Why are there penguins in the fridge?

oceanwood101_0061wtmk, originally uploaded by Oceanwood.

We have had a family of penguins living in our fridge for the past year now. Actually, I am rather fond of them. There's Mama, Papa, baby brother, little sister, and, of course, a rebellious teen in our penguin family. Our daughter, Emily, first started our family's penguin-in-the-fridge tradition when she read a book called -- not surprisingly -- Penguins in the Fridge ( by Nicola Moon). Emily reasoned if one child could have a fridge full of penguins why not her?



Having this odd, flightless family as permanent tenants in our fridge has always reminded me of Beakman's World. Do you remember that crazy, fast-talking, mad scientist with black hair that stuck straight up who would perform wild and amazing experiments for children, all the while kibitzing with his not-so-distinguished giant lab rat, Lester? No? Well my google search today revealed that he is still on TV (20 years as a mad scientist is not a bad career track). I found this strange little icon from the Beakman's web site: do you recognize that tiny face?



If you have ever seen Beakman's World, you might recall that whenever he needed corny comic relief, the show would be interrrupted by a scene of a fridge. The fridge door would open and reveal two Abbot-and-Costello-like penguins who would tell really bad jokes. For example, one penguin would say to the other penguin, "Don, I am the only one I know who orders an anchovy pizza and says hold the pizza!" Don't ask me why but I loved those penguins. Emily loved them, too, and felt that every fridge should have joking penguins. Only she did not stop at two, but instead, created a whole pack-o-penguins (by the way: what is the name for a group of penguins? A herd? pride? flock? or what?)

In case you are considering inviting penguins into your fridge, I have to warn you, dear reader, that having penguins in the fridge is not always easy. Our penguin family does present some challenges to managing the fridge. For example, they move around quite a bit and can get lost behind the milk-- or worst squished -- behind the pickled herring jar (actually we don't have pickle herring in our fridge but I just felt this story needed at least one reference to herring so I made that part up). Or their little penguin feet can step in some fridge goo and get hard glued to the spot and require some serious rescue efforts to free them. And not surprising, we have to keep a close eye on the rebellious teen penguin to make sure no other teens are invited over for wild belly-sliding, fish-gobbling, all-night parties. You never know what could happen when that fridge door closes and the light goes out.

On the whole, however, even though extra care and supervision is required, I would still say a family of penguins living in the fridge is more than worth all the added effort. And after all, who can resist those adorable eyes?

link to Nicola Moon's book, Penguins in the Fridge

http://www.amazon.ca/Penguins-Fridge-Nicola-Moon/dp/1857937937/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213159079&sr=8-2

link to Beakman's World web site

http://www.beakmansworldtv.com/

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Photo credits: Photos by Jessica at Oceanwood.

Oceanwood Chronicles, copyright 2008 - Jessica at Oceanwood. Creative commons attribution, non-commercial sharing only (translation: feel free to quote me in context or use this entry but please always credit me for my work, thanks.) http://oceanwood.blogspot.com/