Goldie

This post was inspired by Kate from Just Pirouette who has recently had a tottering time with her daughters goldfish,read about it here ,believe me you will laugh,although its not a funny subject (soz Kate,I don't mean the sad demise of your daughters goldfish was in any way funny,perhaps it's just the way you wrote it! ) 

This led me to reminisce about my pet Goldfish imaginatively called Goldie

I have spoke about Goldie before on Twitter 

and at this point in the story I would like to stress I was only very young when  this all happened and in no way,

shape or form am I a cruel heartless person who 

would willingly or knowingly hurt or

 cause pain to any animal,small or large...honestly. 

*Nods sincerely*

You do all believe me don't you, good....then I'll begin.

I have always loved animals and when I was about 4 or 5years old my mum brought me a goldfish.

In those days you didn't have tanks,water filters,air pumps etc all you had was a fish bowl,food and the goldfish and the fish were not all different types of goldfish like you can get today,they were just plain old orange goldfish.

And mine was called Goldie

And I loved it.

I loved it so much that I began to worry that it was lonely.

All alone in that big fish bowl.

Nobody to talk too.

And no toys to play with....

Aha... now that's where I stepped in,I could help find Goldie some toys as I had lots of toys that I could share with Goldie.

I chose little toy cars,metal cars and I diligently filled Goldies fishbowl with cars.

After a while I decided Goldie had got enough toys and I went to play somewhere else.

Sometime later my mum discovered the car filled fishbowl.

Unfortunately Goldie was no more

I'm not quite sure of the exact details of Goldies sad demise,needless to say though I was in serious trouble and I wasn't allowed another goldfish ever again.

Since writing about Goldie I have spoke to my mum and she did have a bit of a smile.

It seems like my recollections are accurate poor Goldie was much loved but perhaps a bit too well loved!

RIP Goldie ~ you were loved

Memories

I can't count the number of times we have walked round the duck pond in recent years...lots and lots of times,it's our place,mine and Chips,we watch the seasons come and go,we have taught ourselves about the different types of ducks that we see,we have found secret paths,we have sat and waited for trains to pass by,we have sampled the cafes buttery flapjack more times than perhaps we should have and still we like it up there.

Today we did all the usual stuff,it was a drizzly rainy day but this didn't stop us having a good time and as we reached the swans we decided to take a different turn.

I followed Chips and we saw this water

and I had a complete flashback of a memory.

 Just. Like. That. 

For one moment I went back years.

I could remember the sound of the water and look of the stream and the small waterfall and I could remember my aunt and uncle taking me to this spot 'to see the horses'

I bet I would have been perhaps under five years old.

I cannot describe how strong and sharp and how sudden that memory was.

It just came from nowhere

Pretty unreal to be honest.

I stood looking at the water and the words 'going to see the horses' rang in my head.

And just up in the nearby field,hidden by the trees are some horse riding stables....

Has anyone else got anything similar to share?

Hours later this is still playing on my mind,I think it was the sound of the water that did it and when I look at that photo I think eek,not a totally bad eek but a eek all the same!

Flight

You are flight

Born to move,jump,leap and fly

Even before birth

Flying and somersaulting around

I should have known then

I did know,I always knew

Never still

Always on the move,feet that hardly touch the ground

You are my child born with fire in your belly

And a heart full of dare

Your energy knows no bounds

Bikes,sand dunes,skateboards and walls are your toys

You make me smile child of mine

Why walk when you can fly!

**********

Written for Josie at Two Shoes In Texas

The prompts were searching or flight 

Im quite surprised that I chose flight because searching is such a familiar word to me,I spend most of my life searching in one form or another but when I ran the words through my head a picture formed and flight became obvious to me.

Why not pop over to Josie and link up for Two Shoes Tuesday

Go on,have a go!

The Legend Of The Buttercup

Long,long ago I was told that if you hold a buttercup under someone's chin and you see a golden reflection it means the said person loves butter and all things buttery,cream,Lurpak etc 

I have always believed this story to be true,always.

And today I went walking with my youngest son and came across these

Buttercups

We carried on walking and further up the road we saw a big patch of buttercups and dandelions and I thought they looked so pretty.

We stopped to blow the dandelion clocks

and then I passed on the legend of the buttercups to Chips.

I'm not sure how much he believed but it was a story I needed to tell and I feel that all children should know about the legend of the buttercups.

Now my boy does

This was not written as a magic moment,it was just from the heart

of a happy mummy but later that night when I was talking about what magic moment I could write up,my son said what about the buttercups mummy and that was it.

If he thought it was a magic moment then the jobs a good un.

Linking to the lovely Jaime for Magic Moments

And linking with my friend Fiona for her fab Country Kids linky

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday

Six Word Saturday

I Aim To Use Time Wisely

I'm grinning not even 30 secs after writing this!

Oh yes it is my aim.

Honestly it is!

And I have every intention of adhering to it

But

Already I'm on lappy typing this out when all round me are jobs that need doing...

The thought is in my mind but whether or not I can stick to it is another thing altogether!

A middle road is needed!A bit of this,blogs,twitter, and a lot of real life stuff.

So the challenge is set....let's see how I do!

Pop over to Cate at Show My Face for

Six Word Saturday 

Dear X Box

Ah my old friend you seem to be winning a battle here at the moment. 

You have found a new way of gaining more time turned on.

More time that your brightly coloured action packed games can blare out into my lounge,stealing time away from my boy.

And time is precious.

In my view it should be spent doing real life stuff.

Playing outside,reading,running,jumping,being with real people not sat staring at a machine.

"Ah but I do you such a favour" I hear you whisper mockingly

"I watch your child for you while you get on with 'things,' jobs or that important stuff you do on your phone"

"Iam your unpaid babysitter,you may not 'like' me but you 'do' use me....and you know it"

Yes Dearest X box I actually do know this although it pains me greatly to agree with you.Iam aware that as much as I moan about you,I do use you or at least I use the time I get child free to do lots of things....shower in peace,make tea,do dishes and yes play around with my phone or lappy.

But you come at a price and I think your price is way too high for my liking.

You gobble time up,minutes turn into hours and they turn into chunks of time....the morning or the whole afternoon.It sounds impossible but I have seen it happen and more than once,unfortunately.

You leave children hot and bothered,tired,cross,tantrummy and unable to cope with the real world and to be frank it's just not good enough and as you full well know I do not like it.

 One. Single. Bit.

And now you have found a small chink in my armour...the relationship between my boys.

Yes I have been drawn in,I must admit,I see the two older boys cuddled up to their kid bro and yep it pulls on my heart strings big style and yes I do let the time drift on when I see that. 

What mum can easily break moments like that...the boys laughing and playing together,it's a low down trick X Box and you know it.

But you also know me full well dont you.

Wasn't I the one who kept you out of the boys bedroom for years and years and years,not bowing to the immense pressure from everyone around.

And wasn't I the one to limit you to just one hour a day and did I stick to that rule...yep, I so did and I'm real glad now that I did because as the kids grow older it becomes harder as a mum to enforce rules,especially when the children have got jobs of their own.Thats when I don't have much of a say about you Dear X Box!

But where my little boy is concerned I do have a say,a really big say and I want you to know that I'm on your case.

Because no matter how hard you try to wheedle your way into his life I'm going to put limits on you,for his sake and Dear X Box he is worth any battle that you may give me,do you get that,let the battle commence.

From a Mummy who loves her son so much that she will win the X Box 

( if only for the time being!)

100 Word Challenge
This weeks prompt for the 100 Word Challenge was
 The Points Were Sharp
Here are my 100 words   

******

The points were sharp...

The words stung and made her eyes fill with tears 

She went outside and the breeze did its best to blow the words from her mind

It didnt quite work though 

Still the words echoed in her mind 

And they continued to do so for the rest of the day

Until the night came and she slept

But she did listen,even though she didn't want too

She listened long and hard

Because although the words hurt like hell she knew them to be right and fair

Yes the points were sharp but they were true

******
Linking up at Julias Place for the 100 Word Challenge

Miss You

I'm missing you middle son!

Kinda got used to having you here at this time of day.

Walking into a noise filled room,all that stuff I call 'rubbish' blaring out from the tv ~ what have we been through lately...Top Gear,Pawn Stars and now that show where literally every minute in a sing song voice they yelp out 'meeeeen' 

Ouch it drives me crazy and you know it!

You will grin every time they sing it and I will scowl and perhaps have a mumble under my breath,something like ''Why,Why,Why do they have to keep singing meeeeen. and I'll get all wound up and throw my arms around in a mad flapping way and you will just grin and wait for the next time meeeen rings out and then you'll glance my way and grin again!

It drives me mad and we both know it but without it the house is too quiet now.

I will be tired from working and you will look at me and I know you want a cuppa and I will go and make you one.If I don't make you one you will not bother to have a drink.

I've questioned this,the fact that you can't be bothered to make yourself a drink but you will willingly gulp down any number of cups of tea I pass over to you and goodness forbid that you may make me a lunch time drink!

But I miss making you a drink when you're not here,it's too quiet without you.

You occupy the corner of the settee.You say it's your corner. And as the day progresses the area around your corner starts to resemble a tip.

Cups with tea at the bottom are placed on the fireplace,big bottles of fizzy pop are stood next to the settee,a guitar is propped up next to the fireplace.There could be any number of empty junky containers spread around the close vicinity of your corner,yogurt pots,cheese string wrappers,crisp packets,paper bags that have held sweeties in them,oh and of course Monster cans,that is a signature item of yours.

But without this clutter your corner seems bare and I don't like it.

There are no signs of dinner stuff,no microwave sausages,no bacon,no frying pans out,no pot noodle pots lying around,all the junk that teens call food

The iron isn't left out either.

Infact it's tidy....nothing's left out.

There are no shoes under the kitchen radiator,no papers and workbooks on the settee,no signs of you.

It wasn't always like this,you used to stay at school all day but when you went to sixth form that all changed and you started to come home for dinner.

And that changed my whole routine,no longer did I wander up to Morrisons on a daily basis,nope, I liked coming home to see you.The shopping didn't get done but you were always more important than shopping 

Now I just shop once a week,it's better for me,more time in the house and I think overall I spend less.

Win/Win I'd say.

Tomorrow it will be back to normal and you will be back home for dinner and I will be glad because it's just too quiet without you here.

Miss you boy x

Magic Moments ~ Splash

Writing for Jaime again 'smile time' because I really do love this linky.

I like the feeling it brings when you read through people's magic moments,I like choosing which moment I can write about and I like how friendly Jaime is and how she is bringing this blogging community together and I know I say that a lot but I do truly mean it.

So here we go and this week I'm going to tell you about....puddle jumping ~ big style puddle jumping

The Puddle

Now this happy memory is old,let me cast my mind back and count the years,it was when my middle son was in year six,he's nearly 17 now,but actually thinking about it it was only six and a half years ago, I'm now thinking oh my goodness he was doing this kind of stuff just six years ago, wow times have changed because he seems so grown up in some ways,doing A-Levels,thinking about jobs,doesn't time fly! 

Well my middle boy was a really active kid!Couldn't sit still for toffee,ran everywhere, jumped high and had a massive streak of dare inside of him ( he still does,he hasn't changed too much! ) 

People used to say to me "He's a bit of a lad,isn't he" or "He's a lad 'n a half" or "He's got fire in his belly" 

I haven't heard these sayings for ages now but believe me,back in the day I heard them on a weekly basis if not more.

I used to love to go and pick him up from school and he would come bounding out the classroom and literally run,jump and leap all the way home,doing acrobatic stunts as he went.I

 was a very laid parent and as long as he wasn't in mortal danger or being rude to anyone I was fine with his antics....after all he was just a lad,everybody told me so!

Well one day it had been raining big style and in the field opposite the school there were puddles.

Not small puddles,big deep long wide puddles,absolutely muddy puddles.The sort of puddles you get on a field pretty massive puddles.

He came tearing out of school with his mate,raced up the school drive and as we crossed the road he saw the puddles.

Now the sensible thing to do would have been to carry on on the nice,clean,dry pavement but I looked at his face and I knew him so well and I knew secondary school was looming and that this boy of mine was growing up and one day wouldn't want to jump in puddles.

So I told him to go for it.

I took his school bag from him and said I would meet him at home,which was two minutes away and I just let him play.

I watched for one minute as he ran without a care in the world straight through the enormous puddle and then literally just rolled in it.

He did not care a hoot,he was just having the muddiest,wettest time ever.

I could sense a certain amount of OMG from quite a few parents but just like my middle boy I didn't care a hoot either and I went home and waited for him to return.

He wasn't that long actually and yes he was a state and yes his clothes were a disaster!

But you know what...he washed up like new and so did his clothes after a good soak.

No damage done,just a lot of excitement and fun and a lasting memory.

Because whenever I walk past that field on a rainy day those puddles reappear and to this day I still remember the day he splashed in those puddles....I wonder if he does! 

I say when you have got a lad 'n a half,embrace it!

And one last thing....this was before the days of our puddle jumping friend Peppa.In these days it was not so fashionable to puddle jump,especially in your school uniform!

 Perhaps Peppa was watching us!

 Perhaps we taught her all she knows! 

Join the others here for Magic Moments

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday

Five Sentence Fiction 

i found Five Sentence Fiction through reading Dragons Fly Poppy blog

she often writes fiction pieces and her poems are cool,a example being

 First Steps 

Well I then found Lillie McFerrin who hosts Five Sentence Fiction  and decided to join in and have a go with the prompt this week which was Accident.

So here is my attempt....ta dah

***** 

 "But it was an accident," she exclaimed "I didn't mean too!"

"You know the rules full well," said the voice "once you step on the map you can't get off...ever...not until you reach your destination"

The girl turned around and slowly gazed at the map,it looked so detailed,some of the names sounded familiar and some didn't.

And down at the bottom was her destination,how was she, the girl who couldn't negotiate maps of any sort and who got lost on a regular basis ever going to get there

She took one last look at safety and then tentatively started to walk ,she had to start the journey,what other choice did she have.

Six Word Saturday

Rain,Rain,Rain - Come Back Sun

it's a good job I enjoyed that trip to Creswell that I spoke about last 6WS because since then the weather has seriously deteriorated and over the past few days we have so much rain its untrue.

It's raining as I write this,heavy rain lashing against the windows and it's the weekend tomorrow.

I have had a thought though...perhaps we can go puddle splashing...got to make the most of the weekend whatever the weather!

It's Saturday so time to pop over to Cate for Six Word Saturday

Wordless Wednesday

Why?

Linking up to....

From Nanny To Mommy

Claire Justinoxox 

5 Minutes For Mom 

The 100 Word Challenge


The prompt for the 100 word challenge this week was this photo

and this is what I came up with

********** 

"So. What do you think?" said the little girl.

Her friend gazed over the water.

"I think" she began

"There are no handsome princes

No unicorns 

No spells or enchantments

No fairies

No pixies or elves or sprites

No witches

No pots of gold at the end of the rainbow

No mermaids 

No black cats,no broomsticks

No dragons

No fizzing sparkly wands

No treasure maps 

No castles in the sky

No potions

No imaginary friends

No happy ever afters...ever

No magic at all 

 The little girl slowly turned to her friend

"But what if"  she said  "What if......" 

**********

Linking up for the 100 Word Challenge at Julia's Place

Swimmer Boy!

Best swimming I have seen for ages little boy!

No hop,skip,jumping across the pool.

No swim,swim,stop,stand up,feet down,look around and then swim,swim again.

Nope....none of that....instead real swimming.

The sort where you push onwards and persevere and you don't put your feet down,not once

Not. At. All.

And we all smile,coz we all know it's good.

I smile at you,you smile back at me,my dad smiles at you and you smile back at him.

And I turn to my dad and say;

"Did you see that?He didn't put his feet down!"

And my dad says;

"No,he didn't put his feet down"

And we both smile together.

Linking up to Heather for Just Write

Washing

When my phone dings a text message through on a Friday lunchtime I'm 99% certain who it's from and what it's about.

My work mates know too.

The mothers of girls cringe.

The mothers of boys smile knowingly and just raise their eyebrows.

This is what the messages say.....

"Could you wash me a pair of jeans for tonight please?x''

''Can you wash my grey jumper please?!?!?!?!?!?!?!''

''I would very much like some clothes washing for tonight x''

''Would you be able to do me some washing when you get in for tonight please?x''

All from my firstborn son.

Talk about being a soft touch coz what do you think I do....

Yep I do the washing

And do you know why?

Coz I love him of course.

Simple.

And he is my first born child and he has grown up as all children do,in the blink of a eyelid.

And this is just another stage....

One day he will fly the nest and I wont have any more of his washing to do

Not any at all.

So while I can Im going to have a wry little smirk when he sends me his washing text messages coz I know one day when hes big and gone I will miss his dirty washing.....

Not half as much as I will miss him though.... 

Linking up with Lucy from Dear Beautiful for 

A Mama's Love 

Magic Moments ~Spot

Written for the lovely Jaime and her Magic Moments,pop over to her blog because she will make you so welcome and the magic moments will turn you into a big wibbly,wobbly jelly mess but a nice big wibbly wobbly jelly mess!

Here is my offering for this week...

Spot The Dog

So. It was Saturday and I was cleaning! 

What....cleaning and on a Saturday...unbelievable.

Yep this must be the magic moment! 

Me cleaning on a Saturday or indeed any day

 
Oh I'm badly digressing now and Im having a silent giggle attack inside of my head and it's so real my tummy is aching,soon I won't be able to write this post and it was supposed to be serious and heartfelt

Rewind and start again Jess! 

So there I was cleaning Chips bookcase...phew I've made it through the giggles, and whilst sat in a pile of books and dust I found this

and I opened it up and saw this

this book had been given to my eldest boy,who is now twenty,on his first birthday.

I just held it in my hands and thought 'Oh my goodness'

I looked at my dads writing and that made it even more special.

Why does writing do that folks?

You see someone's hand written words and it brings back emotions.

I think in the world of emails and texts there is a message for us all there...hand written things mean so much.I guess they are so individual aren't they.

This book had been read by all three of my boys,probably hundreds of times and mostly by me and my mum.

It was still in good condition,all except one page,and my mum and I grinned at this.

One of the flap doors had been sellotaped on both sides

If you look carefully you can see the sellotape and I know why this flap had been sellotaped!It had been opened probably more than any other flap in the book and this is why....behind the flap was a....

snake!!!!And my mum hates snakes,and what page do you think those scallywag little boys wanted to torment their grandma with....the snake....of course! Makes perfect sense doesn't it!

I had lots of smiles reminiscing about times gone by,when the boys were young readers and so did my mum.

Can't beat Spot The Dog!

Pop over to Magic Moments

See what has made people happy this time

Mr Staines Shop

In the middle of my grandmas street was a corner shop....Mr Staines Corner Shop.

It was where you went to buy anything and everything.

Fancy that boys,a shop just literally one minute away from your house,I bet you would have liked that as you were growing up.

And you could walk to it all by yourselves!

Thinking about it I bet the whole shop was not much bigger than our lounge but it managed to fit everything in.

I can remember the counter and lots of items stacked up behind it and Mr Staines serving behind the counter,every day except Sundays because in those days shops didn't open on Sundays.

Can you imagine that,a day when you couldn't pop to a shop,no matter what.

If you had run out of something it was tough luck because apart from call on a neighbour to lend you it you just would have to make do until the shops opened on Monday....and guess what we all survived.... shock horror...we all absolutely survived!

Perhaps our mothers were better housekeepers back then and never ran out of anything or perhaps they had more time,I have my own views on that subject.

The shop had a big window and behind that window was my favourite things in the whole shop,the sweeties! 

There were tons of what I call duds or dudu's I guess a little bit like Haribos are now.

I can remember little pink candy sweets called shrimps and little jelly teddy bears and chews...fruit salads and black jacks ~ 6 for a penny and 3 for 1/2p,yep in those days we even had 1/2p! And it was worth something....you could buy sweets with it!The sweets were put in a white paper bag and it always seemed like you had loads when Mr Staines handed them over to you.

There were always big cardboard boxes of crisps stacked high on top of each other,you had to put your hand through the circle and reach into the box to get your pack of crisps out.
I think at that age I had never seen multi pack bags of crisps at all,you just brought what you needed for that day and when you needed more you just went back to the shop,it was a much simpler existence and thinking about it I bet you didn't need as much storage space either,no weekly shops in those days and a monthly shop would have been unheard of!

I have told my mum that I was writing about Mr Staines shop and she really grinned.

I bet Mr Staines has long since passed away but I for one will never forget his little corner shop (and it was actually on a corner) somethings you never forget,do you.

Anyone else have any memories of their corner shops,let me know,I would love to hear what other people can remember.

Add A Memory

Weekends

We are spending some laid back chilled out weekends just lately.

Lots of cuddling up on the sofa.

Lots of watching what we want on the telly and doing what we want on the lappy.

Lots of eatables that make us smile...pizza,biscuits and mega amounts of cuppa's!

Lots of reading books together,ploughing through the adventures of Freddie,Bets and gang.

Lots of time wearing sloppy comfy clothes.

The pace is slow,not quite at a stand still but there is no rush,that's for sure,we think we have done something if we walk to the kitchen or the bathroom and if we make it outside its all high 5's and haven't we done well.

On Monday mornings we go back to the real world and the rushy pushy pace of work and school,I bet our eyes actually blink when we come out of our warm,comfortable,happy cocoon and have to face wind,rain and all the noise and fastness that the outside world offers.

Perhaps we need to chill and be together all weekend before we all split up and go our separate ways during the week.

I'm not saying this is the right way to spend a weekend,I'm just saying this is what we seem to be doing and everything and everybody seems happy.

Perhaps it's righter than I imagine

2 Minute Memory

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday

Weekly Top Shot 

Flashing Eyes

It starts ok 

 Smiles,hands held and lots of chatter.

We reach work

Coats taken off, bags plonked down 

A little boy stands watching

Knowing he mustn't interrupt

Desperate to talk

And only his mummys glance stops the words tumbling out

And that makes him scratchy

He starts to bristle

And as his mummy's glance warns him,his glance warns her!

Flashing eyes!

No calm eyes just reminding him to stop the chatter

His eyes are not calm

They flash!

The school bell rings

He goes,glances back at his mummy with those eyes

Parting is such sweet sorrow

***************************

This was written after reading Spencers Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow 

From that I found this and really wanted to give it a go.

So here is my attempt,pop over to Julia at Julias Place  

to read about the 100 Word Challenge

Six Word Saturday

Let Me Take You To Creswell

I'm aware I sometimes have been gloomy on here,wanting biscuits to take all the problems of the world away,so this week I wanted to show you something pretty.

On Bank Holiday Monday we went for a day out at a local beauty spot,it was a gloriously warm day and I took lots of photos which I thought I would share with you.

Creswell is in the countryside,it's a historical archaeological site,it's surrounded by trees which open out into a lake.

Young Chips loves it here,there are ducks to feed,paths to run along,waterfalls to watch and the bestest thing...cliffs to climb!

This appeals to Chips immensely,he's up and down those crags like anything!He ends up really hot and sweaty but I figure all the exercise must be good for him and it's great to see him bomb around like a little mountain goat.To see more of what the boys got up too click here

At the top of these craggy hills are caves and in those caves used to live all sorts of wild and dangerous animals...even wolves!People come here and go on cave tours,well the brave and fearless do,we just like to peep inside the caves and imagine the past and make a few echoey woooos.

I had never seen it so busy there before,the place was packed with families making the most of the lovely bank holiday sunshine.

Summer had definitely arrived that day,it has gone now,but on Monday it was blue skies and pretty white clouds and very warm.

Lots of children were in their summer clothes,shorts and tee shirts and I saw lots of babies out,waving their chunky little legs in the warm summer sun.

The blossom trees were so pretty,I bet that after the wind we have had recently lots of that blossom has blown off.

We had such a relaxing walk around the lake,it was lovely to see the boys playing together.

Linking this to Cate our lovely hostess for Six Word Saturday