But what to do with these little characters? I plotted a plan to "hide" them at the rec center.
I took one in on a late-August Saturday when there are fewer people present and hopefully I would arrive first. I tucked it in the corner of the windowsill. One window on the west wall is higher up from the floor, and when we walk counter-clockwise like we do on Saturdays, it would not be obviously visible unless you actually knew to look for it.
I then did not walk at the rec center for the next two days, and when I returned on Tuesday, it was gone!
I tried again sometime in October, and placed another figurine in the same windowsill. This time I did not walk at the rec center for 3 days, and when I came back on Wednesday, it, too, was gone. How disappointing.
But I continued plotting and decided maybe if the plastic figure was higher up, it wouldn't be as easy to remove. So on another Saturday in November I put a figurine on top of one of the fire alarms. There are six alarm on the walls around the walking track. I contemplated which one I thought would be less in a line-of-vision and stretched and pushed it on top.
I returned on Monday, and the figure was still there! Wow! Tuesday - it was still there! Success! Wednesday - still there. But that day as I was walking my laps I saw that Curt (Kurt?), one of the regulars, was reaching up and removed the figurine. I started thinking, "Leave it alone. Don't take it down. Put it back." I continued around the track, and as I passed the fire alarm, I could see the figurine on top of the fire alarm. All right!
The next day, Thursday, the plastic figure was still there. Sometime later, after walking several laps, I saw that another figure had been added to the top of the fire alarm – a gnome-like figure. It had not been there when I first arrived, but made its appearance after Curt arrived. So I surmised that Curt had added it.
I later saw Curt talking to the other regular walkers and gesturing towards the fire alarm. That Saturday he asked me if I had noticed the "peeping eyes." I played ignorant, and he told me that he had seen the first two on the windowsill and that he had added the gnome to the top of the fire alarm. I said something like "what a cute idea" and left it at that.
The following week other people started bringing in small figures: squirrels, miniature characters from what I think was a plastic Christmas village, a snowman on a sled, little mice creatures, and so on. These would just appear in various nooks.. I did see Liz add some figures. And I suspect Curt brought in more because they would not be there when I arrived before him, but would show up after he arrived. Over the next several days they would be moved around, and it was fun to spot them in various places.
Someone even brought in a larger object of a festively-dressed teddy bear with a Christmas tree. A larger (4-5 inch tall) nutcracker was added to the collection. I thought those were both too big, and I was beginning to think there were too many objects. I counted 20 things at the peak of this silliness.
I called one of the objects Buddha Bunny. I think it was a fat rabbit sitting on its butt with its laughing head tipped back.
A couple days before Christmas, I noticed a couple of the objects were missing. Then the next day I saw Curt remove a couple more. I assumed he was moving them to another location, but they did not reappear. The count dropped to 11. The figures that were removed were connected to snow or Christmas. I guess they were considered seasonal and were being retired.
Today three new objects showed up, all turtles. One was placed on the windowsill after Curt arrived. I'm guessing he added it. I also think that some of these little trinkets were placed by people throughout the day.
It's been fun. And no one knows that I started it with the plastic figurines from Kinder Joy eggs.
Here is a sample of some of the doodads that were placed:
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My first experience with the Kinder Joy egg was when we were in Germany a year ago on our Danube River boat cruise. After our first walking tour in Passau, we were each given one of the eggs when we returned to the boat. The eggs in Europe were hollow chocolate eggs – like hollow chocolate Easter rabbits. The toy was inside the hollow egg. Apparently this was considered unsafe for American children – on, no! they might swallow the toy while eating the egg. So the eggs sold in the U.S. have chocolate candy on one side of the packaging and the toy on the other side.
