Just a House?

1157 Main-The Historic Hill Home
Saturday I finished my painting for the MGA Auction. The painting had to be something from Jasper County. I painted three things from this area...this is the one I settled on. For the past 8 to 10 years I have been coming to Carthage to attend different art shows and art fairs and I have always been deeply impressed by the historic homes here. There are several different styles from the late 1800's to the early and mid-1900's. From austere and imposing mansions to layered tiers of gingerbread looking just short of an overly decorated cake. I love them all. I think about the lives that might have gone on in each one and the generations of care and love dwelling in each one. My mind pictures women attired in flowing dresses cutting flowers from their garden to display in the grand entry halls. Children racing up and down the stairs hands gliding along the silky smooth wooden banisters. Daily tasks of washing and housekeeping and cooking in the large spacious kitchens. Parties held to commemorate a birthday, baptism or graduation. Victorian Christmases and large gatherings of family and friends at Thanksgiving.
The streets are lined here with maple trees, lush and green in the hot summer and turning red and fiery in the fall. There is even a festival in the honor of the trees. Things have not changed much since those early days in Carthage. Their is still a feeling of quiet continuity and history..... a feeling of community pride and planning. No city, town or berg is perfect. Yet in so very many ways this town is. I feel very comfortable here...always have since I first read about Carthage 17 years ago.
I was looking for a place to live in the Midwest. I wanted to live in Carthage but couldn't at the time and settled on Kansas. My family has Midwest roots on my Dad's Scotch-Irish side,haling from Illinois and Missouri via Kentucky and North Carolina, my Mother's side is straight from Italy with a bit of Russian thrown in. (Yes I have also done my genealogy!!) There was a continual draw to come back here after growing up in California and living in Hawaii, Utah and Oregon. I can honestly say I have been very happy here in so many ways...largely because of the generosity and friendliness of the people and the quiet laid back lifestyle. I enjoy a good city trip...but after growing up in Beverly Hills, California...I crave the peaceful honesty I find here!
But I digress...as usual...and to finish up the story about the painting....it is a home that to me embodies the past present and future of this area. At any given moment one can drive by that house and see children playing, kittens in numbers on the front porch (Max said he saw two and I counted three but Max said he then saw six and that was just so he would not be out done..teehee). There are always flowers in bloom and people on the porch...it is a home and not just a house. That's why I painted it!!! Later I will show pictures of our little Victorian....not grand...but very homey indeed! I am also including a picture of the home I grew up in for most of my younger years.
One last note.....I am like everyone else...overwhelmed by the Olympics and the closing ceremonies....to some it up...it does instill hope and a promise for mankind....if we only play fair, do our personal best and choose the right thing!
And I am off to go start getting stuff ready for our vacation!
Living happily,
Theresa
The Home I Grew Up In