A day at the beach.

It was a wonderful day, the sun was shining and the sky was almost clear except for a few wee white clouds slowly drifting by on their merry way.  By the time Alphie got down stairs everyone was already there!  Joe had a lot to answer for; apparently he had been up crying all night and had woken everyone else in the house up except Alphie.   

They were all very tired and grumpy, even mum.  Who had to make everyone something yummy to eat.  Mum made some toast for Alphie, Bella and herself, and some porridge for Joe as his teeth were still hurting him.

Once everyone had eaten and presentably dressed.  Mum asked if they would like to go for a walk?  The question turned into a rather heated discussion between Alphie and Bella as she wanted to meet her friends and go shopping, but Alphie was more than happy to walk with his mum or simply play in the garden while Joe happily just sat there and chewed on the corner of his high chair.  Mum soon got a sore head and advised that they would not be going anywhere unless they behaved themselves!

With that there was silence. 

She advised she would take them out to the beach, and if they were really good she might even get them some ice-cream!  Everyone smiled and agreed to such a brilliant idea, and with that they left the house and set off on their journey.

It was a beautiful day and even more so once you were out in it. The heat from the sun, the sparkle from the rocks and the glimmer from the water where the sun caught it just so as the waves broke.  It was a lovely walk to the beach hand in hand with Joe in the pushchair Bella and Alphie on either side with mum pushing directing them on their journey to the beach.  Once they arrived there was even more fun waiting.  Mum had wisely taken a picnic blanket with her so they could have somewhere less sandy to sit as well as an umbrella to help shade Joe and the snack basket she had wisely remembered to take.   Today was going to be a very good day even if no-one else had had a good sleep thought Alphie. 

Once everything was set up and Joe was in the shade mum then removed her shoes so she could feel the sand between her toes and smiled.  Alphie and Bella watched and wondered with intrigue, then flowed suit to discover why mum was smiling.  They both laughed as the wee grains of sand danced between their toes they then proceeded to decide and even agree to build a great sand castle.  Oh this was going to be brilliant.  Just before they got started mum stopped them and advised that they would have to put some sun cream on.  They both crinkled their noses at the idea but with a stern look and speedy application they were soon back to building the biggest and mightiest sand castle either of them had ever seen.  It took them ages but they were both fully occupied with the job in hand while mum and Joe sat in the shade with a book to keep Joe happy and mum from falling asleep. 

Alphie had been given the task of filling the buckets so Bella could stack them to create the castle.  Soon the castle was so big Alphie could barely reach the top!  Bella had been adding more and more buckets of sand to such an extent Alphie couldn't pack them fast enough! After a while Bella sat down beside mum to state she was tired and to come and look at the castle they had built.  Alphie was just finishing the last bucket when his mum came over.  He realised Bella had given up, but their castle was still pretty fantastic, so he asked mum to help finish off the last bucket then the castle would be complete.  Mum did so with a smile and placed the last bucket full of sand right at the top where Alphie couldn't reach.  He doubted Bella could reach that high either.  This was a giant castle.  

Alphie was most delighted.   

Mum suggested “why don’t we build a moat to protect the castle and make it even better?”

Alphie wasn't sure but mum offered to help while Bella and Joe watched.

Once complete Alphie was very happy, it looked just like a proper castle he had seen in picture books mum had read to him.  

Even Bella got back up and came over to look at the brilliant work they had done.  

Joe just gurgled but Alphie thought he was happy with it too.  

With the completion of the castle and a tired Bella and Alphie, mum asked if they would like some snacks to a delighted unanimous nod and a “yes please”.

All sat on the blanket under the umbrella eating jam sandwiches and drinking some cool orange juice.  

Once they had finished, mum offered to take them to the ice-cream shop just along the beach, to which they all agreed.   

Thankfully it wasn't too far and mum decided that as they had worked so hard on the sand castle both Bella and Alphie could have a chocolate flake in their ice-cream too.  

Both Alphie and Bella couldn't be happier with this idea, and Alphie was still happy to share some with Joe.  

He didn't take much, and it had been a hot day for him too so Alphie didn't mind.

The sun was starting to hide behind the clouds and it wasn't quite so warm. 

Mum thought it was a good time to head home.  

Bella and Alphie agreed with a nod.   

They were tired too.  

Joe just nodded and took a few more licks from Alphie’s ice-cream.   

The walk back seemed longer but they were soon home, tired but very happy with their day.

Once home mum made some dinner, bathed and dressed them all for bed.  

Alphie and Bella said good night to Joe as mum put him to bed first.  

Alphie went up to his bed waiting for mum to read him a story. 

While Bella did the same, she was tired too, having not slept the previous night and helping build the biggest and best sand-castle she didn't think she could stay awake long enough for a story.  

Mum came through to Alphie’s room with the chosen story book to find he was already happily asleep with a smile on his face.  

She then proceeded to check on Bella who had squeezed up with her teddies and was fast asleep too. 

 Mum made sure the covers were over her and put out the light.  

Thankfully she had taken a photo of the great sand castle so Alphie, Bella and Joe could remember the great day at the beach.

©Joanne Hepburn 2015

The dishwasher that lost its groove!

The dishwasher that lost its rhythm a cautionary tale.

It couldn't shake, it couldn't rattle or even roll!  It just lost its know-how.  The dishes no longer got clean, they didn't even get bubbles any more, or a wiggle.  Poor dishwasher had very much lost its rhythm. 

The dishwasher heard the owners whispering, they were thinking of replacing him!  Oh NO what could he do?  He didn't know, he had simply lost his passion to move, to wiggle to enjoy dancing till everything sparkled.  He didn't know why but he just couldn't move the same, nor did he want to any more.  Dishwasher was sad, dishwasher was lonely.  He used to be friends with the washing machine but they moved her into another room so they wouldn't talk or rattle together getting the whole house in the rattling mood.

Dishwasher sat there feeling very sorry for himself waiting for the worst.   But one day the owners took a strange man to inspect him.  He poked and prodded inside gave a wee tickle here and there then gave the owners some washing stuff smiled and left.  The owners looked very happy.  The next day dishwasher was woken-up by being moved.  Dishwasher was scared this could be the end.  

The owners worked together to move dishwasher into a strange room.  They wired him back into the power and walked away.  Dishwasher was scared, dishwasher was confused, dishwasher didn't want to open his eyes.

“How are you” dishwasher heard a familiar voice.

“Hello” said dishwasher opening his eyes he saw his trusty friend the washing machine with a big smile.

“Oh, my gosh I was scared they were taking me away” he said.

“Don’t be silly you just lost your rhythm so they found a specialist to take a look and get you working again”

“Oh I was so scared, does that mean I’ll be able to rattle again?”

“Don’t worry you’ll be rattling very soon just wait and see” said the washing machine.

They both waited, then the owners came into the room with lots of washing and the other with lots of dishes.  They filled up the washing machine with the clothes.  The other filled up the dishwasher with the dishes.  One added the laundry powder to the washing machine.  While the other added the new magic liquid to the dishwasher.  Then they both pressed the power buttons and switched both machines on together. 

The washing machine started to fill with water and hum.  Dishwasher felt a tingle, he was filling with water too and started to sing.  They both began the dance, a rattle here, a wiggle there, and a roll just to make sure.  Dishwasher smiled the biggest smile.  Dishwasher was delighted he had found his rhythm and rattle again. Everyone smiled and danced to the new groove.

happy dishwasher

©Joanne Hepburn 14/7/2014

The Lost sock

The lost sock update.  There is always one sock that escapes from the laundry.  

How or why no-one knows why or where they go.  Creeping off into those 

secret corners, hoping to stay undiscovered in order to avoid the peril of

 getting worn with ill fitting shoes or worse no shoes!  No cover from whatever

 the foot chooses to step on until their thread bare demise expelled from the 

drawer and into the waste bin.  Tis an awful thought of the future, wouldn't 

you hide to?

©Joanne Hepburn 2014Posted by Joanne Hepburn at 03:08 

Location: Inverness, Highland, UK

Saturday, 21 June 2014

The lost sock.
© Joanne Hepburn 02/08/2015

The lost sock.

How does it happen? Socks are made one by one but they are always

 paired with another so they are never alone.  Sometimes after being 

used, worn and put in the wash basket they don't always find each 

other so easily.  One sock always ends up missing for a while.  

No-one knows how it happens, do the socks sneak away unnoticed 

into corners or hide hoping to never be discovered so they always 

stay in perfect condition while their partner gets worn and frayed?  

No-one knows, they only become frustrated with their drawer of 

socks that no longer match and have no idea or where their partners

 have disappeared to.  One sock always returns to the drawer from 

the wash basket but where the partner goes no-one knows.  Poor

 sock left all alone maybe forever.  Maybe just for a little bit until 

they are paired with another sock who’s partner is also missing, 

sometimes they become friends sometimes they become so 

mismatched it is impossible to see the difference any more.  

People forget, maybe the socks forget who their original partner

 is too!  Socks are scared of shoes; shoes that no longer fit but 

are still over are worn all the time.  The owner’s don’t realise how

 much of an effect this has on how scared their socks are.  The 

socks know when they are worn this time they might get a hole

! Then they might not ever be worn again! Some really lucky 

socks get fixed and reworn again some even paired with the correct

 partner!  Sometimes their owner will mend them or when they are

 recycled they are made into a toy, sometimes a bunny or a monkey

 or even an owl!  They become loved all over again.    Not all socks

 are so lucky, for some once they have a hole they are put into the

 recycling or worse the bin!  The bin is a terrible place, they get 

covered in goo wet and slimy and smelly, no sock wants to end 

up there would you?   Could it be possible that every bedroom has

 a secret hiding place for socks so they never get worn or eaten by

 shoes?  This is a huge problem that urgently requires to be solved;

 do you know where your socks hide?