Some of the things have happened since last summer. Mom moved out of her house into elderly apartments in Dover. She found a great place almost all on her own and made the decision to move to avoid another winter worrying about the house that we all grew up in. I miss my visits to the old neighborhood but am very happy that Mom made the move and doesn't have to be concerned with shoveling her porch or worrying about the ice in her driveway.
It was time for her to move anyway, most of the old families have passed on and only a few of her original neighbors are still in the area. She feels safer at her new apartment, and the best thing about it for her is that it is attached to a Catholic nursing home that has a chapel where they have daily Mass and Rosary.
The apartment building that Mom moved into, also allows cats; so Mom was able to bring her fuzzy black kitty Salem with her to her new home. Salem still spends most of her time under the bed covers or in a closet, pretty much like she did at Mom's old house. The kitty does come out to visit occasionally, if she likes the visitor. She doesn't like loud noises and will head back to her closet if she hears something, but she is great company for Mom and even lays at Mom's feet in the morning while the two of them say their morning Rosary together.
The house was sold this Fall to a young man who is currently working on upgrading the siding, finishing the upstairs and putting in new circuit breakers. He is probably doing a bit of living space renovation, possibly refinishing the floors and replacing the bathroom. He told Mom that he would invite her over for an open house once the remodeling is done. Mom and I drove over one day before Christmas and they were busy working. It will be nice to see what changes are made, and how he remodeled.
There are alot of memories in that old house, and the young man who bought it did so with the words; "this house has obviously been well loved, and will be again."
On this blustery day, January 26, 2014; I look back on some of those memories, one in particular that came to me this past summer when a friend published her book Twelve Kinds of Ice. Once scene in this book is about field ice and I can remember a few winters, when we were kids, that Crosby's field down the road from our house on Richardson Drive froze into a gigantic skating park after a bit of freezing rain and very cold temperatures.
......
I put off finishing this for a while and now on March 12, 2014 I am finishing it. It is raining outside and the weatherman is saying that there is a good to very good chance this will all change to ice and snow overnight, so I may want to get my ice skates out because my back yard is currently a gigantic puddle that will freeze overnight. Will make for good skating, though the dogs may complain a bit about the struggle to do their business without sliding around.
