Saturday, February 03, 2018

Wooden Windows

The old house where I grew up had single-pane windows. We kept them caulked, and in autumn, we stuffed newspapers around the edges to close any gaps. The mild autumns here aren't usually too bad, but the winter wind can be brisk. And it can easily find cracks and crevices. The cold wind is good at that.

Our creative space down at the barn has windows exactly like the ones I remember. Since we don't spend much time in there during winter except to fetch Christmas decorations or old books we store in shelves down there.

Each time we walk in winter, the sight of those windows sends me down memory lane. It's interesting what triggers those trips.

What does that for you?


11 comments:

  1. I remember the winter chill through single pane windows - and the taking out the storm windows and helping (as much as a young child can help) my Dad and Mom put them up for the winter. I visited (about 2 years ago) that home which has been kept up (for years for the hired man's family and now used for family visitors) on the home ranch and the storm windows are still in the storage space off one of the upstairs bedrooms. Memories revisited.
    Joy

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, I remember those windows, just like yours. Our house was from the 1850s, and wind cut through those openings around the caulking. Even the plastic cellophane type lining tacked inside billowed out. And the barn! Were you in the farm a few miles over?

    ReplyDelete
  3. AH yes, we remember them very well. Funny the news papers were reused for so many purposes.

    ReplyDelete
  4. My old house had wooden windows, but it also had storm windows to cut some of the draft. Now I have modern windows and although they don't have the charm of the old ones, there are no drafts.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I remember when I was first married, we lived in his grandmothers old house. It had old windows. The kind with the weights in them that held them up. When I weight would break, the window would slam shut usually never to be opened again. The air would come through them too. Im glad we moved and have the new windows installed.
    Lisa

    ReplyDelete
  6. I remember those old windows too, tacking plastic over them in winter also to help stop the cold air.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I remember those single pane windows. I wonder why it didn't occurred to my parent and grandparents to have double pane windows... Maybe it was because most people were too poor after the war.

    I see you'll have a job of caulking those old window pane as the old caulking is cracked and missing in places. It does bring back old memories. I think that we were tough in those days. Now I would be chilled to the bone like I get in the barn on very cold days.
    Hugs, Julia

    ReplyDelete
  8. I like looking at old windows.
    As far as what can send me down memory lane, it doesn't usually take much. I can get a whiff of wood smoke, see some henbit blooming, or see a bluebird and be transported in my mind to my grandparents' farm.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Kerosene lanterns. They lit the house so we didn't have to go to bed as soon as the winter sun went down.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Growing up the house I lived in had wooden windows but it doesn't get that cold here, so not a problem

    ReplyDelete

Please consider sharing

Email Signup Form

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required