Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

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



Thursday, March 15, 2012

My Short Personal Chef

Oh, sure. He looks like that now . . .
I had a project.
Or more appropriately a PROJECT.
And a household to run.
And three little boys, aged six months to four years.
I needed help.
Let me explain . . .
My Husby was the director of the local Royal Canadian Mounted Police Museum.
And he had asked me to create a display for it.
A secret display.
Does that make sense?
Moving on . . .
I was to create, in latch-hook, the RCMP crest. 
No small feat.
I had a pattern.
I bought the materials.
I started in.
Now, I should point out, here, that my pattern had originally been designed to create the picture for a 'petit-point' medium.
250 stitches wide by 250 stitches long.
And should end up about four inches in size.
It could also be used for cross-stitch.
Which would make it about twelve inches.
I was doing latch hook.
Six feet square.
Enough said.
A project of that size and scope naturally was going to take time.
But the board of the museum was awaiting my 'surprise'.
Anxiously.
I had to speed things along.
How to do that with three little boys.
Hmmmmm.
Some of my usual duties were going to have to be shared.
Someone was gong to have to take over the cooking.
And the most likely candidate was my oldest boy, Markie.
Have I mentioned that he was four?
He was.
But, for six weeks, my four-year-old did all of the cooking in our house.
We ate fruit.
And anything he could manage to cook in the microwave.
We had hot dogs.
Fish sticks.
Soup.
Lots of hot chocolate.
Oatmeal.
Cream of wheat.
Bowls of steamed vegetables.
Our menu was rather unvaried, but at least we ate.
And at the end of six weeks, fitted with an old barnwood frame created by my Husby, my RCMP crest 
was unveiled to the world.
The world liked it.
And I was able to smile and go back to being a Mom.
And relieve Markie of his cooking duties.
Everyone was happy.

There is a codicil . . .
To this day, Mark loves to cook.
His menu has grown vastly from hot dogs and anything 'microwavable'.
But when he's puttering in the kitchen, I still see that little boy.
The one who had to climb up on the cupboard to reach the microwave.
My little chef.
Picture it six feet square.
On a red Background.


10 comments:

  1. Wow...I'll bet that was one impressive piece of art.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I actually have the newspaper article and picture. Which I can't scan. Because someone's computer is down. Sigh.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a project. What a good job. What a roll of work you had to manhandle Whatta kid. Go, Markie.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was a good learning experience. At least that is what I tell myself . . .

      Delete
  4. WOW! Those are some mad talented skills you have. Just gorgeous! I love how you actually have some "shading" on the leaves. Gives it total depth to it. Just amazing! Great job to your little chef at the time too. ; )

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Lynn! One square at a time! Isn't it amazing how our experience shape us? From that time, Mark loved to cook. He was very popular on his mission!

      Delete
  5. Wow ! I tried to do this kind of work and it never came out the way I wanted it to.
    This one looks sooo hard. What a brave trooper you are.
    Congrats!!!
    I sure would have liked to see the finished product. You got me all excited. :)
    Must have been hard on the hands too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's funny, I don't remember my fingers getting sore, but they must have. Huh. It really did look nice when it was finished. Especially with the barn wood frame that my Husby put on it!

      Delete
  6. Wow! I bet that was an awesome sight when it was completed! This is a cute story about your son. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I couldn't believe I had actually made it! It hung in the museum for over twenty years. I took my kids back there to see it and it had just been taken down. We were so disappointed!

      Delete

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