My children think I come from a long line of pirates. They ask me what it was like growing up on a pirate ship. Was my dad a mean pirate or just a 'little bit naughty' pirate. Did we find treasure? Why doesn't Grandpa wear an eye patch anymore?
The reason they ask these things is because my Dad really was a pirate once. One year many moons ago he hired a pirate costume and visited the library where I worked and entertained the local children. It was lots of fun, he's a big man and the children were quite in awe of him.
My good friend Mary who was the children's librarian at the time came to visit a month or so ago and told Charlie, Sadie and Oscar how their pirate Grandpa tied her up and blind folded her by sword point. He had rigged a plank up which was just ground level and made her walk the plank. What she didn't know is that when she reached the end of the plank he had made it so it would tip! She screamed and all the children thought it was wonderful! I think Mary is still a little traumatised by it ~ but Mary being a storyteller my children now think that my father is really a pirate. He plays it up too and enjoys adding to the story. (He will have to tell the children about why he is blind in one eye....he truly is)
Oscar's pirate coat made by Lisa of Big Little
Wooden sword made by the Wood Botherer
