Blog Schedule

I post on Monday with an occasional random blog thrown in for good measure. I do my best to answer all comments via email and visit around on the days I post.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Trunk Bay - Guests

Although Grammy ran her guest house without electricity, it was not primitive. She had gas stoves and kerosene refrigerators. There was also running water (gravity feed) and toilets that flushed. However there were no hot water showers. This is picture of my cousin Eve in the pantry. You can see one of refrigerators on the left.

This is a picture of Grammy's office at the bottom of the stairs, the same stairs I saw her come down the night we arrived and I met her for the first time. You can read about it here.
This is the upper hallway at the top of the stairs. That wall is part of The Pullman, a small room perfect for one person.

This is Grammy on the main porch doing some mending.

What Grammy provided her guests, besides great food and good conversation, was privacy. Many of her guests were professionals, lawyers, doctors and the like. They were people who dealt with people year-round and what they wanted was a place where they could get away from the hustle and bustle. Trunk Bay was that place. No telephones. No radios. No noise except for what nature provided. It was a place where people could, for a while at least, disappear.

Among some of her more well known guests were: Karen Horney, psychiatrist. Dr. Robert J. Oppenheimer, physicist. John Dos Passos, author. Otto Fried, painter.

Many of her guests were regulars, they came every year at the same time. One of them was a gentleman named Don Braested (pronounced Bray-sted.) He was an older man, with silver hair, who always stayed in the Pullman. He taught my sister, Erva, how to play Canasta and Bolivia. But with me, Don was pleased to spend his afternoons playing Go Fish and War. I missed him when he had to return to the states and I looked forward to his return. Although Erva would play Fish and War with me, she didn't necessarily want to play every day. But Don would and did.

Below are two pictures he took. This is me on the main porch of the main house. The tile top table I'm sitting on is where Erva and I played Pick-Up-Sticks. I remember the young skinny man in the background. He used to play Clue with Erva and other guests. I wanted to play Clue, but I didn't have a clue about how to play. And look at all those books!

The same day the above picture was taken, Don took the one below of me and Erva. It is my all time favorite picture of us. You see, Erva was twelve, going on thirteen. I was eight, going on nine. Erva was experiencing a tremendous growing spirt. (She grew six inches in six months. People thought I was like five years old because I was so small next to her.) The problem is, she was in pain, she was anemic, she was tired, she was clumsy, she was no longer patient, plus she had reach puberty (something I didn't know ANYthing about.) With all of that going, Erva, who had always been my best friend, turned into an Alien Monster. The day this picture was taken, she did not want to do it. She was being ornery and didn't want to smile. So there it is, my wee hand has snuck across the gulf and I'm tickling the Alien Monster, who despite all efforts starts to laugh and it is just at that moment that Don snapped the camera.

Oh just look my satisfied, mischievous face. I am unafraid of the Alien Monster, I know how to make it laugh!

14 comments:

  1. Ha! Love that last picture and the story behind it!
    What a variety of people you got to meet on the Islands!

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  2. Do you know what I like about your posts? They have an old fashioned, geneological feel to them. I love the pictures and how you harken back to a different time. I haven't read a lot of other blogs like yours in this way, it makes you unique.

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  3. Bish, these photos and stories are so fun and interesting--they make me wish that I had stayed at Grammy's guest house.

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  4. I would have loved being a guest at Grammy's. She looks and sounds like a wonderful lady.

    Bish! I loved Pick-Up-Sticks. I played that game by every day. Guess you could say I'm a Pick-Up-Sticks champeen. :)

    Thanks for treating us with these wonderful stories. You have a great memory, too.

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  5. Oh Grammy!!! What a great picture. Bish this is so much fun to come over here. I wish I could back to the past and experience Trunk Bay as you've written it. There's nothing like sitting on a porch at the beach playing Go Fish.

    Or hanging out with a crab in the house.

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  6. This is my favorite blog post of the day. I love the pictures, the stories, the history!

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  7. Wonderful photos and what a great post! I think your Grammy's guest house could inspire a few stories or two! Have a lovely week! ;)

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  8. I love that last picture and it ought to be a magazine story ... you know, my sister could be awfully serious too and she was just three years older than me. I love how some folks love kids and love to play with them. My MIL is like that and I love her for it. I'd have been very happy at Trunk Bay too, esp. with Grammy taking care of things.

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  9. What great memories and stories! That sounds like HEAVEN to get away with no noise and nonsense!

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  10. You're building quite an interesting family history with your blog.How great that is.

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  11. Your photos and stories are amazing. I want to stay at Grammy's.

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  12. I love all the pictures! How awesome of you to share them with us! I love to look through older pictures when I was a kid, and see how different the world is today!!!

    Your grammy looks like a sweetheart!

    I'm excited to know you dove into the A-Z Blogging Challenge! I look forward to your entries!

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  13. What a lovely story behind that photo! Alien Monster! :) And I do love that look on your face.... Thanks for the tour around Granny's guest house.

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  14. Yo are so great to share your history with us. I love hearing about your grammy!

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Your Random Thoughts are most welcome!