The Reindeer Keeper

The top photo shows my mother sitting next to her father in the front yard of my grandparents' farmhouse during a family summer picnic. My mother is holding me. Behind my grandfather you can see the chicken coop and behind that, the barn. My grandfather was a farmer.  When I was seven or eight years old, my family moved out to the country, right next to the farmhouse. By then, the farm had been sold. My grandparents lived on the other side of our new home with an aunt who never married. The farmhouse was occupied by another aunt plus an uncle and four cousins. On the other side of the house occupied by my grandparents and aunt who never married lived another related family, including an aunt, uncle and two cousins. Once we were all settled, the fun began. Being kids we wandered all over the place including the backfields, the creek running behind the four houses, the barn, and the chicken coop which was eventually turned into our Clubhouse. By that time, there were no chickens livi