|
|
|
|
|
|
Resources |
|
|
|
All Right at St. Matthew's Place
| Article
# : |
11307 |
|
|
Section : |
LIFE
|
| Issue
Date : |
5 / 1986 |
1,681 Words |
| Author
: |
Rosemary G. Rennicke
Rosemary G. Rennicke is a freelance writer from Buckingham,
Pennsylvania, who specializes in interior design and antiques. |
Over the fireplace, a cheery relic of the eighteenth-century home, hangs an electric English sporting print. A horse drawn road coach prepares for its journey, the rearing horses and expectant travelers proclaiming the artwork's title, All Right. "It says, 'We're ready, let's go all is right," instructs Dr. Donald Rosato. That sentiment, an anticipatory glee tempered with confidence, is abundantly familiar to Rosato and his wife, Judy--evident in the country house they have restored, the antique carriages they have collected, the comfortable flair with which they have integrated home and hobby into their lives.
Yet all has not always been right. The satisfaction of an elegant home and prized collection represents the end station on the long road of nursing decrepit parts into a vital whole. It started with a wastebasket.
"I remember practicing a Chopin polonaise on the piano when I was a child," says Rosato, "and glancing at this wastebasket we had that was decorated with a fox hunting scene. Somehow I connected fox hunting with the music and imagined it to be very elegant." So elegant, in fact, that the young man was inspired to chase after local hunts on foot.
Following horses begat riding horses, which begat owning horses. In 1976, after the stable at which he had been boarding his animals burned, Rosato was in the market for a barn. He eventually found one--on a tangled, overgrown wreck of a property advertised as a smart "bachelor's retreat." When the owner refused to sell the massive dairy barn separate from an equally dilapidated stone house, Rosato decided to buy
... (1941 of 9986 Characters)
Read Full Article
|
|
