When I read a memoir with a strong sense of place, I often want to know what the settings with the most emotional resonance look like. Hail of Fire describes the two lost homes where Holly and I raised our children and the one where we expected to live out the final decades of our marriage. These are some before-and-after pictures.
This is the red-brick Colonial-style house on Long Trail where we lived for 14 years.
Here are two interior shots that show Holly, Miranda, the dogs, and several of my pots.
All that was left of the Long Trail house after the fire: a pile of rubble and two chimneys.
Here is the Cottletown house shortly after moving day in March, 2009.
An interior shot of the Family Room shows the bookshelves Walter made and a few of my wood-fired pots.
The post-fire ruin, with the “eternal flame” where the water heater used to be.
I took these pictures on the day I met our insurance adjuster, a week after the fire.
This is all that was left of the house where Amelia and Miranda were born (the house that Walter and Kevin helped me build). We lived there before the days of digital photography, so we don’t have a “before” pic.
If you are curious about what my family looks like, here are my daughters (from left to right): Hillary, Miranda, Amelia.
Miranda’s high school graduation day, in front of the doomed Cottletown house.
This is the New Year’s Day selfie I describe at the end of Chapter 10.
Amelia’s wedding: it closes out Chapter 12.
The day in Burgundy when I acquired Amelia’s wedding day wine (Chapter 5).
My two grandsons, Benjamin (left) and Wyatt.
Our three canine family-members: Charlie (English bulldog), Izzy (black dachshund), and Dottie (red dachshund).
All three of them in a quiet moment.
HAIL OF FIRE 