DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME

Good morning... Did you remember to turn your clocks forward? Today starts Daylight Savings Time. My alarm clock is already changed and my wrist watch as well. My cell phone and computer will change on their own. I'm awake at 1:30am (before the clocks change). Yesterday was a bad back/shoulder day. We decided it was the shopping trip that got it started. It takes a few days to get it settled again. UGH. Despite that, I did accomplish a bit yesterday including straightening out my office schedule, making the necessary bazillion phone calls, and then in the evening I made a wonderful pot of chicken noodle/wild rice soup.


It's 19 degrees.. Cold outside... warm and cozy inside. I got my rice bag heated up and it's on my shoulder/back right now.
This fireplace brings back memories every time I see it. It's just a simple little graphic, but it jogs my brain back to when we lived in Logan's Ferry and we had 2 such fireplaces in the house. I know the one was functional as we used it in the winter, but the other I'm not sure of. The shape and coloration were as in this graphic.
I start to think back about the quirkiness of the house and the surrounding property. It was an old old house with 3 floors and a basement. The top floor was not the 'usual' attic, but was one huge room that was semi-finished. It was kind of dark up there, even with lights on.
There were actually 5 rooms of various sizes on the 2nd floor. One regular sized bedroom, one huge bedroom and 2 small ones, though I'm not sure the one was really a bedroom.
Mom and Dad slept in the regular sized room. This room had 2 doors.. one that opened into the hallway, and one that connected Jane's and my bedroom which was the biggest room in the house. Our bedroom had 8 big windows that covered 2 walls. It had been a sun room at one time for the original owner's wife who, according to the story, suffered from TB. Their name was Gage, and the master of the house was an inventor. On down the driveway from the house were the remnants of his laboratory. He had worked on the coating that went on the inside of light bulbs making them foggy rather than clear. Interesting...
Jane's and my bedroom had 3 doors. One that opened to the hallway, one that opened into our parent's bedroom, and then one that opened into the servant's quarters which I called one of the bedrooms. This was a room big enough for a single bed and had an alcove where the dumb waiter was positioned. The bathroom was across the hall from our bedroom and though small, it had one of those free standing claw footed bath tubs. Again interesting...
Charlie's bedroom was at the foot of the stairs leading to the 3rd floor. It may have been some sort of landing originally.. not sure of that, but it was a room with a door and big enough for him and his belongings.
The first floor was interesting too. The fireplace chimneys were located in the center of the house, not on an exterior wall. I guess the heat radiated into the rooms that way.. I really don't know the mechanics of it all. The fun part for kids was that you could walk/run in a full circle from the kitchen, foyer, living room, dining room and to the kitchen again.
At the bottom of the stairs coming from the 2nd floor was the foyer. We had our baby grand piano there. It really was a huge area. There was a doorway there of course, and it lead to the enormous porch that stretched the entire length of the house.
There were large archways that opened into the living room and the dining room too. The living room was huge as was the dining room. I think the ceilings were about 12' high. The fireplace in the living room was not used.. at least by us. The one in the dining room was used often in the winter. The kitchen was next and was also very large with the range located in the very center. Not much counter space for the size of the room, but it was enough. There was a doorway in the kitchen. This was our main entry.. In the hallway from the kitchen to the foyer was the stairway to the basement. Halfway down was a landing where the stairs made a right angle to the basement. On the landing was another door to the outside. I don't remember a lot about the basement.. I didn't spend much time investigating there. It had concrete walls and floor however. There was a furnace as I recall.. gas. Mom kept her canned goods there and her wringer washer and later an electric dryer.
One thing I remember long after I'd married and moved away was visiting one day and seeing a snake on the outside wall of the house above the basement doorway. I looked away for a second and when I looked back, it was gone.. no sign of where it went. I always wondered if it got into the house somehow.
There was a road that connected the upper highway to the LF road.. Voscamp Avenue. Of course it was a rutted 'cowpath' , but sometimes we would see a car go up or down the road.. likely lost and trying to find their way out. I remember coming down that road in the winter.. why? I don't remember.. but I remember doing it with Mom and she sang the whole way- "thy word is to my feet a lamp and to my path a light.. " She sang the Psalms as we came down the hill.. a hair raising trip.
There was a garage on the property.. probably a wagon shed at one time.. I don't know. My dad set up his television shop there and with the help of an electric heater in the winter.. it was just right for him. On the door or wall. .. can't remember now.. was the original owner's name engraved in the wood.. Gage..
The house itself was near the top of a 'mountain' in Logans Ferry. The woods around us prevented us from seeing the Allegheny river below, but that was okay. We didn't miss it.
We were very isolated there, the nearest neighbors being over a quarter mile away.
The driveway was very long and went uphill all the way, a nice walk in the summer, but winter was a killer. I have many memories of putting chains on my car just to get in the driveway to the house. Not sure I could do that today physically, but I do know how to put them on even today.
Dad was notorious for his swings he always had everywhere we lived. He would secure ropes to a tree branch and put a wooden seat (many times home made) in place for us. The super long ropes there were so wonderful.. I'll have to work a bit with Wendell to tell the story of how that swing got erected. It was a funny one.
Dad would stop at the 'day old' bread store locally, and bring home bags and bags of old bread which he would toss on the hillside in the evening. He was so smart. My dad could make entertainment with the simplest things. .. What happened when he tossed the bread out? Well, raccoons came from all around.. big and small.. and we would sit back on our lawn chairs in the front of the house and watch them eat and collect the bread. They WERE entertaining.
Lots of good memories.. I'm going to look for a picture of the big house in LF and post it for you.. and for me too. <<<>>>