Sunday, June 27, 2010

My Little Town Tuesday: When a Man's Home Really Is His Castle


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This castle is located in the heart of My Little Town.

What makes it so interesting?

This is the next-door-neighbor to the left.

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And this is the next-door-neighbor to the right.

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The owners, who live in the middlest of middle America, dreamed of owning a castle. And so they began converting their unassuming ranch home into a citadel. Over time, they covered the exterior of their house with stone, added on a turret here and there and replaced their front door with something that looks a lot like a portcullis.

All they're missing is the moat.

It makes me think of that poem by E.A. Robinson:


Miniver Cheevy

Miniver Cheevy, child of scorn,
Grew lean while he assailed the seasons;
He wept that he was ever born,
And he had reasons.

Miniver loved the days of old
When swords were bright and steeds were prancing;
The vision of a warrior bold
Would set him dancing.

Miniver sighed for what was not,
And dreamed, and rested from his labors;
He dreamed of Thebes and Camelot,
And Priam's neighbors.

Minever mourned the ripe renown
That made so many a name so fragrant;
He mourned Romance, now on the town,
And Art, a vagrant.

Minever loved the Medici,
Albeit he had never seen one;
He would have sinned incessantly
Could he have been one.

Miniver cursed the commonplace
And eyed a khaki suit with loathing;
He missed the mediƦval grace
Of iron clothing.

Miniver scorned the gold he sought,
But sore annoyed was he without it;
Miniver thought, and thought, and thought,
And thought about it.

Miniver Cheevy, born too late,
Scratched his head and kept on thinking;
Miniver coughed, and called it fate,
And kept on drinking.


But they went after their dream and made it happen.

How cool is that?

(PS - I know it's not Tuesday. I hit the Publish button by mistake and decided to just leave it. Have a great week!)

14 comments:

  1. That's inspiring. Is there a draw bridge?

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  2. that is a wicked cool house...always wanted to live in a castle...wonder if i can get away with that? smiles.

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  3. I expected that you were going to make fun of them. But when I read your words, "they went after their dream and made it happen. How cool is that?" I realized that this is the better way to see it. They didn't hurt anyone, didn't eat up acres of land, just made their home exactly what they wanted it to be.

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  4. Wow I didn't know google map can do that. Must watch what I hang to dry in the front yard.

    I think that is cute little castle that still blends in with the neighbourhood.

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  5. I find it stately. And what a nice conversation piece for the neighborhood it sits in!

    Pearl

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  6. How often I ride my steed,
    Chevy gasoline drunken speed
    Oh Miniver Cheevy, know this, and rest,
    The clock sands leak out on my chest.

    My open heart sucks in the grit
    To pump and grind the worst of it
    Within the morning winded rasp
    'Til I'll exhale my final gasp.

    Good for them, says I. You gotta love people like that

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  7. Ahhh...the Pink Chateau(shack)...we all have the dream...and what is it about our age that makes us forget things, like days and stuff...

    I walked into the Salvation Army last Saturday after work and said to the guy at the counter, 'when did you start opening on Sunday'...nuff said...

    Good to talk to ya!
    sharon

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  8. That's cool, as is the insight you give into middlest America.

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  9. We had a lot of lumber barons living in Grand Rapids..many of their houses have been refurbished. Every Spring, they give tours of some of them...We even have a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright you can see..

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  10. I'm really glad you didn't include a picture of the owners sitting on the throne.

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  11. I have a dream house. I hope others view it as compassionately as you do!

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  12. I think that's kind of cool. You should always make your house into the home you want to live in :)

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  13. Way to make your dreams happen where ever you are. I hope there's no boiling oil.

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  14. I saw a few of those on our trip down to GA and FL, seemed strange in the area they were in, but as the others say- your home is your castle- wish mine did not belong to a cheap skate, uh I mean slum lord as hubby calls them! LOL

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