Hi Pam,
I’m the Army officer that wrote you from Afghanistan about the Bowie Cape Cod! Just wanted to send along a pic of my own pretty little house, which is the same model and same year as the one you featured today. I love your blog! It has been a great resource for me and a source of inspiration as I fix up our little place. Plus it makes a nice escape for me, when I read it here in Afghanistan, I can dream about my fun DIY hobby at home and read the thoughts and ideas of like minded retro renovators.
Not long after I acquired my pink toilet a friend was moving it and shattered the tank lid. I was practically in tears thinking it was a lost cause, but I was able to order an exact replacement from the fixture warehouse that advertises on your site! I sent them a chip from the shattered lid and a tracing of the tank top and they hooked me right up!
Two more pics. The first one [at top} is me in the photo! I love pink flamingos for their kitschy appeal, and own several. So when I found one in Afghanistan I had to have my photo with it.
The final pic is from a meeting I went to at the Afghan police headquarters. The general speaking thought I was taking a picture of him but really I was grabbing a photo of the window treatments and pretty pistachio wall color. Even Afghans know pinch pleats + sheers + traverse rod = good window treatment!
Well, I’ll be home in 40 days, wrapping up my yearlong tour here. This is my fifth tour in the Middle East since 2002, I’m a military police officer and a paratrooper. My husband is a Green Beret and is here in Afghanistan also, in a different part of the country. When I get home I’ll send a few before and after pics of our house. Our kitchen and living room are our best ‘done’ projects. We took them from 80s right back to MCM and my husband and I have quite the selection of retro bar ware and a fabulous turquoise free standing bar with hairpin legs.
I thought you might get a kick out of these few pics of mid-century Afghanistan. Kabul, Afghanistan has remnants of mid-century architecture that can still be glimpsed through the dust and crumbling concrete. The 50’s through the 70’s were a booming time for Kabul before the Soviet invasion and an era of peace, connection with the outside world, and opportunity for men and women. I’ve attached a few photos from the 50’s and 60’s showing how it was more westernized then. These were published in a terrific Foreign Policy article on May 27, 2010 called “Once Upon a Time in Afghanistan…Record Stores, Mad Men Furniture, and pencil skirts — when Kabul had rock n’ roll, not rockets”.
[In our email exchange I told Mariah I was going to try to get to the DC area this spring and that maybe would could plan a Retro Renovation Meet-Up with readers there — probably around a tour of Hillstead. She responded:] I hope you come to DC! It would be great to get together with you and other readers. I know my mom would love it as well. I still remember her saying to me in about 2004 (I was living in Tennessee – Fort Campbell then and was still in my cabin/farmhouse decor stage),”You know Mariah, folks your age are buying ranchers and homes from the 50’s and 60’s and fixing them up the way they originally were.” It was a brand new concept to me then!
Thanks Pam! Your friend in Afghanistan,
Mariah
Thank YOU, Mariah. You know this is going to blow all of us away. I’m a little unhinged, thinking that the blog could provide some happy diversion to folks like you putting your lives on the line to make the world safer. Please take care. I hope we can meet in the spring. I’d love to see your house — it sounds PERFECT.
Tikimama says
Mariah, I have been sitting here feeling very sorry for myself today, and you have snapped me right out of that. Thank you and your husband for doing what most of us never could or would do. I pray that you both get home safe and sound and get to get back to living in your adorable house. I’m looking forward to seeing photos!
wendy says
I’ll add my heartfelt thanks for your service to our country. I wish I could find better words.
Amy Hill says
Thank you for your service all these years, There are many many folks here who appreciate your sacrifice and pray for all our soldiers safe return.
I am glad you have your own little house and hope you get to spend many peaceful years enjoying life there.
God Bless you!
MIfroggies says
Thank you, thank you for serving our country!
Mariah says
Hi everyone, Thank you so much for your warm wishes…you really brightened my day!
I love Retro Renovation and especially love how the posts spark memories and ideas in the fellow readers, its always great to check in and see what stories and DIY ideas everyone is sharing!
Mariah
Ann-Marie says
Mariah,
I am adding you and your husband to my prayer list for a safe return. Thanks for sharing the cool stuff about mid century Afghanistan. If only people could see what a small world this really was, we wouldn’t need to fight so many wars.
Ann-Marie
Jim says
Your house is great! I hope you’re home soon and safely to enjoy it. Keep up posted.
Alice says
Thank you so much for reaching us on the blog and in particular for your service! It’s very easy to be self-serving when reading this blog so it is very good to know that someone providing service to our country can take an escape back home and join us in our retro-DIY dreaming. Blessings to you.
lesley says
What a great post! Thanks Mariah for your service…and for giving us a peek into Afganistan and what is was. The pink flamingo picture just makes me smile!
Paul M. says
A meeting around DC during the spring sounds like an awesome idea. My recommendation is to go during azalea season — late April to early May. Much of the southern Montgomery County, MD area was developed in the WWII-1960 years, and that is reflected in the architecture. (If this meeting comes to fruition, I hope I can make it from NC.)
Paul
pam kueber says
Thanks for the suggestion, Paul. I was in DC once during the peak of cherry blossoms, and it was AMAZING.