Friday, June 4, 2021

Personal Chef

He's a little taller 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 barn wood 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.

5 comments:

  1. Look at the love of cooking you instilled in him! So glad he's expanded his repertoire, though.

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  2. I don't know who I admire more in this story -- you or Markie. Both are amazingly talented. Bravo!

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  3. Bet he loved being Mommy's little helper! He may have had the seeds of cooking within him, but you gave him the nourishing water. (And, enlarging that pattern - I am in admiration.)

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  4. Six weeks of cooking at age four is truly something to be proud of :)

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  5. Wow! That's quite a feat for a child.

    You accomplished quite a feat yourself.

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