The Bay Window

January 18, 2009 at 3:25 am (Home Farm)
Tags: art, family, history, HomeFarm

The Bay Window, Home Farm

Last week we discovered that the furnace in the Home Farm wasn’t working. Our friend went to check on the house and realized that it was freezing cold and thus that the furnace was temporarily not being furnace-like. Apparently a relatively easy fix, thank goodness.

It’s strange to think about keeping a house heated that nobody lives in, but we need to maintain a basic amount of heat so that the pipes don’t freeze and related troubles occur.

The cold doesn’t seem to bother the plants that have been thriving in the big bay window in the dining room of the Home Farm for years. As long as I can remember there have been plants filling up this window, soaking in the light that beams down regardless of the season. The Christmas Cactus is constantly flowering, the African violets are chugging along and the tropical palms love it. My grandmother tended to these plants, then my uncle took over the mantle, and now we do the honours. Of course we need help from our friends when we’re not around, but the plants don’t seem to mind the change of management.

Painting of the Bay Window by Floyd Covert

My uncle, Floyd Covert, was an artist and art teacher. Often he found artistic inspiration in landscape scenes around Lodi as well as historical portraits of family members, many taken from photographs, both archival and contemporary. He created art in diverse media, ranging from abstract paintings to meticulous and precise line drawings. He often painted scenes of the Home Farm or the farms and grounds around the property. The painting  here is a remarkably realistic representation of  the big bay window packed with thriving, happy plants. The way he captures the light coming the window is  incredibly true-to-life and a bit magical.