There was year when our family of six got involved with a certain “character.” The word “doll” is not quite appropriate. He was a 15 in. white-bearded elf named Stroodle that I made from a pattern by Rainie Crawford.

When our oldest son left home and the USA as an exchange student, his brothers wanted to keep in touch. They created tape cassettes of a make believe morning radio show, “Breakfast with Stroodle.” Our middle son had the role of the obnoxious announcer while our youngest son created the inimitable voice of Stroodle himself. A funny and improbable solution to everyday problems was the premise of the show. Stroodle would describe one of these complaints with the words, “don’t you just hate it when ….” followed by “well, have I got a surprise for you ‘’ followed by a long-winded ridiculous solution. Occasionally I played the part of the excitable, disoriented Mrs. Mudge. Daughter Elaine would break into the show with insulting remarks like, “He’s not a radio host, he’s a stuffed animal!”  The character played by their Dad was always looking for a reason why he might “in a minute” remove his belt and administer a sound spanking. There were no more shows recorded after our oldest son returned home but we never forgot the fun we had.

Some of the items surrounding Stroodle are his St. Pat’s hat, gold coins, assorted tools, and photos of fans and relatives. His collection of eight Heinz pickle pins is impressive, even for a Pittsburgher!