Halloween giggles

Mum says this night is a night when children dress up as something scary and go round to local houses telling jokes and singing songs and if the other people like the trick, song or joke they give out a treat.

Mary wasn’t quite sure if she wanted to go out in the dark but Mum was all ready and promised to come back home if Mary got too scared, to which Mary shook her head “don’t be so silly.”

Mum dressed up a witch, Joe was the cutest wee pumpkin and Mary decided to be a vampire, she loved her dress and extra long black wig. 

They were good to go.

“Boo,” cried Dad as he jumped out from behind the door. 

“I’m not sure the grim reaper would shout,” advised Mary as she walked by.

“Oh, what would the grim reaper say?” asked Dad a bit annoyed his trick didn’t work.

“I don’t think the grim reaper says anything just appears when the time is right.”

“Oh I see,” agreed Dad, “Let’s see if we can scare some humans in exchange for treats?”

“Yea, let’s see what our tricks are worth?” advised mum with a smile as they left.

They started going round the houses, each house for each person.  

Mum sang a wee song; Dad told a joke with Joe and Mary had a wee poem she had written at school.

They bumped into a few more scary beings, lots of ghosts, a werewolf, a zombie, an Egyptian mummy who’s bandages were all unraveling and an evil doctor too.

There were candy apples, jars filled with candy, sandwiches filled with jam but it could’ve been blood perfect for Mary (she was a vampire after all) and secret black boxes that you couldn’t see into but had to put your hand in until the end to grab your treat that felt really horrible, and gooey like brains and spaghetti. 

It was the last house, 

Mum rang the door bell.  

We all stood waiting, all of a sudden a mad scientist jumped out of the door spilling all of their potions with a manic giggle.

Dad tapped the scientist on the shoulder and mum waved her evil witches wand.

The mad scientist offered to make some gruesome potions or allow us to make our own if we each sang a song or told a funny joke.

The crazy scientist thought Dad’s joke was best but liked all of our talents. 

Now we could mix our own potion. 

Mum took some fizzy orange poison and a red speckled brain sponge for everyone and thanked the scientist for their potions as we all left.

Home, at last, Dad opened the door, everyone sat down with a yawn. 

 “OK, time for baths and bed, we don’t want this scary make up over your pillows or you might turn into the scary being we created,” advised mum with a wink.

“Better be safe than sorry, “advised dad with a smirk and a giggle.

©joannehepburn 30.10.2016

Autumn leaves

It was a cold but beautiful morning.

Mary loved this time of year with all the leaves in the trees changing color.  

The cool breeze meant you could wear woolly jumpers and a hat.

But most of all Mary loved going for walks in the woods with Mum, Dad and Joe so she could walk through the fallen leaves and listen to them rustle.

They all had porridge for their breakfast. 

They were off to a good start now to find the jumpers, jackets, wellie boots, scarf’s and hats.

It was cooler but not freezing yet so they all decided on Jackets, willies and hats for now but Mum packed gloves just encase they were needed, and off they went into the woods.

It was a lovely day, the sun was shining the skies were clear, it was cold but everyone had their woolly jumpers on so they were lovely and warm.

The trees were they were a rainbow of colour all different shades of red, orange, yellow, some had a little bit of green left on their branches.

They all waked further into the woods some of the trees had lost lots of leaves already.  

This was what Mary had been looking for.  Lots of leaves to kick up and listen to them rustle.

Mary and Joe had a great time running, walking slowly through the deepest bits and jumping on the bigger piles.

Dad was happy it wasn’t on his pile he had made in the garden.

Mum spotted a red squirrel running through the branches looking for any nuts that were left they all stood still and watched for a bit. 

They made it to the top of the hill.  

The view was wonderful, all the different colours against the clear blue sky.  

Mum handed out some apples and bananas as they all took a quick rest and admired the scenery.

Once they had all finished their fruit, they decided to make their way back home. 

Dad saw a good fallen branch to use as a walking stick, while mum picked up a few of the more unusual leaves as they were walking. 

Mary and Joe were still fascinated with kicking up the leaves and making patterns from their steps.

Although Joe was getting tired, so dad let him sit on his shoulders.  Now Joe had to be careful, he was high enough to get caught in the branches.

That was a good walk, they all had red rosy cheeks. 

“How about some hot chocolate?” asked Mum.

“Yes” was the quick reply from everyone.

Everyone took off their jackets, hats and wellie boots once they were in the house. 

They washed their hands and got seated at the kitchen table. 

Mum put a plate of cookies in the centre of the table for everyone to share, and poured everyone a good mug full of hot chocolate each. 

The room was quiet except the crunching from the cookies and the slow warm sips from the hot chocolate.

This was awesome thought Mary as she peered deeper into the rock pool.

Lots of shells stuck to the side of the rocks, lots of wee broken bits of tiny shells mixed with sand and even a few baby fish.  

Well they might not be baby fish they could be fully grown but they were super small.

“Mary” hollered Dad, “lets try this” as he held up some weird plastic tools.

“What’s this?” asked Mary as she got closer.

“Well that’s your goggles so you can see, and this wonky thing will be your air so you can breathe,” advised dad with his half on.

Mary sat still as dad fumbled with the goggles and the placement of the wonky tube but soon enough they were both all set for this new adventure.

“Now don’t go too far out or too deep but we should be able to see plenty,” dad advised just before he swam away with his head under the water.

Oh right, thought Mary, I’ll try.

Mary took a few big breaths and dunked her head under the water as she began to swim.

It took a few seconds to focus but there they were. 

Loads of them right by the shore.

OH my goodness so, so many fish.  

From tiny little tiddlers right up to big ones dad would like for dinner, all swimming around getting on with their day.  

They all looked so busy dashing from here to there. 

  

Mary spotted some crabs, an eel stuck in the seaweed, some beautiful colorful goldfish just like the one’s you pick up from the pet shop.

My goodness thought Mary as she gazed round at all the wonder, this is like a whole new world.

And just like that Mary lost her rhythm of gently swimming and breathing and got a mouthful of sea water instead.

“Blugh, urgh, yuck”

Dad came straight over, luckily Mary was in a nice shallow bit but dad still panicked a bit.

“What’s up? Are you OK? Did something bite you? Dad asked in quick succession. 

“I’m fine just forgot to breathe through my nose and got a mouthful of sea water, it tastes really bad, even worse than medicine!” declared Mary with a scrunched up face.

“Oh no, not nice, you wanna keep snorkeling or call it a day?”

“Well the fishes are pretty but my legs are getting tired and I really don’t wanna try anymore sea.”

“Yea, its not the best, you sure your alright?”

Mary confirmed with a nod. 

“How about we try some people juice and maybe some people food too?”

“Yea that sounds much better,” agreed Mary, and hoped it would take the salty taste out of her mouth too.

©joannehepburn   09/10/2016

Snorkeling

This was awesome thought Mary as she peered deeper into the rock pool.

Lots of shells stuck to the side of the rocks, lots of wee broken bits of tiny shells mixed with sand and even a few baby fish.  

Well they might not be baby fish they could be fully grown but they were super small.

“Mary” hollered Dad, “lets try this” as he held up some weird plastic tools.

“What’s this?” asked Mary as she got closer.

“Well that’s your goggles so you can see, and this wonky thing will be your air so you can breathe,” advised dad with his half on.

Mary sat still as dad fumbled with the goggles and the placement of the wonky tube but soon enough they were both all set for this new adventure.

“Now don’t go too far out or too deep but we should be able to see plenty,” dad advised just before he swam away with his head under the water.

Oh right, thought Mary, I’ll try.

Mary took a few big breaths and dunked her head under the water as she began to swim.

It took a few seconds to focus but there they were. 

Loads of them right by the shore.

OH my goodness so, so many fish.  

From tiny little tiddlers right up to big ones dad would like for dinner, all swimming around getting on with their day.  

They all looked so busy dashing from here to there. 

  

Mary spotted some crabs, an eel stuck in the seaweed, some beautiful colorful goldfish just like the one’s you pick up from the pet shop.

My goodness thought Mary as she gazed round at all the wonder, this is like a whole new world.

And just like that Mary lost her rhythm of gently swimming and breathing and got a mouthful of sea water instead.

“Blugh, urgh, yuck”

Dad came straight over, luckily Mary was in a nice shallow bit but dad still panicked a bit.

“What’s up? Are you OK? Did something bite you? Dad asked in quick succession. 

“I’m fine just forgot to breathe through my nose and got a mouthful of sea water, it tastes really bad, even worse than medicine!” declared Mary with a scrunched up face.

“Oh no, not nice, you wanna keep snorkeling or call it a day?”

“Well the fishes are pretty but my legs are getting tired and I really don’t wanna try anymore sea.”

“Yea, its not the best, you sure your alright?”

Mary confirmed with a nod. 

“How about we try some people juice and maybe some people food too?”

“Yea that sounds much better,” agreed Mary, and hoped it would take the salty taste out of her mouth too.

©joannehepburn   09/10/2016