Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

From the 50s and 60s to today . . .



Sunday, August 11, 2013

The Keys to Adventure

Okay, well, they looked like keys to me . . .
To say that my mom was a neat and tidy person would be a vast understatement.
She was also careful.
Frugal, thrifty, economical.
She made do.
And stored anything that might come in handy . . . later.
There were times that her tidy habits provided me with hours of pleasurable fun.
Well . . . one habit.
Mom always had a great supply of pins of all types and styles, many gleaned from clothing purchases.
Any pin found was carefully saved.
If her handy-dandy pincushion wasn’t in the vicinity, she would poke them into the crack of a window or door frame for later pick-up.
She was also careful with keeping her safety pins.
Those were strung onto a larger pin.
For easy storage and easier access.
Because safety pins could be used for anything!
Any quick repair job was a snap with a safety pin.
So to speak.
But this is where her habit of saving and storing was of vital importance to me.
Because those little bunches of pins were magical.
Did you know that I’ve flown planes?
Well, I have.
And driven busses and tractors.
Captained boats.
Took the wheel in giant earth-movers.
Piloted spaceships.
Driven trains.
All without ever having to leave my house.
And all due to one of Mom’s collections of safety pins.
Because those bunches of pins looked, to me, like sets of keys.
And they could start anything my imagination could come up with.
I would insert the largest one into the imaginary keylock, turn it with the impressive sound of “taw-aw-aw-aw-vroom!”
And I was away.
Hours of fun.
I could be driving a moon-buggy in the morning.
And be digging into the depths of the earth in a giant corkscrew machine in the afternoon.
And all because of Mom’s habit of saving old pins.

Thanks, Mom.
What do you see?

14 comments:

  1. Actually, it sort of looks like a fishing lure.

    ReplyDelete
  2. My mom kept tons of safety pins, too! I love this.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My parents repaired clocks for a time in my early childhood and the assortment of clock keys on hand remained long after. We played with them as children. Years and years and years on, shortly after our mom passed away, a clock key turned up in a plant we rescued from our also deceased brother. We could not identify any source.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The mysterious key. Just imagine what it could open . . .
      Love it!

      Delete
  4. I remember playing with the 'keys' myself; I had a tremendous imagination too. I seem to remember being forced to listen to someone's singing that sounded like 'taw-aw-aw-aw-vroom,' but so many others (especially the singer) thought that said singer was bound for the New York Opera. I might add that that family's cat agreed with me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bwahahahaha! That cat was certainly 'bound' for somewhere when said singer hit that high note! :)
      Hmmm. I think our 'Taw-aw-aw-aw-vroom' was MUCH more musical . . .

      Delete
  5. My mom never kept her pins this way - but I do. So your "keys" remind me of my sewing basket, which is a very good thing :)

    You had a great imagination! I was reading along on your list of things you have done ... and it wasn't until I got to the spaceships that I clued in ... after all, the rest were POSSIBLE in real life! I love that ALL those things were possible through your imagination.

    And, woo-hoo! George might be in trouble with that comment!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have never before seen a set of keys in a bunch of safety pins. But I see them now. You were so imaginative! And still are I dare say. That's exactly how I store my safety pins too, just like my mum before me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Perfect for storing. Perfect for playing. It's just a perfect world! :)

      Delete
  7. Once again, Diane, you have thoroughly captivated me.

    You rock!

    Love,
    Chris

    ReplyDelete

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