Iowa Farmhouse.... Room of Memories...

I've visited many Farmhouses, over the years... and been lucky enough, to be invited, to stay a day or two... Seems like, my spare bedroom, fits right in, with the Farmhouse Guest Room's I've stayed at.....

This room, was once the kids' room... then, we repainted, and made it a spare room.. It's on the main floor, of the old house, I walk by it, a million times a day... look into the room, {I put the french door on, a few years ago, to let light into the hall...}It's always a gentle room... I love the color... No matter how hot it is, in the house... when you walk into this room, the temperature drops, 10 degrees... It's full of dust, and cob webs... Certainly not ready for company... but, would be, in a jiffy! It's probably my favorite room, in the house...and I never realized it, 'til today...It's where our memories have come to roost... The old China Cupboard, in the corner, with the broken door glass...{ this happened on a Sunday morning, about 20 years ago... I worked, as a waitress, from 5 a.m. 'til 1 p.m., and the first thing I saw, when I walked in the door, at home, was my Mother's China Cupboard, with a broken glass... I just stood there... John, watching a race... the kids, taring around... and... Mom's broken Cupboard... I remembered Mom, refinishing that Old Cupboard, when I was 7 years old... Outside, our old Farmhouse, near Keystone, Iowa...in the Spring, of the year...it was beautiful... during one of the most favorite periods in my life... I just stood there... asked what happened to Mom's Cupboard.... Everyone looked stunned... "What cupboard?"... "What?...Where?..."... I turned...and walked back out the door.... in tears... Jumped in the car...and drove.... I drove out to the old Farm, near Keystone....Only... it was gone.... I had been there, on that Easter Sunday... I always revisited the old Farm, on the anniversary of us, moving in, in 1971...It must have been, 1991, when they took it down...I was crushed...but... somehow... just standing, where it once stood... made everything o.k.

We never repaired the glass... I'm kind of glad, we didn't... Inside, I found the bottle of water, I collected, on the shore, while visiting my Sister, Merry Jo, in San Francisco, when I was 9... Flew out, by myself...and stayed for several weeks... it was grand... The old Cupboard drawers are filled with old Valentines, and Birthday Cards....from way back... The room, is a 'catch all'... like a treasure chest... I have collected Grant Wood prints... and Grandma Moses prints, for several years.... I was always going to re-do, this room, make it a bit more Country, a little more 'Folksy'...... but... think I'll do Justin's old room, with all of that... Leave the missed matched, soft, and a little Victorian room, alone... after all... every Farmhouse has to have a room of Memories...

'til next time,

Barb C.