Page 6 - Demo

older widow who lived directly across the street from us. While this was very kind on his part, this considerate side of him did not reveal itself at home.When we were Up North, I%u2019d still see Kay from time to time, and my parents regularly went over to have cocktails at her place. But after entering college, I stayed in Kalamazoo as much as possible%u2014and never saw Kay again. Yet I will always be grateful to both her and Howard for showing me how you could live your own kind of life, amid art, inside a house unlike others%u2014and for convincing my parents to buy that twenty acres Up North. After my parents acquired their land on the Au Sable River, my father built a pine-log cottage. As was common in Michigan at that time, it was made of vertical half-rounded timbers connected by grooves and splines, atop a concrete floor slab. It was larger, but very similar to a lake cottage we had previously rented for summer vacations. Over time, my father added a fireplace with a raised hearth constructed of used bricks, a screened porch on the front, and an small guest bedroom with a slip-covered day bed and a small black-and-white open entry porch on the side. It was erected about 75 feet back from the river television set. Howard and Kay also owned 20 acres of heavily forested property Up North (what Michigander%u2019s call the northern half of the state%u2019s lower peninsula). It was in the Huron National Forest, on the Au Sable River, and they urged my parents to also buy land along the river%u2014which they did. Howard%u2019s and Kay%u2019s getaway home was very modern in style%u2014with a square shape, flat roof, and open floor plan. There was a vast stone fireplace dominating the center that was so huge, it%u2019s backside formed the wall of the hallway behind it. All the other walls were cinder block%u2014which were left unpainted inside and out. Perched high up on the very edge of the river valley, with a precipitous drop down to the water, the site provided a breathtaking view of a dramatic bend in the river through the many picture windows. Soon, Kay and Howard bought a new home in Detroit%u2014a large, 2-story modern unit in a just-built downtown co-op community designed by a famous Bauhaus architect. As before, they loved the fact that their new neighborhood was racially integrated. What I remember most about their new place were the metal-framed glass-panel exterior walls, and the small galley kitchen behind the living-room/dining-room partition wall. While this tiny, very narrow space was sleek, and I admired its functionality, it certainly did not look like a foodeditor%u2019s domain. But it suited Kay%u2019s personality to a tee. Everything about this home was extremely modern to the nth degree%u2014which was exciting%u2014at least at first glance. However, after a while, I found the intentionally severe starkness lacked warmth. I favored their quainter, older place. My parent%u2019s made very few new friends, and those friendships rarely lasted. So, I was fortunate to have had a chance to meet Howard and Kay before they, too, were destined to fade from the scene. But they didn%u2019t fade away. Howard had a sudden heart attack and died. My father then took on the role he%u2019d had as an Eagle Scout, of a cheerful, dutiful, concerned, and very caring aide to the now widowed Kay whenever she needed a man%u2019s assistance. He also did this for the First grade class photograph. 1957Crayon on construction paper. 1956bank, so it was convenient to the water%u2014but didn%u2019t offer much of a view. We all called it The Cabin.My tense, gruff, short-fused, hyperactive father benefited from the solitude and calming isolation of The Cabin (with the help of alcohol). I also needed our retreat to flow out of my protective shell, and be truly alive in the safe, forested setting. To me, it was a relief to not have to dress up, but to wear simple, comfortable, often old, pants and tops. This was a place where, particularly when I was alone, I could avoid the ceaseless belittlement and family agitation, and put out of my mind the unappealing conformity-driven lifestyle that was demanded back at our home in Grosse Pointe.