Telling the Truth

Lovely, isn’t it? I thought so, too. One small fact: Ours is the red stairway, not the white stairway with the lovely climbing roses!

We arrived in late September 1965, days before D began his graduate program, and a few weeks after our wedding. During that fall we worked our hearts out getting our little space the way we wanted it.

I married a man who loves to take photos. Back then they were all slides. I thought it excessive. Just like my father who never missed a chance to take a photo. At this time in my life, however, I’m grateful for the slides and photos we’ve amassed over the years.

Which leads to a small fact I didn’t fully appreciate until I looked at these old photos. Bookshelves and books have been our go-to interior decorating strategy ever since we got married.

Here’s evidence that we’re already headed in that direction. Not very elegant, but the picture shouts out to thousands of books to come, “You are so very welcome in this house!”

Notice the towels stacked on a box by the bed, stuff all over the bed and adjacent chair, lamp not in the right place, and who knows what on the front half of the dresser and on the floor. But the books? Safely put away in their place of honor, on top of the dresser in their brand new bookshelf.

Here’s a better picture of our bed, all made up just for this photo. Notice the bird prints on the wall, long before we became amateur birders. I like the blues and greens in the bedspread. Yes, that’s a garter belt on the right head-post.

OK. That ends the bedroom tour. Now to the front living room area. Here we have evidence of Cambridge grime. Nasty stuff that had to be scrubbed off before we could paint anything. I’m especially taken by the luxurious amount of hair I had on my head back then. Amazing.

We worked on this as often as possible during the first couple of months. Mostly on the weekends. It was exhausting. Here’s proof of how exhausting it was. It’s my ‘don’t you dare take this photo’ pose, which I’ve perfected over the years. I almost didn’t include it. But…

Here’s the outcome in our living room. I see I made a mistake in my post yesterday. We had two large windows in the living room, not just one. And there’s no clock on the mantel. Oh well. The photo on the mantel is Sister #3, Diane! That was a nice surprise for me.

The record player and radio were our total entertainment center for years. No TV. No internet, of course. Exorbitant (for us) costs for long-distance phone calls. Snail mail that brought real letters and real bills.

Here’s another living room shot–this time of me sitting on the old sofa that came with the apartment. I’m facing the fireplace. Looking like a lady, all relaxed and reading something. No shoes. Just home from work. Notice the turned-over sofa cushions. The wrong side looked better than the right side.

 One last photo–our old porcelain bathtub with clawfeet.

 Good for a long soak after a hard day’s work!

 © Elouise Renich Fraser, 30 March 2015
All photos by DAFraser, Fall 1965