817: Our New Project

Our latest project is the house next door, or as we like to call it - 817. It was home to Eleanor and Charlotte until October and we purchased it the end of December. The house was built by Eleanor's father and she lived in it for 84 years until she died on June 23. She'd had a lot of dizzy spells and falls last winter but when she went to the hospital in early May we all thought she'd be back home before too long. After all, she'd been teaching piano lessons up until her last fall... and I guess I just really didn't want to believe she wouldn't be back home.

Charlotte was Eleanor's roommate (she's the one pictured)- they'd shared living quarters since the early 1980's. Before that Eleanor's roommate was Charlotte's sister Elizabeth - but when Elizabeth became sick with breast cancer Charlotte moved here from Michigan to help take care of Elizabeth and after Elizabeth died, she stayed on.

The two were a wonderful pair - both artistic naturalists with excellent minds and musical talents. They were night owls. Before Dave and I moved our bedroom to the attic I would "check" on Eleanor and Charlotte as I was getting ready for bed. I'd look out our bedroom window down into their kitchen window and usually see them at the table -having a late supper or cup of coffee. Reassured they were all right, I'd go to sleep. Later, though, after the girls took over that bedroom I felt more like a spy than a psuedo caretaker so I quit looking out the window. After all, they were 86 and 91 - they certainly seemed to be getting a long better than some of the younger people I knew.

After Eleanor went to the hospital we got to know Charlotte better. She often stopped by for coffee in the late morning or early afternoon. At times she spontaneously joined us for supper out on the patio - but that wasn't all that often since we're big meateaters and she's a vegetarian. She was always gracious and ate anything we could offer - whether it was corn on the cob or potatoes and carrots. She taught me to make a fantastic bread this summer and shared her knowledge of gardening.

When Eleanor died her house was left to her three nephews and since they would have had to totally update the house in order to rent it to Charlotte, they decided to sell it. Charlotte was wonderfully upbeat during this whole time. She spent her evenings going through books and newspaper articles, clothes, dishes, etc... Lucy and I spent afternoons with her going through books and putting them in piles: one for donation, one for Eleanor's family to look through and one to take with her when she moved. She found herself a downtown apartment that would take Erno, her cat. Almost everybody wanted her to move to an assisted living place but she told me she didn't want to live with all those old people. (Keep in mind Charlotte will be 92 on March 9.) So by mid-September Charlotte moved into the Opera House - how fitting as she is a pianist, a celloist and singer. The train tracks are right beside the building and when a train blows its whistle she hurries to the piano and presses keys until she finds the same tune. The kids and I have visited her a few times but it just isn't as easy as walking acorss the yard - now I feel as though I need to make an appointment and I'm not very good at that kind of planning.

When we heard the house was going to be for sale we talked with Bob, one of Eleanor's nephews and told him we might be interested in it. Our plan is to use the upstairs for "guest quarters" - it'll have two bedrooms and a renovated bathroom with a shower. By March Dave will be all moved in with his office occupying the dining room and another space in one of the main floor bedrooms. The dining room will have a big table that can be used for eating and projects - but will probably mostly be used by by Anna and me for weeekend quilting projects. I was going to have the other main floor bedroom be for my quilting things but have since decided against it. So it'll probably be a sitting area. The kitchen will be, well, a kitchen and for now, the basement will remain unfinished - who knows what it'll end up being. If you scoll down you can see pics of the house - before, during and after.