Toy Oven

Olga and I stumbled onto a strange find while walking yesterday morning. On the street behind our local post office -- which has been closed as long as we've lived here -- someone abandoned this old wooden toy oven.

It's really a toy kitchenette, I suppose, since it's more than an oven. There's a fridge unit, a sink, and a stovetop with one remaining burner (above).

I'm thinking it's from the '60s or thereabouts. I mean, who makes anything from wood these days? The graphics definitely seem to date from the "Bewitched" era. Or maybe "The Brady Bunch."

The detailing was neat, like the red ring on the "hot water" knob on the wooden faucet. The cold water knob had a blue ring, naturally.

I toyed with the idea of carrying the whole thing home to try to rescue it.

But on the inside, the oven had been colonized by fungus. From the looks of it, I'd guess the entire unit had spent a few years sitting out in someone's back garden.

In the end, and no doubt to Dave's great relief, Olga and I left it sitting where it was.