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Homes and Gardens on Display
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The day went by very quickly. We saw many people we knew and thus enjoyed unexpected visits, received news of all kinds. We followed the map in the booklet and drove all over town to where houses had been built in remote places on roads we'd never driven. We ate our picnic sitting on Adirondack chairs overlooking a birdwatcher's marsh. We saw new houses constructed to look like old houses. We saw old houses retrofitted with state-of-the-art kitchens and laundry rooms. We saw porches that looked out over gardens that mimicked Versailles. We saw treasures locked behind glass as they would be in a museum. We studied the titles in the bookcases. In one house, we saw a bound copy of The Papers of George W. Bush. In another The Chronicles of Narnia. And in yet another, Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine, all windows into the owner's soul. We saw dolls gathered on quilted beds. And inside a house built in the 1700s, a lavish Jacuzzi in an alcove in the air-conditioned bedroom. The tub was situated beside a large many-paned window. A man standing near me said, "Now wouldn't that be a great place to be in a blizzard?" I had to agree, so long as the power didn't go out.
It all spun by like a movie on fast forward. The gardens were magnificent, weedless. The kitchens were spotless, frozen in time; the ornate sideboards, mahogany highboys and grand pianos dazzling. The tour went from 10 to 4 but by 2 p.m. I had to concede, having only visited a few of the houses available to my curious eyes. I left my friends to enjoy the rest. I perhaps felt exhausted from all that beauty, all that perfection. I returned home, where my dogs greeted me noisily and delighted me with the fact that they had not left me any unwanted gifts on the rugs. I viewed my weed-filled gardens and noted that the lawn needed mowing and there were dishes in the sink. I felt grateful, grateful for having been invited into so many interesting homes and gardens, grateful for having seen the perfection, grateful for my home, where things always are less than.
Reader Comments
Comment from K Lech on July 21, 2009
I love home and garden tours. To go into a complete strangers house and look at their belongings and see how they live is just so interesting. I don't think anyone would ever be impressed by my decorating skills if my home was on a tour, but I think they would come away knowing that a happy family lives there. A family that really LIVES life!
Comment from Doris Matthews on August 18, 2009
Whit and I live in The Daniel Coombs House, c. 1856, a brick Italianate house with centered chimney and square, hipped roof. Our house was one of seven historic homes on the Autumn House Tour in Brookfield, Massachusetts, some time ago. Whit has run his business of painting, wallpapering, etc. of historic colonial homes for over 40 years now and he is quite the perfectionist. The tour was exciting (but exhausting as well) with all the people coming and going and asking questions about the period antiques and the tavern room. Our house is well-lived in and every piece of antique funiture, crock, basket, etc. is used each and every day in a functional way right down to the coffee bean grinder. We enjoy our home and wouldn't trade the creaks and crakes for anything else! Doris
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