The (East Coast) Summer House

2009 was a challenge, a year of many changes. Early in the year, Mame (your momma, ninos) realized it was time for her to earn some money. The magazine she and your dad had created was not making enough money to cover expenses.  Your Grandpa and Grandma Bly had been generous with their help, Grandma and Grandpa Klamper also, but your mom learned early on not to take charity or welfare.  She is a proud woman and could not live on handouts. So she called on old friends and landed a good job. It paid very well and she was needed right away. The job was 2500 miles from home on the East Coast, a five-day drive.

On the internet Mame found a house she could sublet for three months at half the usual rate. Auntie Erin, her good friend and confidante, visited the house and pronounced it livable. (The owner/landlord spoke only Russian but amazingly enough, so does your Auntie Erin so she was able to negotiate a lease for the summer).

Your dad decided he wanted to stay in Spokane and finish up a few things.  Your momma packed boxes with things to be moved later, loaded her car with a few necessities and prepared to depart. Neighborhood friends came together to say goodbye (a story I will post later when I find the pictures).

Meanwhile, Nonna put her house up for sale, packed a few things in her van and prepared to come with you. We drove both vehicles across the country for five days and nights, eating in restaurants and rest stops, staying in budget motels (we arrived too late to use the swimming pools anyway) and got into DC in good order.

I have few pictures of the drive and no story to tell, except to say that you children were wonderful. You rarely cried or complained, LC only at the end of the day when he was overtired; Weezie didn't even whine. You rode in your little car seats for 2500 miles while your momma and I alternated vehicles, driving with or without you for hours at a time. I could write pages about the songs you sang and the toys that entertained you. Many were gifts from those wonderful neighbors who understood the ordeal we faced.

Somehow we endured. I am forever grateful to Uncle Judd who filled his flask with good bourbon and handed it to me (a loan, he said) as we departed Idaho. Mame and I allowed ourselves one medicinal drink at bed time; the flask lasted thru our first night in DC. We stayed at Auntie Erin's (a shower of blessings upon her lovely red-haired head) until the "summer house" was ready. On the appointed day, we drove to the house and this is what we saw.
The house was a modest brick colonial, probably built in mid-1900s. It sat on the edge of a paved lane that dead-ended a short walk past the edge of the property. On good weather days (it rains A LOT in this area in the summer) we were able to stroll LC down the lane and back and occasionally up to the main road where he could supervise a small construction project that went on the entire time we lived in the house. LC loved the backhoes and little tractors that the men in hard hats drove back and forth in the dirt.
We used the back door off the driveway as our entrance. The walkway to the front door was buried in poison ivy (thank you Auntie Erin for recognizing that, the homeowner confirmed it was indeed "poison ivy all along the front."
We decided against using the above ground plastic swimming pool for safety reasons, unaware that beneath the loose cover the pool was collecting rainwater and becoming a mosquito breeding ground. LC exposed it late in the summer when he pulled the cover loose. Mosquitos are diurnal in this area, meaning they are a problem day and night. They also carry several alarming diseases. State public health conducted fly over sprayings to try and control them, but we suffered all summer, Weezie and LC had fresh bites almost every day.

This is part of the enormous yard around the summer house. We could have played croquet or badminton or volleyball or soccer (someone had used the area as a driving range, lots of golf balls) except for the mosquitoes. We stayed inside and enjoyed the view. Neighbors told us a deer lived in the thicket in the center of the property, we saw her only once. Mame mowed the lawn with a riding lawn mower, it was her rare moment of solitude. Long sleeve shirt, bandanna and sun hat, long pants to thwart the insects, she mowed long and well. Your momma is kind of amazing, but you know that by now.
The house was furnished, of course, by a family with two small daughters. We felt at home, although it was not easy finding places to tuck things away. Everyone adjusted, including fretful Nonna.
Our plastic tubs worked well to store what was not in use. Weezie, you may remember the baby bird in the fireplace that Nonna captured and moved out doors. The momma bird had built a nest on the chimney.
LC napped every afternoon. Eventually so did Weezie, separately on the little couch in the living room. Nonna napped also. She discovered that taking care of two little ones is not easy for a 65 year old woman with bad knees and a weak bladder, especially when both bathrooms are upstairs. By summer's end we were sleeping away every afternoon. We even slept through most of the drummer's practice sessions, next door at the high school. Fortunately for us he was a very accomplished drummer.
The playroom saved us. It was filled with delightful toys and books and playthings. LC found several books and toys to his liking, adapting girly things to his ends.
We grocery shopped and cooked and tea partied at length. When weather and mosquitoes permitted, we took a turn on the outside swing set and picnicked beneath the magnolia tree in the side yard (lots of fruit smoothies and watermelon with an occasional Popsicle). The summer house was not nearly as much fun as we had hoped, but it got us through a difficult time. Mame was able to save enough money to transition into a new apartment and pay some other expenses. Nonna was able to hold things together while your momma worked long hours at her new job, learning everything that was new to her, which was a lot. Weezie and LC were able to have a little fun with Leila and Christa, two wonderful young women who helped Nonna make it through the summer.
By summer's end, Mame had located another sublet, a large apartment this time, and she moved us out of the summerhouse back into Auntie Erin's townhouse (another shower of blessings on your beautiful brow, my dear, may you live forever) to await the move-in date and the arrival of your father who was driving your household goods across country to join you.

Then it was time for Nonna to return to her house (which sold first day it was on the market, thanks to a wonderful realtor named Jaime), pack up her things and spend some time with your GG in Idaho where she was living near Uncle Judd and Aunt Sandy. This is a lot to try to tell you. It was a major transition time for everyone. And while it wasn't perfect, and at times it was less than pleasant, you made it through. We all did. And then we moved on.