Thursday, May 23, 2019

Throwback Thursday - The Notebooks

To clear up some confusion, the Notebook passages posted on Throwback Thursday were written by my father and found by me after he passed away. They were his attempt to tell the family history. He was in his late 80s or early 90s when he wrote them. Today's chapter:

In May of 1953, we moved to Natick. We purchased the house we are still living in. It was to be a beginning and then a bigger one. It did not happen. I had gone with your mother to see a number [ed: of homes] But your mother said to me that she would not wait any longer. Either I make up my mind or else. And even though our marriage was good and happy. She was going to jump into the water. We were young and somewhat innocent.

I was not seeing what I wanted to live in.After all I had lived with the Arnolds and I knew what was right. [ed: American]

So we began looking. We had a decent amount to put down. Which would make the monthly payments smaller. Also being a veteran our interest rate was locked in by statute to 4%.

We were shown a number of houses. Some were vacant and some lived in. Good, but not what I thought we should have. Uncle Fred had a house next door to him that was up for sale. But the price was too high. The seller would not come down.

We came to Natick [ed one town West of Uncle Fred and one town East of Uncle Joe] Mother was itching. We were despite the number of houses we had seen still innocents. 

We came to this house, that mother was not set on going back home without a contract. No more looking or else. We were brought by the Realtor up Walnut St.

We looked around. There was a cellar. It was brand new and the price was right and the builder's daughter lived next door [ed: And later she would sell to Himself's parents] Nice sell. Mother liked. She was all for it. Today, 06/14/07 your mother hates this house and will not admit her opinions when we signed papers to purchase. [ed: In all fairness to Ma and what Dad forgot is Ma suffered a massive stroke in 2003. So she wasn't quite the same after. A little like Pet Sematery by Stephen King. Dad expected her to make a full recovery. Poor old dude]

We signed mortgage contract and shortly after that we moved into the house. Mother noticed either on the day we moved in or day after that the Boy had the measles. And needing the room to be dark. Put up newspapers in the windows. In due course he was in good shape.

We also had our furniture and rooms as we would like them. We also were getting acquainted with the people in the neighborhood. We visited each other and for a good while we had my sister [ed: Emma] and Jack [ed her husband] came to visit and we had a lot of company over the weekend.IT seemed that we were always busy over the weekend. [ed: Ma had told me in the early when they first moved to "the country" all the relatives would come to visit on Sundays during the Summer. Ma ended up cooking for 40 people. chicken, sausage, lasagna, eggplant Parmigiana, salad, cookies as Italians don't have hot dogs and hamburgers as the main event for a cookout. 😸] Our weekdays were a lot better.

We got water in the basement and I sued the builder and recovered a good amount. And I installed a pump and things worked out well.We still have a problem but I put down blanket etc. and everything remains dry. We also enjoyed our barbecues. And did a lot of planting flowers and landscaping and dug a trench in the front of the house and filled it with stones directing the water away from the house.

17 comments:

  1. Sounds like your parents house is a lot like mine. When it rains, it pours (so to speak). Wish I could sue the builder of mine.

    Sounds like your mother decided everything, including what, when, where, and why to buy a new home. At least it turned out to be a good home in the end, it sounds like.

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    1. It was a nice, little house and a happy place. A good place to grow up. Remember the time period. Ma and Dad got married during the middle of the war. Dad was shipped to the South Pacific and Ma went back home to live with her parents. During those early years of marriage, Ma was the one that had to make decisions. And like a lot of women when the war was over and the men came back, Ma wasn't going to going to go back quietly to the kitchen. So Ma was in charge.

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  2. Another good read from his journal. I still get amused when I hear people refer to places as "the country." In the 1944 movie "Laura" she said she went to "the country" for the weekend. Her destination: Norwalk, CT. I guess going from all of those buildings in NYC to Norwalk could look like being in the country, and it was probably more rural back then, but I always find that type of comment amusing.

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    1. The town I grew up in was in the boondocks back then. Lots of open land, some of it still farm land. So coming from Boston, the area was very country. And not easy to get to without a car as there was no subway line. There were buses but not as frequent. So for Boston relatives it was like pioneers going across the country. :-D

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  3. House buying is scary as they are so expensive and you'll never know what you'll get. I always thought in the past houses were built better but sounds like that wasn't true. But I get your mom being ready since house hunting it not fun. Happy Thursday. Hugs-Erika

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    1. Our house was very well built. The builder built the house we lived in and the one next door where his daughter lived later the house Himself grew up in. The builder spared no expense on construction. I think the issue was when asked if there was a problem with water in the basement, the builder covered up that fact. And that's why Dad sued him.

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  4. Fun story today. House buying is always a y nerve wracking business! Valerie

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    1. And after a while all the prospective houses begin to look alike. So hard to remember which one had which problems :-D

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  5. Flooding basement.....reminds me of the time we were trying to sell our house (one of many we lived in over the years.) It had been raining and the basement was flooded. The realtor was on her way with a prospective buyer, so my mother ran down to the basement, hooked up the hose and when they came down to check it out she was happily hosing out the basement! When they asked if the basement ever flooded she smiled sweetly and lied through her teeth! LOL

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    1. Yeah, we got caught with that, too, with the house we bought. Asked if there was water problems. History repeated itself. Like Dad said, we were innocents.

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  6. Cooking for 40 people??? Yikes!!!
    I find it interesting that interest rates then and now are on par.

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    1. Finally interest rates that aren't usurious. When we first bought The Dollhouse, the interest rate was 10.75% O-:

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  7. Just checking in but realize i don't have time to read this now - we are leaving in 20 min or so...but i also need to catch up on the notebook series. have a great holiday weekend coming up.

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  8. house hunting is so ...stressful; and when you are young and trying to get your first place it's even more so. cute house CJ; sounds like a lot of happy memories were made there { know only too well about flooding; glad your dad took action and won ! } ☺☺♥♥

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    1. That's what happened to us. We were so taken with the wood floors and scrolled ceilings and we believed the real estate agent when we asked about water in the basement. Like Dad said, innocents.

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  9. That house looks so cute! Congrats to your mom and dad! Your mom was a strong lady and a good cook!! Good for your dad sueing the builder! Big Hugs!

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