Tag: Yesteryear

  • Old Year’s Day

    Old Year’s Day

    Did you know that another name for New Year’s Eve Day is Old Year’s Day? Not used widely, in my experience, but logical. Retrospective. Emphasis on the year expiring rather than the year arriving. Despite a personal proclivity for forward-looking and possibility, a year-end review offers merits too. This day’s, this year’s minutes are too…

  • Kestrel at Rosslyn Boathouse

    Kestrel at Rosslyn Boathouse

    This evening I return to a nostalgic snapshot steeped in the sepia tones of yesteryear. An artifact from our Rosslyn collection, this old photo was featured on February 24, 2014 in the Essex Community blog by Katie Shepard. As often, the discourse generated by this visual time, capsule provided valuable insight to the Kestrel, a…

  • Mileage May Vary

    Mileage May Vary

    Slide into the wood and leather cabin of our hand-me-down 1949 Riley RMB, and you’ll be transported (despite the sad fact that this handsome saloon has not been driven in about four decades), transported to an earlier time when details, materials, and finishes mattered. A time when motoring was an appreciated privilege whether commuting to…

  • Yesteryears Today

    Yesteryears Today

    Today is the day between my late mother-in-law’s birthday and my wife Susan’s birthday. October 26 is also exactly half a year until my next birthday. An interstitial day, perhaps no more or less important than yesterday or tomorrow, and yet these in-between times, these slightly symbolic signposts draw my attention to time. The passage…

  • Riley Redux?

    Riley Redux?

    Returning to the topic of a beautiful vintage British motorcar that has spent the last decade or so in Rosslyn’s carriage barn. The photo of this evening’s post was taken on August 3, 2019 during a rare out-of-barn outing. My beautiful bride ready to roll in the Riley! Is it time for a Riley redux?…

  • Yesteryear or Yesterday?

    Yesteryear or Yesterday?

    As I inch my way toward a long anticipated halfway point — six months of old house journaling — I’m finding that time, more than sixteen and a half years, has begun to blur. Excavating and analyzing more than a decade and a half of Rosslyn notes and artifacts and drawings and plans and journal…

  • Upcycled Christmas Gifts

    Upcycled Christmas Gifts

    What wintery wonders shall I share with you today? How about a celebration (and showcase) of upcycled Christmas gifts dreamed into existence by three allstar members of our icehouse rehab team? Pam, Hroth, and Tony stopped Susan and me in our just-barely-post-winter-solstice tracks with an early Christmas gift (or three) that exemplify the apex of…

  • Champy Spotted at Essex Ferry Dock (circa 1980?)

    Champy Spotted at Essex Ferry Dock (circa 1980?)

    Champy spotted at Essex ferry dock?!?! Once upon a time… I’m gambling that it was around 1980 for no reliable reasons except the look and condition of the Old Dock Restaurant, the presence of ice shanties on a throughly frozen lake with no ferry canal, and the incredibly well executed snow/ice sculpture just north of…

  • Icehouse Rehab 01: The Ice Hook

    Icehouse Rehab 01: The Ice Hook

    Our first full workweek is in the rearview mirror, so Rosslyn’s icehouse rehabilitation is officially underway. No gold plated spade plunged into the earth, no glossy speeches, and no hoopla aside from a collective sigh of relief, some well earned rest today, and an antique ice hook. A what?!?! More about the ice hook in…

  • Essex Cottage & 1946 Buick

    Essex Cottage & 1946 Buick

    Essex Cottage & 1946 Buick (vintage photo) Sometimes a trifle is all we need to smile inwardly and lift our spirits. A chuckle. The wink of wonder. This auction item offered no specific insight into Rosslyn’s yesteryears, nor did it illuminate in any meaningful way our fair village or its environs. But the photo, auction…

  • Hillcrest Station
  • Industrial Essex Waterfront

    In Essex we live connected with our history. There are daily reminders — architectural, cultural, anecdotal, etc. — of the yesterdays that endure or linger on today. It’s not so much that time has stood still (although there are plenty who will suggest as much), but rather Essex allows a concurrence of times. Past and…