Greenbelt, Maryland
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Greenbelt, Maryland |
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We looked and looked for something we both could like and live in. I stayed a month before we found our house. I said “Doug, let’s drive around and find a house ‘for sale by owner’.” So we did. We found a house with a small sign in a window, “House For Sale By Owner” and a phone no. We called, and she said she would be right out. Meanwhile, we went around the back and saw it backed to the woods. It has a big back yard and patio. We agreed that we wanted this place. | |
| The owner came and unlocked the door. [It is said that she did the special effects for Jaws, hence the address, 3-D Plateau Place, was appropriate.] The living room was empty with only a hutch and couch in it, and a dining area. | ||
| All the other houses we looked at had small kitchens with washers and dryers in them. This house had an addition for washer and dryer, hot water heater, and room for my large refrigerator. It wouldn’t have fit in the kitchen. The kitchen had all new cabinet doors to the shelves. (The other houses had open shelves, which I hated.) [And I hate getting my head bashed by the open doors, so I have removed some of them more than once.] It has a good space for a microwave, which I had. [And I had a $10 yard sale kitchen cabinet that it would fit on.] There was a small refrigerator recessed under the stairs. When we moved we gave the small one to our church’s kitchen. Then we were able to install a pantry under the stairs. Doug hung a folding door in it. | 
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[This isn't just a house, it's part of the historic Greenbelt Cooperative. Planned by the Roosevelt Administration as one of 3 Green Towns, everyone in town is active in many projects. Greenbelt had the first library, swimming pool, etc. in the County. In the 1950s, the members organized a housing co-op and bought the community from the Eisenhower administration. We own a share in the Co Op, and along with the other 1599 owners, we own 1600 homes and a large tract of woods. I started the woodland committee to maintain the woods, and have seen it change emphasis over the years, but it continues to manage its' responsibilities.] |
| [Mom overplanted the flowerbed by the house,
and put tulips in back, where they did poorly. But she rescued a neighbor's rose from the back,
and put it in the herb bed, where it has been joined by 2 other roses.
They like to catch cats and small children for lunch!]
[Tomatoes and beans do well, occasionally peas and spaghetti squash do too. Other things,
such as corn and potatoes, do poorly. |
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| 3D is the rightmost fourth of the building, the one with the utility room sticking out into the garden area. We have the largest garden on Plateau Place. The herb garden is right by the front walk, and is backed by architectural ties the City put in to support the steep hill in front. I built a French Bed below it.] |  |
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We didn’t have to go through what I did in the last 2 houses. I thought the living-dining room was big enough for our furniture. When we got everything in it was crowded. I longed for more room. After 15 years, our mortgage is paid off. So now we can plan to build on to the house. There is plenty of room on the garden-side of the house to add on. [All I needed was a 15 year mortgage to pay for it. I passed on a 30 year mortgage, figuring I would be retired before the 30 years would be up.] |
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[We decorate every Christmas, with wreaths on the door, sometimes swags of evergreen or a special quilt on the stairs, and a small artificial tree on the table behind the TV. I put the special Phantom Christmas Tree up in the back, hanging several stings of lights on a tree that is definitely not an evergreen.] |  | |
| [Mom was baptised into the Atholton Seventh Day Adventist Church, and helped with social affairs.] | |||
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at the church camp |
a 1975 camporee |
potluck dinners |
| [Mom also participated in civic events, such as the Greenbelt Labor Day Festival, where she was a clown in the parade at least 3 years, sometimes with Benji. |
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1991 Labor Day Parade |
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Her friend Irene Knox from Chicago came and visited here once, and we made a video of her life.] | |||
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Save the Green Belt Booth |
this scene from before the parade. |
made at church |
Rennaissance Festival every autumn. |
elegant wedding in Georgetown |
Click on it to see it larger. |
Goddard Visitors' Center |
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[Just after we returned from the fall church campout in 2001, a neighbor came by with
a small, active Pomeranian named Foxy, and asked us to take him, as he barks all
day when they are at work, and their neighbors complain. Foxy and Benjamin got along fine,
and Foxy was a joy to know until he died on July 3, 2008 at the age of 21. He was the stupidest
dog I have ever seen.]
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[20 years later, we are still here, enjoying Greenbelt, the garden, and the ambience of
the DC Suburbs. I am active in politics, the environment, and the Peace Movement.
Mom has attended elegant affairs in Georgetown, visited museums and galleries,
painted and put on shows, and has gone camping with me a few times.
Since having several strokes she is not active at all. Benjamin died at the age of 20,
Foxy at 21. Otherwise, we continued to have a good life through mid 2005.
[If you like happy endings, quit here.]
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