Category Archives: Guest Bloggers

The Kitchen is the Heart of the Home

August 29, 2013Categories: Guest BloggersSarah @ 702 Park Project

Today’s guest post comes from a dear friend (and girlfriend of my brother), Elizabeth. She is quite the talented baker, and has long been involved in the “farm to table” movement. Liz and my brother, Jason, just moved into an awesome historical loft in downtown Salisbury, NC. Here, she talks about her relationship with Jason (who is quite the cook himself), and how their home is built around the kitchen.

Jason and I nearly didn’t meet. It was complete happenstance at a bar in Pittsboro, NC on a night neither of us should have been in town. But we were and we did and here we are a few years later sharing the kitchen in our pre-war loft in Salisbury, NC. The meals I tend to cook are extremely simple. I feel that quickly sauteed vegetables speak for themselves. Add a slice of homemade bread, a bit of good cheese, and a glass of wine and I’m in heaven. Jason on the other hand likes production. A good meal from him requires planning, a trip to the grocery store, a finely cut slab of meat and the use of every kitchen utensil we have.

We’re just starting our lives together. We go to farm dinners, save our money for far away restaurants, look at food books together, walk downtown holding hands talking about our next adventure. We spend time in the kitchen together and eat leisurely meals on the weekends. We make plans to cure meats and sausages and shop at the farmers’ markets all year long. A well spent Sunday includes a nice hike, listening to the Grateful Dead, and drinking coffee then Bloody Mary’s. We sit with a copy of the Sunday NY Times, and look at menus online of restaurants we’d love to visit. Food is central to our lives–our home and life will grow from there.

To see more pictures of the delicious food that Jason and Liz are constantly whipping up, check out their Instagram pages! (Jason, Liz)

Home

August 20, 2013Categories: Guest BloggersSarah @ 702 Park Project

I’ve got another awesome guest blogger today…my Aunt Jane! Hope you enjoy! :)

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I was honored to be asked to post a piece in Sarah’s blog. 702 Park Project has been on the top of my reading list all spring and summer. I am delighted for Sarah and Charles that they have recovered a home that was in Charles’ family and will make it their very own…with a whole lot of hard work. I was lucky enough to see it for myself a couple of weeks ago, and became even more excited to see the process as well as the final outcome.

Well, my brother Jim kind of took my original thought for a topic: the house we grew up in on National Avenue in New Bern. Like many of us, I immediately noticed some similarities between 702 Park Avenue and 1304 National Avenue. But he did such an outstanding job with his comments that I can’t be too upset, so I picked another topic.

I have been thinking a lot about HOME lately. What makes a place home? In the Powers/Gaylor/Archer family (which we lovingly call PGA) our “children” are growing up and making homes for themselves. My son Matt and his wife Alison have “set up housekeeping” in Dayton, Ohio. Jason is making a life for himself in Salisbury, NC. And our baby, Sarah, has married her Charles and taken on this restoration.

Here are a few thoughts about HOME:

Home is where your “stuff” is. I don’t mean fine furnishings or fabulous jewelry (although those things are nice). I mean the pictures, objects, books, and special gifts that mean something to you and give you comfort. Home decorating is not one of my talents, but I love to have the things I love around me. Little gifts and school Mother’s day cards that Matthew gave me are so valuable to me, along with pictures of places we have visited and shared together. Oh, and the “coma” chair (where it is impossible to sit without falling asleep). Gotta have that!

Home is where you can take off your shoes and put your feet up. David (my hubby) has a habit of taking off his shoes & socks the minute he comes through the door, whether the temperature outside is 90 degrees or 20 degrees. I love it when people come into my house and get comfortable. (Comfort would include some warm socks in the winter for me).

Home is where you laugh with your friends and family. As my brother and sister and I grew up and moved out of her house, our Mama used to tell us, “I am ready for you to come home and put your feet under my table.” I so understand what she meant by that now. Nothing is like having the people you love around you. Some of you may already know about our PGA “Christmas Around the World” celebrations. Every year, we choose a different country and serve Christmas dinner using recipes from that country. We have done Italy, France, and Germany so far, and Spain is the pick for 2013! We learn Christmas songs in a foreign language, led by “Maestro” David. Sometimes we play teeny-tiny handbells or whistles. The laughter and merriment in our home is one of the highlights of our year as a family.

Home is love. I have been so overwhelmed by the blessings of life. I have a loving husband of 33 years, a fine son who has always been a source of love and pride for me, and a new daughter-in-law who has just fit right into that place in my heart that was made for a daughter. My extended family (siblings, nieces, nephews) is a wonderful and nurturing family. What a loving bunch of people!

Libraries are full of books that have schemes and plans for having a better home life, raising better children, creating better relationships with other people. But the answer has been right before us all the time:

Love one another. Serve God together. And your home will be a happy one.

Sarah and Charles, I wish for you all the joy you can handle. Enjoy the process of restoring your HOME! And invite me over…I’ll bring my own socks.

{If you would like to be a guest blogger, please comment below or email me. Thanks!}

Remembering National Avenue

August 7, 2013Categories: Guest BloggersSarah @ 702 Park Project

As we continue on with things like the exterior carpentry and interior priming, updates on the house may slow down a bit. Unfortunately, there’s just not much to tell when it comes to these things, and work is being done so ~~slowly~~ carefully that the changes are harder to recognize. So, in the meantime, I’ve asked a few people to be “guest bloggers” on the site. Today, we are starting with my dad, Jim Powers. He’s been not only extremely supportive of our project, but excited and enthusiastic as well…which is very much appreciated!! Enjoy this little blurb from him, and have a marvelous day! :)

I remember growing in the 60’s and 70’s in New Bern in our classic American Foursquare home on National Avenue down in New Bern. Our house was built in 1907 (I think) and was very much in the style of Sarah and Charles’s home, although not as big. We moved into that house when I was in the 7th grade from probably a 1000 square foot 3 bedroom/1 bath house a few blocks away that was in a flood plain. It also had recently caught on fire so moving seemed like a good idea to my mom and dad I suppose. I remember first going into the National Avenue house and thinking it was soooo BIG and ceilings were soooo HIGH! I loved that house. It too was in pretty bad shape when mom and dad bought it (not as bad as the Taylor Gaylor house, but still pretty bad). My dad, probably the tightest man with a buck I ever knew, called in favors, found people from all over who were willing to work for cheap (or maybe for ice cream since he was an ice cream route supervisor for Maola Milke and Ice Cream!). As far as I know, he and mom never borrowed money for fixing up that house and just did a little at a time as they could.

The things I remember most about the National Avenue house:

1. The metal roof. Nothing like a gentle rain peppering a metal roof.

2. The big front porch. We spent many an evening sitting on that big front porch. We had a nice porch swing and I remember swinging back and forth in that swing so much I would literally get sea sick!

3. No air conditioning. I laid awake many nights in the summer time with a fan blowing directly on me waiting for the heat to ease up so I could go to sleep. But really, no one had AC on National Avenue back then. I never thought too much about it.

4. No heat upstairs in the house. Most of the time this was not a problem, but on those coldest mornings after you’ve been snuggled up under about 5 blankets and have slept so good, getting out of bed and hitting that cold floor meant you headed downstairs – in a hurry. Mom and dad finally put central heat and air in the house after me and my sisters all had left home – what’s up with that?

5. The train switching yard. There was a train switching yard about 2 blocks from our house. I remember laying awake at night listening to the trains clanging and banging (usually while I was trying to get cool enough to go to sleep). Train switching is a soothing sound

6. Neighbors. These houses were built on very small lots and National Avenue was in an area where people walked by on the sidewalk a lot. If you were out on your porch, more times than not someone would drop by and visit a little while.

7. Dinner. My mother worked (full-time as I recall) as a bookkeeper for a car dealership, but she always, ALWAYS cooked dinner for the family and we ALWAYS had canned biscuits with whatever we were having. I am not sure if that was because she was a lousy biscuit maker (probably not), or convenience, or my dad just preferred canned biscuits – but we always had canned biscuits.

8. Christmas. My mother LOVED Christmas (my dad tolerated it) and we always had a Christmas Even Open House where neighbors would drop by for a visit along with food and Christmas cheer. Christmas was a fun time at 1304 National Avenue.

Unfortunately, I do not have pictures of our National Avenue house back in the day, but this is an image I snagged off of Google Earth. Other than some of the plantings, not much else has changed. Glad to see it has been kept in good repair. It is easy to see how many of our oldest friends have commented on the similarities between the Taylor Gaylor house and our old house on National Avenue.

Charles and Sarah, I hope your kids have the same fond memories growing up at 702 Park Avenue as I did at 1304 National Avenue! I love you both!

{If you would like to be a guest blogger, please comment below or email me. Thanks!}