David Joshua "Josh" Rall looked over the waters of Bodkin Creek and beyond Bodkin Shoal Point to the Chesapeake Bay. Boats, many covered or bundled up in anticipation of cold, wintry weather, bobbed at their moorings at the piers dotted along the waterfront. Waves lapped gently against the serene, scenic shoreline.
He smiled.
"My three kids are growing up where I grew up," he said.
"We enjoying drinking coffee in swing down by the water," his wife Pam said.
He nodded.
"At night we’ll build a bonfire by the water and roast s’mores," said Josh. "From here we can go boating, swimming, fishing, crabbing and tubing. We have quick access to the creek, the bay, Rock Hall, Baltimore and downtown Annapolis."
Josh and Pam Rall’s Home of the Week in Pasadena.
Josh’s parents, Richard and Doris Rall, lived in Catonsville in their youth.
In the late 1960s, the couple purchased about 2/5 of an acre on the Pasadena waterfront for about $5,000. On their new property, they spent about $30,000 building a split foyer home. The front of the house faces the water – similar to homes built in the colonial era.
They lived there together for nearly two decades, raising their son.
"The ice used to be thick enough in the wintertime," Josh said, "for us to skate on it out on Bodkin Point."
After going to school at Lakeshore Christian Academy through seventh grade, Josh graduated from the original Annapolis Area Christian School high school site in Annapolis. He earned an appointment to the Class of 2000 at Kings Point, the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Long Island, New York, one of the five U.S. service academies.
The handsome house with the brick red siding and white trim sits on a corner lot in an Arnold community. The frontyard is watched over by an angel sculpted from white wire and ablaze with twinkling lights.
“While we think our Colonial style home is attractive year round, we think it particularly…
The handsome house with the brick red siding and white trim sits on a corner lot in an Arnold community. The frontyard is watched over by an angel sculpted from white wire and ablaze with twinkling lights.
“While we think our Colonial style home is attractive year round, we think it particularly…
He had looked forward to sharing his exploits as a Kings Point midshipman with his dad, but the senior Rall passed away during Josh’s Plebe year.
After he graduated, he served in the Merchant Marine for a year, followed by the Navy Reserves. In 2005, he was recalled to active duty and lived in Naples for a year while commanding a unit stationed in the Middle East. As recently as this spring, he participated in military exercises in Muscat, Oman.
In his civilian life, Josh is a project manager for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration.
Meanwhile, a trio of Cupids was polishing their arrows.
His sister and widowed mom worked at Lakeshore Christian Academy, a small school founded in 1976. A fellow employee was Pam’s mom.
When Pam graduated from college, her mom invited Mrs. Rall – who brought along her son. Josh wore his officer’s uniform for the occasion.
Wedding bells rang soon afterward. The two married Sept. 7, 2002 at the Lakeshore Bible Church and held their reception at Kurtz’s Beach.
The couple now has three children. 9-year old Zachary and Lydia, 7, attend Rockbridge Academy. The youngest, Andrew, is 2.
The family also has a 3 ½ year old Chocolate Labrador that is trained to ring the doorbells when he wants to go in the house – or outside. Which Chance gleefully does every chance he gets.
Pam works part-time handling billing and administrative tasks for a local company.
Two years after Josh’s graduation from USMMA, he purchased the house from his mother and built on a small addition. He and Pam lived in the addition while his mom remained in the larger part of the house.
A few years later, when the children started arriving, Mrs. Rall, who, at 78, is still working at Lakeshore, switched places in the house with the young family. The "Doris Wing" is a large, cozy suite, complete with its own, full-size kitchen, bath, living room and dining area, and bedroom.
The halls were decked
The Ralls showed their visitors through a few days before the 2016 Holidays.
The house had just been decorated for the season and the scent of freshly cut pine scented the air. The abode brimmed with lots of creative, decorating ideas for the 2017 Holiday Season.
The house has three "front door" entrances. One on the water side, one on the street facing side, and the third leading to the split foyer home’s upper level. Known as "Villa Rall," the residence has four bedrooms and three baths.
Josh showed us around the upstairs portion of the main building. The living room area, he explained, had once been his parents’ bedroom, bathroom and, in a corner, his bedroom. Walls were taken down, plumbing moved elsewhere and the room opened up. There is an area for sitting on the pair of chocolate leather couches to warm up near the hearth, watch TV or chat.
The dining room is simultaneously modern and warm, with a white wooden dining set placed in an area with scarlet walls.
The dining set and the sideboard in the living room upon which the TV screen rests were purchased at a Jordan’s Furniture in Warwick, Rhode Island.
The narrow table behind one of the couches was another furniture find Pam painted to match the sideboard. The silk and wool patterned Persian carpets in the living room were purchased in Bahrain by Josh.
The large, renovated kitchen also wears red walls, accented with a veined beige quartz countertop and cherry stained wooden cabinetry. Part of the "C" shaped counter forms a breakfast bar that seats all six Ralls. The kitchen floor is paved with large cream tiles. Beyond the counters, the floor on the top level is a light golden pine.
A few steps down to the lower level are where all the bedrooms were installed.
Andrew’s room is a work-in-progress. He’s about to "age out" of his crib in the pale gray room with white trim and light aqua accents. He might copy Zachary’s "nautical but nice" décor – or go his own way. Zachary has a sleigh bed with a navy and white multi-plaid spread set beneath a fishing net brimming with red plush toy crabs. Stationed near his bed is a carved wooden fish signboard sporting his name and a space hero armed with a light saber, plus a few dancing starfish.
Lydia’s room, though awash in purples, lavenders, fuchsias, pinks and celery greens is a little … Frozen.
Like the characters in the 2013 Disney movie.
Amidst a storm of large snowflakes, several of them – Anna, Kristoff, Sven the Reindeer, Olaf the Snowman and an icy Elsa – adorn a wall near a large set of wooden cutout letters spelling Lydia’s name.
Pam painted all the fuchsia wooden furniture with chalk paint. The room is any child’s dream spot.
Josh and Pam’s room provides a restful respite for the busy couple.
It resembles a comfortable drift of snow or whipped cream, a cozy spot to fall asleep or gaze out at the water. The white wooden four-poster bed is cocooned with a pale paisley cream, teal and gold print duvet, which is folded back to show off a plump pile of pillows. Like the bed, the wooden night stands on either side are also white, as are the bureaus. A large conch shell performs the role of sculptural art on one bureau.
Outside, there is one more room: Josh built the kids a wooden playset. It includes a gazebo-like structure surrounded by an open rope wall, a slide, some swings and a climbing area.
Best of all, it has an unobstructed view of the creek.
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