Light and Love

Kelly's maternal grandmother, Ethelyn Fern Alexander Kelly, lived in a fine old house that she and her husband Allen, the grandfather that Kelly, her brother, and their cousins never knew, built before their marriage in the 1930s. It sat at the corner of Edgehill Road and a little laneway just west of South Diamond, in Jacksonville, Illinois. Rusty brown shingles, green trim, and bright red shutters with a sailboat motif.


Ethelyn and Allen were married in the house, 860 Edgehill Road, in front of the fireplace.


And in that house they raised two very interesting young girls who went on to become very interesting women, Kelly's mom Sharon and the cousins' mom, Aunt Nancy. Here they are with their dad on the front porch, Sharon on the left and Nancy on the right.


And here they are with their mother, hitting the road one hot midwestern summer day. You can feel the heat in this picture. And you can see the girls' characters in their posture.


860 Edgehill was also home to several Boston Terriers. This little one is either Bootsie or Susie. She looks a little like someone else I know. Here she is with Sharon, and Kelly's dad, Dick.


As you can see from the photo below, 860 Edgehill was always a source of joy for Kelly.

She remembers the smell of the gas stove, Grammie standing on the front porch watching a tornado approach, M&Ms from a large jar on the kitchen counter, and the heat of the day settling into night.


And when we emptied the house in 1992 so that Grammie could move into a small apartment nearby, things migrated from Edgehill Road to our home. These were mostly things you could keep and use in an apartment. Nostalgic items like the old Fisher Price circus that all the grandchildren played with, or a toy cast iron stove. Now the children in our lives play with them. Cast iron frying pans, stone crocks, drinking glasses that held many a sweet tea, linen tablecloths and napkins, an old chair, a lamp, dozens of dishes.

Then we got a house and antique-loving cousin Kent saw to it that we got an old walnut dresser with a marble top, circa 1890. It used to sit in Grammie's bedroom; now it serves as a bar in our dining room. Manhattans, anyone?


A few years later while we were visiting him, he pointed out this light fixture hanging from the screened-in porch of his house.

It was the lamp that had hung in the living room at 860 Edgehill Road. Kent had rescued it before the house was torn down. "When did you say your house was built?" he drawled. Oh, round about 1930. "And it's kind of craftsman style?" Yup.

"Well, I think this lamp would look great in it. It's the right period and everything. You just have to promise me that you'll get it rewired." So, we brought it home and it languished in the basement for a year or more until we mentioned it to our keen friend Erick, who never met a challenge he didn't like.

We agreed to clean it up, and he agreed to rewire and install it. So we began with this.


Kelly sanded down the body and repainted it black, and cleaned the brass, glass, and metal shades. Cousin Kent would approve of Erick's comprehensive gutting and replacement of all things electrical. Here is Electrical Erick fitting the lamp into the ceiling. This took a bit of work. Some required part languishes in an Illinois landfill.



The finished product! It throws off a nice light.


Warm and homey. It feels like it's always been here. And who knows, maybe it's sending out a signal of welcome. Tonight when I came home I saw signs of a nest being built on a window sill, and then, at long last, a mini-flock of hermit thrushes set up shop in the backyard. Maybe this house will be as warm and welcoming as 860 Edgehill Road.