12/25/11

Merry Christmas to all, and may 2012 be all you wish it to be!

With much love,                                 

Kathy, Greg, Magpie, Beez, Finny, Mazie, Gus, Fluff, Mistoffeles, Mel, Owl, Reba, Toes, Lacy and the Barred Rock Girls.

Holidays, 2011

Hi all


Approaching Christmas, and Barb (AKA Louise, if I remember properly) and I (if she's Louise, then I must be Thelma) are tentatively planning our next road trip.  April again, this time the first 10 days.  Our itinerary includes some hot spots in NC:  Outer Banks; Raleigh and Greensboro, of course; and Southern Pines, Pinehurst and (Barb doesn't know this yet) the campus of Gram's alma mater, Flora MacDonald College.  After several name changes and repurposings, it is now a primary and secondary school, with gardens that are supposedly quite spectacular.  It isn't far from Southern Pines and Pinehurst, and I always wanted to see it.  If I remember right, it is now called Flora MacDonald Academy.


Also wanted to share the last few pictures I have of Joey.  These were taken in August.  The first ones are right after he had a bath, so he looks darker than he actually is.  I think he got a really great home--a small animal veterinarian in the Saratoga area, with many other pets and a bunch of kids.  He was 6 months old and nearly 700 lbs when he left here.  Hope you enjoy these pictures.

One more fun note:  we had our first egg produced yesterday.  It was about 2/3 the size of a regular large egg, and a pretty brown.  Our hospital cat knocked it off my desk (yes, of course I brought it to work to show everyone) and it broke. No new eggs before I left this morning, but maybe when I get home....

It's in the 40's and raining here; no snow on the ground at all.  As a matter of fact, we have only just gotten over 1" so far this whole season.  Pitiful.  But anyway, 

Merry Christmas to all--

Kathy

Joey

The little fella is now named.  Mo at work came up with the perfect tag.  His name is Joke's On You and he'll go by Joey.

A friend came over with her daughters and 5 month old Golden today (Wallace) and this is one of the photos she took.

He's 11 days old and just over 200 lbs now.

Gainesville house, addendum

I know that the previous long post doesn't really warrant an addendum, but here are some pictures of the Gainesville house from the outside.  I took them one of my trips there for school in 2008.

 Front of the house, driveway and fence on the right

Front of the house from the other corner; side porch nearly visible behind the foliage

Side of the house, porch

The honeymoon cottage, Mrs. Pope's house when we lived there.  Our house is to the right, with the white fence around the back yard.

Down 7th Avenue towards the Duck Pond on The Boulevard

 The Adkins' house, looking up 7th Ave. from The Boulevard

The Boulevard

The Boulevard and the Duck Pond

The Hotel Thomas, now a City of Gainesville property

Friday pics, day 5, Gainesville FL

We have a wine trail, South Carolina has a cotton trail!

Words are not necessary

The following pictures are all of the house in Gainesville we lived in from 1956-1963.  The current owners, Zoe and James Seale (he is an Econ prof at UF), were completely gracious.  On the day of their daughter's bridal shower, they entertained us for a couple of hours, and allowed us to walk through the entire house, and take any pictures we wanted.  They are interested in the changes since we lived there.  Dad?

They are only the fourth owners (we were second, Pickards were third).  Mrs. Pickard died, Mr. remarried and moved to her home (in NC?).

Our house used to be part of a barn; a picture of the other part is farther below, the Adkins' house.  The two parts were separated and moved on logs to their individual locations;  the remaining section became our garage, which was torn down due to termite damage.  The house behind us (Mrs. Pope's/no picture here) was built for the daughter of the original owner.  She ate with her parents most of the time, so according to James, there is a pitiful kitchen in it.  Barb may remember more than I do, as she talked to James for a long time while I took pictures.

This is the side porch

The living room. with Barb and James at the baby grand piano.  My back is to the library (later pic) and I am facing the front door on the L, and front windows.  Check out the ceiling beams and window/door trim.  Unfortunately, the Pickards carpeted over the wood floors.

I stood in the same place and rotated to my left, with the library on the L, the fireplace straight ahead, and Barb and James out of the shot on my R.

One more turn towards the library; now the fireplace is on my right, and you can just see the door to the porch on the L.

In the library, the stairs go up to a first landing.  When we lived there, the door you see on the landing went to another set of stairs down into the kitchen.  You also get there from the door on the L of the bookcase.  The landing door is no longer functional.  Apparently the Pickards sealed it, and removed the stairs, turning that area into a small room off the kitchen for hot water heater, other mechanicals, etc.

The door to the L of the bookcase, to a hall to the kitchen, also opens onto a small porch on its L to the back yard, and an added half bath on its R.  Dad, Zoe and James wondered what used to be where that half bath is now.  Do you remember?

Kitchen; the open door you see leads to the butler's pantry in a picture below.

Here you can see the butler's pantry on the L and the "new" door into the mechanical room, where the stairs used to be.  Through the butler's pantry you can see the door to the dining room.

Butler's pantry.  I took the picture leaning far back on a washer or dryer (can't remember; wasn't as interesting as the pantry!!!)

This is the dining room.  Zoe and James took out the carpet and refinished the floor, with great results.  Is this where we slept during the hurricane?(Donna?)

Dad, was the plate rail there when we lived there?

Second landing of the stairs to the second floor.  L is the non-functional door to the kitchen, R is to the library.

The upstairs hall, with their gorgeous and rambunctious Standard Poodle.  Ain't he handsome?

First bedroom on the right at the top of the stairs

Second bedroom on the right side of the hall

We think this was a nursery; apparently the Pickards made it into a closet.

Back bedroom on the L side of the hall, which James uses as an office.  The light was amazing.

The wall with the door into the bedroom was all books; figured Dad would approve!!

The sunporch on the second floor.

Stairs to the third level; the brown structure at the top is a cedar storage cabinet.

The window and cedar storage from the third floor hall.

The third floor bathroom is one of my strongest memories, for some reason.  I loved the third floor.

Dad, there are now two rooms on the third floor.  Was it always that way?  I remembered it as one big room.  Which is correct?  

This is the room on the left, from the door.

This is the same room, facing towards the door.

This is the other room on the third floor.

This is a storage room and way in the back is.....

access to the attic!

This is the clever doorstop for the third floor bathroom.

Here's Zoe, in the second floor bathroom.  They converted something (Dad?) on the first floor, directly across from the door to the porch where Periwinkle used to sit, into a half bath.  They had 5 kids and needed all the bathrooms they could get, I think!  Zoe said she thought this was the original tile on the floor.

Stairs again at the first landing, with a little storage cupboard

Front door, which I love.  The metal goose is gone from the screen door, but you can still see the shadow on the screen, so that is one OLD screen.

Front porch, where James builds a wall around the bird nest every year; their nest materials keep falling apart, so he helps them.

Now we are on The Boulevard at the Duck Pond.

The Adkins lived here when we were kids; this is the other half of the original barn.  Yup, I can say I was brought up in a barn.  If I had only known when that might have been a useful retort!  This house sits on the corner of 7th Ave and The Boulevard. Our house is behind and to the left.

Barb is crawdad hunting.

Other Gainesville hot spots

The site of Three Bears Nursery School

PK Yonge, Kindergarden and 1st grade for me; up to 2nd grade for Barb

UF Teaching Hospital, Shands Hospital, where Laurence and Pat were born

The Chi Institute of Chinese Medicine, my most recent school, in Reddick, which is 20 miles south of Gainesville.

We really had an incredible time in Gainesville.  Zoe and James are wonderful.  They were so gracious and generous with their time, and sharing their home.  They are very interested in the history of the house, and would appreciate anything Dad can add to what they know.  They also heard the story of how Mr. Pickard met Dad and bought the house, but would like to be reminded of the details, if you would, Dad.  They are planning to sell the house and move into a condo in the city of Gainesville, if the housing market ever recovers.