This blog is "written" by my mom. She gathered up these ancient pictures that featured "the couch" and as she talked through each photo, I typed what she said. Any interruptions in conversation are noted by brackets. The blurb about the photo is above the picture.
Mom refers to my mom's mom, Edith, who died four years before I was born. Pop refers to my mom's dad, Walter. Hank is my mom's oldest brother and Tommy is my mom's middle brother. My mom was the baby and only girl of the family. When my mom speaks of her former houses, she refers to them by the street name.
Oh my...oh dear. That was in 1944 and I would have been six. Oh dear me! That was in a photograph's studio - not our house. That's the best we could look. I was six. Hank was sixteen. He (Hank) was in prep school and was probably not going to be around. So, mom wanted to have these photos made. The prep school was Andover, where Pop also went...before they went to Princeton.
That was at our house... Marcia Ave. in Hamilton, Ohio. Hamilton was the birth place of my father, my mother, myself, Cindy, and you... and this couch. The couch was custom made for my father because he was 6'3" (as evidenced by the long legs in the photo.) This couch was made in 1928 or maybe '27. It had a slipcover on it, that is why the skirt was so short. It wasn't made short, but probably shrank in the wash. It stood in front of the window in this picture. It stood in one of two places, there - in front of the window or opposite, which would have been next to the fireplace. The green wool woven afghan was always folded at the end of the couch but it was often used by anyone who was chilly and needed to warm up. My mother would sit on the end of the couch and stretch her leg out. She had phlebitis which would be aggravated when she was cold. She often just draped it over her leg. We didn't wrap it around our shoulders. My father always wore those same skinny black socks with garters. [At this point in the "interview" I commented that Grandpa always wore dressy clothes. I never remember seeing him in shorts or a bathing suit.] He used to work in the yard and liked pruning. He wore Bermudas and a golf shirts when he was working in the yard or playing golf.
Oh gosh...let me have a better look. There's the afghan under Pop's left arm. The couch has a new slip cover without a short skirt. It must have been at Christmas time. I think this was after my eye accident. I remember those cat eye glasses. At Christmas, I was in the hospital in the ninth grade. So, in this picture I must have been in about the 10th grade. This was still at Marcia Ave. This is the couch in its alternate location, perpendicular to the fireplace and parallel to the piano niche. On the table are Christmas wrappings. This would have been in the afternoon because Pop had his suit on and went to church. I probably took off my dress and put on my jeans and sweat shirt. We were locking arms. That was quite a lot of affection. He wasn't a touchy feely person so, putting his arm through my arm was a big step. He used to dig around in my ears, searching for mashed potatoes. He used to call me Lizziebelle when he was feeling affectionate. He called his own father Henry. He called his mother...gee I can't remember. He never called her mother, I think he called her Lizzy.
There was a piano. My mother played - some what. I took piano lessons but quit in the sixth grade. Piano lessons were not very much fun in those days.
Oh, this was the couch when we moved to our first apartment, Park Ave in Hamilton. I begged for the couch from my parents. I loved it so! It was the most comfortable couch in the world. I loved the style and we had a new slipcover custom made for it. That was the first decorating decision I made in my married life...I chose the fabric. The fabric on the couch was blue and cream cotton. This was our living room. We didn't have a TV and this was all we had in that room. The desk was on the opposite wall.
From there it moved with us. First, College Corner, Ohio. Then, Dayton, Ohio. Then, Oxford, Ohio and then we went to Cherrywood Dr. in Ft. Mitchell, Ky. We moved there in August, 1970. In this picture, you were in Brownies; you must have been about in second grade. This would have been 1977 or '78. Yet another slip cover on the couch. I wanted white, red, and blue. A decorator helped decorate that room. This was it's second slip cover when I owned it. Every now and then my mom would have the couch reupholstered. She'd have it retied and the springs redone. After many years in Ft. Mitchell, I also had it reupholstered.
Oh, that's when it was living here, in Tampa. Summer is holding Morgan. Summer would have been about five in this picture. We had it done with new upholstery which was done when it moved to Riverside Dr., Kentucky.
[At this point my husband chimed in with: I'm glad you didn't make me drive that couch to Vero.] Nick said that I could have the couch back again 500 times. I seriously thought about it. The couch means more to me that anyone else. Hopefully someone will recognize that it had value. It had a long and happy life with our family and hopefully some needy person will put it in their family room and put a throw over it.
Well, I felt like that Giving Tree/Couch was sad even though the stump became a seat for someone. Maybe the couch will go to a new house and someone will be enterprising enough to restuff the cushions. I guess I'l never know. Just as well.
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