Wednesday, April 20, 2011

The house that dad built.

After our little excursion on Sunday heading back home I took a short detour down memory lane.We were very close to the house that I grew up in so I decided to swing on by
My dad built this house and we moved in I believe in 1967.
The beautiful flowering crab apple trees in the front yard have been replaced with evergreens. The awnings were never there when my dad had the house. I see a chain link fence running down the right side of the property where there used to be a line of gorgeous lilac and snowball bushes. I didn't pay much attention when I drove by to see if they took all of them out or not but I sure hope they didn't.
I spent 15 years in that house and it holds so many memories. I almost wanted to walk right in and plop myself down on the couch in the living room.

22 comments:

Sandee said...

How cool. Funny how everyone likes their own arrangements in the yard. Some like this tree, but not that one.

It's been years since I've seen the home where I grew up. Looks the same pretty much though.

Have a terrific day. My best to the little man Duke. :)

jeanlivingsimple said...

Ann, I had that same feeling years ago when I visited the house I grew-up in. Funny...all the rooms looked so small.
BTW...BOSS is short for Black Oil Sunflower Seeds and Thistle is another word for Niger Seed. Whatever you call the little black seeds American Goldfinches love them but...they also love BOSS..which is much cheaper.

Anonymous said...

Holds lots of memories for me too mom. Although I didnt spend as much time in there as you. As I told Brad I'm sure that the parts of the fireplace that had sand in it, where you used to yell at both of us so many times for getting into is probably the first thing that they got rid of. :( The house looks nice im a little disappointed they got rid of the lilac bushes

Ann said...

I am so impressed by anyone who can build a house - seriously! Last month we weren't too far from the house where I grew up and drove by, so I know just how you feel... lots of changes.

BeadedTail said...

How fun that you were able to go back and see the home your dad built! So many things change over time but they can't change your memories!

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Beautiful childhood home, Ann... Sorry they have 'changed' it... The last people who bought my childhood home have renovated it --and I don't even recognize it much anymore. Makes me so sad that I can't even drive by it.... I want it to look like my home did... Dang! ha

Hugs,
Betsy

Catherine said...

What a sweet sweet memory Ann! How wonderful to not live too far from where you grew up. We moved around a bit when I was younger so don't really have one home that I am connected to.

But as my son has lived here in Swift Current all his life, I hope he will always love coming 'home' to us!!

Beautiful post!
xo Catherine

Ginny Hartzler said...

It's a lovely house, was your dad a builder by profession? Were you sad to see the changes?

Lin said...

It's hard to go home again, isn't it? And I'm sure it is especially hard seeing what someone else has done to the property. My mom still lives in my childhood home, but it is still weird for me to go back--she has neglected it a lot.

Anonymous said...

Nice house!

tahtimbo said...

That is a very nice house! It may seem weird, but this is my idea of a dream house.

Unknown said...

I imagine it was really surreal to go by that house. Well, at least that is the way it has been for me when going places where I used to live.

Philippa said...

It always feels odd to go back to a place after many years, but this house looks lovely and I'll bet it was a great place to grow up.

Russ said...

The house looks great Ann. Sorry about the changes. But that is what happens. People now a days have to keep changing things. I bet you were very happy growing up in that house.

Duni said...

Your dad built a beautiful house and you must have fond memories of living there. Hang on to those!
When I'm in the big city I make sure to pass by my old place, and I always think how can the person living there now put up such ugly curtains!!!

Out on the prairie said...

i have one similar that still feels like home. I like this one, you had a fireplace both up and downstars it looks like.This is a era of home I always admire.

MadSnapper said...

and now you have a photo of the house to make your memory's flame when you look at it. i have no home that i grew up in, we lived in 3 houses before i was 10, 2 from 10 to 15 and back to Savannah from 15 to 18 and that one they tore down to build a highway. none of the homes i lived in 7 of them, are still standing. i do drive by where the last house was in Savannah and try to figure out where it was in the shopping mall that sits there. my memories have to come from my mind and photos. that is why photos are important. my cousin is living in the house in savannah that she was born and raised in, she has lived in it or next door all her 66 years.

Connie Girl said...

Very nice. Good to see that it is being taken care of even if there are changes from when you lived there. I drove by the first house I purchased and I wish I hadn't, they are not taking care of it.

Donna said...

I take those drives every once in a while myself...Never can come away without a few tears...Time keeps on a Rolling by...
hughugs

booahboo said...

Such a beautiful house that your dad built Ann. The land is so big... it would have held many sweet memories. It would be nice to just go in there for a while.

I am still staying in the house that i grew up in... :)

Ann said...

Sandee I guess it would get pretty boring if we all liked the same thing wouldn't it :)

Jean I would love to see what the inside of this house looks like now.

Amanda oh yes, the sand...lol I wonder if they did keep it

ann my dad was very good at what he did

beaded tail that's for sure

betsy aside from the changes to the house the whole neighborhood has been so overdeveloped it's not even funny. When we first moved in it was mostly wooded area, not many houses at all

catherine I miss not being able to go there anymore

ginny yes, my dad was a carpenter. Not really sad, at least it's nice to know that they are taking good care of the house.

lin not only hard but impossible since I don't know the people living there...lol

grace, it was then and it still is now. the people living there are taking very good care of it.

tahtimbo not weird at all. I wouldn't mind having a house like it myself

fishhawk yes it was in a way

philippa it was a great neighborhood, the whole area is different now though.

russ, at least they were good changes and it still looks lovely

duni lol, that's too funny about the curtains.

out on the prairie yes, we did have 2 fireplaces. The one upstairs was never used as it was all white brick. The one in the basement we used to roast marshmallows and hot dogs in.

sandra I wish I could dig up an old picture showing the whole house. That sure was a lot of moving

connie that would be sad to see a place you lived in and loved being neglected

donna it seems to be rolling faster all the time

anny and to think, way back when I couldn't wait to move out. Now I want to go back...lol

Unknown said...

It's a lovely house .... I think I too would want to walk straight through the front door - but sometimes the memory of a place is strangely better.
It's sad that the bushes were dug up it must have been magnificent with all of that sweet smelling lilac. Was the lilac dark purple, mauve or white?

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