This is one of the kitchens of my life. It is about the third or thereabouts. The first is, of course, our kitchen on Superior Street up there in Da Yoop. The second is the kitchen of the Old Cabin, my grandparents cabin on Fin Family Moominbeach. Where my cousins and I would fight over who would get the pink plate or the green plate or just get stuck with the ugly (not) speckled plates. It’s okay, that’s what kids do. We’re all grown up now and we don’t do that any more.

When I was six, The Commander and Grandroobly built their own new cabin on the beach. It wasn’t big or fancy. It was a small, single-story building with one bedroom that my brother and I shared and a utility room. Bathroom? Y’all, that was 50 yards or so out in the back yard. But there was a small kitchen and there was running water. Not the kind of running water where you run down to the lake with a bucket and run back up. We got our running water out of a garden hose from my Uncle Don’s well. There wasn’t *hot* water. If you wanted hot water, you heated it on the stove. And that worked and it even fit into one of the main talents that I have, which is Dish Processor.

I have a lot of stories about those years but then, all of a sudden, Grandroobly was not just Jack anymore, he was Grandroobly. That means there were grandchildren. Four beautiful girls. And suddenly there was an upper story and indoor plumbing and hot water out of the faucet. Sigh. I appreciate all of those things. Don’t get me wrong. But I also remember the days of having to take a bath in Lake Superior before going to work in the morning and I will *never* forget my boss at the Sault Ste. Siberia Tempo store, Mr. Drysdale (yes, that was his name but his first name was not Milburne), looking at my still-wet hair and asking me if I had bathed in the lake. Yes. Sir. He cracked up. He knew my dad (duh, that’s how I got that job but I *was* good at it) and he had an idea about where I was coming from. He was a good, fair boss and I loved him for that.

Three o’clock snack. I lost my train of thought here. Maybe tomorrow, or some Beach Urchins will fill you in. Whatever.

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