Old Homestead on LaLa's Lane
Nostalgia is my friend. We hang out. We talk. We reminisce. Nostalgia makes me wish I were a pioneer woman, sometimes. But then I remember that pioneers used out houses and I snap out of it. But never-the-less, I love old stuff, old homes, antiques...you get the picture. The photo above is of an old homestead on our property. I don't know the history of this old home, but I'm sure it belonged to the family that owned our property many, many years ago.
This old house used to have an old tin roof and beautiful old doors. Nothing special, no artisan craftsmanship, just old and plain and I loved them. She was in a state of disrepair and would eventually just rot and fall down. But I could see potential at every corner. So, last summer we had someone start the task of disassembling her and saving the best wood to build a potting shed for me. It was an arduous task due to it's location and the heat from long summer days. But, we managed to start a pretty good stash. My potting shed project got put on the back burner and the old house still just stands among the trees just as you see her here.
I took this photo last week. When I saw it, I nearly went into convulsions. Because as you can see, my beautiful old doors are gone. GONE! Three of them...just GONE! I could not believe it. What happened to them....I just couldn't imagine. I had previously asked for the doors to be saved intact. I wanted to use them, just as they were, on my potting shed. The only thing I could think of was that the guy whose crew was taking her down had come back and removed them for me. I called him and of course, he had not. He asked who would want them...maybe someone who would sell them as antiques? Good question.
There's a thief on the loose and he or she or the devil incarnate has stolen my old homestead doors. And I am mad! First of all, the old house is not easily visible from the highway. You have to drive down our lane to be able to see it. So, someone has been casing out our property and came back when no one was home and stole my doors. I just can't think about it for long because I get so angry that I almost wish harm on the thief. I feel violated. I hope whoever has my doors might read this and understand how much I loved them and will return them. It's not likely, but I had to give it a chance.
Thank heavens, I had enough forethought to have the doorknobs removed last summer when the disassembling began. (See doorknob below). It's all I have left. For now, we will begin taking her down again to salvage the wood and any old bricks used as pillars. She will make a gorgeous potting shed and I can't wait. I will give her new life and she will shine as in her former glory.
Doorknob from the old doors.
To the thief who has my doors....I hope you seek forgiveness because if you don't, you and Satan are going to be bunk mates one day. And I also hope that stealing my doors causes you so much discomfort that you would gladly return them. Amen!
Laurie
P.S. - Cliff doesn't know it yet, but I am offering a reward for the safe return of my beautiful doors.
