The House That Town Built
By Melinda McNutt
Houses. They hold our souls. After all it’s within the bones of their walls that we seek refuge when times are rough. They are the sacred sanctuary we seek at the end of a long day or journey. They provide a roof that unconditionally shields us from all things falling our way and supports our right to “raise” it every once in a while. They give us foundation buried deep enough to support and sustain the weight of all that blooms above. That foundation, those roots remind us where we came from and who we are because of what we have thrived through. When the wind blows and we sway but refuse to fall it is because of that foundation most of all… those roots…those places we have been, those sites we have seen, those folks that we love and even those we really don’t love so much… those endless blue skies and cotton ball clouds that seem to catch on the tip tops of those magnificent giant old redwoods below us when we crest the summit and look down. All on the way to the house, because that is home… where the heart is.
“We calmly panicked, we jokingly cried, we rushed, we packed useless and nonsensical things, we grabbed the animals, and we ran.”
The night of August 18th 2020 shook us, the winds blew and we swayed and because of our roots we stayed strong and upright. Our foundations. We calmly panicked, we jokingly cried, we rushed, we packed useless and nonsensical things, we grabbed the animals and we ran. Our roots stayed put, and stretched and twisted and sometimes felt like they would completely snap and fail us. It felt like we were disembodied those 35 days, as if we had died and were unaware of it while at the same time deeply sure of it.
One of the nonsensical things I packed was a bag of unfinished doll house furniture and paint pens. I had been working on creating a Haunted Doll House that I had hoped to get into a storefront window in downtown Boulder Creek for the Halloween season. I had a crazy thought, that since we couldn’t do the Downtown Trick-r-Treat, that if I could get the store fronts to really shine, we would still have our seasonal charm. Evacuation night I was working in miniatures and must have tossed the bag in the car. As the days of evacuation ticked on, the fire continued to eat up our mountain and steal from my friends and family and I realized that the generous six-week time frame that I had given myself to complete the doll house was narrowing in on a two-week time frame of … “If I get to go home today, I would have… X number of days to get it done.”
Don’t Stop! You’re Almost Done!
My friend had given me the doll house to use for an art project several weeks earlier and had shared with me the house’s incredible story. Her attachment to the house and its connection to her family’s beautiful mountaintop farm here in Boulder Creek was so touching (read the story below titled At First, A Child’s Doll House). The doll house represented dreams come true and tangible proof on this plane that everything was going to be alright. Knowing that, I wanted to do the house justice. I wanted to make her proud with what I had envisioned for it. As fate would have it—and yes I am totally giving fate the recognition for this one—we returned to Boulder Creek on the day I would’ve been getting ready to install the doll house in a store front window. Instead, when I walked onto our property for the first time in a month and saw that doll house still standing, I just ran my fingers over it, knocked off the chunks of coal that littered its roof and cried. I cried because my beautiful friends had lost their for real house on that mountain top land and now that doll house meant even more to everyone…. and I am not going to, lie… I cried a little thinking about getting it finished in 7-10 days to try and catch October.
I started back to work on it right away once we were allowed to return to the land but so many things were not going right with the build. I was also struggling with getting my life back online, getting my power and water back, my animals re-acquainted with separation, working 8 hours a day too… Just a few things to do all at once. After too many late nights hot-gluing my fingers to tiny things, I decided, that maybe I was going to have to admit defeat and let the doll house go. So, I posted her up for FREE on my Facebook page and on Boulder Creek Neighbors. Just come take her away, and I was including all the parts and pieces and materials I had as well. I just wanted her to be inside before the rains and to go to someone who really loved her. I was really sad and the Aries in me hated an incomplete project. I had several folks interested in her and even made arrangements to have a lady come and pick her up and take her away. Then I had folks offering to relocate the doll house into their garage, or porches and let me go there to work on it when I wanted. Folks didn’t want me to quit on the doll house. Folks wanted to see if the doll house could live in MAC’s place as a town “thing.” People said, “Don’t stop, you are almost done with it!” Total strangers told me they wanted to see it finished and that the town wanted the doll house.
I didn’t want to have to find a storefront, I didn’t want to find a vehicle large enough to move the house, I didn’t want… I didn’t… Oh, but I really did because I just kept talking about the house. Suddenly, a conversation happened and I had a store front, I had a vehicle and movers… I did, I did. The house came to life again because Boulder Creek would not let it die. I got straight to work again, painting and making miniatures, sewing tiny blankets and attaching skulls and bones where appropriate!
Formidable on the Outside, Treasures on the Inside
Yesterday, she moved to her store front window. She’s so proud to be there. She is little self-conscious because she knows most of her interior face lift was a rush job by a mediocre artist. She is still awaiting her neighbor the creepy tree (installation next week). She is formidable on the outside and filled with treasures on the inside much like our little town so treat her well and she will return the favor.
More than anything she is re-born, her walls are strong and adorned with memories, her roof is missing tiles because the storms of late have been harsh but it is a solid roof none the less. Her foundation… ah… her ROOTS, I have discovered those are deep and tough and run for miles and are connected to an entire forest of determined foundations working on their re-births. We howled from distant hotel balconies and harbor side campgrounds together while we were losing walls and while roofs were falling… still foundations stood firm because of our roots, because we refuse to fall forever, because we will rise from ashes. She is happy for now and she wants to meet you and thank you for keeping her from falling.
The Haunted Doll House’ temporary address is 13136 Hwy 9 in the front window of Air and Fire, A Mystical Bazaar. Store hours are Tuesday through Saturday 11:00 am to 6:30 pm. Come by when the store is open and go inside to check out her haunted rooms! She encourages photo ops with her or selfies that include her, but absolutely no CLOSE UPS!
Melinda McNutt owns Wicked Goods of Boulder Creek. Purveyor of peculiar pieces and oddities for the hearth and self, Melinda’s art works and magic may be found within Air and Fire, A Mystical Bazaar, 13136 Highway 9, downtown Boulder Creek.© October 2020. Melinda McNutt for the San Lorenzo Valley Post.
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At First, A Child’s Doll House
By Liz Garnett
My family, kids aged 1 and 3, looked long and hard for the right property for my husband to farm and to be closer to nature. We found our home in Wildwood, north of the town of Boulder Creek. A local we met came to see our place and said, “You found a unicorn!” The very same day we closed escrow on the red house with white trim and wood floors in Boulder Creek, I was driving down the street in San Francisco (where we lived at the time) and saw this old dollhouse, red with white trim and wood floors, that had a FREE sign on it. I felt it was a sign!
My daughter played with the dollhouse for the past seven years and we recently decided it was time to say goodbye to the dollhouse. So when I saw Melinda’s ask on FB I promptly offered ours for her project. Shortly after the dollhouse turned black, so did ours as it burned in the CZU wildfire. I find it interesting that both houses came and left our lives around the same time. I love what Melinda has done soooo much. Can’t wait to bring the kids to see it close to Halloween.
Liz Garnett and her family created Wizlandia Farm in Boulder Creek. “Around August 22, the CZU Lightning Complex burned through the Santa Cruz Mountains destroying whatever was in its path. Sadly, Wizlandia Farm was among the losses. Wizlandia was home to three adults, three kids and around 300 farm animals. It was also a beloved community gathering spot and a safe place for humans and animals alike. Our dear friends, Wes, Liz, Wylder, Roxy, Lunch and Dourado lost absolutely everything. The fire left nothing but a pile of rubble.” A GoFundMe has been set up in the family’s honor:
www.gofundme.com/f/wizlandia-relief
