Irish Summer Photos

On this site I don’t often put up photographs of Ireland but lately the colours and the light here has been remarkable. So here goes a few from

those dogs that the Ogre hates.

dav

 

 

 

dav

dav

 

 

The day when the forest played a trick on a tiny witch.

Every seven years a crazy day arrives in the wood. It is called Mayhem day. And as you would expect anything is possible on this day.

Breeze and the other Ogres keep records. This means, they know when to expect the madness to happen. Then they let everyone else know. This year it was delivered by the blackbirds. “Stay indoors, take care for today will be a crazy day.” They tweeted and sang.

Elegant witch received the message and told her sister. Lovisma laughed and said, “Last time the only thing that happened was we were stuck indoors and I had no fun.”

“But you were safe.” Elegant replied.

“Safe is boring.” Lovisma decided then and there, she would have some fun.

Though her notebook was full of fun ideas, for example:

1. Paint the clouds with colourful spots.
2.  Put crabs in the pond.
3.  Replace the Ogres sugar with salt.
4.  Make Mrs. Rabbits washing dance on the washing line so she cannot collect it.
5.  Put glue on the elves shoes. When they finish work they will have to go home in their bare feet.

And the ideas went on filling the entire notebook. The problem was, she had tried them all.

“I need to think of a different way of making fun.”  She began by finding things to use. She found pots of paint and stacked them in Elegant’s gardening wheelbarrow, then she found some cobweb rope, a mound of mermaids slimy scales left by a visiting witch, and she chucked them into the barrow.

Just when she thought the barrow should be full to the brim she turned to look at it and frowned. Her collection was on the ground and her barrow was full of …

dog. “I didn’t put you in it, shoooo…go away.”

The dog sat and stared at her.  It blinked, blinked again and then…. vanished!

“Cute” Lovisma said and felt sad. She would have loved to be the first witch with a magical dog. When she told Elegant, her sister said, “I told you stay indoors – today is a crazy day. That dog wasn’t magical ..it wasn’t really here at all.”

Lovisma ignored her. She had decided on a plan. She crept to the center of the wood and began to chant,

“I wish for these dreams to come true,

let the sky and grass swop color so I am standing on blue.” She clicked her fingers and began to laugh. The grass was bright blue. She looked to the sky. It was bright green.

Then she heard it … a low throaty growl. Lovisma immediately thought of the crazy dog.  “Come out magical pup so I may thank you.”

Instead the sky darkened and clouds ran away as the green turned to purple.

“I preferred my colors” she calmly muttered.

The growling was louder and it was coming from the ground. Lovisma looked about her and noticed mushrooms. Hundreds and hundreds of mushrooms of all sizes.  She flicked her wand at them and said, “You look a little sad, I think spots of many colours would make you feel less bad.” With a click of her fingers a paintbrush appeared in her hand. She began to flick paint about her. Spots of paint landed on the mushrooms and they grew and grew. As they grew, the growling became louder.

Lovisma decided she didn’t want to stay in such a noisy spot and she tried to move, but the mushrooms had her caged in.  They stretched and grew until they blocked out the sky. She stood shivering wondering how she could make them stop. Every spell she tried made them grow faster. Finally she prodded one with her wand. There was a loud hissing sound and it shrank faster than it had grown. It didn’t stop until it was a puddle of gunk at her feet.

Then one by one the same thing happened the other mushrooms, the air was angry, filled with hissing sounds. The smell of rotting mushrooms was horrible. Lovisma screwed up her tiny nose and wailed. “I didn’t as for this to happen.” Her crying stopped only when she realised the pool of gunk was rising higher by the second.

Her next shriek was loud. “Help.”

Elegant heard her and appeared on her broomstick high above her troublesome sister.

“Serves you right, what did I tell you to do?” Then the kind hearted witch relented. With a flick of her wand she sent the gunk where it belonged  in the middle of nowhere.  Next she swooped low and hovered close to Lovisma.

“Would you like a lift home? I made chocolate fudge cake and vanilla ice cream?”

Lovisma didn’t need to think about it. She hopped on Elegants broom, promising she would never step outside of the house on Mayhem day, ever again.

Do you think she kept her promise?

A long poem or a short story?

Izzy the fairy, asked Ciara her boss,  “Could I have a different job please?

This year I won’t be seen turning the trees green.”

Izzy was spinning sending fairy dust high in the air.

Hedgehogs were walking round and round

their spikes were curly as birds song sank to the ground

 

Izzy said. ‘I could fill the rain clouds up real slow or clean Cupid’s bow!”

Ciara tilted her head and said,  “I’ll need to sit for a bit, and find a job to fit.”

Izzy sat on a toadstool and flicked morning dew with her feet.

“Hoi stop that!” a rabbit shouted. “I don’t like getting wet. ”

“Well I don’t like funny bunnies,” she said.

 

A field mouse scurried by muttering, “Spring is late.”

Izzy asked, “Is there an exact date?”

She hid inside a postbox and sat on a  letter

Hoping she would feel better.

First she wriggled her nose

Then later twiddled her toes.

 

The wind carried her name past the silent trees,

Izzy flew with the sound on the strong breeze,

“Izzy,  you could be a Web cleaner!” Ciara said as Izzy groaned.

Ugh it’s a terrible job, I’ll get dirty’, Izzy moaned.

 

Ciara explained, “You see, although I thought and thought

all I came up with was a big fat naught.’

Ciara had an idea, “Rose the tooth fairy needs help for she is busy

And I wonder if it would suit you Izzy?!”

Izzy laughed. “I’m to be a tooth fairy!”

Clapping her hands she said, “Oh goody, can I start early?”

 

Izzy told everyone of her new important job.

The busy worm family looked interested when Izzy told them of her new line of work,

Luckily she didn’t hear one of the young ones ask, “What’s a tooth then? It sounds like it should be in a book!”

 

At dusk Izzy was waiting to go,

Rose warned, ‘tonight will not be long and slow’

For now I have someone to help speed up the night,

Everything will be alright.

.

They flew through the keyhole at the first door,

And  waited till they heard a light snore,

Then Rose plucked the tooth from beneath the child’s head

While Izzy carefully put the coin there instead

 

On the way out, Izzy saw a shining circle that was saying tick tock

Rose laughingly explained it was a clock

Father Time will not like to hear that he is no longer needed Izzy said,

Wondering how much longer it would be before she was back in bed

 

The childrens rooms were full of treasures Izzy wished she could do more than look,

Dolls, teddies, cars and games mixed with lots and lots of colouring books,

There was a large box with a shiny dark space,

So dark Izzy could see her face,

‘What does it do?” Izzy dared to ask,

Rose couldn’t stop with her task

“I don’t know! Oh Izzy we are missing a tooth, I don’t know if its big or small!

Only that it’s not there at all!’

“Maybe it didn’t fall out on time!” Izzy suggested with a smile.

Rose looked grumpy,  “Izzy we’ll have to come back in a while.”

 

The next night Izzy returned and stopped at the foot of Sara’s bed.

There was a lot of sniffling and then a gentle cough. Sara sat up straight and said,

“Who are you?”

Izzy a truthful fairy said. “Izzy!”

Sara giggled, “Whats an Izzy?  Sounds like Fizzy! ”

Izzy was at a loss,

without her boss.

 

Her problem of how to help Sara sleep,

made Izzy  think long and deep,

Her eyes were big and round as she watched and listened without a sound.

As Sara drew funny looking houses, dancing spoons, smiling suns and moons.

When Sara fell asleep Izzy took a peep.

There beneath the pillow was a tiny tooth they missed,

Izzy took the tooth and put  the coin in its place, ‘that’s another one off Rose’s list,

 

The next night Izzy visited Sara to play

To her surprise she heard Sara say,

‘George our horse looks like he is made of wobbling jellies,

I’ve given him a big funny grin and he is wearing wellies.

Sara finished him, giving him a spikey mane and a fuzzy tail.

Izzy smiled “He looks like fun, why not give him a quick run!”

Taking a tiny bit of Izzy dust she threw it over him,

He left with a wink saying ‘Call me Jim’

 

Some time later they heard a familiar call. “Iiiiizzzzzzzzyyyyy”

“Ooopps got to go and look busy’

Ciara was looking slightly mad,

“Jim says you made him. Izzy what ever have you been up to?”

“I told you!” Jim said. Ciara waved a finger at him and said ‘Shoo!’

With a toss of his mane and a flick of his tail he left saying boo hoo.

 

Ciara frowned.  ‘Izzy I feel you need, something with action and speed

Izzy crossed her fingers hoping for something nice,

Perhaps I’ll be looking after the three blind mice,

Ciara said, “ The sky is looking dark and dreary,

I need you to make it look far more cheery.”

Izzy was grinning at these words clapping her hands with glee,

Ciara said, ‘But every day I will stop by to check you have kept your promise to me.’

 

So If you peep up at the sky and see so many flying sheep or wobbly horses you feel dizzy

Remember to say thanks to the tiny fairy called Izzy!

 

 

 

 

Izzy’s Problem

Note: A first draft of a chapter book, remarks, comments will be chewed on with delight.

Chapter 1

A problem to solve.

Pots and pans were zipping through the air.  The kitchen was a large airport without an airport controller.  With a loud squeal Esmeralda,  Izzy’s cat,  was whisked upwards in the playful current of air. She landed in a  huge saucepan.  Crouching low with her tail tightly curled about her,  Esmeralda’s huge paws covered her eyes.

Izzy didn’t notice her poor cat.  She was sitting eating toast. It was oozing with warm runny butter and strawberry jam.

Those saucepans look grotty Izzy , she thought.  Her friends couldn’t understand why  Izzy preferred saucepans to cauldrons. “Easier to clean” she explained to them. That is they would be easier to clean if she remembered to get cleaner.

Izzy began to write on the back of an envelope.  The note said,  get some more cleaner,  it was scrawled in her untidy hand writing with cartoon spiders dancing about it.   She scowled at it, it reminded her of something she didn’t like doing – shopping.

“Surf and stuff it” Izzy  stamped her foot and every flying object including Esmerelda lost its invisible wings, landing with a huge wallop in an untidy heap on the kitchen floor.

Izzy knew why everything was turning upside down and roundabout on her.  She was fed up.  It was ages since she had any fun with her other witch friends.

“Perhaps they’ve grown out of having fun!”  Izzy whispered.  “What a terrible thought!  I mean, what sort of witch is a witch who doesn’t have any fun or silliness in her life. It’s what we’re supposed to do, create mayhem for humans.  They say people can die from boredom.” Izzy told a dizzy looking Esmerelda  who was stumbling out of the upturned pot.

Izzy had a terrible thought. What if it isn’t only people who could be seriously affected by the lack of fun and newness in their lives?  “Witches couldn’t die from boredom, could they?”  Izzy spoke very carefully and slowly hoping that it would help to get rid of such a stupid thought.

But no, it lingered, repeating itself over and over. It didn’t help her bad mood.  She gave a giant hiccup and flew straight out of the window into the huge beech tree.

It was her favorite place to sit and think.

In fact some of her most earth shattering decisions had been made while sitting quietly in this tree. High above with only the odd wayward bee for company she was free from all the usual noises of life.

Her great decisions may seem simple to you or me but to a neat methodical witch they were very important indeed.

For example:  She once spent a whole afternoon sitting wondering, if it would be better to file all of her recipes  (Jamie and Delia’s) by color code or by the order in which Izzy ate her meals.  That was her problem.

The order in which she ate depended on what she was having.  If it was tomato soup it always came first and last, Izzy loved tomato soup.

High in this tree the solution appeared suddenly. It was simple. A recipe book for witches by a champion cooking witch! The recipes would appear as she made them up.  If she liked the new recipe it would stay but if she didn’t then it would topple off the page.

Today she was so tired she curled up and fell asleep.

When she woke she was not only hungry but full of energy.

“I think a little walk before dinner would do this talented witch a world of good,” she decided as she licked her lips.  “A couple of meringues from the bakers shop could be just the medicine that I need.”