Stay-Go-Be-Do #9

Post 41/2020 Saturday 19 December . . . I’ve been thinking about garages, of all things. About the place where one parks a vehicle, bicycle, lawnmower, tools. The building that evolved from a stable, from indeed the once stately carriage or coach house for horses and carriages of old. Then came the automobile and soon the carriage house became a stable for the car. For many years the garage remained detached from the house.

The detached garage at Ruthmere Museum in Elkhart, Indiana. Ruthmere was built in 1910 as the home for Albert and Elizabeth Beardsley. The three-story Beaux Arts mansion is open to the public as a museum.

Even so, in 1908, architect Frank Lloyd Wright built the first attached garage in Chicago. In the 1930s Wright added carports. By the early 1940s garages attached to houses became the trend. By the 1960s and 70s these ubiquitous “stable staples” became band garages, inventor garages, store-extra-stuff garages. Gyms. Expanded living space. The car had so much competition that garages grew in size to almost overwhelm the house.

I got to thinking more about garages on a walk this week to the Goshen Public Library. Our two-mile route takes us through older and newer neighborhoods, letting us zigzag among streets and alleys. It just hit me. I’d been seeing detached garages all this time without giving it any further (think historical context) thought. Until now. Yes, these alleys reveal garages in all their glory, past, present and for some time to come. (For those interested in parking in front of a computer, there’s good material online on the history of garages. I have yet to look up more on the history of carports–our car’s home.)

A fond look at detached garages in Goshen

Ah, here’s the modern mode, homes with attached garages at Greencroft Goshen’s Whispering Pines Court addition.

A Friday drive in LaGrange County

Flat terrain. Harvest finished. The season’s first staying sprinkle of snow. I’m fascinated by the shapes of leafless trees.

Round hay bales wrapped in plastic. That might be corn or grass silage in the “big wrap.” No idea what the square bales hold.

Horse and buggy pass in a blur on State Road 5, heading toward Shipshewana.

An Amish school. Amish are increasingly adopting solar energy. Way to go!

Amish children head home from school in an open-air wagon fashioned with a plastic cover for winter’s winds.

This could soon become a skating place. I’ve got fond memories of skating on creeks, ponds and indoor and outdoor ice rinks, including playing a bit of hockey, like my winning slap shot from just inside the blue line that won the game in college. Not to mention the mark on my chin where I stopped the puck while playing goalie in a game in high school before the dawn of protective face gear. That’s it, pure and simple, at the right time, at the right place, chin up: Wear a mask.

Greencroft Goshen

No picnicking today, though the idea of a cookout holds imaginative appeal.

Goodness out-of-doors

Two horses huddle for company and warmth, even though the fine hair they grow gives them winter cover.

Be warmed. Be blessed. Stay safe. Merry/Happy Christmas!

-John

3 thoughts on “Stay-Go-Be-Do #9”

Kaye says:

December 19, 2020 at 3:22 pm

Unfortunately our garage is filled with essentials but way too much junk. The Yellow 2CV is parked in there too to protect it from the elements, but my car sits outside. I wonder if the Amish have hot potatoes in their pockets when out in the buggies?
Kaye

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Monty Williams says:

December 19, 2020 at 4:07 pm

Hi John!

You confirmed your Canadian roots with your hockey memories in this post! Wishing you and Marty a Merry Christmas!

Monty & Ginger

May the God of Wonder be with you, delighting you with the beauty of sunrise and the majesty of sunset, with the song of the bird and the fragrance of the flower.

>

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Laurene Bender says:

December 21, 2020 at 2:06 pm

Hi John and Marty, I liked your post. Laurene

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