You CAN go home again....

A favorite old photo from Martha's First Communion Day. We were on the porch in the front of the house/off the kitchen . David has this photo blown up...it's a classic...my mom's hat, my brothers pose...my big grin(I knew there was cake !), Martha's expression......

the same porch...now enclosed'
Path from side porch to back yard

View from the street

Bedrooms upstairs / Garage and basement downstairs








Back view. Porch, Living Room with Picture window. Big maple we used to climb to left in pictureThe best sled riding hill in the neighborhood!
Looking out the Living Room Window

My friend Ruth's house down the hill...when the snow was really good...you could go from our yard right through Ruth's...and on really good days.....right through her side yard...across Kennebec Road and into the Fiorelli's yard!

House next door....The Hickman's...nice older couple with the fattest, meanest chihuahua around...the infamous"PENNY". I was scared to death of that little dog!


*Looking down the street to the bottom of the hill


At the end of Arapahoe Road was a steep hill. When we lived there...there was a staircase that you could walk down to get to the Trolley station.(you can see the tracks) Trolley would take you all the way to Downtown.

Basement cabinets that my Dad built. When we lived there they were painted Red/Green?,Yellow,Blue? or something like that....three sections for Martha, Ellen and I.

The names on the work area...click on for close up!

I just recently managed to get some pictures from my brother David.....from a trip we took 3 years ago. John, Bridget, David and I made a trip up to Pittsburgh Pa to take in a Steelers game and visit our old hometown of Bethel Park. John and I had been there the year before and I knew David would enjoy going back. It's kind of a long, round about story...but I'll try and sum it up for you. Several years ago our sister Elizabeth went to Pittsburgh with her family to visit some friends. They decided to make a trip to Bethel Park to check out our old neighborhood/house. Now....Elizabeth was only 6 I think? when we moved to Florida...so she didn't have as many fond memories of the place as we older kids did...but home is home. The day she and Jack and the kids made the trip...they decided to knock on the door of our old house at 3211 Arapahoe Road. The owners were not only there...they were excited that one of the kids had come back! The woman Mrs. P. Brackett invited them to come in and see the house. She said she had been waiting for years, hoping that one day one or more of us would come back. She showed them around the house and then took them down to the basement. My dad had done a lot of the work himself...he built a system of cabinets and drawers that Ellen, Martha and I used on one side of the basement which served as our bedroom. (trundle beds...folded away by day to make "couches"). The other half of the basement had a small bathroom and laundry area. Out in the garage, my dad had built himself a work table/area with plenty of spaces to hang things and store things. While my dad was in the process of building the table...he let us all climb on it and

sign our names on the 2x4 s. He never did paint over them. We moved to Florida in December 1967 ( on the day after Christmas). Flash forward to 1993(?) (Elizabeth knows) when Liz and Jack went to visit. Mrs. Brackett showed them around the house and took them down to the basement where all of our names were still on that work station....she never let her husband paint over them because she told him that some day one of the kids might come back to visit and they would want to see their names still there. Elizabeth couldn't believe it...she took some pictures (pre-digital age) and sent them to all of us. Of course I immediately wanted to make a trip myself! We did go the following summer...but the Bracketts were out of town...so while we got to walk around the house and yard (which was wonderful...I still get goosebumps thinking about it now) we didn't get to go in. I loved being back there and just for a few moments feeling like I was transported back in time to when I was a little girl .I had loved that house, our back yard that was great for sled riding, the hills we rode our bikes up and down. Looking out the picture window and down the hill at my friend Ruth's house. Remembering when I learned to ride a two wheel bike down at the bottom part of our driveway. The ivy that grew along one side of the brick wall, the maple trees (my favorite) in the yard that we used to climb...it was wonderful.

We didn't go back again until 2005.....(John and I) and we visited the house and Mrs. Brackett , who was home that time,let us in. I have to appreciate the fact that this woman who had NO idea who we were when we showed up at her door....let us in and was happy to see us! After our visit I knew David would need to make the visit too.(because we had talked many times about going back to Pittsburgh)...so the following year we got him to go. Again Mrs. Brackett (now in her late 70's/80's let us all in and showed us around...and was especially happy to show us the work area with all of our names still there after 40 years! David took these great photos.....and now here it is 3 years later and I finally got them from him...so I am going to share them with whoever is reading this! Which goes to show you...like the title of this post...sometimes you CAN go home again!