In March 1992 we moved into 15 Chestnut Street, Huntington, on Long Island's north shore. Clicking on the picture at left brings up a drawing of the house from the realtor's brochure. The realtor's description is here. We bought the house from a fellow named Dilworth. It was built around 1926-7 by a Swedish carpenter, Albert Peterson.
During these first five years in the house we acquired a dog (Boris, of course), a daughter (Nellie, born January 5, 1993) and a son (Danny, born July 3, 1995).
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Here are some photographs from our first five years in the house. Clicking on a picture brings up a bigger version.
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As we purchased it, the property was 50′ wide, 150′ deep. It had originally been a square property, 150′ by 150′, with wide lawns on each side. At some point in the late 1980s, though, a previous owner (not Dilworth) had subdivided it, leaving our house in the middle 50′ strip. A neighbor, Jim Finley, provided us with this picture of the house on its original property. |
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This picture is conveniently dated 5/24/92, two months after we'd moved in. I don't know what that second car is in the driveway. We only had our blue Ford Festiva at this point. It can be seen in the garage. I guess we had visitors. |
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Rosie's first idea was to get a dog, so as soon as we had moved in we called a fencing company to build a fence enclosing the back yard. |
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After the fence, a dog and a deck. Then a clamming expedition with Jim Finley. |
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And then … Nellie! Here she is with her Mommy that summer in a little collapsible pool I set up on the deck. |
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This is sometime round about Christmas 1994 in our dining room at 15 Chestnut Street. Back Row: Mr. Xing, me, Jimmy Shao.
In front: Mrs. Sun, Nellie (not quite two years old), Rosie, and Jimmy's girlfriend, whose English name I think was Jean. Mr. Xing and Mrs. Sun are husband and wife. (A Chinese woman does not necessarily take her husband's name.) They had been lecturers at Siping College when I taught there 1982-3. They came to the U.S.A. in the late 1980s and now (since 2009) live in Jericho, on Long Island. That picture on the wall behind us is actually needlework, made by my mother ca. 1970. |
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Danny came on stage in 1995. Here he is at his one-month party (滿月) in August that year. In the picture, from left to right: parts of Danny, Rosie, me, Jeannette & Joe Campo, Don & Ruth Wolf, Jim & Pat Finley, Bing Ma's mother obscuring Pat Finley, Bing Ma & Jimmy Chou. The Campos, Wolfs, and Finleys were Chestnut Street neighbors. Bing Ma was a colleague of mine from CS First Boston; Jimmy was her husband. I think Bing's father was taking the picture. |
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Nellie in the little collapsible pool we had on our deck. |
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Nellie reading to Danny. |