Fire

        Fire - thankfully I have no stories of an ancestor’s house or barn burning down in generations past. That’s not to to say it didn’t happen, but I have no direct knowledge of it. So I have chosen instead to write about the fires I remember as a child while growing up. 

However, what I discovered was that I didn’t have any pictures of that fireplace that I remember so well. But I did find a partial one in the background of a photo, so I took this opportunity to experiment with AI a little and see if I could have it recreate the photo I wanted. For a novice, it turned out pretty good.

Our dad always loved a big roaring fire in our fireplace in Brookside. Our house on Cherry Lane Rd had a nice red brick fireplace in the family room off the living room. We had lots of fires in this room (contained to the fireplace thank gosh), but I particularly remember the ones at Christmas time, with the heat of the fire and the sound of the logs popping. Below is the AI image of the fireplace I remember.

AI- generated enhancement of my photo

        Below is the original photo of my brother Bob holding up a Christmas present circa 1970. You can see in the background the fireplace, but unlit at that point.

My brother Bob at Xmas around 1970. I love the decor around the TV too

        The next two photos are of our Brookside NJ home, the first is  in the early 60’s during a snow storm. The second one is from the rear of the house that shows the 5 Jalosie windows in the family room, where the fireplace was.

A snow event in the winter early 1960's - front of house on Cherry Lane

Rear of house, with the 5 Jalosie windows at the corner over the garage.

     There were so many memories created in that room over the years, with the various Christmas-time birthdays and the trees we had, including the fashionable aluminum tree with the color wheel that turned and changed colors as it slowly moved, the electric Lionel train under it, our dad recording the sounds of it all on his reel-to-reel player (we still have one recording from 1959), our mom decorating, cooking, etc. and of course the fireplace blazing in the background. The 1950’s and 60’s were a magical time to grow up in so many ways. 

Not exactly like ours was, but you get the idea! Ah Memories!!!