My Anti-Biography | Part 51 - The Green of Ages

 The Green of Ages 

 

I grew up in the house I'm living in right now. In those days, back in the 1950s, the exterior walls were a crisp, clean white, and the trim was a deep forest green (or perhaps a tiny bit more yellow than that. 

Later, it was all covered up with pink aluminum siding in the 1960s. Even later than that, my son, Keith, took off all the siding single-handedly (HUGE job), and then I paid for some painters to repaint the white walls which were still beneath. 

Now, that light blue paint is peeling, so Teresa is chipping it off by hand with a putty knife, my grandfather's old wire brush, and lastly blasting it with the pressure nozzle on the hose because the original paint has become all chalky - it was probably the original paint from when the house was built in 1941! 

As you can see, there's some history in this endeavor. While removing the blue paint, Teresa discovered that a few small patches of the original green trim were still on the metal vent at the peak of the old garage. 

I hadn't see that color since it was all covered up with the siding. All the pictures I have from that era are in black and white, but even though I left this house when I was seven, the green so impressed me at that age that I've always yearned to see it again and match it to my memory. 

So, today, I finally made my way up the ladder and took a few pictures of those few remaining patches. Most are scraped away, but one small patch looks like an accidental brush stroke that still has the color almost as vibrant as I recall it. 

I offer it to you here - colorizing my memory once again to the point I can vividly recall the green wooden screen door on the back of the house - removed so many years ago. And now, as I write this from my recliner couch in the patio that is attached to the back of the house so that this whole part of the backyard is now enclosed, I can embrace that memory once more of the splendid green door on the bright, new white house with the green trim. 

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