Thursday, April 28, 2011

This Old House


There's a house in my neighborhood that's been empty for years. It's funny how I can't say I even noticed it until it was empty. I drive by it almost everyday and wonder about who lived in it and it's fate. Until last week.

I made it my destination on my morning walk. With camera in hand, I walked around the block and took pictures from the outside of the cyclone fencing from every side.




I came to the front and spotted a parting in the fence, and as I stuck in my camera to get a few shots without any obstructions, a man working on a car at the auto mart next door piped up to let me know he was tired of chasing the homeless out of it. Aware of my grungy sweatpants and tee shirt, I quickly told him I was just trying to get some good pictures of this old house for my blog and asked him if he knew anything about it. Lucky me--he was the owner! He gave me a short history lesson which, combined with what I had already learned from researching the house, gleaned me these facts:

The house was built in 1870 on a stone foundation and occupied by Mr.Goodale who was an early Concord merchant.

Then Dr. and Mrs. George McKenzie made this their home sometime after his arrival in Concord in 1891. For many years Dr. McKenzie (and Dr. Francis Neff, Concord’s only other doctor), were the only doctors serving Concord and the surrounding area.

Mrs. McKenzie used to raise the flag at the house to signal to Dr. McKenzie (at work at the hospital about 400 yards away) that his lunch was ready.

There was a bicycle-powered windmill on the property that generated the electricity for his x-ray machine.

Mrs. and Dr. McKenzie both died in the house.

Then it was occupied by the Collins family, about whom little is known.

I asked would he minded if I went inside the fence and took some more pictures? He didn't so I did.





You must have really been something in your day, house.



I'm so sorry you've been neglected.



I'm so sad that the beauty you still have goes unnoticed and unappreciated.



I'm sorry your foundation is turning to rubble and your wood is decomposing into the earth.

















I took some cuttings of the roses in the front and then squeezed back out through the fence posts.

I wish you could be saved, rehabilitated, resurrected, revived. But even though the owner wasn't at liberty to say what the future holds for you, he couldn't look me in the eye when he said the land had been sold to a developer in Washington.


You are the jewel in the crown of a city which loses a small amount of it's glint each time an old house is torn down.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Workbench Wednesday

Here's a (very little) sneak peek what's on my craft room table today. I have an idea for these images. Can you tell what they are?





What's on your workbench? Please share!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Workbench Wednesday ~ COMPLETED

Here's a roundup of what I've been working on and completed! These all sold in my spot at Room With A Past this last week.

Remember those dresses you saw here two weeks ago? They were photocopies of real doll dresses! I choose 6 of them to copy, cut out and string on Divine Twine (Hi Whitney!) with tiny clothespins to form a banner.



These two 16 x 20 canvases were covered with old book pages (you can still read them if you click on the photos!), and then I painted a bird silhouette on them.



They still needed a little something more, so I made paper flowers with mother-of-pearl button centers.




And this last one had nothing to do with me other than I'm the one who stuck it on a lamp and took the picture at the shop. My friend Jean came across a load 'o girdles, and couldn't resist stretching (It must be like a size 0! Why would a person that small even need a girdle??) one over a newly found shade to come up with a winning combo of fun and flirty!



What have you been working on? Please share!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Workbench Wednesday

Here's a roundup of what's on my craft room table today. Ideas in every stage of the project. Some will be finished at some point, others, sadly, well it's all part of the process!



This is my completed soldering project from the workbench at Hip Chick Designs! Owner Carrie Clayden hosted the class taught by the ever camera-ready Julee Herrmann last Saturday! Soldering is something I have wanted to learn for YEARS and now I know how!





What are YOU working on? Please share!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Were You Born In A Barn?

You might wish you were if it was THIS barn in the outskirts of Manteca, CA!


This is Sue's Country Barn where the formidable Sue, herself, (she's hard to photograph as she moves at the speed of light) puts on several shows a year. The current sale is going on NOW through April 17th, and I highly recommend you point your boots in her direction and get scootin'!





Hey, there's Sue!

There are display after wonderful display to examine and find something you didn't know you couldn't live without!




This red metal rack was SOLD, darn it, and waiting to go home.










Even the storeroom was pretty!











I ended up with some pretty French linens and some unique buttons. There are 4000 square feet to explore, but make sure you leave time to make a 20 minute drive to nearby Escalon to visit The Green Pea:


It's run by owner Sandi Vander Dussen.








There are lots of bed springs to covet if you're a bed spring junky like me!




After all that shopping, your stomach and your feet will be happy to know there's a great little sandwich shop, Leonardo's, right across the street. Have a delicious lunch and you'll be on the road back home in no time!



Sue's Country Barn
E. Hwy 120
Mateca, CA 95336
(209) 607-6013


The Green Pea
1802 Main Street
Escalon, CA 95320
(209) 838-1913