(A Most Unlikely) Kitchen for Mr. Toast's Creative Tuesday

Copyright © Cheryl Coville 2011

Once Upon a Time........before Grandma Coco even dreamed of the Kingdom of Coco, she was often trundled around the country in a car with her younger brother by her Mum and Dad. Summer vacations almost always saw them on the road. Sometimes they stayed in motels, sometimes they camped in a tent and later they towed a tiny travel trailer. They went coast to coast in Canada, and into the US. Her parents were great travellers. Her brother still is. She, however, never caught the bug. Perhaps this little story will help explain why.

One bright morning, they found themselves fresh off the ferry in Prince Edward Island..... a beautiful place. This was so long ago that you still had to access it by ferry....or by airplane, I guess, but that was, to the Cocos at least, a very exotic form of travel. The Dad was a great organizer and everyone always felt safe with him in charge. On this particular trip, some glitch occurred ....some convention or festival had filled up all the motels. The Dad and the brother stood in side-by-side pay phones and started calling around in a desperate search for accommodation. Finally, success! The brother reported that there was a room waiting for them at The Borden Inn. He was a hero. For a while.

Off they went to find The Borden Inn. Jubilation quickly turned to despair. It was a dump. The kids weren't even allowed to enter the room until it had been given the Full Lysol Treatment. The Mum was a great believer in the germ killing properties of Lysol and used it copiously.

The rest of the day was spent driving the island looking for a better place and, in time, they found it....a clean and comfortable cabin close to the ocean. The only problem was it wouldn't be available until the next day. The family was doomed to spend one night back at The Borden Inn.

Needless to say, the kids slept great even with the cloud of Lysol fumes. The parents probably did not because first thing the next morning, they rounded up everyone and everything, packed up the car and headed straight for the beach. The dad found a good solid rock and set up his trusty Coleman campstove. One of the first things he did was brew the coffee for the Mum. She was always more agreeable after her coffee. (Remember, this was pre-Timmys. Hard as it is to imagine a world without a Tim Horton's on every corner....and sand dune.) And, right there, in that most improbable of kitchens, the Dad set to work and cooked up the best breakfast that family ever tasted. Hard to say if it was the location with the ocean waves crashing and the sun rising or the fresh sea air or just the relief that things were going to get better from there on in. Whatever the reason, that breakfast made the cut and lives today in Grandma Coco's cerebral Book of Happy Memories.

You can see other artists' interpretation of the "kitchen" theme here at Mr. Toast's Creative Tuesdays.

Let's see.....What else? 

Oh, yeah. Tomorrow's Week 2 of the Papa Bear Sampler Scarf Knit-along. Be sure to check back then for the next installment. We have a big party goin' on over on Ravelry. If you'd like to join in the fun, you can find us HERE.




And Little S's Santa Suit progresses under Cassie's watchful eye .....

Waitin' for Santa