Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Do You Believe in Magic?

A Story of A Crisis. 

(with colour photos!)


Here at Cleveland Place over the years, there have been just a few serious crises that have caused concern and heartache.

There was the time Dad went for a shoreline winter hike at low tide many years ago, and didn't return at the appointed time.  Alarms were raised, rescue efforts employed, and Dad was found by spotlight in freezing rain on the side of a cliff.  He had been overcome by hypothermia and positioned himself just above the water at high-tide, but was unable to continue on. 

Then there was the time that a confused elderly guest became disoriented in the middle of the night during her stay at the B&B and fell down the back stairs and had to be taken away by ambulance.  She had fallen and couldn't get up.

And the year my folks recounted their shock when they returned to Cleveland Place from a winter getaway to a kitchen filled with standing water from burst pipes that ruined ceiling plaster, artwork, major appliances, and wallpaper.

But none of those compare to the most recent crisis at Cleveland Place.

A spoon has gone missing.

Not just any spoon.  This spoon: 


The Magic Spoon.  

It was purchased at least 15 years ago at a garage sale.  Found in a shoebox full of stray pieces of cutlery, dull knives, novelty key chains, and bottle openers it was gleaming and I asked its price.  It was originally from a cocktail set, long since separated from its companions, no longer retrieving tiny white onions from a tall jar for a gin martini or vodka Gibson.


I paid ten cents for it.  The best dime I ever spent.

It took pride of place always within reach right here at the helm of the Cleveland Place kitchen.
You see, my day actually begins with the use of the Magic Spoon.  Starting with my first cup of hot coffee with one sugar cube and a splash of cream, its cheerful reflection of the morning light awakening me for the tasks and chores that lay ahead of me.

Quite often, that special spoon was a key player in many ways for my daily routine.  Time and time again, I'd find myself reaching for it even when I wasn't cooking or in the kitchen.  Its uses innumerable, its capabilities magical.

Often alone when I had an especially out-of-reach itch on my back, the Magic Spoon would come to the rescue reaching down the length of my turtleneck with just enough extension needed to hit that sweet spot of relief that a door frame couldn't satisfy.

Around the house, as neglected housekeeping revealed necessary attention, the Magic Spoon would help out in corners that were just a bit too high, but not worth hauling a stepladder to de-cobweb.
 
or to retrieve the treasures and trash that rolled under the fridge where it's too slim for a hand's reach.
I think back to the many years in our family of six with four loud, rambunctious children who had to be called to a meal, at attention, or summoned for a family con-fab, clanging the Magic Spoon against an empty pot would loudly peal for an upcoming announcement.
But it was more than that.  It was a helper, an extension of my own hand, a friend in need, magically rendering a small task into a feeling of accomplishment time after time.  Its small thin bowl, serving as an actual screwdriver, no longer a part of the screwdriver mixing cocktail team but now serving a higher purpose in the realm of chrome plated utensils.


Its strong, long, handle, reaching for my needs whenever I can't quite make it


sometimes de-tangling my connections-- no one likes a kinked phone cord, no one.


Or to stir sleeping coals in the hearth when a chill has settled in and bright warming fire can easily be re-kindled and sparked.


and the Magic Spoon even has my back, when I get that creepy feeling of being watched -- you know the feeling.  There will be a one-eyed Peeping Tom in town, thanks to its spiraling rod of defense.


Even coming to the rescue when other dedicated tools have gone missing.




Oh, sure, there are other spoons at Cleveland Place, sterling silver spoons, serving spoons, sugar spoons, ice tea spoons, every day flatware spoons, soup spoons, even caviar spoons made of horn or mother-of-pearl, but they will never be the Magic Spoon.  

Just look at them.  They wish they were Magic Spoons, 

but they'll never measure up. 

After all, Spoons, I served with the Magic Spoon. I knew the Magic Spoon. The Magic Spoon was a friend of mine. Spoon, you're no Magic Spoon!

But it HAS to be here somewhere, right?  I know that spoons have been known to run away with a dish, but not here, not now.  So I searched -- it must simply have been mislaid.  Though the Cleveland Place kitchen is orderly, and there's a place for everything and everything's in its place, maybe, just maybe it could have been misplaced.....opening drawers reveals continued disappointment.

Alas, it's not in the third drawer which keeps things of three

 and it hasn't been whisked away

I'll call a meeting, an investigation, an inquiry -- who last used it, washed it, poked with it, scraped, tightened, stirred, tasted a sip from it, or even threatened the mischievous dog with its imposing chrome?

I demanded to know, "Was it YOU?"  Who emptied the dishwasher last? Two days went by!  Is it in a tool belt?  The pen tray?  Did someone use it as a dip-stick to check the oil level in the car?  It could be ANYWHERE by this point.  I was desperate.  At a loss.  I had a three-course luncheon to prepare for 17 people upcoming -- I raised my arms with the despair of loss


 "WHY?" 

and then his hand reached out.  

Let's call him Steve, since that's what his name is.  Steve reached out and plucked my beloved spoon off the magnet strip just under the cabinet next to the stove.  It had been here all along.  Waiting, ready, quiet, slightly out of sight.

Sometimes when we think what we need most is completely out of reach, it's really right where we need it all along; it's just like magic when it appears.