I Love It Here!

Attic Time

Weekend retreat

Most attics aren't much more than crawl spaces or storage areas. Ours is a kind of weekend retreat.

One of the first things we did after moving in was finish the attic space of this house. I don't think I can do better than to quote from Dishes Can Wait, a piece my wife wrote:

Dishes Can Wait

Two flights up is the attic which was converted into a study for dad. Its two low windows give a squirrel's eye view of the nearby trees. The square chimney in the middle of the ceiling seems to hold up the roof of many angles. Facets of this roof join the ceiling and floor boards in most places. Even more angles were created when knee walls were installed.

All but the floor was painted a glossy off white or light gray. This makes the room dance with reflected light. With sunlight added to the already brilliant illumination of the overhead lights, the room brings to mind the inside of a diamond.

In contrast, the uneven floor boards were painted a deep brick red. The effect is stunning.

The girls. favorite detail is the large square holes cut in the knee walls here and there to obtain access to the storage space behind. there is great play value in the tunnels that resulted.

Alone and empty the attic was an impressive room. Then dad filled it with his overflowing bookshelves, computer, papers, maps, treasures, furniture, and a corner for the girls to fill with anything they need to keep them busy. The overview now resembles the more hazardous parts of the Grand Canyon.

"Attic Time"

For several years after we moved into this  house, almost every weekend my three oldest kids and I had some time together as a group up in the attic. That's where I keep my computers, and most of my books. There's a play area for the kids in the southwest corner, near a window, and a lazy boy chair in the northwest corner where I can read to them.

Then my little boy got big enough to come, too, and life got more complicated. We started having turns with Dad. I go through the family, youngest first, spending anywhere between twenty minutes to most of an hour with each. The time depends on how much we have to work with. I still read stories occasionally, but more often I'll be admiring how well my boy plays with some software, building a model with one of the girls, or whatever the kids come up with. Disneyland it isn't, but I like this version of "quality time."

Time passes, and situations keep changing. We're back to having two children in the attic on weekend afternoons. My oldest daughter was about fourteen when I started this site. Now she working in Fargo-Moorhead. For the last year or so at home, she had been in the habit of coming up to the attic when I was working at the computer. She'd usually read something, but sometimes we talked about whatever came to mind. I miss that.

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