Mrs. Mastrullo's Hands

I received news on Friday night that Mrs. Mastrullo had passed away.

Her daughter told me only a few weeks ago that she hadn't shown her the photos I sent.

They would only confuse her she thought.  I've never met Mrs. Mastrullo

so I was a taken a little off guard when I found the news upsetting.

Photo: " Crossroads:  Stories of Central Square,"
Cambridge Historical Commission publication

Vincent James Mastrullo--"Jimmy" as he was known in the neighborhood--was the son of Italian immigrants.  He was born just around the corner from here in 1919, no more than 10 houses away.  He may have even known Mrs. Ray, the piano teacher who lived here. 

Jimmy fell in love with an old house in 1940.  The house was already 100 years old and it needed a a lot of work. He renovated the house, adding beautiful new bathrooms with clawfoot tubs and a new back porch before going off to the war.

Upon his return from WWII, he married Margaret, the sweet young woman from Nova Scotia that had been on his mind the entire time he was gone.  She was a good woman, deeply religious, and he knew she would make a good wife and mother.  They moved into the house that Jimmy had renovated and two children, Michelle and James, soon followed.  Everyone knew Jimmy Mastrullo LOVED his house but it was Mrs. Mastrullo's hands that shaped her home.

Her hands opened her pink bedroom curtains

to let in the sunlight each morning...

...and touched the pink trim that matched the

flowered wallpaper she had chosen as she

rounded the corner to her children's rooms...

...where she pulled the crystal knob on the closet

to dress her children for school. 

She opened this door each day as she

returned from the Central Square market...

...and pulled on this red crystal to light the pantry

as she prepared her family's dinner each afternoon.

Mrs. Mastrullo's hands opened this door

to the bathroom and...

...turned these knobs to draw a bath after a day

filled with cooking, cleaning, shopping and laundry...

...and grasped this newel post each evening

as she climbed the steep stairs to her bedroom.

Mrs. Mastrullo's hands embraced her daughter when she went off to nursing school.  And when her son Jim chose a career as a police officer, she prayed that he would stay safe.  But Jim's career was cut short after being diagnosed with a debilitating illness.  I imagine her hands opened this dresser drawer where she kept her most precious things...

 ....where she reached for her rosary and asked for help and strength.

Despite their adaptations to the house, there came a time

when her son could no longer stay at home.

Only a few short years later, Mrs. Mastrullo lost her husband.

It was during these most difficult times that I imagine her returning to that dresser drawer for her bible or her rosary to seek strength and comfort.

When neighbors became concerned about Mrs. Mastrullo, noticing times when she seemed confused, they contacted her daughter Michelle and Mrs. Mastrullo went to live at an assisted-living facility near her daughter's home.

It was at this time the torch was passed to me to care for this old house.

* * *

As I was finishing up the exterior project on the house, the real estate agent that sold the house stopped by to tell me I MUST send photos to Michelle.  I wasn't sure how they would feel seeing their home changed so much, but knowing the real estate agent was a friend of the family, I sent off photos just before Thanksgiving.

Just before Christmas, I received a card.

Dear Steve,  Thank you for updating me on the house.  I enjoyed seeing the transformation and am very impressed with your vision and motivation.  The house looks wonderful!  My brother also enjoyed the pictures and details you provided.  

I did not show the pictures to my mom.  Her dementia has progressed and these would only confuse her.   

My dad loved this house and when he was healthy did a lot of work on it himself.   My parents would be pleased to know you care about the house as much as they did and would be impressed with your care and commitment to it. 

Happy Holidays and Warm Regards,

Michelle

* * *

Receiving news of Mrs. Mastrullo's passing so soon after my correspondence with her daughter was surprising.  It's been a solemn weekend reflecting on Mrs. Mastrullo and her time in the house.

I will admit that I've thought of her many times since moving in to the house.  

I have experienced her "hands" all over the house.  I feel them most strongly in the master bathroom where I've imagined those hands turning the creaky chrome knobs to pour baths that would wash away her dirt and disappointments.

 

 

 

Mrs. Mastrullo's hands touched all of these things for over 60 years, and I think I developed a little bit of a connection with her through these things.  Maybe that connection was stronger than I knew.  If you live in an old house, perhaps you know what I mean.

Mrs. Mastrullo's funeral was yesterday and, although I didn't go, I felt the need to go back up in the attic to light a candle in her honor.  I felt this was an appropriate tribute to the woman whose hands cared for this house longer than anyone else.  The candle illuminates what was most likely placed by Mrs. Mastrullo's hands, way up in the peak of the attic where it was closest to God's eyes, this prayer:

"Bless Our Home."

Bless you, Mrs. Mastrullo, and go in peace knowing the house is in good hands.

Paul Bowen

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One of my favorite contemporary artists is sculptor Paul Bowen.  A new show of his work is opening this week at the Clark Gallery in Lincoln, Mass.  If you're in the area between now and January 30, you should make it a point to stop by to see his work.

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I first saw Paul's work several years ago at the DeCordova Museum and immediately fell in love with it.  I repeated his name over and over so I could research his work but I'd forgotten his name by the time I got home.  Don't you hate that?  

Fast forward a few a years when I visited Provincetown to take a white line woodblock printing course and found his work at Artstrand, an artist-run gallery in town.  

Pile

Most, if not all of this wood, was found washed up on the shores of Cape Cod.  I love that these materials that have already had a life (fish crates, boats, wharves) are tossed and turned by salt water, rocks and sand and then spit back on land and given a new life through an artist's vision and hand.

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The butterfly shaped pieces hold two pieces of wood together.  Paul often uses this butterfly joint in his work.

Windrush

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Paul also works in other media.  These pieces are made of old marine flags.  The dragger shapes are an icon of Paul's print work.

This marine flag piece reminds me of old Kuba cloth.

Paul and his wife, a writer whose name is escaping me, moved a few years ago from Cape Cod to Vermont.  Since then, Paul's work is taking on new forms and objects collected from his new rural environment.

This is one of the pieces that will be in the new show.  It's hard to imagine from the photo but it's about 4 feet high by 8 feet wide.  I can't wait to see it in person.

If you visit the gallery, there are also a lot of other things to do in the area.  You could make an entire day out of it.  Here are a few of my suggestions.

The Walter Gropius house is a spectacular example of mid-20th-Century modern architecture.

The DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum.

The galleries are closed from January 10 to 28 but it has...

...35 acres of beautiful rolling woodland with 75 works of art, open from dawn to dusk, that would be a beautiful walk on a sunny winter's day.   

And if you haven't had enough of the outdoors, Henry David Thoreau's Walden Pond is just a few miles away.  Everyone should walk around it once in their lives. 

I hope you enjoyed seeing Paul's work.  

Clark Gallery

145 Lincoln Road

Lincoln, MA  01773

781-259-8303

New Year, New Projects

Finishing my first major renovation project this year feels like a great accomplishment.  I'm thrilled that it's done but, at the same time, I'm a little sad it's over.  There was quite an adrenaline rush (or various combinations of sickness and excitement) in seeing my house stripped back to its 168-year-old core...

...and put back together. 

 I miss coming home to see progress being made.  I'm eager to see that progress continue on the inside but the renovation coffers are depleted for a little while.  

In the meantime, I have several projects I can work on.  

First, I need to finalize the plan for the new kitchen and the two bathrooms.  I have a sick feeling that I'm going to have to get another variance for the windows changes I want to make for the new kitchen layout.  

As I mentioned earlier, I want to redecorate the guest bedroom.  Future renovations will not involve this room at all so it's a good opportunity for me to work on establishing a new feel/mood for the inside that better fits the new exterior.

I'm envisioning something that's a little Ralph Lauren...

...a little European country...

...and a little junk shop.

Here are some of the things inspiring this look.  Remember my glazed wallpaper experiment?  I'm leaning toward glazing it in the same color as I've used in the living room but I'll try to leave more of the gray pattern showing through.  Many of you liked the gray glaze--as did I--but I think I want to keep the house light.  I may do a few accent walls in a darker gray.  

I found the ivory matelasse coverlet (with Grecian urns no less!) on a recent trip to Maine for 70 PERCENT OFF!  (That NEVER happens to me. )  The pillow sham with the gray stripe is Belgian linen from Restoration hardware.

I'll add to that some of the vintage things I love to collect, primarily wood and black metal.

I'm still trying to think of a creative way to display my collection of vintage show forms.

I would like to paint this old bow-front dresser that was left in the house...

...to look something more like this Gustavian piece.

The dining room that's right next to the living room will also get a makeover.  I've never been happy with the modern dining room table in my old house.  It's too sleek and takes up too much room.

I recently found this chunky pedestal table base...

...and I'm going to pair it with this tabletop that will be wrapped in zinc.  It's going to be cut in two and put on an expanding frame so two leaves can be put in for larger dinners.

Remember these chairs I bought on ebay?  They turned out to be too small for the living room so I'm going to overhaul these to go with the new zinc-topped dining room table.  They're pretty scary right now but just a simple change in color...

...would really change their look.  Or I could...

...no, I'm just kidding.

I'm thinking they'll be painted a dark gray or brownish gray...

...and upholstered to look more like this bed.

I just got these wingback chairs for the living room.  I find these so horrible they're almost wonderful,  if you know what I mean.  I think I'll leave the natural brown legs and then I'll have them recovered.  These might also work in the bedrooms as a nice comfortable place to sit and read before going to bed.

I like this windowpane fabric but I'm thinking I'd like them to be more masculine with perhaps a houndstooth or herringbone on the outside...

...with just linen on the back and seat.  

And in between all of that, I've got 10 windows that need to be painted on the inside.  Getting the windows painted actually is my first priority but I'll try to work in these other projects and keep you updated as progress is being made.

*****

It's been almost a year since Trina from A Country Farmhouse encouraged me to start a blog.  I wasn't sure anyone would be interested but I particularly wanted to document my process of getting a variance in Cambridge, Massachusetts and going through a renovation in a congested urban area.  Along the way, I've found people were interested and I've been encouraged by those of you who are kind enough to leave (mostly) supportive comments.  I've "met" some wonderful, interesting and inspiring people around the world and I've gotten frequent e-mails from people who are renovating homes in the area or who grew up or lived in Cambridge.  

To all of you, I send out a thank you and a sincere wish for a happy, healthy New Year.

Steve