Summer of '31

I spend too much time on Facebook. Occasionally, though, I run across something that is interesting. There is a page devoted to the history of the small town in North Dakota where my mother grew up. Alamo. So I've been digging through photos looking for any that might add to this page. So far there is just this one. This is my maternal grandfather, Knut Oleson Ruud. He was a blacksmith. In other words, the village smithy. I don't know if there was a spreading chestnut tree outside this building, but I do know that my mother was absolutely mortified when she had to recite Longfellow's poem devoted to her father's trade. This was snapped sometime during the summer of 1931. I can't get over how young he looks!