Greentown Abbey is an aspiration and a brand, an inside-joke and a bit of sarcasm. It is what I call my Dad's home in Greentown, PA the Poconos Mountains. It has an office for my web design volunteerism, Greentown Abbey Web Design and was where my departed Mother raised her AKC registered Greentown Abbey Yorkshire Terriers. My Dad still has one of the dogs. We love her and she is the Lady of the house.
Greentown Abbey is a joke about the modest home being our manor and our estate, when really it is a simple homestead. It is Dad's house and I am just a guest, but I feel it is a lot more elaborate than my efficiency apartment and I watch a lot of Masterpiece Theatre and British Period drama. My Mother decorated in a Victorian manner of oriental rugs and eclectic decoration. Blue and white pottery, floral patterns and plaids, lace curtains and fancy things. Nothing too dear or expensive but on the whole a clutter of upper middle class respectability to which I could never aspire.
As I sit here, re-watching "Brideshead Revisited" the miniseries with my Dad I am reminded of all the teas with my Mother and the times we would watch TV together something Jane Austin here, a little E.M. Forrester there. I have enjoyed the blessings which makes this home of my Dad's feel exotic and far away, even though it is very close to my apartment. Here by the shores of Lake Wallenpaupack there is a certain serenity that people comment on when they encounter it.
