Living in Common with Granny---

I read the Living on a Dime newsletter.  It comes in my email box.

She posted this article on her blog.  The Effects of Architecture on Home Living- I'm linking here: you can go there and read it if you like.
Reading it made me think about past homes I've loved and lived in as a child--

I grew up in a mid-century modern tract home. Every third house was just like ours. It was 3 bedroom, 1 bath, galley kitchen. Total living space just under 1000 sq ft. The garage was attached and the washer dryer were in the garage. Don't EVEN get me started on laundry in our house! We NEVER parked our car the garage. You had to get to the back yard, by going through the garage or out the front and around to the gate.

  My parents on the other hand...grew up in the historical parts of the city in Dallas. South Oak Cliff.  Their homes were large with large yards, porches , lots of neighbors and very mature trees lined the streets... I loved my Granny's house.  It had all the little nooks and crannies that Lydia Sherman speaks of in her article.
My Granny's house had the washer on the screened back porch-- it was shaded and the clothes line was right out the door. Right in the middle of town!  Can you believe it?  Not one neighbor ever complained that the clothes got hung outside to dry. Not once!

My Granny also had roses ...

and irises growing in the yard..

with blooming shrubbery tucked in around the yard!  

Her kitchen was  stocked with furniture-- Not cookie cutter cabinets.

There was a table right in the middle of the kitchen.

 Oh! and she had a butler's pantry- Full of the prettiest little roses patterned dishes.  Those cupboards didn't all have doors either, some had curtains, some had glass fronts.
Windows!  oh, there were windows everywhere.
Lots of places for a child to hide. Nooks and Crannies. 






So... back to my little mid-century modern home where I actually lived with my parents.

The upside of living in this mid-cent modern home?  My parents carefully chose the lot where we lived.  It was in a cul-de-sac. We had a large yard, front and back. The windows faced North and South...always cross breezes. Our back yard backed up to a farm...you could hear the cows and the coyotes at night!
I felt sorry for the other kids in the neighborhood who had barely room to play. They always ended up at our house.

My favorite book as a child was:  'Mr. Pine's Purple House'

Go figure.


I live in the country now. The photos above are of my own home-- I live in common with the way my Granny lived.


The closest thing that resembles my house is about 2 miles away.  It sits across the street from the original site, where my house was built.  Thank goodness the old man that built this house -- married into a family with some land and just picked up and moved the house here!   That would be weird waking up and seeing an almost identical house across the stretch of 2 lane hi-way.

Or would it?
In the Suburbs people do it every day, huh?

God Bless you
and
Thanks for reading!