The property at Pepperwood has been owned by the Russells for at least 60 years. There were 8 Russell children who lived there, and both my grandparents were there up until days before they died, so of course we're working carefully around nostalgic notions while starting to conceive of the land and home as our own.
The other day, right after our last visit, I was talking with my mom (number 6 of 8) about what we were planning to do before we move in, and I mentioned painting the interior of the house. On one wall in the living room, opposite the beautiful big windows that face west, the wall is yellow, and there is a painting of a weeping willow that curves up and over toward the doorway into the kitchen. It's been there my whole life, I imagine, which means that the living room hasn't been painted in almost 40 years. It looks pretty good, given that (hey, I look pretty good for almost 40 too!), but it really does need to be repainted. My mom's first response: "You can't paint over the tree!" And we smack run into the first of what I anticipate will be many (hopefully) gentle conversations about what we can (should, would) preserve and what must (should, wants to be) changed.
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