Back to Walnut Avenue

I drove to my mother’s Walnut Avenue house yesterday afternoon with two friends from school to check on Mama’s progress and to show my friends her house.  Things are progressing slowly but surely.

The biggest change is in the hallway upstairs.  Long ago someone had steps built to lead to the attic.  They took up a lot of room and really didn’t look very nice. 

Before:

The steps are gone and now there are pull down steps that lead to the attic.

After:

The hallway looks so open and airy now. 

I did not take nearly enough pictures on this trip.  Mama has removed a lot more of the paint covered wallpaper, but you can see in the picture that she has a long way to go.

She is working on stripping the pocket doors in the parlor.

This picture shows the doors from the parlor side.  You can see in the background that she has been stripping the wallpaper in the hall and going up the steps.

View of the doors from the hall:

Remember the kitchen?  Blah!!!  She moved the sink into her future craft and sewing space.  It is beside the basement door and will be perfect for flower arranging.  I didn’t get a picture of it in its new location.  It is a shame because it actually doesn’t look bad now that the sink, countertop, and cabinet have been cleaned.

Before:  Scary!!

The cabinets will also be moved to the basement to be used for storage in her craft space.

Now:

There’s not much in the yard, but this fall blooming clematis sure looked pretty.  I took the picture from above while standing on the second floor porch.

Here are two of my favorite teacher friends from school.  I have worked with Vicki (on the right) my entire career.  Melanie (in the center) and I bonded long ago.  Melanie and I laugh like crazy people when we are together.

After touring the house we ate dinner at a brewery near my mom’s farm.  No beer this time.  I don’t even like beer. 

View from the front of Blue Mountain Brewery in Afton.

It was fun to take a trip after school, but after teaching all day, and then driving over 100 miles, I was pretty tired by the time I got home at 9 pm.

I am so proud of my Mama for taking on this big project all by herself!