QUEST FOR A GNOME
I HAVE NEVER BEEN A FAN OF GARDEN GNOMES. I AM STILL QUITE AMAZED AT HOW MANY OF THESE WEE FELLOWS I STILL SEE DECORATING THE FRONT LAWNS (AND WINDOWS!) AROUND MY NEIGHBOURHOOD.
DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN PEOPLE WOULD STEAL GNOMES OUT OF PEOPLE’S GARDENS AND TAKE THEM ON THESE AROUND THE WORLD ADVENTURES? THEN WHEN THE KIDNAPPERS (GNOMENAPPERS?) RETURNED THEY WOULD SECRETLY RETURN THEIR TRAVEL CAPTIVES TO THEIR RIGHTFUL OWNER WITH A ZIPLOK BAG OF ALL THE CITIES THE GNOME HAD VISITED.
WELL ,ONE DAY, OUR NEWSPAPER HAD A CONTEST FOR ITS READERSHIP. (I LOVE CONTESTS!) THE JOURNAL WOULD HIDE 80 GNOMES AROUND THE CITY AND POST CLUES EVERY DAY , (I THINK IT WAS 3 ONLINE AND 3 IN THE PAPER DAILY.)
I ALSO LOVE RIDDLES SO ON THE FIRST DAY I SET ABOUT TRYING TO SOLVE THE RIDDLE SO I COULD FIND THE GNOME. IF YOU FOUND ONE YOU WOULD BE INVITED TO A BIG PARTY AT THE END OF THE CONTEST WHERE YOU WOULD TRADE IT IN FOR WONDERFUL PRIZES LIKE GAS COUPONS, NIGHT’S OUT GIFT CERTIFICATES, BAGS OF BOOKS, AND ON AND ON. FUN!
NOW AT THE TIME MY HUSBAND WORKED OUT OF TOWN . IMAGINE HIS SURPRISE WHEN HE CALLED ME TO SAY HE WAS ON HIS WAY HOME AND I TOLD HIM I WAS IN A PARK AND TO HAVE THE CAB DROP HIM OFF THERE. HE ASSUMED I HAD A LOVELY DINNER PICNIC PLANNED FOR HIM BUT WHEN I SAID THAT I WAS SEARCHING FOR A GNOME….HE THOUGHT I’D LOST IT. HA HA HA HA!
I FILLED HIM IN ON MY QUEST AND RIGHT ON THE SPOT HE SAID HE WAS ‘IN’ AND WE BECAME OBSESSED WITH FINDING ONE OF THESE LITTLE GUYS.
EVERYDAY WE WOULD GET UP EARLIER AND EARLIER TO GET THE NEWSPAPER CLUE(ONLINE CLUES CAME LATER IN THE DAY) AND NO MATTER WHAT WE DID SOMEONE HAD ALWAYS BEATEN US TO THE GNOME!
IT GOT TO THE POINT WHERE WE WOULD ACTUALLY SHOW UP AT THE JOURNAL BUILDING AS THEY WERE LOADING THE STACKS INTO THE TRUCKS AND WE’D GRAB ONE ‘HOT OF THE PILE’ TO BEGIN OUR NIGHTLY QUEST. WE GOT OUR CHILDREN AND FRIENDS INVOLVED WHEN WE FOUND OUT THAT PEOPLE HAD TEAMS OF FRIENDS IN 3 CITIES WORKING TOGETHER SO THAT SOMEONE WAS AT THE READY TO GRAB THE GNOME THE MINUTE A TEAM MEMBER WORKED OUT THE CLUE!
WE DROVE AROUND IN THE RAIN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT SOMETIMES. WE WERE BAD PARENTS AND WE WOKE UP OUR TEENS TO JOIN US. WE FORCED OUR FRIENDS TO HELP. BECAUSE OF MY ARTHRITIS I SLOWED OUR ‘TEAM’ DOWN SO I WAS RELEGATED TO PUZZLE SOLVING DUTY. TERRY WOULD BE IN THE CAR , I’D CALL AND SAY, “GO. GO. GOOOOOO” AS SOON AS I TOLD HIM THE ANSWER TO THE RIDDLE THAT I SOLVED. THE RIDDLES ALMOST ALWAYS LED YOU TO A PARK IN ONE OF OUR THREE CITIES OF EITHER EDMONTON, ST.ALBERT, OR SHERWOOD PARK.
WE GOT CLOSER AND CLOSER TO GRABBING A GNOME , SOMETIMES MISSING IT BY AN ARM’S LENGTH. WE COULD CARE LESS ABOUT THE PRIZES AT THIS POINT. WE JUST WANTED THAT GNOME !
FINALLY THERE WAS ONLY ONE. GNOME. LEFT.
WE MISSED THE MORNING CLUES SO I SAT ON THE COMPUTER WAITING FOR THE VERY LAST CLUE. AND LO AND BEHOLD, I FIGURED OUT THE PARK NAME WITHIN SECONDS OF READING IT AND IT WAS NEAR OUR OWN HOME !
TERRY SPED OFF STRAIGHT TO THE PARK WHERE THERE WERE ALREADY 2 OTHER PEOPLE LOOKING THROUGH BUSHES AND FLOWERS. HE RAN UP WITH OTHER CARS HOT ON HIS HEALS AND SUDDENLY HE HAD AN IDEA THAT THE GNOME MIGHT BE AT THE OTHER END OF THE PARK. HE SPRINTED OFF TO CHECK WITH THE OTHER SEARCHERS RIGHT ON HIS HEALS.
SOON I WATCHED MY HUSBAND WALK THROUGH OUR DOOR WITH A SAD FACE. I WAS AS DEJECTED AS HIM BECAUSE IT WAS JUST SUCH A QUEST AND THIS WAS OUR VERY LAST CHANCE. BUT HE COULDN’T KEEP UP THE ACT FOR LONG , PULLED THE GNOME OUT FROM BEHIND HIS BACK AND SHOUTED WITH JOY, “WE GOT IT !”
SUCH A CRAZY TIME AND TONS OF FUN AND OF COURSE WE ENDED UP AT THE BIG EVENT WHERE WE WERE SUPPOSED TO TRADE IN THE GNOMES FOR THE PRIZES. BUT NO ONE WANTED TO HAND THEM IN BECAUSE IT WAS LIKE HANDING OVER A TROPHY THAT TOOK YOU A YEAR TO EARN ! THE ORGANIZERS GAVE IN AND WE GOT TO KEEP THE GNOMES . I THINK THEY DREW NAMES FOR PRIZES AND WE WON THE GYM BAG FULL OF BOOKS ( WHICH IS ALSO WONDERFUL BECAUSE I LOVE TO READ).
TERRY WAS SHOCKED THAT SOME PEOPLE DIDN’T WORK AT ALL FOR THEIR GNOME. THEY JUST HAPPENED TO BE WALKING BY AND SPOTTED IT SO THEY TOOK IT. HA HA.
THAT CHRISTMAS I RECEIVED A VERY COOL AND FUN PRESENT FROM TERRY. HE SELF PUBLISHED A BOOK CALLED ‘QUEST FOR A GNOME’ AND IT TOLD THE WHOLE STORY. I ALSO RECEIVED A TEENY WEENY LITTLE GNOMIE IN MY STOCKING WHICH I HAVE NOW ACTUALLY TAKEN AROUND THE WORLD WITH ME WHEN WE TRAVEL AND HE’S HAD HIS PORTRAIT TAKEN TO THE DELIGHT OF FELLOW TRAVELLERS EVERYWHERE WE VISIT.
I NEVER LOOK AT A GARDEN GNOME THE SAME WAY AGAIN!
