A goodly walk today with the dog prior to going to a friend's for supper.
This is a picture of the last vestiges of sunset that laced our way back to the car.
I was struck by the birdhouse attached to the shabby old shed as we walked by. So I came back with the camera just as the light was fading.
The house beside it was totally neglected, the lace curtains exhausted, the paint just about gone. The whole building was beginning to seep back into the earth.
And I pondered on the people who must have lived here. Who cared enough to put the bird feeder up. Right in line with the kitchen window.
So I asked my friend about them. And she told me they had gotten the property all fixed up about twenty years ago. And then she died soon after. And he couldn't come out there anymore because of the memories.
And then he died and left the property to the son when he should have left it to the daughter as she cared more about the place.
And no one has bothered with it since.
What a sad story about what had once been a home with a birdhouse.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the birds ever come back?
ReplyDeletealways leave the place to the one who cares. we have an 1850's house that's been in the family perhaps since it was built (I'm researching). It's been left in shares so that one, maybe of the younger generation, can buy out the others. I'd give my share to someone who would restore and care for it. It's in an historic district in a place that means a lot to the family.
ReplyDeletehouses are often more than buildings. We put up every board of ours. I tell people it's not a house, it's a home.
Poignant, haunting prose. Ah.
ReplyDeleteAbandoned homes like that one have a beauty all their own, I always think, WWW. There are lots around here - and further afield.
ReplyDeleteIn smaller countries - UK for example - they'd have been demolished years ago to make way for a new house or road or office block, but here, with a vast amount of space to spare, they are left to grow old flakily but beautifully. I often wonder about their history and former inhabitants. It was good to read the findings about your dicovery. :-)
It's always a shame when something that was once cared for is allowed to go to rack and ruin, even it's just an old shed. And the birds seem to have deserted as well, judging by the bare phone lines.
ReplyDeleteWhat a poignant story indeed.
ReplyDeleteAnd how little people seem to value their legacy when leaving it, not to think it through - ie the offspring who cares the most.
Then again, doesn't sound like they expected to die so soon.
Oh, that is so sad. And all the more sad that the son and daughter couldn't have come to some arrangement for her to either buy him out, or to take care of it in lieu of living there rent free (or some such)
ReplyDeleteThe house too was in mourning.
ReplyDeleteUnexpectedly left in it's prime, but perhaps comforted by the arrival of baby birds for a season or two before silenced by time and tide.
Helen
I hate to see houses left to ruin. I don't know if it's the "do-it-yourself-er" in me, or just the thought of all those poor homeless families that could make such good use.
ReplyDeleteThat's a sad story. Loss weighs so heavily. I bet the birds still visit, though.
ReplyDelete