William Baffin Rose and Maggie

This was one of my very first posts. I've always liked it...so here it is again!

The Cistern!!

In an earlier post, I spoke of the details in our home and how much I enjoy them. I am constantly amazed at how things were done by the first owners. No detail was too small, no short cuts were taken.

Well...we recently discovered a detail from the early history of our house that we didn't know existed! On the Saturday before Easter, my husband went outside to run new wiring out to the garage...and he uncovered a mystery space right along the foundation of the house in the back yard. He came across a couple of bricks as he was working with his shovel, and when he removed them he found a 6-inch hole...an entrance into an empty space that, when lit by a flashlight, we could see was enclosed by four poured concrete walls! More digging revealed that the dimensions of the concrete "room" was about 3 feet by 9 feet, though a wall prevented us from seeing what was beyond the 3 foot square chamber that we were looking into.

A mystery!! We immediately began looking much more closely at our basement walls, and discovered that we have an old cistern in the corner of the cellar, though we've always referred to it as "the coal room". At some point a door was cut into one of the walls and coal was stored there for many years. We still find bits of coal in all the crevices. It is a great storage space! Well, it just so happens that this cistern is on the opposite side of the wall from our concrete box!!

Last weekend, my husband rented a jack hammer and broke open the hole to reveal what was inside. What we have is a three-chamber filtration system for the cistern in the basement. Water was collected from the roof. The gutter pipe entered the first chamber where it would fill up, allowing dirt and debris to sink. From there the water would flow to the next chamber, where more dirt and debris would settle. Then, it would flow into the third chamber...again allowing dirt to fall away until it finally flowed though a pipe into the main cistern where it would be used by the family for cleaning. We also have a hand-pumped well by the back door, so it is unlikely that the family used the cistern for drinking water....I know I wouldn't!! It is a system that is similar to that used today in places where a cistern is necessary.

The open chamber is nearly filled in now. We will seal it off and a planting area will cover it after we install a new patio and seating area back there. And I don't think we'll be digging anymore holes anytime soon....after all, we don't know where the septic tank is!!

Take a look at the following photos:

Here is the hole that was originally discovered. Just imagine how surprised we were when we stuck a flashlight in and found a poured concrete wall extended out away from the house!

This photo was taken looking through the hole in the first chamber to the second chamber. You can see the hole in the second chamber leading into the third one. Pretty neat!!

It's All In The Details...

I just love old houses!! Especially the one we are lucky enough to live in! Our home contains many beautiful features that I enjoy living with everyday, but my favorite detail put in by the original owner is the leaded glass window shown above.

The first time we walked through this house that would one day be ours, the windows in the dining room were covered by curtains. On the day we moved in we were so surprised to find this beautiful feature...and even more surprised when the sun began to dip down in the western sky that evening. As the late-day sun shown through the window, little rainbows reflected onto the walls through the prismatic bevels of the glass diamonds. You can measure the seasons by their height and the time of day they appear.

Details matter! Look around the site for other photos from the house.

Bring Back the Victory Garden!!

My grand-parents planted a Victory Garden in their back yard. During the World Wars the goverment encouraged citizens to grow and preserve their own food...a lesson in self-sufficiency that they passed on to my mother, who spent many days throughout the summer canning the bounty of our huge vegetable garden.

With our economy in the state it is in, I think the Victory Garden should be revived!! Learn to grow your own foods... to create better quality products for your family. Take pride in your ability to be a little more self-sufficient! Gardening can not only help save on your grocery bill, but it can also be very relaxing and fun.

Visit the following website for more information on creating your own Victory Garden.

http://www.revivevictorygarden.org/

I can't wait to buy seeds!!

Christmas has come and gone...another great holiday season is about to join the "remember when" conversations and thoughts that we pull out when feeling nostalgic toward the end of each year.

I think most people would say good riddance to 2008, a year filled with pink slips, financial strain and political in-fighting and loss of "the American Dream". However, I think 2008 has taught us some very important lessons that I hope we will hang onto in 2009 and beyond.

We learned that alternative fuels do not necessarily cost anything or take years to develop... A bicycle or our own two feet will work nicely to pick up a carton of milk at the local grocer's or a few books at the library. 2008 also taught us that turning over a little plot of soil in the yard and dropping in a few seeds can yield us not only cheaper food, but better tasting...not to mention the wide variety available from farmers who only had to drive a few miles, as opposed to that bland head of lettuce that was trucked in from California.

I think we've discovered over the past year that "things" are not what make us who we are. If we live within our means and take care of the people around us, that is a better indicator of our worth than if we live in a half-million dollar, 4000 square-foot home meant to impress, as opposed to a modest home in which we can provide our families with the things they really need. The "keeping-up-with-the-Joneses" culture is no longer in style, thank God!

Most importantly, we have truly come to see our country...often referred to as a melting pot of cultures...as the land of opportunity for all as we elected as our next president a man many of us saw first and foremost as the most qualified, but who also happened to be a black man.

So, amid the setbacks we have moved forward...forward in thoughts and actions. I think we've accomplished a great deal in 2008. I am looking forward to 2009, to a new year of possibilities...but I will take with me the best of the past and try to avoid its mistakes.

Happy New Year!

A White Christmas!!

Winter has arrived!! There is absolutely no doubt about that! Here in Central New York we received around 8 to 10 inches on Friday as a fast-moving storm moved through and wreaked havoc on the area all day. Of course, the husband believes that's the best time to go Christmas shopping...and he was right! The stores and restaurants were pretty empty!

This morning we have awoken to another round of the white stuff. Although it will be much worse north of us today, we already have 4 or 5 inches of new snow on the ground. To add to this, on the backside of the storm the winds will eventually turn into the northwest and send the lake effect snow off of Lake Ontario toward us. Significant accumulations are expected during the day tomorrow.

I wish I didn't have to drive in to work in the morning, but I am very excited to be able to safely predict a White Christmas!!