My Grandparent’s Tiny House

These are photos of my grandmother Violet and my grandfather Bob at thier Tiny House.  These photos are about 25 years old, 1987 is my guess.  I believe that she is about 65 years old and he is two years older here.  The other people in the photos are an unknown neighbour and my Daddy, Richard.  Mom was there too, but not shown because she took the photos with her then new 35 mm Olympus Trip camera.

Grandma and Grandpa did not live here, but bought this Tiny House on the Mississippi River in Ontario as a get-away.   Tiny living as a full time thing would be out of the question for them because there are 19 of us in the immediate family and we all came for Sunday dinner; EVERY SUNDAY.  Nineteen was not how many they had for Sunday dinners, because there were spouses and partners, we also brought others along, plus there was extended family and neighbours who also came by.  They were people who really loved their family and unlike the people of today who ramble in their big mcmansions alone, they needed the big house with the HUGE table to fit us all!  It was expected that they would have between 25 and 35 every week to dinner and they loved these get togethers.

Even so, I suspect that they enjoyed a little solitude from time to time.  Grandma often spoke about their Tiny House haven in the wilderness, particularly after I told her about my Tiny House plans.  Even though she was failing in health she came out to see what I built and when she came to visit she said ” I thought that you were building a Tiny House?”  She was grinning from ear to ear.

Grandma worried that I might not like the Tiny House in the forest once I had it built because I am like her in the way that I love being around people.  I told her that I would get visitors and that I would go out and see people too.  I try to do this but as always she was right, I often feel lonely and wish more people would come.

I think it is interesting that Tiny Housers run in my family.