April 2016 - Sorting through the Memories

Things are moving slow at the Hofmann Haus. Jim is focused on starting new projects. I, however, am still stuck on trying to bring closure. It seems every corner I look in reveals another pile of letters or a collection of photographs. In a way it makes me feel bad for the next generation. They will never have this experience because everything is digital now.

We have demolished more of the upstairs walls to make way for the larger bathroom and built-in closets. Oh my goodness, what a crazy mess. The walls didn’t reveal much, just an old brass plumb bob that was left in the bathroom wall.

There are a few things I have discovered about the Hofmann family:

   1. Grandma and Grampa Hofmann were very faithful people. I have found Holy Cards in every cabinet and box in the old house. I have kept the majority of them for the family. In addition to the Holy Cards I found pocket prayer books. A ladies book with the name Mildred Morganthal inscribed in it, the other, a man’s book, with Elmer Hofmann on the inside cover. My guess is they predated their marriage.

2.I found a few old newspaper clippings, another treasure my kids will never know. One in particular was a write up about the Hofmann Painters. I always thought my Grampa’s parents emigrated to the US, however it was on generation prior. His grandparents came to Cincinnati in 1861, settled in Over-the-Rhine, and William Hofmann started the painting business.

3. Many, many pictures evoked memories long tucked away in the corners of my mind. May Crownings, First Communions, lilac bushes, kitchen stencils, swings ands slides, screen doors, etc. I even got to know my Grandma a little better. All I had till now was what a four-year-old brain could file away.

4. Grampa threw little away, nor Audrey. Paint cans in the garage still contain the history that was the many shades of pink in the house. Bulletins announced the Memorial Day Parade and Fairmount Day at Coney Island in 1960, and a list of bowling scores for all the neighborhood business teams.

5. The days are getting warmer and the baked in scent of the old house releases a myriad of flashbacks of hot summer nights, trying to sleep on the top floor, no air conditioning, listening to the crickets outside. The rain of late provided a trickling creek that I haven’t seen in a long time. The water gurgling and giggling of the rocks as if to say “welcome back old friend”. Damn! Now I want to read “The Giving Tree” again with my new-found perspective.

 

Jim and I are on the same page when it comes to how to renovate the little cottage. He is helping me to preserve tiny remnants of the two generations before us. There will be a little blue here, a little red there (probably no pink). We intend to reuse as much as we can, from the tile on the bathroom floor to the old pipes from the plumbing to one lone existing ladder left over from the painting business.

Here we are trying different colors of paint. Hopefully May will bring some more noticeable changes in the appearance, but for now I am glad to have completed the task of sorting out memories.