Category Archives: Mesta Park

Happy Holiday Tour 2009

22 Sunday Nov 2009

Posted by in Life at Home, Mesta Park, Soul Care

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

When tour home doors  open the first weekend of December, it will be our great hope to  live up to  Perle Mesta’s reputation as  the “Hostest with the Mostest.”

This year’s five homes  — the stars of Mesta Park’s 32nd Holiday Home Tour — congregate in the west-end of the historic district — just a few hops, skips and a jump from one another …especially the two who are ‘shouting neighbors.’

For the physically able, the weekend will offer a great opportunity to see  the USA neighborhood in their Chevrolegs.  Or if that sales pitch isn’t convincing,  how about this one:? — Just like Nancy Sinatra’s go-go boots, this old neighborhood was made for walking so seeing it by foot is the absolute best way.  That is, as long as the weather plays nice.

There’s no better place to see examples of Oklahoma City’s oldest historic housing.  While it’s true Mesta Park homes share a similar vintage to Heritage Hills, Mesta Park’s unique appeal is that its homes are — well how do I put this?   —  well, they’re just a bit more historical.

Our district is still being “gentrified”;  many homes are still in need of a caring owner who will bring it back to its former splendor.  This year’s tour features two tour homes that have undergone that painstaking transformation.    I’ve discovered some  homes off -tour still have their original kitchen layout and cabinetry, though of course the appliances have changed with the times.  So my point is this:  since Mesta Park homes have undergone less updates over the years, much more of what “tourists” are likely to see is what  the home’s first tenants actually saw and used.

Take my own home for instance, which appeared on the tour three years ago.   All our upstairs bath fixtures are original with few exceptions.  If you pull up the lid of the back of our potty’s water tank, it’s date stamped “1928.”  Our house has some original light fixtures, original door hardware and the original wavy window glass in most of our panes.    Most  tour home kitchens (like mine) are modern.  But the rest of the best will be historical, from the bottom of the original wood floors to the top of the ornate wood and crown moldings.  I speculate that, at least in the spirit of interior historical preservation, it pays to be the poor cousin of the neighborhood.

Most Mesta Park homes are modest in comparison to Heritage Hills.  But Mesta Park has its shares of mansions, with Perle Mesta’s home, sitting at the corner of Northwest 16th and Lee being its most famous.  Most of Mesta Park’s mansions sit within easy walking distance to the “boulevard” — that little stretch of road where the streetcar once traveled up Shartel Avenue before it rounded the corner to head west on 18th Street.  Three of this year’s tour homes rest on the old boulevard streetcar route — with the other two just steps away.

Here’s a sneak preview of this year’s tour homes.  Exterior shots only.  But doesn’t it make you want to peek inside?

We who live in and love our historic homes recognize our place as our home’s temporary caretakers.  I look forward to meeting each to see how the years have treated them, and as I walk through the rooms, I will wonder about the families that once called it home..

Whether we own or rent, it doesn’t really matter; living in a historic home reminds us that we are all travelers — tourists really — just passing through; and that these old homes on this patch of earth will outlive us all.

And by candlelight on the first Saturday evening in December, they will outshine us all too.

801 Northwest 17th Street - Built 1910

905 Northwest 16th Street -- Built 1914

1006 Northwest 18th Street - Built 1918

1009 Northwest 18th Street - Built 1910

924 Northwest 20th Street - Built 1914

Civil War Daffodils

02 Monday Nov 2009

Posted by in In the Garden, Life at Home, Mesta Park, The Great Outdoors

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

, , , , , ,

Empress

Empress Daffodil, 1869

There are so many outside chores this time of year, it’s easy to get out of focus.

I go out to spread a new layer of fresh mulch to remember the need to plant my new Daffodil bulbs.  I plant the bulbs to remember the desire to  transplant my tender herbs into containers; when freezing temperatures hit, I plan to move my herbs to the basement so I can continue to use them for winter cooking .  So I get that done to notice the leaf debris nesting under the shrubs and perennials.  I clean up the leaves to remember my desire to sow fall seeds, like Poppies and Larkspur and Delphinium.  And by the time I finally get to the mulch, it’s almost too dark to spread it.  Daylight Savings Time is spent.

This morning, rather than continue with my backyard mulching project, I decided to shift gears and head out to the front to rake leaves.  Our old neighborhood is full of tall deciduous trees — Sycamores, Elms, Sweetgums and Oaks — and right now, it’s the season of raining leaves.  If I don’t rake, the leaf cover can suffocate Cinderella’s fescue lawn.  So today I’ve raked 390 gallons of leaves!  And we still have a good four more weeks of leaf fall with another 1000 gallons of leaves. I should be in shape in time for winter.  

In the meantime — terribly out of shape and with the last two day’s work — I’m exhausted.  So after deciding to call it ‘quits’ for today, I let myself  into the back yard to put up the leaf blower.  I take a few steps up the driveway and run straight into one of my brand new daffodils  —  one of  three I planted yesterday afternoon — sitting on the driveway, naked and alone.  Left for dead.

However, to say Daffodil doesn’t quite tell the whole story.  This Daffodil is no regular big box store bulb.  I have those too. They were not disturbed.  No, the bulb I found sitting on the driveway was a rare Empress Daffodil, —  a plant introduced shortly after the Civil War  —  one of this year’s garden splurges that I ordered from Old House Gardens.0708CatalogThumb

I surmise Cosmo (my Holy Terror who’s been known to dig holes in the garden) was my Daffodil tomb raider.  And knowing Terriers as I do, I know that there’s no use beginning  a civil war that can’t be won.  So I pick up my little bulb, and with freshly manicured nails, but without gardening gloves, I quickly dig a new hole for my rare little beauty. 

For now, the little Empress is safe and sound from Scottie attacks.  And with luck, she’ll stay that way and I’ll not see my rare Daffodil again until it’s time for Spring’s resurrection.  If only Cosmo will turn over a new leaf and become a patient gardener.

Somedays, I do feel like I live in a cartoon. 

Ghosts of Halloween Past

31 Saturday Oct 2009

Posted by in Life at Home, Mesta Park

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

, ,

A Very Young Witch

The Young Witch Kate

Tonight’s weather promises to be just ripe for Halloween ghosties.  It will be cold, clear and full of fall fun.

Many homes in our old neighborhood really get into the Halloween spirit, turning Mesta Park into a trick-or-treater’s wonderland.  Lights cover mansions while grave markers and cob webs cover front lawns.  And over on 19th street, a few ghosts are already swinging on ropes, hanging high from creepy old tree limbs.

KKB Halloween_resize

Holy Terror Batman! The Dynamic Trio

 

 

Candy distribution is especially brisk business over on “The Boulevard’, an area of Mesta Park that encompasses homes on both sides of the old streetcar curve, where Shartel Avenue transitions into 18th street.  The Boulevard is the gateway to Mesta Park, and for tonight at least, it will be a congested gate full of cars and sidewalks full of excited and happy children.  Next to Christmas, Halloween may be a child’s best holiday.  

It was for mine.  They liked all the dressing up and the novelty of walking through the neighborhood at night.  And of course, there was the promise of all that free candy.  The kids always brought home a lot of sweet loot, especially when young.

I’ll never forget our son Bryan’ first Halloween outing, when he turned into a 22 month old green dragon.  Bry did a get job walking the sidewalks all on his own, and did amazingly well keeping up with two big sisters.  At one point, my husband scooped what he knew was a tired Bryan into his arms, only to see Bryan’s little legs still full of energy, moving as if walking in air.

Hand-made Costumes by Mom

These days, Halloween is a much quieter affair.  Bereft of children and living far away from The Boulevard’s hustle and bustle, Candyland is a much different game in our neck of the Mesta Park woods.  We live by neighbors who believe in leaving porch lights off;  and while our light will be on, our treats will not be that good to attract a big crowd.  I made sure of that. 

The trick is to offer the right size treat; nothing too big and nothing to small.  I learned this from the school of hard knocks, back in the days of early family, when we lived in a new residential neighborhood with oversized lots. At its busiest, our Halloween traffic was slooooow — the houses being too far apart to attract serious gobs of trick-or-treaters.  The few who canvassed our street for treats were often chauffeured by parents, riding house to house by car, then walking to the door to collect their treat.  Older neighborhood children could be found on roller blades as they made quick tracks for treats. 

Bryan-Pirate_Blog

Anchors Aweigh for Candy

One year I decided to be extra generous.  I went to our local Target Store  and purchased two or three boxes of king-size candy bars —  enough candy to more than meet our Halloween demand.  

But word must have got out on the street that the last house on Timbercreek Drive was giving out king-size candy bars.  Who knew kids talked about their candy conquests?  I didn’t.   All I knew then was that we had kids crawling out of the woodwork and that a few costumes were begining to look very familiar.  It wasn’t long before my supply of plenty was none.

At 8:00 p.m., we turned out the lights, glad to have survived without the need to raid our children’s private stashes.  But as we settled in to watch a little television, our doorbell rang.  And rang again.  And then they knocked.  Hard.  The candy goblins were there…knew we were too…and they wanted their king-size bars.  I don’t recall if my husband had to go to the door or not, but somehow, they left empty-handed.  And as soon as they were gone, we turned off our inside lights and watched television in the dark.  It was the spookiest Halloween I’ve ever experienced this side of the door.

So here’s my tip for a safe Halloween.  Buy the appropriately named fun size.  It will keep Halloween fun for everyone —  all the givers, all the takers and even all those candymakers — and may it grant all a ghoulish good night.