Inside the Kent Wells-Sherman House

I know, it's been a very long while and I've been remiss in neglecting this blog for too long. Just been a busy autumn and as winter sets in, life is slowing down just a bit. So first of all, let's bring you up to date with the Kent Wells Sherman House project. As you no doubt know from my previous post, we moved the house back in September. We had a very long wait until the foundation was built and the house lowered down on to it before we could get inside to work on it. So far, I've only made it to one work session on the inside, but what I got to do was to pull all the old drywall off of the back room on the first floor as well as to remove the false ceiling to expose the original. Removing the drywall proved to be the most exciting thing because we exposed old 19th century wallpaper underneath. This photo is just one panel of the wallpaper in the rear room. There is even older wallpaper underneath it that we exposed when we pulled off the wainscoting along the walls. My guess is that this wallpaper dates from when Dr. Aaron M. Sherman was the owner (1868-1903), which gives us a glimpse of what the house might have looked like in his day. We also exposed a forgotten fireplace in the front room, something I assumed had to be there. I've only been able to get over there once but if work proceeds this winter despite the lack of heat and electricity in the house, I'll go over and lend a hand on interior work as it proceeds. I'm very excited about taking the house down to its bones to learn its secrets and its story. It is reminiscent of the archaeology that eventually became my minor in college, uncovering lost cultures and history that really fuels my imagination. I can't wait to get back inside the house. Work was going on today but I was unavailable to assist owing to a morning choir rehearsal for a concert tomorrow night. So maybe next Saturday we will resume work on it, weather permitting, of course. I hope so! Can't wait to get my hands dirty again exposing more of this old house's hidden history!

THE LUXURY OF ORGANIC COTTON SHEETS

This past summer while on vacation, it dawned on me, once I arrived at the campground where I would be spending my next week camping, that I had forgotten my pillow for my bed. So instead of turning around and driving an hour and a half home and another hour and a half back, I drove to a nearby shopping center and bought a new pillow and a pillow case for it. I bought a nice organic cotton pillowcase in a beautiful shade of blue and found it to be so nice that I went back to that same shopping center on my way home a week later and bought an entire organic cotton sheet set for my bed. It proved to be so luxurious and comfortable that I bought three more sets so that I could have four complete sets of new sheets for my bed. I'd been using some cheap ones that I bought at a local grocery store years ago to replace the battered ones I'd used since childhood, but these organic cotton ones are not only deliciously cool on a hot summer night, but surprisingly warm on a cold night as well. So I now have blue and purple solid ones and green and pink floral ones, four complete sets to be able to regularly switch off the sheets. I've never owned really good sheets until now. There's nothing nicer than curling up into a bed clad in really good sheets. I also have a thick, soft warm "faux-cashmere" blanket that I got on sale from J.C. Penney years ago and my beautiful quilt that was made for me when I moved into this new house this past summer. Speaking of which, my downstairs neighbor when I moved in was an old High School chum, but he moved out about two weeks after I moved in. At a college reunion in August, I bumped into a very dear friend who was looking for housing, so she now lives downstairs and it feels so wonderful to once again have a friend downstairs. I did not want a complete stranger down there because the sole thermostat for the house is down there and I want to be warm and did not want someone living down there who preferred it chilly. We don't pay the heat bill as it is, which is a huge break, considering how old and drafty this house has proven to be. Still, my apartment upstairs is quite toasty warm for the most part since heat rises. So I should be able to stay nice and toasty warm this winter. That is all I really wanted, a nice, warm place to call home, and home it is, especially with a very good friend downstairs. I think that I really lucked out on this move! Thank goodness!