Post Nine: The House Begins to Feel Like a Home

We are back up at La Casita again, having needed to take at least one weekend to tend to the business of tending to Ray's personal belongings so his house can be appraised and put on the market. That process ended with Barry and I at the receiving end of some treasured pieces of Ray and Marie's furniture, which for the sake of expediency and our fragile vertebrae, we hired a mover to relocate to Pasquale. We were lucky to find a great company that was able to do the move on Friday, and Johnny and Jorge, at the direction of the manager, Eric (plug for Tana Movers here!) packed up the roll top desk and huge leather-seated chair, the marble-topped sideboard, the round kitchen table and chairs, and most significantly, the big music box. It was interesting to watch their fascination with the old furniture as they needed to dismantle the desk to get it out of it's old home, and especially their interest in the music box. It was heartening to watch and listen to them take very special care of our treasured items, and I think too, that being they were going beyond their usual 100 mile distance, they found our move a bit of an adventure. Upon arrival, Johnny commented on the remoteness.... I told him we had 10 acres here.... his reply "is that necessary?" I replied "absolutely not." He recommended we have some paintball games on the property.

We also hauled up more of our own things -- the small couch from Barry's office, our rocking chair. The old espresso machine and good coffee mugs. Real plates and wine glasses, some placemats, a proper soap dispenser for the kitchen sink. Wastebaskets. We also had taken "the bear chair" and an antique hanging oil lamp from Ray's house and those items were also being woven into the decor.
So, last night we dined on the table that used to be in the corner of the kitchen in Jackson Street, surrounded by the music box, and the sideboard from the dining room there that was primarily the wine opening and staging area for so many of their dinner parties.

We were eating from real plates, the table lit by candles and looking out the front window into the forest.

As with the previous visit, there is a great deal of conversation about what, when and how to make changes. Barry made his first of what will be many, I am sure, visits to the local ACE Hardware; some small tools, a new push broom, Simple Green. He's making a list of items to tend to, one weekend at at time. The plan being to focus on indoor renovations this winter and spring, and focus on the outside when the weather is warmer and drier.

And, we had our first houseguests!  My Mom and Dad came "down the hill" from Truckee around noontime, bringing quiche for lunch which we dined on with some French Onion soup after giving them the tour of the house.  There are a lot of similarities to their place on Tyrol Road, which was, after all, built only one year earlier than La Casita, and to similar specifications.  After lunch, we wandered around outside, and particularly enjoyed helping my Dad select some pieces of downed Madrone he is going to work on making some bowls or candleholders out of.  I love the idea of him being able to create art with some of the wood from the property.  As they departed, my Mom welcomed us as "neighbors", being that we now have property in the same county they live in.

I had had some trepidation about how we would furnish some of the new house. And, ironically, things all magically worked out into a situation where we have an almost perfect setup, and plans to add other things over time. Grandma Kathryn's china cabinet will join the other "antique" furniture in the dining room. The carousel horse will have a place of honor in front of the front living room window. I have been happy to have been aided on that planning process by some software that runs on my iPad and online that lets us map out a floorplan with furniture, all to scale, so we can see what might fit where.

There will be empty spaces and an unfinished feeling to the house for a long time. But, already, it is starting to feel more like home.