Stripped
Just trying to drive web traffic, also “lindsay lohan” “free” “naked”
But seriously folks…. today, in the ongoing saga of my cooperative renovations, I came home to a ripped up carpet. I mean completely barebones gone.
Wow this is ugly, I thought glaring at the yellow tape, peeling paint, staples, long winding cracks meandering like veins between my apartment and my neighbors’ homes.
It is ugly, glaring, in the modernized streamline that is our beaaaaautttiful DC home. but…
on second thought,
it is also real.
With the carpet gone, voices echo, loudly. You can see bits of carpet gone by (blue and and frayed, black and tightknight), a veritable family tree of the hallway that was. You can feel the floor, including it’s ripples, cracks, and bumps beneath your feet. You can hear the click of heels across it, what gets dropped, what gets picked up, the rhythm of different feet.
It is raw, real and I like it. Not quite enough to be sad about the coming new sleeker, modder new brown and tan carpet, mind you, but still. I have seen the core of my building and it is a good one.
Ray C. said,
Wrote on May 21, 2008 @ 9:17 pm
In my oldest memories, home is a big old house with creaky wood floors and echoing rooms. I feel lucky to have settled down in just that kind of house. The old floor beneath my feet tells the story of my house — the scratches and dings caused by two centuries of feet and furniture, the patched places where there used to be a stairwell, the perfect circle cut to accommodate (I think) a stovepipe. There are insect holes that must have been in the wood before the tree was cut down. When we were renovating the dining room a couple of years ago, my wife and I used a metal stepladder that was missing the rubber cap that should have covered the sharp edge of one its legs. Now, a section of the wide-plank is marked by dozens of tiny crescents. So we’ve become part of the story, too. Some people don’t like old floors — they’re not nearly level, they’re noisy, we should maybe cover them with carpet. I say, no way. I appreciate the history. Or maybe it’s empathy, now that I’m also scratched and dinged and a little creaky, too.
washwords said,
Wrote on May 21, 2008 @ 10:19 pm
rayc! You’re back! now… when are YOU going to start your blog!
Ray C. said,
Wrote on May 22, 2008 @ 8:18 pm
I’d blog but … I have nothing to say!
washwords said,
Wrote on May 23, 2008 @ 9:49 am
not true, Ray C! what you posted here was beautiful! Send more! (p.s. like I have anything to say?) 🙂 Happy memorial day, glad friends and strangers alike have found me!