4 Friday, November 22, 2024 brooklintowncrier.com The Christmas lights are going on; Santa is riding in parades; holiday markets are popping up everywhere; and my own neighbourhood is starting to look pretty. Maybe this is the year I will put lights on my street's mysterious oddity that seems out of place. It's a shovel. At first glance, it appears to be ordinary. It's leaning against the fence of someone's home. But the thing is, this shovel has been there for years. Season after season, it await an unknown owner to return. Over time, it's rusted a little while the grass around it has grown. And it's never fallen over. Neighbours haven't moved nor touched it. Grass and snow are simply moved around it. I always thought by now someone would have claimed or disposed of it. But now it's become a sort of monument to a moment when the shovel's owner took a break. Every time I walk past it with my dog, I smile. "It's still there" becomes the comment as my husband and I walk by. I love the little mystery. Maybe it belongs to a neighbor who's since moved. Did a town worker or contractor leave it? My husband wonders if perhaps an enterprising youth hoping to make some money shoveling snow borrowed it from their father and forgot it. I try to imagine a ten year old boy ten getting distracted by a snowball fight and leaving behind the tool in the snowbank. Whoever the shovel belongs to, I kind of hope it's never claimed as it's now part of the story of our neighbourhood. For my daughter, it also fits into a corner of her childhood memories. I'm thankful for our mystery shovel. May it grow old with us. Now then, since the little shovel has become a local fixture, I feel it deserves due recognition. Should I decorate it for the holidays? Brooklin Family Matters: A Local Mystery by Leanne Brown This event is simply Santa! ... and maybe some candy canes and hot chocolate and carolling and a food and toy drive... presented by: Rhonda Mulcahy Regional Councillor Steve Lee North Ward Councillor Santa! DRPS FOOD AND TOY DRIVE please bring: • unwrapped new toys • non-perishable foods Come visit with Santa in his sleigh under the gazebo! Grass Park, Brooklin Saturday, November 23rd 4:30-6:30 HOT CHOCOLATE SPONSOREVENT SPONSOR BROOKLIN