Today we searched for another house I'd noticed. On the way we saw this house.
And this house too.
And just when we'd given up hope finding the house I wanted, tucked back off the road at an angle among tall pine trees ....
There it was.
(I want to incorporate this house into a children's adventure story I've just started.)
We hunted and were surprised to find the house closer to our house than I remembered. Isn't it strange?
People here lift their houses up on stilts after a bad hurricane. The insurance companies give them the money, and they're required to lift the house in order to keep it insured. This isn't an old house. When I walked up I could tell -- it was being built, and was flooded and damaged in a big storm, and they lifted it. But they must've run out of money or something, because then work stopped, and it remains a strange, creepy, weathered monstrosity, elevated among the tree tops.
Our county is scattered with little cemeteries. This one is in Hobucken, a village often quite soggy. Its elevation is 3 feet above sea level. After heavy rain, its cemetery looks like this.
We drove over the ICW bridge. It's strange to find such an impressive structure, out in the back boonies of nowhere.
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| We think that's a Coast Guard station on the left. |
But for boaters and shrimpers, it's not nowhere. That long, wide body of water is what cruising boaters call "The Ditch."
So much for our adventures today. I sold at the farmer's market this morning, although no farmers per se showed up. It sprinkled twice, and then about 11:00 it gully-washed, a true deluge. I hurriedly stuffed everything in the van to keep it dry, shoved my tent, table, and chair in the back, and wrung out my skirt (attention: White Skirt Club members!!) before climbing into the driver's seat (where I'd unfortunately left the window down). I came home, dried off, and took a nap :)
Stay dry out there, folks!
9 comments:
Those poor old dear houses, and that new one that ran out of financial steam to finish/restore.
I think we are just 3 feet above sea level down here. We can dig down and hit water and had a fairly large pond at one time. (We filled it back up and built the 'barn'.)
I remember quite a few times getting rained out when we sold at a local flea market many years ago. We learned to have plastic to cover tables, and make sure you have some small clamps to hold plastic to tables. ;-)
Have a nice Sunday ~ FlowerLady
Ha ha. After reading the Charlotte Bronte bio, I bet we both had the same thought when we looked at that flooded cemetery! :)
I remember lots of creepy old houses in my hometown of Angleton, TX. I guess the humidity of both locales causes rapid deterioration. They are intriguing.
We had our outdoor ecumenical service this morning and I walked past some kids selling sweetcorn on the way back to my car. I couldn't resist running to the car for my purse to buy a couple of ears. Isn't it nice being rural?
Keep us posted on the children's adventure story! I'm sure you'll have it all done long before I even start on mine! :)
Old houses totally intrigue me, creepy ones and ones in better condition. We used to go to home tours but in recent years there are less and less of those. I don't blame the owners for not wanting hordes of people going through their homes.
Thanks for explaining why the houses are sometimes raised on stilts.
Sorry you got soaked at the farmers market. I hope you sold a lot.
Those are some very interesting houses. The one on stilts is fascinating. How much pressure must be on those posts? It sure does look wet where you are.
Farmers market with few farmers....I hear you. We had a few farmers at our local Farmers Market, but up here there is very little produce right now. We've been cooler than usual and there's very little ripening just yet. Mostly zucchini, green beans and a few beets.
When is the sequel to "Three Against the Dark" coming????
[Shamefully covers face with hands] I've been a lazy slug and allowed myself to be happily distracted with writing other books and painting. Anything ... except finishing that story. I know the story, the plot, the characters are developed, etc. I just have to write it out. I think I'll start by rereading and editing the first half, a chapter at a time, and then publish it on my blog by chapter. That way, I'll have some input and push from a few readers to keep me going forward -- I mean, I'll have to finish it if I have anybody screaming at me, "Well! What happens next??" :) Thanks for the shove.
Our gardens are played out this time of year from sheer heat -- and this year, from Noah-like rains. Not a good garden year.
Oh, those old houses! How beautiful any of these could be. I would probably be scared to death living in such a big house, but I love them. Sounds like a bad day at the market. I remember those stormy, rainy, windy days at the farmer's market. Coming home with damp bonnets and aprons to be dried and ironed. I've had to wring out a skirt or two also. :) Makes you feel like quitting.
Wow those were some pretty cool old houses.
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