Sunday Scribblings - Fridge Space - 2/10/08

The prompt “fridge space” had me totally baffled at first, but as usual a night’s sleep on the topic extruded an idea:

I decided I would write about something totally Americana: refrigerator art. Oh, I know that other countries probably understand and have embraced the concept of magnets and attach items to the front of their fridges. That concept, in itself, is not indigenous to America.

But, in my travels, I have found that most of the world’s refrigerators are not large enough to truly display all the elements of a person’s entire existence. I have owned standard German, Italian, and English refrigerators. Not only can none of these hold a gallon of milk or a 2-liter Coke, there is scant space on the door or sides for proper display. You will probably note that Canadians have American-sized appliances. I cannot dispute that, but a huge freezer in the garage containing an entire moose lacks the convenience of a simple kitchen display, as discussed here. And Canadians have the option of just placing their frozen foods outside their window for safekeeping. OK, I am done Canadian bashing. At least for this post.

This weeks offering is a photo study. I have included photos of the refrigerators of friends and family. I believe that you can learn a lot about a person by what is displayed on their refrigerator. With each I will include a short narrative. I will start with mine:

My particular refrigerator door is rather austere and barren, pretty much like the contents. When my kids were growing up, it contained their art, report cards, photos, notes, appointments, youth sports schedules, and anything else that warranted display or quick reference. So much so that every time someone entered the refrigerator they would have to retrieve and reaffix items that had fallen to the floor. And with three children, that door opened and closed often and sometimes violently. I always found it interesting that even though we know the exact contents of our refrigerator at all times; we still find it necessary to have a look-see every so often. Maybe someone broke in and added something since our last visit 20 minutes ago. I have never had one of those 25 cubic foot behemoths that are found in many American kitchens these days. What a wonderful canvas for fridge art that would be. Heck, my entire kitchen might not be 25 cubic feet.

Since my kids are grown and long gone and my grandkids do not live close enough to drop by with object d’art, my refrigerator door has become quite utilitarian. It includes the most important people in my life: my dentist, massage therapist, and stockbroker. Plus, anything that I happen to find that is magnetic generally finds its way there. I have several magnetic hooks that immediately fall to the floor if you place anything heavier than air upon them. So they remain empty, but ready. I have a magnetic photo of my favorite breed of dog, the dachshund. I have a crest of Nottingham England, one of my favorite cities in the world. I am sure a future blog will relate why that is. Perhaps a Sunday Scribblings prompt of Robin Hood, Sherwood Forest, or favorite cities on the River Leen will elicit such a blog. You might think that my fridge display is very sad compared to those below but please consider that all the others pictured have a woman involved. I believe that women are much more proficient at refrigerator art.

This refrigerator belongs to my oldest son, Rick, and his wife Jennifer. My granddaughter, Maris is nearly 4. She loves playing with the numbers and letters. I can only assume they spelled out Gators because they did not have enough e's to spell Yankees. That is a private joke. I am certain that when my kids were growing up we could not have had letters like these on the fridge as they would end up as profanity. I don't think I could have resisted. You thought I meant the kids, didn't you?


This is the fridge of my blog friend Lucy. I think she cleaned it up nice and tidy before she took the photo for me. She is obviously a mom. I love the South Park characters and the hat on the dog on top. I would definitely play golf in that hat.

This is my daughter Carly's fridge. She is the single mom of my grandson, Carson, who is just turning 4 and is a total handfull. She is the best mom I know. As you can see there is no time in her life for arranging her display neatly. I don't think that fridge space should be neatly arranged. It is more interesting when it is just a hodgepodge. This shows a nice mixture of Carson's priceless artwork and their mother-son memories captured in photos for all-time. Carson has obviously not yet learned to arrange the letters into profanity. I will work with him.



This is the fridge of my friend Judy. She is obviously a grandma. She also was the only one of my sample size that utilized all three available walls of her fridge.

This is the refrigerator of my Vemma friend Sharon. The only thing obvious here is that Sharon does not cook much. Lots of take-out menus. No recipes here. My kind of woman.

This is the fridge of my daughter's friend and co-worker Katie. I do not know much about Katie, other than that she is beautiful. Carson and I both think so. He is 25 years too young and I am 25 years too old. This fridge space reveals a very busy young woman and I appreciate her taking the time to submit her photo to my collection. What you cannot see clearly in the photo is that the schedule shown is a workout schedule. I am certain that is one item that will never appear on mine.

I have saved the best for last. This is the refrigerator of my son Josh and his wife Tia. They have no children, but are aunt and uncle to many, some not blood relatives. As you can see, they share my love of dogs. This is what a fridge space should look like. God bless America.
If you have a fridge that you would like me to include in my photo array, email it to me and I will do so.

This is a late addition from my ebay friend Dar. Her fridge is definitely eclectic. She is definitely a Penn State football fan. I hope those magnets haven't been there since Penn State was good. She has a definite nautical theme. I find it interesting that she needs two calendars. I guess it is important to get a second opinion. Is that a classic Lucy picture?

I was so happy that another of our Sunday Scribblings community, Sherrie, submitted her fridge space to me because it meant I no longer had the only dark fridge. She explained to me that since her daughter had grown and flown the coop, sadly there is no children's art to decorate with. She would probably have a bare door but her dear friend and artist, Violette, gives her magnets that she cherishes and displays proudly. Like me, she afixes whatever magnets businesses give her, including an emergency pizza magnet. We all need that.

Another addition sent to me by, Dana, one of my Canadian blogger friends. At least they are not all upset with my Canadian comments. She has obviously sliced her moose into smaller packages that will fit in a domestic refrigerator. By her door, you can see she is definitely a mom. Southpark and Sponge Bob. Lots of kids and pet photos. This is a great fridge and a wonderful addition to my collection. Keep them coming.