Today I had another oddly disquieting inter-generational failure to communicate. It reminded me of the time I tried to explain Sears catalogue to my hairdresser.
The strata council (a.k.a. home owners’ association board) that manages all things structural and mechanical in my building had arranged for all the fire alarms to be tested today. I knew that inspectors were coming and was ready for someone to come into my unit and test my smoke and fire alarms.
The technician, who was tall enough to check the alarms in my ceiling without standing on a chair or a ladder, dutifully checked everything and declared all to be hunky dory. He explained that I should expect to hear the fire alarms tested later in the day but that I should not be alarmed; it would just be a test of the alarms. So, not at all alarming.
Before he left my apartment, though, he pointed out a shadow box that I have on my wall and asked me about the object that I had placed within it. He wanted to know what it was. The conversation went something like this:
He: What is that?
Me: It is a darning toadstool.
He: What is it for?
Me: Darning socks. My mother used to darn my father’s socks.
He: Ironing? She ironed socks?
Me: No, darning. Mending.
(At this point he looked completely baffled so I felt the need to explain using hand gestures.)
Me: She repaired holes in socks by sewing. (My fingers showing the darning process, weaving a needle and yarn in and out.)
He: OK. (But clearly not.) I have never heard of that before.
This brought back memories of my childhood when my mother would knit socks for my dad using three double-ended needles in a circular fashion. He wore those socks every day, and when a heel wore a hole in a sock, my mum would darn it. The darning toadstool is one of the few things I have of my mother’s and it brings up warm memories.
As you can see from the photos, it is a well-used toadstool. The picture in the back of the shadow box was taken at my parents’ wedding in 1932 and the medal was won by my father for wrestling (Olympic style) at the Pembroke Athletic Club.
Both those items were significant in my parents’ eyes, but the humble toadstool has the most significance in mine.
https://snowbirdofparadise.com/2023/12/14/darn-it/
