in the kitchen thinking ahead, and putting something together for the fellowship.

As a great-great-grandmother, Nancy was well practiced in the art of baby hypnosis. I'm glad we afforded her an opportunity to sit down for a while!

Sunday dinners with guests were without question, as well as entertaining any visiting speaker at church. And she had stories of (epic, in my mind) times when she had 30+ people over at once. "We just threw in some baked potatoes!" she said.

If someone was sick or grieving, she would say "Do you think this or that soup would go down easy? I'll make some bread and we'll have it there by 5." The days that need hospitality with food happen more often than you think. 

Besides all this, she had an open pantry to all her "kids." 

I was so thankful that the kids got to see how Nancy lived, and go along with her to deliver meals. And I would marvel that she said she wasn't doing anything for the Lord, and was thinking about running off to be a missionary to Mongolia.

 Nancy was the kind of person who wanted you to eat up the newly bought ice cream in her freezer, because it might get "freezer burnt."

Metal Siding?

It was time to initiate our new family member into this crazy family build project, so one of the first outings for baby was to the metal place. 

We were seriously talking about using metal siding. I liked the look of the old-fashioned (pre-1920) very narrow horizontal wood siding, but even if I could find it it would have been expensive. I thought corrugated siding on its side would imitate that old narrow siding in the lights and shadows.

People, including Roger (our valuable source of building supply knowledge) down at the lumber place, thought this was not a good idea. But what's not to like about metal siding? It's inexpensive, it's got a 50 year paint job, styles and colors are getting better, and the durability is tops!

(By the way, the corrugated metal on the wall in the above photo had a beautiful shimmery smooth finish; it wasn't like galvanized roofing type stuff)

The metal place even had board-and-batten look siding, which was the style my husband had been thinking about.

There were some good-looking modern integrations and applications of metal siding that were popping up here and there in architectural photos. I was sure with my husband's background in design that he could make it look good. So, he did some computer models to explore the idea further. 

(Sorry about the quality of these pics-- I was taking pictures of his computer screen! Someday maybe I can put better screenshots up.)

So this is our house model! If you look at the far right of the house, lower story, you can sort of see what my idea for the narrow siding was. This model is showing corrugated metal, and it looked just as I had imagined it would.

 Blurry close-up, but if any of you are familiar with that old very narrow siding I was talking about, you might see the similarities between that and this corrugated horizontal application. 

Well I liked it, but we remained undecided. Our siding decisions (like sooo much of this house) lasted too long. In the end, we didn't (or couldn't) choose metal for a few reasons, but I still wonder what it would have been like...

What do you think of metal siding by the way? Do you think it is a crazy idea?

Winter Walks

 

Ungrateful. 

I bought a very used, high-end stroller that had a bassinet option. I was so happy to finally have a "pram" because I had wanted one with the past babies. Obviously it wasn't all I thought it would be. Hey- save your cryin' for when you have to work on the house!

Living in town temporarily was so convenient. First of all, the sidewalks were a nice change from dirt and gravel! Everything was a short walk or drive away. The children could even walk to church. Grocery shopping was so easy. My husband's commute to work was cut in half. The church social life was so much more accessible, so that the children went to everything available. We started to wonder-- maybe we should have built in town?-- a bit too late.

Our hostess, Nancy, regularly walked 9-10 miles a day. She walked to the store, to church, the library, to visit. If that wasn't enough miles she would set out again.  She would talk about her personal trainer, Arthur, making her do it. Arthur lived in her knees. Guess that's what you get for a rigorous prayer life.  She was the kind of person who would come home from her walk, and then if a child wanted to go on a walk, would turn right around and head out the door (even if it meant another 5 miles) and all you would see was enjoyment on her face.

Another Winter

 

I wanted to give you a glimpse of our winter in town, but I either find myself going on and on too much or at a loss for the right words. I don’t want to veer too far from our construction posts, but our life journey was now merged with another’s and though we hope we brought some bit of happiness to hers, it is certain Nancy brought loads of goodness to ours!

I have been contemplating on how to sum up such a person as she was…there is so much to say. I have to pick something….well here’s one thing:

She was the type of person who would happily, cheerfully take your teen driving (on fast highways alongside semi-trucks) so that they could get their 50 hours of driving lesson practice in...because she wasn't afraid to die like you were.

Our construction went on, but I was not out there to take pictures for quite a while. I basically stepped off of the "crew" for a while, and just focused on keeping the kids from decimating Nancy's pantry, figuring out school with a new baby in tow, and staying away from the public as much as possible. The latter was because the flu was rampant that year, so much so that reports of overwhelmed hospital capacity had them putting patients in the hallways... and I wasn't going to expose the baby to any of that!

Funny now that I think back to it... no one even talked about shutting down the world back then. I used grocery pick-up and everyone washed their hands after going out. We wiped surfaces but people didn't stop socializing, church was always "on" and none of my family caught the flu. Lumber prices might have risen and fallen, but it caused no delays for us. "How times have changed."

I do have some interesting posts coming up about some design decisions, so stay tuned!