My grandparents' house is for sale

My grandparents' former home in Atlantic is for sale. Link: 909 Poplar. It's a cool house - you should buy it.

Looking at the photos sure brings back memories! My Dad and aunts grew up there. My aunts say they think the place shrunk! I think perhaps we all turned into giants. It looks like the people who have been living there have kept it in nice shape. The present owner sure loves light blue. I'd forgotten how many built in cupboards and features there are in the house. So pretty and you don't get that in homes today.

This pic is taken in the same room as the 6th pic on the link - with the tiffany lamp. Momo and Bubba are in the pic along with Mom's mom - who we simply called Grandma. Susi has our dog Jud on her lap. Betso was not yet born.
 

When I was a kid, 909 Poplar was a grand old two story house complete with a dank, dark basement and an attic with creaky stairs and insulation showing between the rafters. My sisters told me not to step on that puffy insulation stuff, because I would sink into oblivion. And I believed 'em! It looks as if somewhere along the line someone finished that attic and it's used now as an office.

When we visited my grandparents, we'd park in the alley behind their detached single car garage. Momo always had flowering peony bushes planted in the back. The kitchen looks about the same as it did back then - I remember the excitement when Momo got her first dishwasher installed. Back then, the formal dining area contained a beautiful table that sat 12 or so easily.

I like how the owner has the entry decorated. My favorite piece in the house was there when we were kids - a pine chest of drawers that held the toys and games. There a board game - Speed Racer? It was Dad's. And a suede bag of marbles and tiddly winks. We used Momo's wrought iron corn muffin pan to "wink" into. I grew up thinking that was part of the game, until I was older and figured out those corn shaped things were for baking. Genius!

The end of the house was the combo room - living/family room. To the left - Momo and Bub's easy chairs and the center of their universes (by that time they were getting up there in years) - the color console television. Bubba's pipe collection and tobacco sat by his chair. I loved to smell the stuff, wrapped in foil packages. Momo always had her Salem cigarettes by her side, along with her fingernail file.

On the other end of the room sat Momo's upright piano - she could play by ear. In between there was a gorgeous wood burning fireplace and a floral print couch. Momo's prized mirror (she never would tell anyone what it set her back $$) was in the room too. There were built in book shelves that contained Momo's cruet collection. Connecting the living room and the kitchen was a long bathroom - stool, sink and a large bathtub. I bet it's got a shower now.

The door to the dark basement was in that room. On the wall, in the plaster in the stairwell were my handprint belonging to Dad and his sisters Martha and Jean. The basement included the washer and dryer, and huge hold stove and the room where the coal was kept before gas heat was installed. There was a little area where we were sent to play - there were a few toys down there. But we never stayed long. It was cold and dark.

Stairs in the entry way lead up to the four bedrooms and bath. I didn't remember all those built in cupboards on the way up those stairs. Bub had the largest room, and by then Momo slept in her own room. Bubba was an oil painter - he took it up after he retired. His paints and painting in various stages took over one bedroom. The fourth bedroom was where we stayed when we overnighted with our grandparents - it was a good jumping bed too!

In the middle of all those bedrooms was the door that led to the attic (it looks like the door is gone now), up creaky wooden stairs. Back then it contained various treasures including my aunties prom dresses. Along the steps there was a built in bookshelf where I found many beloved books - Happy Hollisters, Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew and more left behind by Dad and his sisters. I still have a few of those books.

I'm glad to see that today the home still looks loved - much more so than our old house at 202 Crombie in Atlantic. The people that own that house don't even paint the exterior. I'm glad my Aunt Jeanie's friend let us know that the house is for sale - so we could take a walk down memory lane, right through our Dad's childhood home.

Thanksgiving memories

Dad with Marty left and Jeanie right grew up at 909 Poplar in Atown.







Above - the living room at Momo and Bubba's.
Left to right - Momo, Mom, Dad with Cindy, Bub, Susi with our doggy bro Jud and me on my other Grandma's lap (we called her Gramma) My other gramps Pops must have been behind the lense.


I love Thanksgiving! It's a great holiday, sans much of the hoopla of Christmas. And turkey tastes so good with all the fixins.

When I was a child, I was mostly oblivious to all that went into Thanksgiving dinner. When my grandparents (Dad's parents, Wally and Zora Bullock - we called 'em Bubba and Momo) were still in good health and living in their home at 909 Poplar in Atlantic, we went to their house for Thanksgiving. It was the house my dad and his sisters grew up in.

It was a grand old two story house complete with a dank, dark basement and an attic with creaky stairs and insulation showing between the rafters. My sisters told me not to step on that stuff, because I would sink into oblivion. And I believed 'em! We usually entered the house from the alley - parking behind their detached single car garage, going up the walk to the porch and in through the large kitchen. Beyond the kitchen was the formal dining area which contained a beautiful table that sat 12 or so easily.

From the dining area, you passed through the formal entry area from the large front porch (complete with wooden swing). That room went on into the combination living/family room. To the left - the front of the house, were Momo and Bub's chairs and the center of their universe (by that time they were getting up there in years), the color console television. Bubba's pipe collection and tobacco sat by his chair. I loved to smell the stuff. Momo always had her Salem cigs by her side.

On the other end of the room sat Momo's upright piano. In between there was a gorgeous wood burning fireplace and a floral print couch. Momo's prized mirror (she never would tell anyone what it set her back) was in the room too. I hear Momo could play any song by ear, but I don't remember her playing the piano. There were built in book shelves that contained Momo's cruet collection. Connecting the living room and the kitchen was a long bathroom - stool, sink and a large bathtub.

The door to the dark basement was in that room. On the wall, in the plaster in the stairwell were my handprint belonging to Dad and his sisters Martha and Jean. The basement included the washer and dryer, and huge hold stove and the room where the coal was kept before gas heat was installed. There was a little area where we were sent to play - there were a few toys down there. But we never stayed long. It was cold and dark.

Inside the front entrance sat my favorite item - a pine chest of drawers that contained the toys and games. There was some type of board game - Speed Racer? Can't quite remember. It was old. There was a suede bag of marbles in there too. And tiddly winks. Remember that game? We used Momo's wrought iron corn muffin tin to "wink" into. I grew up thinking that was part of the game, until I was older and figured out those corn shaped things were for baking.

Stairs in the entry way lead up to the four bedrooms and bath. Bub had the largest room, and by then Momo slept in her own room. Bubba did oil painting and one bedroom kept his easel and paints, along with paintings in various stages. The forth bedroom was where we stayed when we overnighted with them. (it was a good jumping bed too).

In the middle of all those bedrooms was the door that led to the attic, up creaky wooden stairs. It contained various treasures including my aunties prom dresses. Along the steps there was a built in bookshelf where I found many beloved books - Happy Hollisters, Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew and more left behind by Dad and his sisters. I still have a few of those books.

Thanksgiving memories in that house are many and rich. Besides my immediate fam and M & B, various others attended through the years. Bubba's brother Max (un PC nicknamed Nig thanks to his dark skin tone and no I didn't get none of that...) and his wife Mary Lou, Hazel Marshall - Momo's bestie to name a few. Momo was a fab entertainer, and had a very quick wit. After we played and the adults had drinks (we always have been an evening eating bunch - no "dinner" turkey for us), it was time to eat. The table was gorgeous - complete with special china and a crystal turkey shaped cranberry dish. Black olives were featured on the relish tray - and they always made their way onto our finger tips.

A card table was set up for turkey carving next to the table. One year it collapsed, dropping the turkey to the floor. Momo whipped it out to the kitchen in a flash and brushed it off. Before we knew it she returned saying "good thing I had that back up turkey in the kitchen!" Many of us like dark meat so she would get 2 extra legs. And after we eat, dad would lay on the floor moaning saying he'd eaten too much. And I can never pass a time eating turkey when I don't think and say his fave phrase "Sherky toot in Kenver Dolorado" which came from an old joke about a drunk.

The best thing about my memories of Thanksgivings past at my grandparents is that I was too young to remember any unpleasantness. Or I've blocked it out. I'm sure there were harsh words at times, fighting and crabbiness (and that doesn't include sibling spats - that's just the grownups) dry turkey and too much alcohol. But not in my memory. I love Thanksgiving.