Can Hardly Believe What One Sees Say Crossword Clue
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We had looked in vain at houses for sale all week. Finally, in exasperation, the real estate agent said, "Well, there's always Grey Gardens." The name conjured up all sorts of images. Hundreds of cats, two eccentric old women—the aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis—decayed grandeur; a cinema verité movie of the same name; condemnation by the health department; ghosts in the attic; an eerie, dilapidated, romantic oceanside hideaway in the midst of an exclusive, perfectly manicured oasis of well-to-do in East Hampton.
"Little Edie" Beale, Jackie's first cousin, niece of Black Jack Bouvier, met us at the door. Her mother, "Big Edie," had been dead for several years, she explained, and she was now forced to sell the house.
Inside, the cat smell was overpowering. The floor was part dirt. The ceiling was caving in. Raccoons peered at me through the rafters. Some twenty cats scurried as we entered each room. Still I thought it was the prettiest house I had ever seen.
We returned to the living room, stepping carefully over the rotting boards. I touched the keys on the grand piano and it collapsed. "Little Edie" didn't seem to notice. She did a waltz in the middle of the living room, and when she finished, she waved her arms magnanimously and said, "All it needs is a little paint."
"You're out of your mind," was what my husband, Ben, said when I broached the subject. Every day I went back. I was obsessed. "You must have this house," "Little Edie" told me. "You are meant to have this house. My mother has told me I must sell it to you. You are the only one who will return it to its original glory. Everyone else wants to tear it down." I told Ben that "Big Edie" wanted me to have the house. "You're out of your mind," he said.
I went back. This time with Ben. He is extremely allergic to cats. He was crying when we finally got out of the house. His eyes were red and puffy and he couldn't breathe. He had been startled by a raccoon. "You're out of..." he started to say. "But Ben, all it needs is a coat of paint," said I. Happily, Ben has a sense of humor. Also a sense of adventure. It didn't hurt that he loves a challenge. This was a challenge.
In November I arrived in East Hampton to close the sale of the house. I ventured into the attic for the first time, to find everyone's fantasy—a treasure trove of objects from a bygone era, unused for half a century. There was almost enough of everything to furnish the entire house. It was a true archaeological expedition, unearthing things that painted a perfect picture of the twenties and thirties. Everything I opened took me through the looking glass to discover another world—one of wealth and privilege, of travels and calling cards, of servants and beautiful clothes and, most of all, of a leisure that doesn't exist in many lives today.
Can Hardly Believe What One Sees Say Crossword Clue
Source: https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/grey-gardens-article