Does anyone want the cheap dumpy bungalow next door to mine?

the world's best mom

Tue, Apr 01 2014, 4:32 pm

This summer should be very exciting. Our years at Ganz have come to an end. A new bungalow awaits us. As happy as we are to move on, we will miss Ganz. We have lots of memories there which would not have happened anywhere else. Things like:

-Walking into the bathroom during the night and finding a snake slithering out through a hole between the bathtub and floor.

-Meeting bears, dogs, deer and friends while walking down Bowers Rd. The view is incredible. Climbing the hills is strenuous and invigorating.

-When I was little, my mother once saw a skunk on our porch. She watched in horror as it went under the door, seemingly into the bungalow. Someone called Mr. Ganz (the owner) and he said, “I know, I hear her screaming from my house.” He came and searched the bungalow, but couldn’t find a skunk. It turned out that there was a hole under the door that led to under the bugalow, and that was where it had gone. He stuffed up the hole with a shopping bag. Problem solved.

-The kids were plying with playdough at a picnic table, whn the table collapsed. That didn’t bother my dd- she sat on the slats of wood on the ground and kept playing.
http://imageshack.com/a/img833/1475/lchk.jpg

-My niece was in her bathroom, which is held above ground level by crooked stacks of old bricks. Suddenly the bathroom started shaking. She ran out screaming. It turned out that there were jacks under it to help support it, and Jay was putting another jack in.

-We used to find snakes, frogs, and even a dead mouse in the pool.

-Scrabble games every day.

-Frequent black outs.

-In my mother’s old bungalow, the bathroom ceiling used to fall down when it rained.

-There were usually huge puddles under the swings. One rainy summer, the puddles were there always. One day, I was pusing my baby on the baby swing and I noticed a fish swimming in the puddle. It wasn’t a tiny goldfish either. I told my sister in the city, and her husband was worried about what would happen to the fish when the puddle dries up. We both laughed and told him that that puddle never dries up.

I will miss the place, though I am not sorry to move on.

the world's best mom

Tue, Apr 01 2014, 4:34 pm

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/.....k.jpg

This link should lead to a smaller version of the picture from the last post. Let's see if it works- I am not very good with these things.

ETA: I see it's bit on the small side, but I guess it's a choice between too big and too small. You can still see it though.

greenfire

Tue, Apr 01 2014, 4:43 pm

if the wooden planks on the floor are your bungalow I would have to agree with it being a bit too run down ...

the world's best mom

Tue, Apr 01 2014, 4:46 pm

No, the floor of the bungalow was bright yellow with brown and orange spots. It was not the prettiest floor I've ever seen.

Mr. Ganz once saw my sister sweeping her floor and he said to be careful because if you leave the dirt too long, it makes black spots on the floor. Then he looked really upset and said, "Oh, it's too late. I see it has black spots already."

BrachaVHatzlocha

Sat, Apr 05 2014, 8:56 pm

I can't believe you're leaving. waaa! but not really surprised because of you only "shared" with another colony last year...Is that where you are going? hatzlocha & be sure to come back and visit!
(meanwhile, I don't know yet if I'm going back...but I'll always be back!!)

gold21

Sat, Apr 05 2014, 9:15 pm

Hope you have a great time in your new bungalow colony Cool

I'm sure Ganz will miss you

By the way, do families go away to the colony less these days than when we were growing up? None of my friends or neighbors are going away to the bungalow colony.... But I have so many great memories of summers spent away.... I don't know why it's not as common to go away anymore.... Except maybe in chassidish circles... Question

the world's best mom

Sat, Apr 05 2014, 9:23 pm

Yes, I'm going to the same place I went for 3 weeks last summer, B"H.

Bungalows are becoming more of a Chassidish thing. The Chassidim are buying all the colonies and fixing up the bungalows and building nice new ones. They are not fans of living in dirty, crumbling shacks.

I think the reason people stay home is because most mothers work nowadays, so they can't spend the summer in the country. It doesn't pay to come just for weekends. It's very sad that such a great thing is no longer so common.

gold21

Sat, Apr 05 2014, 9:30 pm

Such a shame. Seriously, I'm not big on spouting random facts about the "good old days", but the fact that bungalow colonies are falling to the wayside nowadays is just quite sad. We gotta re-start the trend. There's really nothing quite as wholesome as a bungalow colony.....

Enjoy your summer Tongue Out

the world's best mom

Sat, Apr 05 2014, 9:33 pm

gold21 wrote:

Thanks.

amother

Sat, Apr 05 2014, 10:26 pm

DAANNNGGGG! COME BACK!!!!! YOU ARE CONTRIBUTING TO THE DEMISE OF AN ERA!!!

I am not coping well with this. Life without Ganz would make me very sad. Every time I'm there I want to bottle it up and drink it all in and not let it go. Wait, that was the wrong combination of metaphors to mix into one sentence. But it was such a special place. Of all my childhood memories, probably about 80% are from the 12% of the year we spent there.

the world's best mom

Sun, Apr 06 2014, 6:30 am

Do you think they won't open again because I'm not coming back? Maybe they'll have new people who want to take my dumpy bungalow- it had no raccoons in it as of last year.

BrachaVHatzlocha

Sun, Apr 06 2014, 7:48 pm

is that CA who is worried about ganz closing??
it's really up to jay to keep it running.... there are people who will always come back...

amother

Sun, Apr 06 2014, 8:12 pm

BrachaVHatzlocha wrote:

is that CA who is worried about ganz closing??
it's really up to jay to keep it running.... there are people who will always come back...

Yes, it is! LOL. I am sad about the departure of the old chevra, too. But closing would be the biggest tragedy because even just the location holds such memories that I feel peaceful just walking through... There are only a handful who would really come back no matter what, and he already said last year he needs more than a handful to keep it open. I wonder how long he'll hold out, I think he's mostly doing it for his mother because he was never quite that attached to the bungalow colony idea as far as I could tell.

the world's best mom

Sun, Apr 06 2014, 8:18 pm

I believe he said that as long as he will make any money off of it, he would continue to open. You'd need a Minyan though...

It is the most peaceful place I've spent a significant amount of time in. The place we are going to this year is nowhere near as peaceful nor as pretty, but my kids claim they need friends, so we must move on.

gold21

Sun, Apr 06 2014, 8:33 pm

We will have to start an Imamothers Who Went To Ganz private group, in which we all discuss Jay, Mr Ganz, the North, South, East, and West, the knish truck that used to come around, the pool, the camp, the handball court, the ping pong table, movie nights for adults, movie nights for kids, and other assorted Ganz Trivia ;-)

We will go by names such as "CA", "JJ", "KK", "LL" etc...

gold21

Sun, Apr 06 2014, 8:37 pm

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy9_lfjQopU

This one's for you, WBM, from all your childhood friends at Ganz.

the world's best mom

Mon, Apr 07 2014, 3:49 am

I love that movie. Come to think of it, I saw it at the theater while we were in Ganz. The little theater in the town of Loch Sheldrake was reopening after being shut down for a few years, so they showed The Sound of Music for free. My aunt and I went. There were some old men and women there too, but it was mostly empty. The theater closed down again shortly after that.

gold21

Mon, Apr 07 2014, 6:12 am

LOL

amother

Mon, Apr 07 2014, 6:16 am

This is so funny! I was there and know some of you... I think it's really funny that you posted a pic of your grandmother and tova in the background even though that wasn't the point of the pic! good luck in your new place. Hopefully you'll make good memories there too --- at least for your kids so they can post on imamother one day about their childhood bungalow experiences!

the world's best mom

Mon, Apr 07 2014, 7:06 am

That's so funny! In the small version of the picture you can't see who Tova and my grandmother are so clearly, but in the big one...Tova didn't come out so good at all. That picture is a few years old- dd must have been around 4 and now she is 9.