When I was growing up, my parents liked to party with friends. Most Friday nights, I would be taken to my G. grandma's (Nana Sperry) house to spend the weekend with her and my grandma, Marguerite. From the time of 4 years of age, I have clear memories of these beautiful times.
Nana's house was in a small coastal fishing town, 18 miles away in Guilford, CT. It was a comfortable, moderate sized Victorian style home with a lovely front porch surrounded by large rhododendrons, built in 1897. It had a small living room with windows from floor to ceiling, that were framed by sheer curtains, that rustled in the breeze.
In the entry hall, was a long staircase, with a hand carved banister. There were 3 bedrooms upstairs and a large bathroom, with a clawfoot tub. The floor boards were wide, creaky and painted in shiny dark brown paint. The only room with carpeting was the small living room downstairs. The large upstairs bathroom was communal with access to the bedrooms and a back hallway where a door led to the attic and a back stairway which led down to the huge kitchen.
As a greeting, in the front hallway, there was a Grandmother Clock in the the corner at the base of the stairs. At night, as I lay in bed, it was lovely to listen to it tick and chime throughout the night, as sheer curtains brushed over me in my bed by the window.
To the right of the front stairs was the living room. As you traveled forward the hallway opened into a large dining room. Centered, there was a large rectangular table surrounded by 8 straight backed chairs with padded upholstered seats. To the left of the table was a small buffet table adorned with potted plants and photos. On either side were plant stands, a lovely Boston fern and the biggest Air fern I've ever seen! Behind this buffet was a row of floor to ceiling windows streaming with sunlight, that went the entire length of the room At the back of the table was an immense Buffet, with lace doilies and hurricane lamps, knick knacks and a tray of butter mints and chocolate mints. At Christmas, the trays were full of ribbon candy. An eagle framed mirror hung over the buffet, perfectly setting off the wallpaper. In the front right corner of the room was a large china cabinet full of a complete set of Depression ware dinner service. There was a drawer in the cabinet that my grandma's kept supplied with coloring books, crayons and sketch paper, It was my drawer!
To the right side of the room was a sitting room, once again lined with windows floor to ceiling. As you walked through to the back of the dining room, you entered a very large kitchen. To the left was a door to the screened in back porch leading to a grape arbor(with seating) and a manicured yard bordered with hedges. My GG grandfather was a well known landscaper in the Guilford area (Edwin R. Kelsey) and it showed around the home. At the back of the kitchen, was a window box or wood box with cushions and a large window looking out onto the manicured yard. When I was small, I loved to just lay there and gaze out across a massive lawn at an old foundation wall, and a swing strung between two oak trees just for me. At the back left next to the wood box was a small bathroom.
Of all these beautiful rooms, my favorite was, The Attic! As you opened the attic door, you received a blast of hot musty air and the smell of old books. On the stairs were the oil lamps that were used during thunder storms and various outages. When you reached the second stair, there was a pull string for you to turn on an overhead light. About halfway up, you could peek your head over the unpainted boards that formed the floor of the rooms above. When you finally climbed to the top, there was yet another pull string for a light.
At the top of the stairs, you were in a large open space with a sloping roof. You almost felt like ducking! It was magical as you looked around. Old trunks with old clothes hanging out, lamps, old photographs in ornate frames...so much to explore and nothing was off limits to me! My old wicker baby carriage, an old fur coat, the smell of mothballs, it was a sensory overload and I loved it!
Yet, there was another room, a more comfy room straight ahead. As I entered, I pulled the string to turn on the light and saw a bunch of dead bees on the floor. Bees that had served their Queen and then died.
This room was small, with a window at one end, with an expanding screen letting in the fresh air. My G. grandma's beautiful desk and an old settee were along one wall, bookcases along the others. An old padded milking stool faced the bookcases that were filled with old books, like Little Women, The San Francisco Fire, lots of Zane Gray novels, many text books, old family Bibles, Psalm books, Atlases and huge old Dictionaries. I was in Heaven!
Most every weekend, for as long as I can remember until age 15, I lived in this house on 46 Graves Ave. Guilford. Weekends led me to the attic and passed the old portraits in frames, the trunks, the boxes of old photos and family history documents and Nana's button basket.
It was not until I married and turned age 24, that my grandmother took me aside and asked if I wanted to be the keeper of family history and all the portraits and boxes, books and misc. antiques. I jumped at the opportunity! I was in Idaho when she asked me. I hadn't been in the attic in many years. I told her, I was thrilled that I could have the Portrait of Daisy standing full figure because I wanted to eventually hang it next to my husband's grandfather's standing full figure and dapper.
Much to my surprise, she said there was no such portrait! I was shocked! Was I imagining it? I hadn't been in the attic for years but my grandmother said she had never seen a picture like what I was describing. She even went up to the attic and checked.
That summer, Darrel, the kids and I traveled back east. I took the boxes down to the kitchen table and went through everything with my grandma, identifying everyone we possibly could. I brought the large framed portraits down. There was only one of Daisy from the waist up. It was sealed in the back with the brown paper that was used when they were framed at the portrait studio. I was beside myself! What was wrong with me! I wouldn't let it rest. I had such a vivid memory of the photo of her standing full figure.
I asked my grandmother if I could break the paper seal. She wasn't thrilled but she said ok. I carefully laid the portrait face down on the kitchen table and took up a steak knife. I don't normally like to tamper with a piece of history but the photo in my mind was so clear! As I slowly, meticulously, cut and peeled the paper back, I started to sweat. I was a hot summer day and what I was doing made me nervous. My grandmother repeatedly assured me she had never seen such a portrait and that didn't help! I didn't want to shake her confidence in my being the family Historian and not caring for things properly.
It felt like hours, as I peeled slowly. I got three sides free and I pushed it to one side leaving a view of the inside. There was a large piece of photo board I had to remove. I inserted the edge of the knife and held my breath. Next, I had to remove the photo. As I stuck the edge of the knife in against the glass and frame, the photo board moved. There was another photo board. Was it another filler? Carefully, I stuck the point of the knife between the boards and lifted! Lifted and flipped!
There on the table stood Daisy in full figure! I thought my grandmother would faint! My legs were so wobbly, I had to sit down and my eyes flooded with tears! My grandmother was dumbfounded and frankly so was I! My Mom had an amazing amount of ESP. She knew things before they would happen and she could sense spiders crawling under the bed. Had all my time in the attic given me an insight into another sense?
I am the family Historian and have taken photos and documents and built an extensive genealogy for my ancestors and worked with Find A Grave to give biographical stories of their lives that are available for all on the internet. It has been a daunting task and it is never ending. Over the 47 years that I have been doing this, I have learned to trust my gut instincts. If I have a hunch, I follow it. Is this ESP?
I still will never know how I knew the full figure of Daisy was hidden behind her other photo, maybe she whispered in my ear while I was reading, Little Women, in the attic.
