1. I had for many years a 6 inch long, rusty house key in my pocket
When I was 12 my mother married an amazing man – my step father- in short just Dad – and we moved into his timbered house which was built in 1620 to a village of 1200 inhabitants. Before we had lived in Düsseldorf, a city with about 1,5 million inhabitants. My Dad was a very handy man and he wanted to restore the house all by himself…which wasn’t a bad idea….if it wasn’t that it took FOREVER.
We had no heater till I was 17. We heated with coal in the kitchen and the two living rooms and my parents’ master bed room. I had no oven in my room – which means …I woke up to frost patterns (in German it is called Iceflowers- which is so much nicer ;) ) on my window a LOT and to this day I FREAK out when the heater is not working.
We also had a huge and heavy wooden oak door as an entrance door. The door was orignal and did I mention it was heavy? Not only that- it also had a key that was HUGE – I mean like 6 inches long. Which was a problem, because it is not hip to run around with a 6 inch rusty old house key in your pocket.
To make it even better my father who also wanted to do all electricity stuff himself, decided to have a fire bell at the entrance door instead of a normal electric bell. Every time we had visitors you could hear the bell through at least 1/3 of the village. NOT COOL as a teenager!
I loved the house…despite all the things I said I hated as a teenagers and even those things make me laugh now.
2. White Asparagus and Cabbage? Don’t even try to invite me
In spring time white asparagus is a big hit and in fall cabbage. I can’t stand it. I am sure most Germans will not understand this at all ;)
3. Handball & Table Tennis
I played for many many years the European version of team handball as well as table tennis. I was always a short girl but I was quick and I didn’t mind bumping others out of my way – so that helped ;)
4. Punk not Pop
I was a Punk Music Girl…and Rock and Alternative and Grunge…I could not stand the main stream music in the 80s. Funny enough though, I know a lot of 80s pop songs and I love a lot now – LOL. But the love for loud and fast music remains to this day!
5. Only my front half is Italian
My real Dad- not my step dad mentioned above was Italian and died a couple of days after my birth. I have always been proud of my half-italian heritage. It didn’t really help me on Kauai though when I was doing surfing lessons and told my hubs that I wouldn’t need sunscreen on my back because I am half-italian and I never had a sun burn. Apparently only my front half is Italian. The back pretty much not…and I spent a terrible couple hours in the Emergency Room in Hawaii. Not my most glorious moment in my life ;)
6. Never the designated driver
Not because I don’t want to be one…no, I simply have no driver’s license. Why…well..that is a long story- but to make it short I never needed one.
7. But wait there is more…
Hard to believe, I know but there is even more than 7 weird facts out there about me ;)
PhEw- that was hard- LOL- who likes to admit that he is weird ?;)
In what kind of house did you grow up?
Nat
Comments (14)
Debi Crouse
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First off…I loved your post and you made me fondly remember my childhood home. I grew up on the east coast of Florida in a concrete house that had add-ons done primarily done by my father, to support additions to the family. He converted a small porch area into a fine family room after a hurricane came ashore and rain came into the house through small slat windows that were very common to Florida in the 50’s. My son lives in this house today and each time I visit there is something that triggers a fond childhood memory! Thanks for sharing yours….I had it way easier than you did!
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Zeffy
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hi Natalie,what an intersting post. I grew up in Pretoria,South Africa. We always had some or other family member living with us, I never had my own bedroom….only when I married,then I shared with hubby.Back to communal living….if you woke up after dad…you would be LATE he would hog up the bathroom,,,,,and the towels would be wet…and the bathroom so misty and humid my hair would frizz!! Winters were always cold in our homes in south Africa….. Only when I got to Athens did I enjoy the warmth of radiators….although this winter will be cold because the price of heating fuel has shot sky high!
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SusanJane
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I grew up in what is called military US tract housing which means there is a small set of cookie cutter houses with a few interchangeable parts. The end result is everyones houses looked pretty much like the rest. The military had a very narrow color range usually puke greens and browns with a little diarrhea yellow-brown thrown in. Since this was on the desert we had few trees and stupid lawns that went brown most of the year because of the heat. It is no wonder that I hate housing developments of any sort, even the so-called million dollar mc-mansions. All that aside kids are kids. We had great fun in our neighborhood playing huge 20+ kids games of hide-and-seek and other games. One of the most memorable things were the wind storms. Not annoying blowing dust since that was the norm. But the huge sky eating walls of sand and dust that completely obscured the sun, the Sierra Nevada mountains and everything else. Think the 1930s dust bowl in the mid-US or those shots in movies of the Sahara with the walls of tan devouring the landscape. They were awe inspiring and great fun for kids. We’d put on heavy coats and hold the bottoms out like wings. The wind was over 60 miles per hour and some time 70 so we’d get air borne! No joke.
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Nathalie Kalbach
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Susan, I was laughing hard at your description of the house colors- LOL. You have such an awesome way to describe the winds and the surrounding it was so easy to imagine. Thank you for sharing! And I don’t really like cookie cutter houses either ;)
Nat
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dianayee
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Hi Nathalie, I just met you yesterday at Bizzy B. although I haven’t taken one of your classes yet (scheduling conflicts), I follow your blog. I admitted that I didn’t leave comments but resolved to do so now. We moved around so much as a child, that once I got married and had kids, we aren’t moving ever. partly because I would be forced to cull through my arts supplies…
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nathalie-kalbach
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Diana, it was so wonderful meeting you even shortly on friday at Bizzy B’s! I know it is hard when you move so much as a kid – one is happy to stay in one place- and I hear you on the art supplies- LOL. Have a gorgeous day! Hope to come back to Toronto soon :) Nat
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Martha Richardson
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Great Post Nat – I grew up in a LARGE 22 room house that was built in 1840, it had to be large because there was 6 of us children of which I am the oldest.The house had a garden room which had a sunken fish pond, with a fountain, and filled with large Koi…that is until be moved in. We had cats and I think they thought that they had died and gone to heaven…well eventually there were no more KOI.
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nathalie-kalbach
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Oh my goodness, Martha that sounds sooo cool. It sounds like this should be a movie! 22 rooms -ohhhh – did you find secret rooms or treasures? And lol at the kitties- hehehehe- Koi-heaven ;) Thanks for sharing Martha! I enjoyed reading this a lot! Nat
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Jean Marmo
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Ho cool! Our dad put an addition on our little ranch house. My twin sister and I had a room upstairs and he deisgned the furniture.
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nathalie-kalbach
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Oh how cool your father designed the furniture! That must have been so wonderful- I hope you still have some pieces! thank you for sharing this Jean ! Nat
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Kathy Gledsdale
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What a great 7 things to learn about you. I grew up in a bungalow (which was huge), that the friends of my parents said we just had to live in, so sold it too my parents very cheaply. We didn’t have heating for a many years, just an aga in the kitchen that heated the kitchen and the water and my mother cooked on. In the summer the kitchen was boiling! The rest of the house we put paraffin heaters in. We had mould in the wardrobes and like you ice on the insides of windows! To have a bath you had to be very brave as it was freezing in there and the toilet was just the same, you didn’t hang about in there! The last owners had been very eccentric musicians and never used the doors and just climbed in and out of the house through the windows. We couldn’t afford carpets so my parents bought old carpet sample books and stuck them all together to form a fabulous big carpet. I loved that bungalow.
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nathalie-kalbach
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Oh I so love the story about the carpet sample books! That must have looked so cool! And hehehe- about the excentric musicians living in the house before. Thank you so much Kathy- I so loved reading this! Nat
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Sue Clarke
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Cute post this morning Nat. I bet that you had some wonderful thick blankets growing up (at least I hope you did to stay warm in your bedroom).
I grew up in a house which my grandparents owned. It had 4 apartments and we lived on the bottom floor across from them. On the top floor were two other apartments and in one was a close childhood friend. I hadn’t seen her in 30 years and got together with her a few years ago. The funny thing is that we picked up where we left off. Although neither one of us were listening to the Bay City Rollers anymore.
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nathalie-kalbach
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How cool, Sue that you met her and you both just picked up where you were left off! That is so special. It must have been amazing to grow up wiht the grandparents and also your friend in the same house! Thank you for sharing !!! Nat
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