Well, I'm at home today, fighting off a stomach bug that Kim brought back from her vacation. Fighting a cold on a dreary rainy day isn't good for the spirits, and I need to be upbeat for a few friends that are having worse times than I am.

Fortunately, two good things happened in the past couple of days that is helping keep my spirits up. Sometime ago, we were approached by someone who wanted to use our house for a movie they were working on. It never materialized. However, people remembered our house and we have been approached again for a similar project. It is a long shot, but it is fun and exciting.

Also, about a week ago, we received a phone call from a neighbor who had seen an item for sale on eBay. The item was a full page advertisement in the March, 1923 issues of Country Life.

The text starts, "Ten years ago one of our foremost writers was jogging through lower New England on pleasure bent. He took the road from Samford, Connecticut to Bedford, New York, up over the southermost hills of the Berkshires. Just about half way in between the two points, at an elevation of five hundred feet above sea level, he spied to the side of the road such a delightful bit of greensward sloping down to two beautiful clear lakes, that he determined there and then to build the home of his dreams.

He built it. He lived in it until his death."

There are a lot of things about the history listed in the advertisment that doesn't match history that I've been told. For example, this would place the house as being built in 1913. However most reports have the house being built in 1902 to 1904. The house is listed being named "Swastika". The house had been built with many swastikas as part of the decoration. However most of them were removed during WW II. However, I have always been told that the name of the house was 'Orient Lodge', which is where I get the title for this blog.

I will compare notes with some local historians to try and reconcile these differences.

I won the bid on eBay and now have an original copy of that advertisement. The seller also scanned the advertisment and I have a copy of it here if anyone wants to see an eighty year old advertisement for my house.