Tuesday, February 1, 2011

House on the Island


This old house lives near Barn Creek off Gum Thicket road over on Gwynn's Island.

By the way, some Mathews natives  pronounce island as i- lunt or ah - lunt.  A "t" shows up where a "d" might otherwise make itself known.  Another example is, "I'll grab aholt (instead of ahold or a hold) of that rope if you toss it to me from the dock." 

I wouldn't mention this except if I don't this will all be forgotten 100 seconds years from now.  Sadly, the number of people who say Gwynn's Ilunt has dwindled almost as quickly as the number of commercial watermen. 

But all this is a topic for some other day, perhaps the same day we talk about how my grandmother used to say "poosh" instead of "push" and whether that's a Scottish or Irish influence. 

Let's return to the topic at hand, which has nothing to do with Scotland or Ireland but did have something to do with a lovely old house on an ilunt island.  

I very rarely go down this road and have never noticed this place before.

This beauty was such an unexpected sight, I actually let out a gasp.



She sits way back off the main road, which twists sharply to provide the nice profile view above. Are those curtains still hanging in the lower left window? If you click on the image, you might see some hanging in the upper right window too.



This is yet another example of a place I'd like to study and savor carefully, up close. But without permission from the property owner, it's just not legal possible.

Plus with my luck I'd open the door and the whole thing would come crashing down on me. If you suffered through  read Sunday's post, this was the day I was wearing  those hideous neon pink socks. And that would not have been good, to have been found under a pile of rubble, wearing pink socks with holes in the toes. Have mercy, my poor grandmother would have pooshed and spun in her grave, as many times as she told us to make sure everything we had on was just so and clean, in case we had to dash off to the hospital for the ever-looming emergency, and all.

And thus concludes a post about a beautiful old house; with a pit stop at an informal observation of the local language; before careening out of control onto previously-declared-verboten neon pink socks and what one should wear in the unlikely event of a dire emergency; all of which means that it's time for CBW to get some sleep call it a post.

The End.

13 comments:

Kay L. Davies said...

Well, you lost me somewhere in the middle there, but I think I can safely say "poosh" for push is Scottish. My grandmother used to say it. She was from Aberdeen, Scotland. Grandpa was from Coatbridge, near Glasgow, and the first thing I remember anyone saying to me was "Dinna fa' doon." I mentioned that to a lovely Scottish immigrant lady and she said, "Oh, he must have been from Glasgow" in a tone that almost but not quite equated Glasgow with a dread disease.
Hi to your mom and Gustav. You just never know who's apt to invade your peace and quiet this year.
-- K

Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel

AverettLadyNana said...

Well, I guess that is why people have issues understanding me when I talk as the way I pronounce those words like that. And New Point sounding like New Pint...I took Stretch-N-Sew classes back in early 80's and the woman there asked me did I live in Mathews as I said measure like a woman from Mathews who had taken some classes said it. I may have left there in 1970 for college, spent a lot of time in Poquoson and say some words as the natives there do.

My G-aunt left home at 12 or so for boarding school in VA, College in VA and Grad School in NY. She worked years in NYC returning in 1950 to Mathews. People in NYC said she had such a southern drawl it was hard to understand her and people in Mathews said she had lost it and sounded like a _____ Yankee. LOL...

deborah said...

That poor house! The photos are awesome.

Too early for wit or clever (but yet, its never that time for me lately...) just have a great day!

Caution/Lisa said...

I absolutely love your writing, and your pix always get my mind running in multiple directions at once wondering about the former inhabitants of the houses. That last sentence has 26 words. I'm very impressed with that verbosity.

Anonymous said...

my dad said "poosh"

AMN

Trisha said...

So glad you didn't get buried in rubble wearing your neon pink socks witht he holes! That would have been a tragedy - in many different ways.

Nate's Pics said...

Whoa - what the heck is holding that house up?? I've never seen that house on the island before - I'll have to search for it next time!

Unknown said...

When we first moved up here people were always giving me that squinty eyed look and saying "Ye ain't fum 'round here, air ye?" In never realized how thik my Tidewater accent was after living in Virginia Beach most of my life. Now people are surprised to learn that I wasn't born and raised here in the mountains.....and ask if I'm related to THOSE ALLENS: http://www.blueridgeinstitute.org/ballads/allennews2.html

abb said...

There are a lot of houses like that in and around where my parents are in MO. Here, not so much. Of course, there's no countryside here in Fairfield County - every single inch of it is a town or city.

judi/Gmj said...

OMG! that is a fab house to check out.. how close are the nearest neighbors? :o)

It still has an electric meter attached.. are ya shoor no one lives there?

velvet350 said...

Now this is a house I'd like to see DIY renovate! lol

Your blog is such a joy to read! Thanks for sharing your adventures with the world. :)

Mental P Mama said...

Wait. It's not I-lan?

Meg McCormick said...

Mother Nature has all flippin' day... eventually, it's all ashes to ashes and dust to dust.