Happy Doors
After the lost door was hung, I sat back with a silly grin on my face and just stared at the butler’s pantry door (squee!), the lost door (squee!), and the door to the second floor. So much remains to be done with restoring the doors to their original finish but, for now,…
Continue ReadingAFTER Thanksgiving at the Cross House UPDATE
Added to the guest list is young Brian, and Don and EJ will be stopping by after dinner, around 2PM. So, this means 25 now for dinner!
Continue ReadingAFTER Thanksgiving at the Cross House UPDATE
On Friday, the Cross House, long empty of life, will be filled with people. Squee!!!!!!!! So far, I have 24 people coming for an after-Thanksgiving dinner. This is the list. PLEASE let me know if I have overlooked you: ONE: Sandra ONE: Justin FIVE: Grace and family TWO: Steve and Meade SIX: Dr. Doug and…
Continue ReadingPaying Respects to Susan and Harrison Cross
There are four Cross family members buried in the family plot. Just four. And none have been interred since 1930. This seems profoundly….sad to me. I had expected Mary to be buried here as well, the only daughter of Charles and his first wife, Kate. Upon…
Continue ReadingPutting The Bits Back
LEFT: This goes to the basement. The actual door is not original to this location, and was moved from the butler’s pantry. I did a post about this discovery. MIDDLE: This goes upstairs. The actual door is original. RIGHT: The main pantry. The actual door is missing. …
Continue ReadingFinding…A TREASURE TROVE!!!!!!!!
Two years ago I realized that the Cross House still retained, at least by 1999, its original screen doors on the main entrance (a pair) and north entrance. What happened to them? I contacted the previous owner, Bob Rodak. He thought he might have them stored away. Well, squee!!!!!!!! Since then we have gone back/forth/back/forth/back/forth…
Continue ReadingDismantling Aladdin’s Cave
In the vast basement of the Cross House, under the library, is the now-famous Aladdin’s Cave. The cave was stuffed with trim and windows and odd bits from the house which had fallen off over the decades or been removed. Since buying the house I have been steadily emptying the shelves in the cave as…
Continue ReadingThe Danger of Wondering
I am focused on getting the house ready for the day-after Thanksgiving dinner. To this end it was necessary to clean out the main pantry. Easy! I also needed a bit of counter to put a microwave. Thus, I cleaned the pantry counter and then wondered… Oh dear. Wondering is ALWAYS bad when it comes…
Continue ReadingEconomic Facts
This is a political post. If you hate politics, do not scroll down. If you do scroll down….caveat emptor. When I talk with Trump supporters one thing I hear a lot is: “Hey!…
Continue ReadingA Bit Of This. A Bit Of That. Breathlessly.
When the radiators are installed, I can at last turn on the radiator system! Except I have no idea of how to do this. To me, this is akin to sitting in a helicopter and trying to figure out how to make it fly. While talking to Justin today about this…
Continue ReadingSad Virden. Sweet Virdens.
From the 1920s through to the 1970s, one of the most successful lighting manufacturers was the the John C. Virden Company. Virden was Canadian-based, at 19 Curity Ave in Toronto, but had a large factory in Ohio. From Abandoned: Virden was the third largest among the nation’s 1,400 fixture manufacturers by 1968, with production tripling…
Continue ReadingThanks, Carl!
Last week I received an email with some images. The email was from my friend Carl, who lives in Wichita. He came across a light in an antique store. He didn’t like but thought I would. My reply? BUY IT!!!!!!!! My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingWanna Meet 1929?
In 1929, Scott Mouse, Sr., purchased the Cross House. He converted the second floor to apartments, and his family occupied a suite on the first floor. In 1950, his son, Scott, Jr., converted the house into the Mouse Palace Motel, and most of the apartment features were removed. By some amazing luck, the floor plan…
Continue ReadingOh. Dear. God.
This is a political post. If you hate politics, do not scroll down. If you do scroll down….caveat emptor. Trump tweeted this yesterday. This is real. Why would he do something…
Continue Reading1970s Glamour!
My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingMidnight
I often get asked to take images of the Cross House at night so people can enjoy seeing the beauty of the stained-glass from a nocturnal perspective. But, no matter how much I try, my camera has never been able to capture the beauty of the backlighted stained glass at night. The camera distorts, and…
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