"Picture It"

Found this picture of the garage mentioned in this Saga. This shot was taken when my father was in the process of adding an extension to the Villa. It shows the concrete pad he just laid on the side of the structure, he later extended the roof to cover it. I am sure I have more pics and will post them as I find them. This photo will give you an actual image to ponder as I continue with the story. Chapter 3 to follow shortly, Titled " The Lodato's have Landed"

"The Summer Estate" Chapter Two - Well, Well, Well

Chapter Two

"Well, Well, Well"

The following summer Nana and Pop Pop hired a local man to construct a "Cottage" on the estate. I don't remember the mans first name, I don't think I ever heard it. My father always called him (phonetically spelled) BRUL-YOUN...that was a Pop Pop "version" of the word UBRIACONE which means drunkard in Italian.

The "Cottage" actually was a large garage with two windows and a side door ( which were not common at that time ) in addition to the full front door. It had a patio on the side which was covered by an extension of the roof. Nana actually did wonders decorating it inside. It was a forerunner to the Florida type homes of today. It had no interior walls as dividers, it was one large room making up several living area's. From the patio, walking into the side door on the right was the kitchen. It consisted of a hot plate and an ice box, wall shelves and a basin in a work counter. Along the large garage door was the dining area, a table and several chairs. Next to that was the living room area made up of a few chairs, bureau's and other storage cubicles. The bedrooms were along the back and side left walls. The folding cots that were as our beds were in this area. The cots, by the way were purchased at the Army and Navy store for $1.25 ea. We had six of then, just in case we had over night guests, which we did on many occasions.

This one room area actually consisted of 4 rooms and surprisingly enough there was plenty of space, oh yes, there was also a

port-a-potty enclosed in a sheet type curtain.

The cooking and dining was usually done outdoors, the inside "Kitchen" was only used on rainy days. The outdoor cooking was done on one of Pop Pops creations. He dug a shallow hole in the ground, with stacked cement blocks on three side, about 18 inches high and over this was a placed a wire metal shelf from an old refridgerator and that was our Bar B Que and it worked great. Oh, the source of fuel was all the old logs and limbs that Pop pop went looking for on all the vacant property near us. He actually made his own charcoal and it made the best fires. On Sundays he would even make the marcaroni on his outdor grill and it was always cooked to perfection....This entire cottage cost Pop Pop about $700.00 including the furnishings. Then Pop Pop had the entire property enclosed in a picket fence, not sure what that cost, but our estate was now secure. We did stay there prior to the Cottage, we slept in the car or on the cots out under the stars. It actually was a lot of fun. I failed to mention that Pop Pop also had electric installed in the Cottage as well as running water outside. The water was located under a large tree, by means of a well pump. We had to always keep a bucket of water near the pump to prime it. (even then we were ordered, "don't throw the water out"...and you thought it only applied to pasta)..You had to pour some of the water into the pump, then grasp the handle and start pumping very vigorously and voila, natural cold, sweet delicious tasting water was brought to the surface and boy was it great. We actually took several containers of water home every wekend to drink during the week. We were living the High Life in those days...

• Preview of coming attractions...
• 
  "The Bee's and I"

• "The Lodato's have landed"

"Them, Them"

"A hole in one"

• 
  ...plus many more

to be continued

"The Summer Estate" Chapter One

This story was requested by Michael...There are several chapters in this saga...this is

CHAPTER ONE

The year was 1950, the place, West Islip ,Long Island, the occasion, Liz and Mike buy a Summer Retreat.

My father saw an article in the news paper, offering property in West Islip at a very good price. Being a Cianciaruso and having Real Estate in his blood (from his mothers side) he took the family on a Saturday outing and drove "All the way" to the Island.

They went to the real estate agents office and was referred to a building on the former Guggenheim Estate to meet with an agent.

At one time the Guggenheim family owned all of the property in this area of West Islip. 1000's and 1000's of acres, a lake,many ponds, several homes, various buildings and a horse stable were on this estate.

The agent showed them several pieces of land, my father wanted to see property on the main road, not far from the lake and at good price.( He new what to look for) He was shown a lot, over 3/4 of an acre large , situated the main road ( Haynes Ave) and only a few blocks from the lake. The lot was cleared and had many huge trees in the front and several positioned around the lot. It was directly across the street from one of the homes used by the Guggenheim's. The price for this property was $699.00. Fifty dollars down and monthly payments of $15.00.My mother and Father decided to take the plunge and they purchased the property. Our estate was forever known after that as "The Lots"

As you can see Nana and Pop Pop were coming up in the world, due to hard work on both their parts. They owned a 3 story Brownstone in Astoria, purchased in 1947 for $8000.00, a 1950 Hudson automobile, advertised as "The Car you step down into" and now a weekend Retreat....all this done on Pop Pop's salary of $90.00 a week....ah, life was good.

to be continued

"Welcome to the Real World Little Donnie"

This is a Nana and Nonna Story....one of many

I was no more then 3 or 4 when this happened and I recall the event but not the saying that prompted it.

My Godfather, Compare ( Gumbah) Jack's daughter was getting married and of course Nana and Pop Pop were invited to the wedding. I remember the day of the wedding clearly. My godfather owned a beer and soda distributor store in Brookln and they were very well off and lived very well. I remember going to the church, it was the biggest church I had ever seen, much, much bigger then St Mary's in Long Island City. Standing on the pew, I watched the Bride and Compare Jack walking down the aisle, I was amazed. I never saw people dressed like that before. I remember her dress had, I guess, large hoops on each side....making the dress very, very wide. and she wore a mantilla on her head. I guess she was dressed in a Spanish motif or something. (I think all these images stick in my head because never having seen the things I write about, my little computer mind downloaded all these picture and they are still on my hard drive, that could crash at anytime.That is why I am writing all these stories) After the church we went to a very large hotel, also in Brooklyn, for the reception. The room was huge, I will guess at least 250 people were there, a lot of them business associates i am sure... I remember people dancing and I saw my first band, so now I knew where music came from, (people playing instruments). I thought it was something that only came out of a radio.

This was my first excursion out in the real world, which I never knew existed.

Getting back to the story, I found out many, many years later that my mother and father asked Nonna to watch me the day of wedding.....but were told, that now very familiar saying..

"Those that make them, take care of them"

actually, I am very glad she said that, otherwise I would never have seen and participated in all that fun stuff that I remember of that day.

October 11th Update"

I am sure, wherever they are, Mom, Nana and Pop Pop are having a scotch sour today, celebrating your 47th Birthday Michael

I was right, Aunt Kate just ordered hers

and Uncle Mike wants a beer..

They all knew how to have a

Helleva Party

Enjoy your day Michael

"A quote from Lauren's away message"

sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same

Saw this quote from Lauren and had to share it..

It is so true....Thanks Sweetie

"Michael's Request to be worked on"

Hey Dad:
Lauren is on the St. Joseph Website home page. Go to www.sjc.edu There are about 5 different main webpage photos selected at random. Just hit F5 or your browser refresh link until you see her. I attached the photo. The girl on her left (Your right) is Jackie her roommate.

I have some topics for your blog:

The story behind Rose, Rae, Nancy Buontempo and Hoagie
How to buy a vacation property in Islip which is only a garage and have your inlaws buy the garage next door
The catfish in the pool and how to fish it out story
Too much junk in the yard? Bury it

Talk to you later…Chooch