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