Tuesday 4: Future Ahead

 

Future Ahead...



Welcome to Tuesday 4 in memory of Toni Taddeo.


This week we have some questions from Pamela Steiner (that's ME!!) once again.  I hope you enjoy them.

Thank you, Annie, for using my crazy questions this week.  I came up with this idea after watching some shows on YouTube about people exploring abandoned houses.  There are many of them around the world, some as big as castles, and others just common humble homes. It is very interesting to see the kinds of things that have been left behind in these houses, as if the people just suddenly disappeared and no one ever went back to clean out the house or change a thing inside. This made me look at my house and wonder what people would think if they found my house in such a situation as this, and so that is how I came up with these questions. I hope you will enjoy answering them, and perhaps it will make you stop and think about just what kind of message we are leaving behind us here on this old earth...  I hope you will also share a few pictures of things from your house to give us a better "picture" of what they will discover!

So, here are the questions:

1. Let's pretend that it is 50 years into the future, and explorers have just discovered your house, "frozen in time" exactly as it is today. Everything is preserved, even the food, but of course no one has lived there for fifty years. What do you think would be their first reaction as they walk in the door of your house?

I think the explorers would wonder if they have stumbled upon a time capsule of a much older home than what it appears to be on the outside. When they step inside our house and look around, they will see many things from our ancestors that will take them back perhaps another 100 years! They would probably also think that I should have had someone do some dusting and cleaning before I left it like that!  Most likely they would also be amazed, as I am always amazed when I walk in the front door and the first thing I see is the view of Still Waters Pond out the back glass doors:

That view never ceases to astound me!

Just inside the front door they would hopefully notice that there is a guest book, and all guests are expected to sign it, so that I can look back and remember who was here when. Of course, 50 years from now I won't be here to know, but out of respect for the tradition of this home, they need to sign the guest book! That should tell them that guests are honored and treasured here.

2. What would the things left in your house tell the explorers about you?

I would hope that they would see that we were people who loved God, our family, and our honored guests. 

This sign that is on the wall in the living room came from my husband's grandparents' home (as did much of our furniture!)  It is quite old...and my husband always remembers seeing it there in their home.  They used to have a gathering of their church fellowship meet in their home for Bible study and Communion on a regular basis, with a traveling minister who came to teach them. 

I remember that one time a person came into our home who really did not know us very well, and upon looking at this sign on the wall she exclaimed, "Well, I guess that certainly explains what you believe about God, if there was any doubt!" 

These plaques are on the wall in our guest room...

And a guest bed is ready for what appears to be for a young lady guest, but it can be changed in a moment for anyone, any age, any time...

You could even decide to go golfing while visiting, because if the house was frozen in time on this day, for some strange reason my son's golf clubs are standing in the middle of the guest room! I am not exactly sure why, and I haven't asked, but there they are... I suppose because there is no room in his room, which we will not be showing here, and if people 50 years from now looked at it, they might get a totally different idea about the occupants of this house, so we will just leave it like that...not that it is anything bad, it just isn't exactly clean, if you know what I mean...But he is a hard working fellow and we are thankful to have him here with us.

And in nearly every room of the house there are pictures of family:

Mixed in among the many different kinds of books, which I guess is a part of question #3.

And someone liked old hats and jewelry...

There are diplomas on the wall showing that someone in our home was well educated...(hubby, not me...I got my "PHT", "putting hubby through", which was an education in itself!)

Oh, and there's a cedar wardrobe cabinet in the guest room full of boxes and albums full of photographs...

And everywhere you look there is LOTS of OLD stuff...each with a history of its own...

They would also discover that someone must have loved tea time and all things connected with that...

They might even find a cup of tea sitting there beside the rocking chair, waiting to be enjoyed...I wonder if it would still be hot?

And I suppose it would be no great surprise that whoever lived in this house was a person who loved dolls and all things that go along with that...

Do you see Lily Grace here, entertaining her friends?  I wonder what the explorers will think about that?

And a painting on the wall in the guest room, done by a young son who was a budding artist who loved cowboys and indians...

And a menagerie of assorted things, some created by a talented young man, other things collected...and a photo of the three young men who once grew up in this home...not in this particular house, but this "home", if you understand what I mean.

And this picture shows the blending of a little bit of everything in "My Room with a View", the place where I sit and write and talk to my friends here in blogland...

There's Pamela's Victorian Cottage (a doll house!) on the left, photographs from nature of bears, deer and other wildlife, and that window looking out onto Still Waters Pond, where one could watch the birds fly by or build their nests in the bluebird house...and "Let Heaven and Nature Sing"...

But just so you know that it's not all dolls and tea parties and books and interesting old stuff here, if they walked in on today frozen in time they would also discover this:

There is a pork loin roast thawing out on the counter, and dishes in the dish drainer,  Dawn dish liquid ready for action:

Bananas in different stages of ripening...and a little sign that says "Grateful and Blessed"...

A table that still has the candles and colors from the 4th of July on it, and here it is July 26th...but it will get cleaned up here in a little while because our kids are coming for supper to eat that pork roast that I'd better start cooking or it will be a late dinner....

Yikes! There is a basket of clothes on the couch, waiting to be folded!  Someone should have been paying more attention to her housework than to writing on her computer all afternoon...

3. What kinds of books would they discover on your bookshelves or beside your chair/bed?

Well, there are books about tea, devotional books and cookbooks...and on the bookshelves previously pictured above there are many of my hubby's books about WWII, the Civil War, and various theological books from his 30+ years of ministry. Many books from his pastoral library were donated to various young ministers or to a Christian school library when he retired.

A collection of old fashioned romance and adventure books from the late19th century and early 20th century...some are crumbling from age already, so they may be dust in 50 years!  Oh, and there are CD's of Christmas music and other favorite gospel music or some of the classics from Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Handel's Messiah, Chopin and other greats...

Some magazines and coffee table books on the coffee table...

This one below in particular is my "Pastbook", a collection of my photographs that were compiled from those I have shared on Facebook over the past 10 years! 

Most importantly, on the table by our chairs is the Bible...well worn, loved, and cherished, and used every single day.

4. What things would they discover in your closets or cabinets that would make them wonder why on earth you were saving it?

No pictures to show here, but mostly old clothes, winter coats, shoes, and boxes of old cards and papers and letters and just stuff...file cabinets full of sheet music from our years of singing solos or duets in church, and accompaniment tape cassettes for that music, which is now obsolete because no one uses tape players anymore for music... We also have boxes of my husband's sermons on tape...again...obsolete, but too expensive to convert it all to digital. I am sure people fifty years from now will have no idea what they are or how to listen to them.  We also have some video tapes of family movies that ought to be digitalized, but who knows if even that will be functional in 50 years?  

Well, I guess you get the idea.  Explorers in 50 years will wonder if they stumbled upon some kind of museum for sure...but hopefully they will still be able to feel the love here in these walls, and be able to see that the inhabitants of this house truly loved one another and had a strong faith in God above all else. I would hope that there will still be echoes of laughter in the halls, and signs of many happy memories of those who lived and loved here.

Now, I am looking forward to seeing what you've shared here, friends! I know I get a little carried away with pictures, etc., but that's just who I am.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but in my case I have a thousand words and a thousand pictures! LOL.  

I am posting this early because tomorrow (Tuesday) I will be going for my epidural in my neck. Your thoughts and prayers will be greatly appreciated.  When I get home I will look forward to seeing what you've written!!  Have a blessed and wonderful day/week!  And thank you, Annie, for hosting this weekly "party" of friends!!