Moving the House

My grandparents farmed in Letellier, Manitoba in a French Canadian area.  When they bought a new farm nearby in the "English" area they moved all the buildings including the house, across the river. Horse power really meant something in those days!

The move was scary as my mom remembered. The family spoke little English and in some respects it was like a move to a foreign country. The new farm was bigger and better and their standard of living improved.  My grandfather accumulated horses  - plow horses, a couple of "teams" and riding horses.  Grandpa was apparently a good horse trader and made money buying and selling the animals.

Many years later, my grandparents moved into the city and my grandfather, left with little to do, kept a vegetable garden in the summer and whittled odd little wooden figures in the winter. He was deaf and couldn't see very well by then so the painting is primitive. I have some of the figures - the red one was a mounted policeman? with a black eye, a red nose and a gnarly grimace- he's meant to be astride a horse, but alas the horse is gone;  the one in front is "Hector in the Sky with Diamonds"....because the figure has rhinestone eyes.