This is the house my Granddad Utas built in the mid-1920s. My dad was about six when they moved to the Fort Assiniboine area from the Bashaw area. Dad said they lived for six months in a covered wagon until the house was ready.
My parents lived in it for a few years and I spent my first year here.
It's a bit worse for wear these days and the trees have reclaimed most of it, but the door is open and it's still my first home.
22 comments:
I hate to make this all about me (but...) I am having a rough morning and so so so looked forward to the calm I knew your blog would contain.
what Id not do to escape to that house for an hour or 12.
to sit.
In silence.
What an amazing and wonderful connection to the past! To have literally lived in a pioneer's cabin, and still have it on the property.
This is a blessing, you should write down any stories you remember from your parents or grandparents, and leave them for the younger people in your own family.
The more of this connection we have to our own past, the better.
I agree with Miz, I wouldn't mind escaping there for a few days every year just to get away from it all.
Also, thanks for the comment on my blog with instructions! This Luddite needs all the help she can get.
Sorry to hear about your rough a.m. Miz. You can come here any time you need. I think you'd enjoy the silence there.
Messymimi, dfBag Lady does the family recording work and we're thrilled to have her.
It's quiet at The Old Place. It's a good place to just be.
You're welcome re: instructions. I've been helped many a time when I've had blog/computer/ what-have-you questions and I'm happy to pass along what little I know.
It's good to see the old house! And lucky you to be able to have actually lived there! All I can claim is that I've walked through and enjoyed the peace and quiet on numerous occasions! (Oh, and that I have a couple of pieces of it in my own home - namely, the windows that inspired my crazy-looking sunporch!)
Ah, that's where they went. Good for you for claiming your portion.
It's a good quiet there.
How very cool. It looks like a peaceful, forgiving place. Old homes like that make me want to rub my cheek against a door frame or something, like a cat, and soak up the vibe so I can carry it with me for awhile.
The original house my grandfather built on what is now my dad's property is almost as old--early 1930s. But it was made of adobe and after Grandpa built the other, larger house to accommodate his growing family, the original house was left unmaintained. It's now mostly melted away. Adobe does that.
How cool! So amazing that it's still there, especially in this disposable, tear-it-down age we live in.
I must have been there when grandma & grandpa were alive, I just don't remember. I am glad to see it still standing and you are right about it being quiet out there. It is wonderful.
Bunnygirl, I can understand about soaking up the vibe. That'd be a great way to do it.
Shame about your Grandpa's home. I suppose the vibes are still there, though.
Crabby, it was built to last.
Reb, it's always good to see it. It's grown up so much I have to rely on my memory as to where the other outbuildings were, but I still can see them.
It's a peaceful spot.
Except for the house he and my mother built in 1960, none of the houses my father lived in and called "home" are still standing. Not one. The house he was born in was built about 1800, double walled brick a foot and a half thick, and then my great-grandfather, always in search of better farms for his children, moved my grandparents elsewhere and sold that place to someone from "away" who tore down a perfectly sound house and built an ugly frame house to replace it. I still shudder when I drive by.
Mary Anne in Kentucky
Oh, he was an idiot. He so alienated people that none of his neighbors would trade work with him. In 1918 that was the mark of Cain. It wasn't long before he sold up and went back where he came from, only it was too late for the house, of course.
Mary Anne in Kentucky
Lucky you to be a part of the history of that home. You're each a part of the other.
What memories! If only the house could talk, what stories it could tell. Great photo!
Hilary, I think you're absolutely right.
Redbush, nice to see you back in the blogosphere. It sure would have some stories.
It's lovely to be able to go back and check on the places one lived.
Some years ago my mother took me to the farm where she had been born in the early 1900s. My grandparents had homesteaded east of Camrose. The house had long been gone, but the barn was still there and in good shape.
Barbara, it's good to see the old buildings and get a feel for how life was back then.
Oh wow, mega-cool. That cabin reminds me of the one that my grandmother grew up in for the first few years of her life. So neat that your first home is still standing, amidst all the growth and trees. The surroundings suit it somehow.
I think you're right about the surroundings, Thomma Lyn.
I'm quite tickled it's still there.
How very cool that it is still standing. Wow! Your grandfather really knew how to build something to last.
Yes, he sure did, Nancy.
Charming and peaceful, harmonious with its environs, despite the inevitable weathering of age. I hope to be that appealing my late 80's!
Yes, it is Clare. And I'm sure you'll be, too.
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