The Big Melt

“Its all gone!” shouted Mary.

“What’s all gone Mary?” asked a sleepy Mum.

“The snow look, its all gone away,” advised Mary with a very sad face.

“Yey,” replied Dad.  “That will make getting to work a lot easier”, replied dad with a big grin.

“But I was going to build an igloo and a snowman and teach Joe how to make the best snowballs.”

“All is not lost, sounds like you had a very busy day planned.  We can go exploring instead and see if anything got stuck in the snow, now it has melted we can rescue it.”

Everyone got geared up and ready to go explore.

It was still bitterly cold; gloves, scarfs, hats jackets, fluffy socks and wellie bots were still needed.

Mary and Joes cheeks were all rosy already from walking down the path to the burn.

“There look, do you see it?” asked dad pointing.

Ooh yea, a wee squirrel was darting through the trees grabbing the nuts that had been trapped in the snow and scuttling off to store them in their den.

“Cool” confirmed Mary.

The family followed the path a bit further Dad stopped and stood still, gesturing with a finger over his lips for everyone to be quiet.  

A deer was munching on the green grass newly freed from its icy snow covering, everyone watched silently for a good while before the deer had had its fill and bounded away.

They carried on their walk; the path was becoming very slippery, not icy this time but watery mud from all the melting snow and ice.

“We better watch where we’re stepping or we will get very muddy,” advised a concerned Mum not too sure if this was a good idea anymore.

But it was all worth it when once they go to the top of the hill.  It was a beautiful view, Dad took some photographs and of course Mum had taken some snacks to keep every ones energy up.

A few wee birds started hopping round their feed picking up their crumbs.

Mum had thought of this too and handed Mary and Joe a bag of nuts and seeds for them to feed the birds. 

Mary scattered hers so there was a fair covering over the ground.

Joe might have been too enthusiastic when he lifted his bag to throw, as all the seeds fell at his feet, which he found hilarious as all the birds dashed to eat them all up.

Freezing fingers and toes, Mum thought it was time to wander back to a nice warm house and a lovely pan of hot soup.

Everyone agreed as they all carefully walked down the hill trying their best not to get caught by the slippery mud or the new bumps in the path.

Dad opened the door and everyone breathed a sigh of relief for the warmth.

“Soup time” declared Mum.

All boots, scarf’s, gloves and hats came off. 

A good walk, good food maybe the big melt wasn’t so bad thought Mary.

©joannehepburn 22.01.2017

Snow day

“Aaahhhhhh” screamed Mary.

“Oh my goodness, whatever is wrong?” requested a concerned mum.

“The road its all gone!” whimpered Mary.

“Its not gone its just been covered by lots of snow and ice.  It will be very cold outside and everyone needs to be very careful where they are stepping as it will be very slippery.” Advised mum

“I know we’ll all get a good breakfast and venture out into the unknown” chuckled dad.

Mum made a delicious breakfast of porridge topped with bananas and honey.

Mary was the first to march up the stairs to get dressed and the first again to come down ready to get geared up for the outdoors.

Waterproof trousers, check.  Waterproof thermal jacket, check.  Super fluffy hat scarf and gloves, check, check and check.  Almost good to go but how to put on boots when all of the layers were getting in the way?

Mary picked up both wellie boots and took them over to the stairs, the height might help with viewing the target.  Standing on the first step with the boots on the ground holding onto the rail left foot first, success foot in the boot.  Now for the same success with the right ,  yes both feet in boots just to make sure trousers were tucked into the boots so no snow or wet drips could get in or give a nasty surprise.

Mary ready, Mum and dad ready even Joe was ready to test out this new stuff that was covering everything.

Mum opened the door, Mary ran out into the garden, stopped and tried to retrace her steps in the snow. Then ventured out through the gate.

The street had been morphed into a frozen river, sheets of ice was all that could be seen for miles.

“Lets try some sledging” shouted dad as he stepped onto his sledge taking off down the street with Joe on his lap.

“Oh my goodness” whispered mum, “how on earth are they going to get back up the hill? She thought out loud.  “At least it will be interesting to watch,” she mused.

Mary took a more hands on approach, no sledge needed, the waterproof trousers were enough.  

Sitting at the top of the hill with a gentle push off and she was away, sliding down the hill with her arms free to steer in any required direction, she was soon at the bottom with dad and Joe.

“Now lets see how we can get back up to the top with Mum” thought dad out loud.

Dad pulled the sledge back up the hill with Mary sitting down holding Joe firmly on her lap.

There were a few miss, steps, it was sheer ice dad was walking on, but they made it back up to Mum.

“Was that fun?” she asked seeing  all of their rosey cheeks.

“Yea, lots” nodded Mary.

“Does anyone like the sound of some warm hot chocolate?” teased mum.

“Yes please” came the resounding reply.

“Well we better get back indoors” chuckled mum.

©joannehepburn 15.01.2017

Computer games

Mary loved the holidays but when the weather was rubbish, the days could get a bit boring.

But this weekend the cousins were coming  and they were taking their computer games with them.

As soon as Tom and John were in the door they unpacked the selection of games and set up the computer.

“Right which one would you like to start with?” offered John.

“Well, I’ve never played any before but I’ll judge by the pictures.  Can I play this one first? Could you show me how?” inquired Mary.

“Of course, we’ll just put the game in to the slot, its just like a cd for music. This is a controller, now this button moves your character in the direction you choose and these buttons make you jump and this one makes you run.  You wanna give it a shot? Offered Tom as he handed Mary a controller.

“OK I’ll try”, offered Mary

Well, they each took turns playing each of the games.  They played racing games, adventure quest games and football games.  The boys had taken so many with them Mary didn’t like to think how many more they had in their bedrooms.

“Is anyone hungry?” asked Mum from the kitchen.

“YES please” chimed Mary and the cousins all together, as they made their way through to the kitchen.

“How are you finding the computer games Mary? Offered mum as she laid out lunch.

“Oh they are really fun some of them are very unfair and silly but other ones are really good fun, but my thumbs might  hurt a bit.

“Yea that can happen, its best to take a break every now and then” offered Tom.

Sandwiches and juice finished Tom and John looked at Mary, “What do you say to some more practice?”

“Erm no thank you,  I’ll watch and be the referee while you two play” advised Mary.

“Sounds good, who do you, think will win? Joked John.

“Well we’ll just have to wait and see wont we, I’ll just make sure no one is cheating teased Mary.

Off they went back over to play some more games.  Mary watched the characters on the TV move in time with the boys thumbs.  It was rather fascinating but if she looked at their thumbs or  the screen for too long it started to make her head hurt so she went back to just looking at the cousins faces.  They were so funny they were both so focused on the box that she could be doing anything, Mary doubted they’d notice until she made a noise or turned the power off.

“Time to go boys,” hollered mum just before auntie Liz knocked on the door.

 “Hi, I hope the boys behaved themselves.”

“Oh they did they even showed me how to play the computer games,” confirmed Mary with a nod.

Mum and Mary ensured everyone had everything they came with as they stood by the door waving them goodbye.

“Did you enjoy the computer games?” asked Mum

“Think I’ll stick to drawing on rainy days, it doesn’t make my thumb hurt “confirmed Mary.

©joannehepburn 08/01/2017 

One day late

Whatever was mum going to do?

Granny’s present still had not arrived, she was due to visit tomorrow to bring in the New Year.

Panic stations all round.

Dad phoned the company the gift was purchased from, advising extra was paid for quick delivery, but as the gift had left their shop there was nothing that could be done.

Next Dad called the delivery company, but that didn’t take to long as their offices were shut for the holiday, possibly why the goods had not yet been delivered.

“Right we need a new plan of action” thought Mum out loud, “what can we make?”

“I can make a festive picture just for granny”, chimed Mary

“I can sort out salting the path to ensure its safe, and fix the gate to make it easier for granny, I know how much that catch gets to her”

“Excellent, and I’ll make her favorite orange cake, lets get started, she’ll be here in no time.”

And with that everyone got to work focused on their roles, Joe just sat and giggled while everyone else darted about from room to room.

Soon enough all the jobs had been completed, the path was clear and salt had been generously laid out against the ice and snow, even the gate closed without a battle. 

Mary’s wonderful festive picture of them all eating Christmas dinner just had one last line to be added, and Granny’s orange cake was cooked to perfection, sitting cooling on the  counter.

They had all worked so hard no-one realized the time.  There was a knock at the door.

Granny!

“Oh how wonderful, smiled Granny, the gate has been tamed”, advised granny with a nudge to dad.

“Oh how fabulous,” exclaimed granny as Mary handed over the picture.

“Lets sit down and enjoy some tea” offered mum as she went to put the kettle on.

“Oh this is excellent” Confirmed Granny as she savored the orange cake.

“What busy bee’s you have all been, my goodness, I don’t know where you get all of the energy after Christmas, and all of the New Year celebrations.  I’m surprised you’re all awake enough after staying up so late”

“It’s all OK we were allowed to lie in for a wee bit,” advised Mary with nod to Mum.

“Everyone was in good form, lots of dancing, lots of singing and lots of laughter,” confirmed Mum.

The time was racing by as they chatted with tea and cake before long it was time for granny to make a move and get back to her house.

 “Thank you ever so much for the gifts” thanked Granny again as she effortlessly opened the gate and turned to close it ready for a fight but none was needed, dad’s fix worded a treat.

“I’m glad you all had a grand time, I can’t stay up that late anymore but I’m sure I’ll hear all the stories from your aunts and uncles soon enough,” advised granny with a wink and a nod.

©joannehepburn 02.01.2017