The Cross House

In 2017, I first posted about the importance of having a crispy house. If you missed the post, you might enjoy reading it. I did another crispy post in 2020 after discovering that the eyebrow window on the north facade had gotten…oh, the horror…uncrispy. And now, in 2025, I am again chagrined to reveal that…

2025 ended vastly, profoundly, and spectacularly different than it began. And in a manner I wholly did not foresee. It all began innocently…               AN EXPECTED GIFT Susan and Harrison Cross built the Cross House. Their granddaughter, Mary, lived with them. She was nine-years-old when the house was finished….

  But there is more to the story. Kendra purchased a fabulous house, likely by Charles W. Squires, and which I posted about in 2021. Kendra would like to return dignity to the long abused house so, obviously, I adored her immediately. Her new house is just around the corner from the Cross House, and…

Friday was my 69th birthday. How the fuck did that happen? In any event, I invited my local family of choice to join me at the Cross House for dinner. They bring the food, I supply champagne and wine. They are kindred spirits, and we are all on the exact same page politically. While I…

  Y’all remember Louis. In the early 1970s, Louis proposed to his girlfriend in the Octagon Bedroom, and they later moved to the whole third floor, becoming the coolest hippies in Emporia. Their son, Nathan, was conceived in the Cross House. Y’all met them in 2018, via this wonderful post. And don’t miss Part 2,…