in this neighbourhood. Note the tree stumps and the ungraded street. Greenstone History collection.
from The Big Move
In 1933, the Kenny family moved from tents at Hardrock to their new log home in Geraldton. Their old home became a woodshed. It had had a single room on one end for the Kennys and another on the other end for the Delbridges.
“Our new house had three rooms-a kitchen, two bedrooms and
a small pantry for storage. My father had built a bunk bed for me
against the wall and another bunk under the window for company.
Their room had their bed and a low dresser with a mirror on it.
The kitchen had the woodstove, a table with four chairs, and a big
wing back chair especially nice to sit in with someone reading me
a story. Each room had a window. Mine looked into the bush, the
kitchen looked south with the warm sun coming in, in the winter,
and my parent’s room looked into the old house, which was now
our new woodshed.
When it rained, the ground was muddy so my father made a
wooden sidewalk from the woodshed door across the front of the
house to the other side. The end of the walk had a stoop.
Mother used it to reach the clothesline and [a] stand for the
washtub. In nice weather mom could wash the clothes outside.
There a path led straight to the outhouse. There was a well at the
back, full of nice cold water. We had a pump in it.”
A woodstove from the old home was installed in the new home. A hole through the ceiling and roof accommodated the pipes. That night, “Supper was a celebration . . . Mom chopped up cooked potatoes with onions and mixed it with a can of bully beef to make hash . . . We had . . . raisin pie for dessert.”
DO YOU REMEMBER . . .
(a) living in crude accommodations?
(b) an old-time celebratory meal?
E.J. Lavoie's Blog 3 