A Sign

 

Baffin Island Inuksuk

An inuksuk is a manmade stone landmark or cairn found in northern Canada, Greenland, and Alaska and built for use by the Inuit, Iñupiat, Kalaallit, Yupik, and other peoples of the Arctic region of North America.

This region has few natural landmarks. The inuksuk were likely used for navigation, reference points, travel route markers, fishing, camps, hunting grounds, places of veneration, drift fences for hunting, or to mark a food cache.

With me so far?  We have a large family. Large. Which means that, until just recently (with the onset of marriages and moving outs), we had to buy our supplies in large quantities. I’m talking five-gallon pails of everything.

 Now, because it was impractical to have those huge containers taking up the rather limited counter-space in one’s kitchen, we stored them in the basement storage room. Then took smaller containers downstairs and filled them. Often.

Case in point: I have a small oil crucible that stores easily in my spice cupboard. Occasionally, when it gets emptied, it is carried down to its big brother in storage and refilled. Simple and practical.

And now we come to the actual story in this…erm…story. I had wrung the last drop out of said oil container. Not wanting to interrupt what I was doing, I set it aside to refill later.

Those who know me, know also that, when I’m cooking, I shouldn’t be interrupted until I’ve finished, or at least until all chances of messing up catastrophically have been eliminated. Just a FYI. Sooo…oil crucible. Empty… 

A short time later, cake safely and happily in the oven and opportunities for disaster largely diminished, I turned. Now was the time for replenishing. I reached for the empty container. Only to find it *gasp* missing. 

I flagged down Husby as he beetled through a few minutes later. “Honey? Did you see my oil container? I left it right here.” “Oh, yeah. I found your inuksuk (see above) and got your message.” 

He pointed. “It’s there.” I opened my spice cupboard to find my container, filled, sitting in its usual place. (Yes, I’m bragging a bit because how many partners see something that needs doing. Then do it?)

My point in telling you this is to explain that inuksuk don’t have to be made of stone and parked somewhere in the frozen tundra. Sometimes they are red plastic with ‘Tupperware’ stamped on the lid. As signposts, they can still get the job done. 

If only one is willing to see.

 

Real Canadian Inuksuk
Background: Real Canadian

Today’s post is a writing challenge. This is how it works: each month one of the participating bloggers pick a number between 12 and 74. All bloggers taking part that month are then challenged to write using that exact number of words in their post either once or multiple times.

This month’s word count number is: 36

It was chosen by: Mimi of Messymimi’sMeanderings

At the end of this post you’ll find links to the other blogs featuring this challenge.

Check them all out! 

Baking In A Tornado                   

Messymimi’s Meanderings