Some Photos of My New/Old House
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This is the house I grew up in, from 1949 to 1962. I inherited it from Aunt Hazel, when she passed last year. [The house on the left was the first house we lived in when I was very little.] The structure and the utilities were fine, but the inside was very worn out and ready for upgrade. I had the floors stripped back to bare wood, put in new crown mould, and replaced all the sheet rock. Then I added all the best wall art from all the trips. Outside I went crazy with the new design (see below), and added the fruit grove. Anyway, see for yourself. |
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1. This is the actual image in Google Street View, from 2 years ago. The house was built in 1925, but only moved here from the back of the property in 1928. You can see the citrus trees I gave Aunt Hazel for Christmas a couple years back. They all had the "greening" disease, and were actually dying, but slowly. Just left of the door ramp, you can see the goldfish pond.
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2. And here's the house today, with all the sick citrus removed and a big row of cabbage palms across the front. The goldfish are still there, under the orchid tree (which suddenly got very healthy).
To the left is a new gazebo for flower vines. And the old driveway has been moved further left, to give me room for a new fruit tree grove. |
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3. Here's the new view of the house when you drive up from the main drag. You can see the fruit trees at the corner behind the palms.
This shows how huge the old oak tree is, over the house. Hidden inside it is probably Florida's biggest shefflera tree, about 80' tall. Later this month it will bear huge sprays of scarlet flowers, but nobody sees them, because nobody thinks of looking straight up for flowers. |
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| 4. The front door close up. The ramp is gone, but I kept the posts for decoration. Pond on the left; new butterfly garden on the right. |  |
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5. Close-up of the fruit trees. None are citrus, and all were chosen from Florida/Caribbean tree catalogs to be compatible with the weather in this difficult zone (9A in the maps) where we have a couple freezing days each year.
Guavas, figs, star fruit, mango, lychee, persimmons, pomegranate, Surinam and Barbados cherries, papaya, etc. etc. PS. The antenna saves me $1200 a year. |
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6. My new gazebo, with blue and scarlet passion fruit vines. Will soon be covered, and yes it does bear edible fruit.
In the background you can see absolute proof I've become a little old lady in my dotage. That's a classic Victorian "gazing ball" on a stone pedestal. There was a grand dame down the riverside from me who had 20+ of them...and she painted her palm trees white up to 6 ft! Now THAT'S a gen-u-ine old lady. Beyond that is the Great Wall, constructed from hundreds of stones Hazel and Mama brought home from the woods. I moved them all back there to mark out the parking. |
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7. My butterfly garden beside the front walk. Seven varieties of lantana, mainly permanent.
I get Gulf fritillaries, zebras and sulfurs, mainly. |
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8. The pond area, with the new front patio. Guaranteed to draw neighbors if you add beer.
Some of the fish are huge, and I need to share them with somebody. A koi strain got in the woodpile, and they're mainly gold/koi hybrids. |
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| 9. My back patio. The storage shed is on the left, behind a new bamboo wall. The big pots have cactuses, more lantanas, and some tropical fruit bushes. And part of the Great Wall. |  |
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10. The back of the house, seen from the rear property line. There's a little raised bed with pineapples and dragon fruit cactuses.
See all the moss? Well, you're in Da Deep Souf. |
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11. My elegant interior to the left of the front door. Tons and tons of stuff from all my storage boxes and hiding places. The floor was covered by rugs for decades.
The table is my old one, and the wooden chairs were from my grandfather's house. The rug is from the Tunisian Surprise back in 1980. Buy me a beer and I'll explain. |
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12. View toward the right from the front door. Lots more stuff!
The second room you see was the old dining room; it's my office now. Way way way at the back is my useless cat taking yet another nap.
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13. And here is the west end of the big L-shaped main room. Lots and lots of more stuff!
Right there at the corner cabinet was my bed when I was tiny innocent babe. THAT"S how really old this place is. |
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| 14. Here's the door to the new/old sunroom. It was originally built for sun and plants, but since around 1950 it was always a drafty bedroom for my parents, my brother and Aunt Hazel. |  |
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15. We only broke the law once while restoring the "sun room" look, and now it's a fine place to read and pretend to be prosperous.
The shelves hold some of the great stuff I found in African marketplaces or was brought by students for their kindly old teacher. |
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| 16. Here's more proof I'm an old lady now. The fishbowl holds my collection of tropical drift seeds; remember "lucky beans" from the beach? |  |
| 17. A close-up of the office area, with Grandaddy's old desk (front), and my computer desk (rear). |  |
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18. And finally, here's an example of what an amazing trip it was to work through this project. Hazel had so much stuff here, that we didn't really know there was a "breakfast nook" at the rear of the house. After days of moving stuff out and straightening it up - here it is, just inside the back door. I use it every day, while I watch my squirrels just outside on the big oak.
[Thanks, Papa Gallais, for the art] |
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| 19. So if you're in the area, please drop by and say hello. 208 Hubbell St., Edgewater, Florida 32132. | |
