Barbara Hart Radisavljevic
Deterioration
This is part of an abandoned building, a house, I believe. It sits just west of the Castoro Winery vineyards on California Highway 46 West. I have driven by it for decades, but I’ve never been able to learn its story or why it’s been left to crumble. The windows are gone, as are most of the doors. Some walls are completely gone. It would be dangerous to enter the building. I walked all the way around it to take photos and was shocked to see how little I’d been able to notice as I drove by it.
At one time it must have been someone’s home, full of people and life. Perhaps an earthquake destroyed it. I’ll never know. What I do know is that it is now not fit for human habitation. It is no longer suitable for its intended purpose. If you look inside the missing doors and windows it’s hard to imagine people sitting inside at the dinner table or cooking a meal.
Life
Way back when, someone planted the almond tree. It, too, is old. I imagine any fruit it may still bear goes to the birds. It appears the deer have also stripped some of its bark away. Yet it still lives, even as it deteriorates. As spring approaches, it still blooms. I saw a bee pollinating one of the blossoms. If a freeze doesn’t kill the blossoms, the tree may yet produce its almonds.
It is still a living thing, striving to do what it was meant to do, even though there is no longer a farmer to appreciate or care for it. But the bees and the deer appreciate it. When the almonds finally appear, the tree will be alive with birds and squirrels wanting to reap its scant harvest. Though it is old, it still keeps fulfilling its purpose.
I hope I will do the same now that I am old. I want to be the tree — not the house. I want to keep being useful to someone even as I deteriorate.
Words and photo © B. Radisavljevic
You know, it always amazed me about abandoned houses and other buildings. Why they stay that way for years and years. Whatever the situation was when either people left, had to leave for whatever reason, or a business just left. Wouldn’t you think that someone or some organization would look into these buildings? I mean, it seems like such a waste of property. And even if no other structure was erected there, something could be done with the land they sit on. But the tree, well, yes, that is something of amazement. it lives on providing food and nourishment for whatever wild life exists in the area. Yeah, I would like to be the tree as well. But sometimes I feel like the abandoned house.
I love the way you expressed yourself here. today I feel more like the building myself.
Thank you. Yeah, I don’t want to be the building. I need some motivation on my end. I want to get my apartment fixed up but the money is just not there. And working online with sites like this is not going to make that happen if you know what I mean. I was thinking about a GoFundMe page. I see people doing that all over the internet.
The problem is that you will be competing with people who are trying to pay off the medical expenses of loved ones or keep from being evicted. Not only that, but few people are ready to send funds to people they don’t know in the real world. Most people I know online are people like me who are just struggling to get their own bills paid. They can’t afford the improvements they need to make to their own homes or apartments.
Yeah, I understand that. But I have not decided to make a go fund me page. I might not. I am thinking of other ways to earn money. I will eventually figure that one out, I hope.
Thanks for this post, Im aware there are so many homeless, this home could be rebuilt and used for those who need it. Its sad we live in a time that wastes the resources.
You could probably use the almonds from that tree and perhaps a branch may be grafted onto another tree and propagate the tree on to another tree.
It’s on someone else’s private property, and that house is beyond repair, I think. I only showed on part of it in the photo. There’s almost nothing left of it that’s usable. It wouldn’t even be safe for someone to try camping there.
Sad, that there couldn’t be something done for it. As you said its someones property
I’d also hate to have the job of trying to renovate it.
? that was a really awesome story you wrote, & I hear just what you
were saying in it too, which I have that talent that visions what I read. ?
I would like to think we are every tree in the world that bears fruit & as
we grow older we still have as much life as we can till it’s all used up.
That’s exactly what I meant. Glad you elaborated on it.
so I made it more understanding for others to understand better I take it.
Yes. You offered your own perspective.
well I have that gift God gave me & it comes in very handy at times
sometimes I wish I didn’t have it for some of the things I read I see
& well lets just say it’s not all pretty.
Nice photos. There’s always this kind of stuff everywhere, right? History records more of the things human beings make and do, but the trees are much closer to humans as symbols, parables, and images of human life because that is our true nature.
That’s true. I see many trees as individuals, since they are. They are as individual as humans when you observe them over time. I don’t attribute human characteristics to them, but I so see so much we have in common. Even the Bible uses the trees as object lessons for us.
Maybe that’s why I love trees so much. Unless something goes horribly wrong, they usually get better with age.
Unfortunately, I’ve had things go horribly wrong with many of my trees, but it’s because they are old and I haven’t been around to care for them as much as usual.
It’s happened to some of the trees in our garden too. I don’t have time to care for those and the garden service we hire do a really bad job.
I have posts dedicated to old and abandoned houses. I have always wondered what happened to the owners and what is the reason to leave home. I liked comparisons in your position. There was one such house filled with beautiful flowers that hid the ruin. And I was curious how these colors each year without any care are still alive.
I think God takes care of them. It also may be that those living nearby sometimes help just to keep the beauty there.
Such a powerful message you have shared. The examples you used are so relatable.
I also want to be the tree. Thank you!
I think we’d all rather be the tree than that poor house.
Yes indeed Barbara. If only that house could talk, think of the stories!
Some fiction writer should take note of this.
great post, it’s sad how many abandoned houses … left to decay, and sometimes it was a warm home.
It appears to be on the property of the Castoro Winery near where they keep things they aren’t currently using, but when I asked about it there, the person I asked didn’t have any information about it.
What a wonderful reflection both on the things we don’t notice as we wander by them, but also the reality of time.
I’ve always noticed the house, and I’d even photographed it from the road, but this is the first time I ever found the way to get close to it. They probably don’t want people close because they are afraid some idiot will decide to go inside, will get hurt, and then sue them.
The image is beautiful! Your prose is even better!
Thank you very much. It’s nice to know someone actually does more than look at the photos.
Me too!
Great article. I often wonder and imagine how homes and old farms were back in the day. I love exploring old buildings. Great shot too.
Thank you. I have photos of many abandoned homes in this area, but this one caught my attention because of the almond tree in bloom beside it.