I can tell you're having fun with this! My bedroom, growing up was in our refinished basement. Everything was built in, including my bunkbeds my parents designed after the Amtrak sleeper car. That room features heavily in my coming of age memoir, Strings Attached. Thanks for bringing me back there - and the autumn swirl shagcarpet.
Oooooh I can't wait to read about cellars! I think all humans could use an underground cave space that they can access at anytime. Such a metaphor for integration and gestation and all-around nourishment. Thank you, Julie! 🤗
The most profound and meaningful dream I ever had involved me running down the stairs into an underground space - cellars and basements are such special, metaphorical spaces!
Lovely post Julie. When I was young I liked the cellar because it was quiet and a little light filtered in and I would curl up in a spot to read. My current cellar is the root of many problems due to all the structural issues so I try to think about it as little as possible. Hopefully one day I will feel differently. One's relationship with spaces will often change and shift based on our experiences and associations.
I loved the basement of one childhood home! It was unfinished and dusty but had a dreamy little room with a bare light bulb under the stairs and another large room with shelves for home preserves. So much room for imagination! Looking forward to the next installment! :-)
You outdid yourself with this one Julie! You've built up some delicious tension and left us wondering what comes next. As well, we are all considering the cellars that have made an appearance in our life. My grandparents had the cellar of all cellars in their old farmhouse. It was spooky, lit with one bare bulb after electricity finally arrived on the farm. It was dirty and home to many magnificent cobwebs. I had a grand time in that old cellar! Many awesome memories.
My husband grew up in a house in Columbus, Ohio, that was built in 1920 by immigrant Italians and in the 90s when his father went to finish the attic, he found some dried homemade sausages in the rafters. My father-in-law also learned to make homemade wine from the Italian neighbors and did that in the basement. I tried some and it was a very good table wine. I like both cellars and attics :-)
Delightful! I love learning more about you through your posts. I’m really looking forward to this series. (I was always nervous to go down into the basement at BOTH grandmothers’ houses)
OMG! What a story!! For years, I had this old New Yorker cartoon on my fridge - a guy w/ a sailboat in his living room, tools all around, reading the instructions. "Step 4. Be sure to complete steps 1 through 3 in a large open area near a body of water."
Gaston Bachelard's book "The Poetics of Space," has a bunch of stuff about dreams - which rooms of the house take place in certain dreams, and what that means. Which I guess is what phenomenology is all about. Meanwhile, in my recurring dream from childhood, I was being chased around the house by a wild boar. 😱
I can tell you're having fun with this! My bedroom, growing up was in our refinished basement. Everything was built in, including my bunkbeds my parents designed after the Amtrak sleeper car. That room features heavily in my coming of age memoir, Strings Attached. Thanks for bringing me back there - and the autumn swirl shagcarpet.
Ha! I immediately think of the scene with the broken slat doors - is that the same as New Year's Eve? That scene could ONLY take place in a basement.
Thinking of Joseph Cornell making his art, his life's-work, in his mother's basement. It was the place he dreamed his dreams.
Oh yeah! I didn’t think of that!
Oooooh I can't wait to read about cellars! I think all humans could use an underground cave space that they can access at anytime. Such a metaphor for integration and gestation and all-around nourishment. Thank you, Julie! 🤗
Thanks for reading! Of course I agree. 😊
The most profound and meaningful dream I ever had involved me running down the stairs into an underground space - cellars and basements are such special, metaphorical spaces!
So cool! Is it always a shadowy mystery or do you remember what happens next?
Lovely post Julie. When I was young I liked the cellar because it was quiet and a little light filtered in and I would curl up in a spot to read. My current cellar is the root of many problems due to all the structural issues so I try to think about it as little as possible. Hopefully one day I will feel differently. One's relationship with spaces will often change and shift based on our experiences and associations.
Yes, good point. Memories and connotations are powerful. Thanks for reading.
I loved the basement of one childhood home! It was unfinished and dusty but had a dreamy little room with a bare light bulb under the stairs and another large room with shelves for home preserves. So much room for imagination! Looking forward to the next installment! :-)
Thanks, Tara. I’m loving these stories about childhood basements.
"The cellar will never leave us because the cellar is within us." What a wonderful line.
Thanks! I’m glad it landed. 🙃
You outdid yourself with this one Julie! You've built up some delicious tension and left us wondering what comes next. As well, we are all considering the cellars that have made an appearance in our life. My grandparents had the cellar of all cellars in their old farmhouse. It was spooky, lit with one bare bulb after electricity finally arrived on the farm. It was dirty and home to many magnificent cobwebs. I had a grand time in that old cellar! Many awesome memories.
I look forward to the rest of this series.
Thanks for reading, Donna! Your description of your grandparents’ cellar gave me the heebie-jeebies. 😂
My husband grew up in a house in Columbus, Ohio, that was built in 1920 by immigrant Italians and in the 90s when his father went to finish the attic, he found some dried homemade sausages in the rafters. My father-in-law also learned to make homemade wine from the Italian neighbors and did that in the basement. I tried some and it was a very good table wine. I like both cellars and attics :-)
Great stories! My Italian great-uncle also made wine in his basement. 😊
Delightful! I love learning more about you through your posts. I’m really looking forward to this series. (I was always nervous to go down into the basement at BOTH grandmothers’ houses)
Basements are TERRIFYING. Thanks for reading!
Gosh, many harrowing scenes - that place needed a major energy cleanse! But we didn't know about that stuff back then.
And, in fairness, it WAS a basement. You’ll see what I mean in next week’s post. 😱
OMG! That's so cool! Thanks for sharing it. I do dream of certain houses and rooms, but can't recall a single dream of a cellar. Hmmmm. 🤔
OMG! What a story!! For years, I had this old New Yorker cartoon on my fridge - a guy w/ a sailboat in his living room, tools all around, reading the instructions. "Step 4. Be sure to complete steps 1 through 3 in a large open area near a body of water."
Gaston Bachelard's book "The Poetics of Space," has a bunch of stuff about dreams - which rooms of the house take place in certain dreams, and what that means. Which I guess is what phenomenology is all about. Meanwhile, in my recurring dream from childhood, I was being chased around the house by a wild boar. 😱
I've wondered for YEARS.
P.S. I never read the directions first. Too impatient.