Our Old Homesite

I'm a bit late posting the pictures from the old home front but here they are. Too bad it was not safe to enter and take pictures but I still remember the layout.

The front porch had 39 planks. We used to walk from one end of the porch to the other counting those planks. Facing the house as you stood on the front porch, the front door was in the center. To the left was Mother and Deddy's bedroom (we called our Father 'Deddy', not 'Daddy'); to the right was the Front Room (more commonly known as the Living Room or Great Room now). We used to 'let-up' the front window to Mother and Deddy's bedroom window and sit on the window sill with our feet dangling over the front porch.

Since we had a radio but no TV in the early years, as nightfall approached and after all homework had been done, we would all sit outside on the front porch until bedtime, slapping mosquitos as they landed on our arms and legs. There were not enough chairs on the porch for all of us to sit in so we children would sit on the edge of the porch with our legs dangling over the yard as Mother and Deddy sat in ladder-back chairs. We entertained ourselves by staring at the sky... watching to see the stars as they appeared as darkness settled in around us. Each of us probably whispered this little poem that I'm sure most children learned and whispered:

"Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight.
I wish I may, I wish I might
Have this wish that I wish tonight".

Mother taught us to search the sky to find the Big Dipper, Little Dipper and I think there was a Dog Star. I guess I don't have to remind you that if we saw the moon, we probably sang the 'Moon' song every single night:

"I see the moon, the moon sees me.
God bless the moon and God bless me".

Anyway, back to the old house. I was amazed at how clearly we were able to see the house. The last time we visited, it could barely be seen but I think it was probably during a time when the trees were covered with foliage. Mother and Deddy's bedroom had the wood/coal heater in it and we all huddled around it in the winter to stay warm. Behind their bedroom was the kitchen which housed that old pot-bellied stove. Behind that room was the "old kitchen". These were the rooms on the left side of the house.

There was a hallway that divided the rooms on the left side of the house from the rooms on the right. There was a doorway at the end of the hall that separated the hall from a room at the back of the house. This room was called the old 'corner' or 'cone' or 'corn' room. As a child, I never understood what the correct name of this room was. This room once housed a quilting frame that was suspended from the ceiling and Mother would have us (the girls) take our places around that frame as we made quilts. That was hard, back-breaking work and my fingers got so sore from that quilting needle; I never did get the hang of correctly using a thimble.

The room behind the 'Front Room' was known as the "Old Dining Room". In the early years, it was our dining room but as the family grew, it became a bedroom for the older children. The smaller children shared a bed in Mother and Deddy's room. The "Front Room" eventually became a bedroom for our oldest sister.

The hallway was really large enough to be a small room because we hung out in it quite often. After we became 'wealthy' enough to afford a telephone, the hall became our 'telephone booth'. There was an old trunk in it that we sat on while talking on the phone or passing the time of day. If we wanted privacy while we were on the phone, we would pull the door back from Mother and Deddy's room and hide behind it as we talked so no one could hear what we were saying... LOL). We had a 'Party Line' and sometimes the line was tied up for hours by others.

I love thinking back to the old days but I've visited the past long enough. Next week I'll start posting Christmas Cards that I have made for the Christmas Card Challenge. Until then, keep on stamping and creating.