CLICK HERE TO READ ***Spoiler Alert*** Have you listened to Episode Two?
Meg and I reenact the moment my mom says, "There he is!" while being interviewed about her ghostly sightings a few weeks earlier. This is the woodpile we are talking about. Listen to Episode 3 to find out if it really was a ghost!
This is the old family farm we talk about in Episode 2. I was blown away by the kindness and generosity of the couple living there who allowed us to tour the home despite being on their way out the door to a wedding. I hope to go back and visit them before they move. I may bring pick-ax for the basement. Just in case.
Until I found these photos, I thought the house was white. Flawed memories.
The first image is me in front of the home now. You can see the new addition on the left. The waterfront is at the front of the house and you can see the view of it from the living room window, and of the tennis courts out of the side window. I might not have recognized the house if the tennis courts were not there.
The third image is of the barns and you can compare the buildings to the image below which is from my childhood days there. I don't think the white building was the barn in the old image as the barn had a giant second-floor hayloft where we kids used to hang out, and this seems more like a shed. I don't have any other photos, though.
The horse was called Misty, and she had a propensity to take off while riding her in the orchards at full speed, smacking the rider with branches.
The doctor who lived there bought the place from my dad for their retirement, but the wife unexpectedly died just months after they moved in and did the renovations to the first floor. The doctor lived there for over 35 years by himself. This must be why the upstairs was never renovated.
As you can see in images eight and nine, the upstairs was exactly the way it was in my youth, and that is my bedroom and bathroom. I am pretty sure the carpet, wallpaper, and even the beds are the same. My daughter said, "It looks like Anne Frank lived here." It was like a cottage for us, and this was very typical of the day. People lived much more simple then. Of course, there was no Pinterest and Homesense to encourage style.
My dad's only dying regret was selling this farm which really surprised me. I was sad to learn the house was going to be torn down. Lakefront property is at a premium, of course, so I understand why. The house is a real higgly piggly mess of additions so I don't think it would make a good reno.
The orchard was replaced by a vineyard. My dad was a wine aficionado and always wanted a vineyard. He would be happy to know it became one. On his deathbed, we opened his long stored away $2,000 bottle of vintage wine and gave him some sips. We used the wine crate to put his ashes in. We know he would have wanted it this way.
In a later episode, you will hear a similarity between the farm of my dad's youth during the war in France. Both farms were exactly the same - unchanged over the years and we both returned to our childhood farms.