Shenanigans at the Flanigans’!
OK, the family who owns the farm aren’t really named Flanigan – but it rhymes with Shenanigans. More on this later!
We have friends who are grape farmers and who plant extra tomatoes for local charities. We are people who love all things tomato and we enjoy picking tomatoes for others.
We are also people who have two grandsons who we want to experience the joy of rural life and the bliss of doing good things for others.
But our grandsons are 6 and 2 ½ so I think we have some waiting to do on the joy of picking and the bliss of volunteering.
No matter. We picked up Jasper and Walter on a Monday afternoon and pointed our van to Lincoln township. And the boys – on the way to something – are pretty chill.
Once at “the thing,” things change a little. In theory, the boys helped us picked tomatoes. In practice, Jasper doesn’t like reaching his hands into plants. Very concerned about bugs.
And Walter has a predilection for picking green ones. No worries – we are entertaining grandkids as well as gleaning tomatoes. Though I confess, the tomatoes come first! 😊
Our friends have an very kid-friendly backyard, including a huge sandbox and classic vehicles for it. But Jasper doesn’t like ants and Walter follows his lead.
Thankfully, out came a grey cat. I initially thought it was feral so warned the kids to keep their distance and not pick it up. I could not have done more to pique their interest. I mean, what is more attractive than forbidden fruit? (Catch the farm reference here?)
Around this time, Mr. F drove by on his John Deere Gator - a small tractor with a box in the back for carrying things. And he offered them a ride. Jasper was on it like … a kid on a carnival ride. Walter was nervous, but if Jasper was doing it, so was he!
Laur and I made hay while the sun shone and picked dozens of tomatoes. All the good tomatoes go the Ozanam Centre (St. Catharines’ Soup Kitchen.) All the not-so-good, go to us - the overripe “splits” and the greens that have fallen. And the greens that Walter has picked.
(Very funny. We told Walter to put the tomatoes he picked in the box. This was his opportunity to demonstrate his ability to fare well at “The Hammer” carnival game. Smash! Again, we are growing kids as well as well a picking tomatoes.)
The deal was that when we were finished tomato-picking, the lads – with Laur’s supervision – could have a ride on the tire swing. My deal was that I got to carry the boxes to the van. So much easier than supervising the lads.
And even better, Mr. F was still around with his gator and transported all the tomatoes to our van for us. Yee haw! I gathered up my hubs and my grandkids to head out, and Jasper reminded me that they hadn’t gone down the much coveted slide.
It’s a wonderful chute off the fort on top of the sandbox. You can only get up there by way of a ladder than is normally latched up to prevent unsupervised climbing and sliding. If you are a rural kid, you’ll know that play parks in the country don’t need to be built to city code. 😊
The boys loved it. We loved it. Especially the part about pointing the van east and taking them home. (Hey, we’re getting old.)
So why pick the name Flanigan that rhymes with Shenanigans? I mentioned that the ride to something is normally quiet, but the ride home is when the lads like to practice the craziest noises they can come up with.
We divert them by playing the rhyming game. Jasper picks a word to rhyme with. For example, “shirt.” Then he gives the first rhyming world – such as “dirt.” Then it’s Walter’s turn. He says a random word like “feet” and is just happy to be part of things.
Then my turn, then Laur’s turn, and on it goes until Jasper gets tired of the game and comes up with a long word that is harder to rhyme with. On this day it was “paradise.” The best we could come up with was “pair of guys.”
And that was pretty accurate – we’d been in paradise with a pair of guys. But it was even more heavenly once we’d handed them back to their parents and got to feast on some tomato splits! 😊
We have friends who are grape farmers and who plant extra tomatoes for local charities. We are people who love all things tomato and we enjoy picking tomatoes for others.
We are also people who have two grandsons who we want to experience the joy of rural life and the bliss of doing good things for others.
But our grandsons are 6 and 2 ½ so I think we have some waiting to do on the joy of picking and the bliss of volunteering.
No matter. We picked up Jasper and Walter on a Monday afternoon and pointed our van to Lincoln township. And the boys – on the way to something – are pretty chill.
Once at “the thing,” things change a little. In theory, the boys helped us picked tomatoes. In practice, Jasper doesn’t like reaching his hands into plants. Very concerned about bugs.
And Walter has a predilection for picking green ones. No worries – we are entertaining grandkids as well as gleaning tomatoes. Though I confess, the tomatoes come first! 😊
Our friends have an very kid-friendly backyard, including a huge sandbox and classic vehicles for it. But Jasper doesn’t like ants and Walter follows his lead.
Thankfully, out came a grey cat. I initially thought it was feral so warned the kids to keep their distance and not pick it up. I could not have done more to pique their interest. I mean, what is more attractive than forbidden fruit? (Catch the farm reference here?)
Around this time, Mr. F drove by on his John Deere Gator - a small tractor with a box in the back for carrying things. And he offered them a ride. Jasper was on it like … a kid on a carnival ride. Walter was nervous, but if Jasper was doing it, so was he!
Laur and I made hay while the sun shone and picked dozens of tomatoes. All the good tomatoes go the Ozanam Centre (St. Catharines’ Soup Kitchen.) All the not-so-good, go to us - the overripe “splits” and the greens that have fallen. And the greens that Walter has picked.
(Very funny. We told Walter to put the tomatoes he picked in the box. This was his opportunity to demonstrate his ability to fare well at “The Hammer” carnival game. Smash! Again, we are growing kids as well as well a picking tomatoes.)
The deal was that when we were finished tomato-picking, the lads – with Laur’s supervision – could have a ride on the tire swing. My deal was that I got to carry the boxes to the van. So much easier than supervising the lads.
And even better, Mr. F was still around with his gator and transported all the tomatoes to our van for us. Yee haw! I gathered up my hubs and my grandkids to head out, and Jasper reminded me that they hadn’t gone down the much coveted slide.
It’s a wonderful chute off the fort on top of the sandbox. You can only get up there by way of a ladder than is normally latched up to prevent unsupervised climbing and sliding. If you are a rural kid, you’ll know that play parks in the country don’t need to be built to city code. 😊
The boys loved it. We loved it. Especially the part about pointing the van east and taking them home. (Hey, we’re getting old.)
So why pick the name Flanigan that rhymes with Shenanigans? I mentioned that the ride to something is normally quiet, but the ride home is when the lads like to practice the craziest noises they can come up with.
We divert them by playing the rhyming game. Jasper picks a word to rhyme with. For example, “shirt.” Then he gives the first rhyming world – such as “dirt.” Then it’s Walter’s turn. He says a random word like “feet” and is just happy to be part of things.
Then my turn, then Laur’s turn, and on it goes until Jasper gets tired of the game and comes up with a long word that is harder to rhyme with. On this day it was “paradise.” The best we could come up with was “pair of guys.”
And that was pretty accurate – we’d been in paradise with a pair of guys. But it was even more heavenly once we’d handed them back to their parents and got to feast on some tomato splits! 😊