A Sense of Doubt blog post #4203 - Letter to Dad #49 - Childhood Home - The Hazelwood House - 1979

A Sense of Doubt blog post #4203 - Letter to Dad #49 - Childhood Home - The Hazelwood House - 1979

Hi Big Guy, I have been scanning more old photos.

The interiors are the newly scanned photos.

I decided to start with photos in your files of the exterior, which from the looks they were taken when we bought the house as none of the changes are in evidence and the back side, which I chose as my featured top photo, looks very shabby, as if the previous owners couldn't be bothered to paint before putting the house on the market. Again, I wish I had gone through these photos with you while you were still here to ask these questions.

I chose the backside of the house for the topper and the image I will push to social media because that's where I spent the majority of my time. Seeing the back yard, lights up my brain with so many memories and so much love for that AMAZING property where I grew up (though I was seven years old when we moved there).

Another reason I think these photos were taken when you bought it is that this is obviously summer. The trees are leafed out and green, and the front door is open with just the screen door clasped as you can see right into the house. I hope to find exterior shots from when we sold it.

So before I get into all the photos. Things are going well here. I am on break and don't start my practicum for another week. Started teaching creative writing this week for the first time in FIVE years and that's going well. WRITING ON MY NOVEL EVERY DAY. Dog walks, dinner, a birthday (not mine), and you know, all the usual stuff. Reading on the porch. Life is good.

It just hit me that we lived in the Hazelwood house for exactly ten years - August 1969 - August 1979, though we might have moved LABOR DAY. I will have to check your little black books, Dad.

On to curating the photos.

7070 Hazelwood, Richland, MI

Here's the exterior now:

I presume you took these photos when you listed the house for sale, which would mean these photos were taken in the summer of 1979, which is when we moved. That is consistent with other photos in the batch. I was 17 years old then, and Lori was ten years old. You were 44, and Mom was 43.

This is the entry you designed and built.

I love that the top of the closets was a place for plants, though I think it was your job to water the harder to reach ones.

Love the windows and the glass roof.

I remember helping you stain those doors.

The house faced due north, so not as much sun here in this room as you might have wanted, but you couldn't change the entry space.

Judging from the recent exterior photos above, it looks like someone removed this glass roof and replaced it with a smaller sky light.

Check out that orange tile and the cool rug. I wonder what happened to that rug.

This is the half bath off the Master bedroom. I always wondered why you didn't make it a full bath. Could you not afford it?

I am pretty sure that's your reflection not mine, though I was old enough to take these photos.

Check out those lights!!

Here's the hallway with all the Philippine Mahogany you installed in the wood slat walls and the wood dividers in the ceiling. Straight ahead is the door to the master bed room, and so the bathroom above is through there and left. The first door to the left that is visible is a closet with the main bathroom door next, which is not very visible in this photo. My room is at the end of hall and right with Lori's room next on the right. Too bad you did not take more photos because I think the extra phone we installed for my Magic business was in my room and not the hall?

The thermometer/barometer in the glass case is in the right foreground and is visible in at least one more photo in this batch.

Kitchen photos. My scanner is not that great and so I lost some definition in the photos. I had forgotten about the fruit mobile in the back left near the opening to the basement and the garage (which I wish you had taken pictures of). We never upgraded that oven? I see Mom's cookie jar and tea pot on the counter next to the oven. And this was after you hoked up the dishwasher (bottom right) so we did not have to wheel it to the sink and connect the hose each time.

I don't recall that the clock above the phone was in the kitchen of the new house. In other older photos, the clock was on the counter. How long before you hung it, Dad?

Here's the yellow curtains that replaced the burlap ones on older photos.

I had forgotten about the hanging plants.

And Mom or you could not curl up the electrical cord for the iron? Mom's kettle. I wonder if that's napkins behind the sale and pepper shakers on the counter.

Another clue these were taken in the summer and perhaps as keep sakes before we moved not as photos to sell the house (which they didn't do before the Internet, yes?) are the birthday candles on the table, indicating this is August, after Lori's birthday.

We never upgraded the stove either. Cool wall controls!!

However, I think the refrigerator went with us to the new house?

Was it at this time that I lost the washer or dryer as we tried to haul them up the basement stairs? Or was I younger and that's when we bought a new one (if we did, I don't know)?

I vividly remember losing my grip on the appliance on its dolly cart and trying to keep it from rolling down the stairs and it dragged me, banging my butt on at least a couple of steps.

The living room. The wall hangings did go with us as did the lamps. I love the slats in the door to the porch. I wish you had photographed the porch.

In the new house, you did not have a space for the lamp as the couch went all the way back. I assume we left these cushions.

But did Mom have things on the ledge at the new house. The couch was constructed differently. It had the same wood trim for the cushions to fit into but above that was a wooden box for the lights.

The other view of the living room with a view of some of the big windows but not the entire wall. I know film was expensive then but I miss some of the views.

I had forgotten that the heat vents were under the rock garden. Love those wood slat walls!

No aquarium? I know that made it to the other house but did we ever use it again?

And I am not sure the stereo is here... No, by then we had cobbled it for the case for my PA for my magic shows.

I am hoping there are pictures somewhere with the aquarium. I know the stereo is featured in many.

Lori's room. I had forgotten about the shelves on the other side of the bed. That canopy and all the girlie things were such a testament to what Mom wanted when she was a girl.

I remember all those stuffed animals and dolls.

The vanity, which is an interesting word for it, yes?

I know that came with us to the new house. Did the canopy bed?

I used the vanity table at Richland Woods. The stool, also, had re-use.

I wonder when we lost the Raggedy Ann and Andy waste basket?

The main bathroom. It's not easy to see the orange curtains and toilet lid cover.

More wood slat ceiling.

My room. I would give anything to zoom in to what's on the dresser. But, hey, I still have and use the dresser!! Even though Essel chewed the handle on the lowest drawer.

I wish you had taken close photos of the space under the bed. I know I had a stereo there and lots of shelves for books. I miss that ladder.

I had forgotten about the Owl mobile.

I am pretty certain that the extra phone was just to the left on the wall opposite the door.

Other view of my room. I would give anything to zoom in to what's on the desk. I had for several things, like that I used Mom's favorite white stool as my seat. I also did not remember the type writer being off to the side on what looks like a TV tray.

One can almost make out that Tiger cartoon character, a figurine standing upright near the jar with pencils. I wonder about so much else on the desk, the books on the shelves. I know many of those are magic books.

Master bedroom. I had forgotten Mom had so much perfume!

It's also interesting that the World Book set was in here,. I had forgotten.

Door to the half bath, which was a slider and is tucked away in the left door jamb.

The dresser you built.

This all brings back so many memories. The book shelves. The white stackable tables as night stands on which are piled many reading things.

Dining room. That table was used in many ways for years but not long after moving to West Gull Lake drive, it was retired for the fancier one. I had forgotten that we used those wooden folding chairs as seating around this table.

A good view of the thermometer/barometer. Lori's birthday candles. No stereo at the end of the rock garden shelf in the living room, which isn't quite visible in the other photo. Flowers.

Prominently featured, that painting. It had been in your bad room? Or it went there in the new house?

I love that painting. And I have it now. I need to hang it.

That's all.

I wish I had more photos.

I loved this house. I loved living there.

Thanks, Dad. You did great.

Next week is the two year mark since you died.

Love,

christopher

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2608.20 - 10:10

- Days ago: MOM = 4067 days ago & DAD = 721 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.