Versatile Blogger Award

We would like to thank Kim Gosselin of http://kimgosselinblog.com/ for awarding us the Versatile Blogger Award.

Breeze is delighted to have the honor of being the first Ogre, blogger with an Award. Thank you Kim for your kindness. For parents, young or old, or grandparents Kim’s site is a delight and I highly recommend it to everyone.

The rules of acceptance for this award are to share 7 interesting facts about yourself in addition to nominating 15 other bloggers for this award.

Our attempt at Seven “Interesting Facts”

1. I (Maria) am stubborn, so stubborn at the age of four I refused to be bullied into writing with my right hand. This set the tone of my life as I carried a bright sign titled: Bully me or die trying..

2. This site came about by an accidental comment on Doris Pacheco’s site and the subsequent follow up drawings and story.

3. Doris and Maria have never met. Doris lives in America and I live in Ireland.

4. Mudpile wood is an actual place. Situated near my home in County Meath.

5. Maria has had short stories printed in magazines.

6. My imagination will not switch off.

7. I love chocolate but it hates me – I seem to be allergic to milk chocolate as it brings on a sinus condition.

Doris

1 This project started with a photo of my favorite tree , a tree that I have never touched or hugged, it is my neighbors, but it fascinates me, he is my friend. The photo of the tree was for my time out for art I do every Thursday with my friend Lisa, she lives in Ecuador, and she is one of the reason I did this project, she doesn’t know I have this page, and will find out today about the book and gets an award today.

2 I am an abstract painter, and Lisa encourage me to draw, had not drawn for more than 20 years, so I started having fun every Thursday and it made me take on this project.

3 And, just like Lisa, Gian Paolo a writer from Italy, inspired me to get off my comfort zone, he is really good at writing and creating characters, he has a thing with detail. So, he inspired me to create more than 15 characters.

4  I have never illustrated a kids Book before, my projects are very different. Maria does not know this but I got sick the first couple of days, I had no clue how to start and did not know how to do it either.

5 I went a million times to the library to see kids books, had to learn how to draw characters.

5 I made three characters with red hair, they remind me of  a friend Jonathan Caswell, he very nice, funny and sweet, a poet, he always re-blogs everyone.

6 Another interesting thing about the book, as I was finishing with the drawings, Maria published another book called Moving On, I did not know about. Please buy it.

7  Lastly, I had help from the best creative director, my niece Lillian she is 12 and she helped us in many ways. It is funny how kids tell you the truth, if she did not like something, she told us. Many things were cut out because of her. Lillian, want to tell you thank you and I love you. You were the main reason behind this project. Had lots of fun with you and Marcelo :).

Nominees:

1 http://79nexus.wordpress.com/
2 https://callmecaitlin.wordpress.com/
3 http://mylittlegrasshoppers.wordpress.com/
4 http://lizandlifestyle.wordpress.com/
5 http://monkeyworks.org/
6 http://thekidshavegonetoschool.wordpress.com/
7 http://doodlemum.com/

8 http://newwhitebear.wordpress.com/

9 https://bythemightymumford.wordpress.com/

10 http://playamart.wordpress.com/

11 http://witlessdatingafterfifty.wordpress.com/

12 http://kmihran.wordpress.com/

13 https://aquileana.wordpress.com/

14 http://lorienyoga.com

15 http://hillsofherchastity.wordpress.com/

*If you are an “Award Free Blog” or do not have time to accept please know that we understand. Your work is always very much appreciated.

A puzzle lands in the field beside Mudpile Wood

Breeze was dreaming of butterfly – cakes.  All of his dreams lately were filled with cakes of one type or another.

His dream about Hasty fairy Cakes was so frightening he hadn’t told asked anyone about it, yet. He decided to forget about it and perhaps some day ask for advice.

His nap time was interrupted by a very high bossy voice saying. “I told you to pack cucumber sandwiches.”

Breeze pulled a yucky face. He hated cucumber and the idea of sandwishes with just cucumber in them was not nice.

The woman who spoke looked very un-happy. He wondered if Tulip could wave her wand and make the lady look a little happier.

Then he heard another voice say, “But last week you scolded me because I brought cucumber sandwiches.” The second lady looked much nicer, she looked like a lady who smiled a lot.  She was taking out a cup and saucer and laying them on the ground.

“Why is she doing that?” Breeze whispered. But there was no one to answer him. “And what are they doing? ”

Breeze scratched his head and decided this was one question too many. He slid down the tree and went to ask Tulip for advice.

“Maybe they are having a picnic.” Tulip said.

“What is a picknicky?” Breeze asked.

“Not picknicky a picnic. It is when you have tea and sandwishes outside.” Tulip told him.

“Maybe we should have one.” Breeze suggested.

“We do that every day. Show me where they are.”

Breeze brought Tulip to the field. He spent a long time looking under briars, giant strawberry leaves but he didn’t find them.

Tulip smiled and said, “You were dreaming there was no strange women.”

“If I could draw I would draw them for you.”

Tulip flicked her wand and handed him a giant piece of paper and a pencil.

She decided to have a nap.

When Breeze woke her he showed her his drawings.

 

 

 

“They look real. But why can I see two of them on one sheet of paper?” Tulip asked.

Breeze’s face went very red.

“I made a mess of the first sheet and drew one on each side.”

“They are very strange women. I think they are ghosts.” Tulip said. She turned around to see Breeze running to his cave.

She shouted to him. “Where are you going?”

“Home. I have enough trouble with witches. I don’t need two ghosts to mess up my nap time as well.”

Tulip watched him run and thought, for an ogre he is very fast on his feet. Then she decided she might as well go home as well.  “Perhaps I will give them to someone to color in.”

 

 

The Tree – Breeze’s Link to his tree.

 

Tulip sat beside Breeze. Her legs were swinging back and forth as she sat on a wide smooth branch.

“What is it with you and trees?” She scrunched up her nose against the strong sunlight as she stared up at him.

“I like trees. That is it.” he said with a dreamy smile.

“But…why?” She asked him.

He considered his answer for a while. “I suppose all of my family liked trees. My grandfather grew his own apple trees, the orchard is over there.” Breeze waved his right arm in the direction of Treacle Wood, many miles away.

“My dad loved to weave baskets from willow and he adored willow trees because he could sit in the shade and work all day long.”

Tulip said, “so trees have been a thing in your family for years.”

“Yes.” Breeze said. “Have you any more questions before I take a nap.”

“Just one. Why this tree?” She looked about them, there were many other giant trees in the wood but Breeze always went to this one.

“Because I grew it.”

His answer surprised her. “You grew it?” She looked at him closely.  She could not imagine him planting anything. She tried to picture it.

“You can’t be that old.”

“For an ogre I am not. But I am still many years older than this tree.” He smiled then said,  “I remember the day I planted it. I was mad at Mrs. Groundsel. She called me a lazy young ogre who couldn’t be bothered to do anything.” Breeze yawned. “So I decided to show her I could do something. I planted the seed. I  came back every day to water and talk to it. Trees like company. It became like a …” He tapped his head with his fingers searching for a word.

“Hobby?” Tulip suggested.

“Pet.” Breeze said. “I grew fond of it and that was that.”

“That was that.” Tulip repeated. “Did you plant many more?”

Breeze nodded his head. “Loads, there was only five trees here when I started, now look.”

Tulip looked at the many hundreds of trees.

“You really are a s ..” she began.

“Strange ogre?” Breeze said.

“Surprising ogre. I think you deserve a blueberry muffin after all that work. I will bring it by later.” She flew away and left Breeze to have a nap.

 

 

We won an Award!!!

We are all really happy, a big thank you to davidmbeecroft. He has awarded us the Liebster Award.

 

Before I explain the rules of the Award and answer David’s tricky questions I would like to say this about him: he has a way with words that stops you in your tracks and makes you think about why you do stuff. This, for me is a much needed few minutes of reading. I love his thoughts for today. Check out his blog on the link above and judge for yourself.

 

THE LIEBSTER AWARD

Which in our minds is a giant twelve foot shiny button that cannot stay still as it flashes like a rainbow coloured traffic lights.

 

 

 

The Questions were answered by Breeze with notes /remarks by Tulip in brackets.

Q1: Do you like tea?

Yes if it is flavored with vanilla muffins.

(What he means is he drinks muffin soup )

Q2: What are you having for dinner tonight?

Pumpkin Stew with wild rice and mushrooms and I can’t wait for it.

(Cooked by Mrs Groundsel because all Breeze can cook is eggs, boiled, fried, scrambled or poached)

Q3: If you could have any super-power, what would it be?

To be able to shrink as small as a fairy.

(He wants to be able to fit into my kitchen and eat all the muffins and cakes!)

Q4: Do you have a super power/ ability?

My current super power is climbing Trees. I am the only Ogre who can do this.

(He learnt to do this to avoid going to school or working)

Q5: Why?

I climb trees because I love watching clouds and the world below me. It is also a pretty powerful place to sleep.

(He is hidden from view and can sleep his days away instead of working)

Q6: How strong are you?

I can lift a 200 year old tree full of birds.

(It comes in handy if a tree falls to the ground)

Q7: What colour eyes do you have?

Dark brown.

Q8: How are you today?

 I am a little tired because I helped Hamish paint his house a beautiful shade of purple.

 (This means they painted the house, themselves and their pets, and the surrounding trees purple. Some of the birds were pretty angry to find their nests were now a yucky shade of purple.)

Q9: Snog, marry, ignore? I prefer to ignore.

Q10: What pet would you like to own?

 I am happy with my pet frog. Spike has a remarkable love for dancing.He does not sing much but he loves to dance especially hip hop dancing.

(Luckily frogs hate cup cakes.)

Q11: What is the happiest you have ever been?

 When I was a toddler I fell into a batch of marshmallow Icing. It was better than any present. (This is true I was told he ate his way out of the bowl)

And the last part of the award is to pass this award on to other bloggers so here we go:

1 Gluestickmum

2  The entrepreneurialwife

2  Momgoeson

4 Confessions of a crummy mummy

5  ecschmit87

6  swimintheadultpool.com

Now for the tricky part your list of questions are as follows:

1 If you were stuck on an island what is the one thing you would bring with you?

2  Which do you prefer exercising or reading or blogging?]

3  Why did you start blogging?

4 World War three has broken out what do you do?

5 What is your favorite film?

6 Do you still hang out or keep in contact with your school friends?

7 List your top five favorite foods

8 Are you a city person or a country person?

9  What makes you happy?

10 what makes you sad?

11 What would you like to be when you grow up?

Elegant to the rescue.

The yearly event  for witches is the “Broomstick Dive and Duck Ball”. It is a night of feasting, music, competitions and games.

Lovisma loves the competition called, “Whackiest disguise for a broomstick.” Last year she disguised her broom stick as a sausage roll. A giant warlock tried to eat it and broke a tooth. Lovisma didn’t hang around to collect her prize.

Elegant loves the “Design a witches hat” competition. Last year her hat looked like a giant board game complete with rolling dice and moving figures.

This year the two witches began their preparations early. On the night of the ball, they took great care with their appearance. Elegant ‘s gown  was midnight blue sprinkled with tiny glittering stars, her shoes and hat matched.

Lovisma spent ages planning her outfit. When she appeared beside Elegant, she looked like a giant swirling lollypop.  They called their broomsticks and got ready to leave for Warlock Twittchets house. 

Suddenly a loud scream was heard followed by a dog howling in pain. “What is that?” Elegant asked.

“I don’t know. Lets go.” Lovisma sped off into thenight sky.

Elegant looked towards the wood. The howling was dreadful. “Oh, dear.” She mumbled and flew after Lovisma. When she caught up with her sister she said, “I need to help it.”

“But you will miss the fun. Remember last years popping cheesecake. It was fantastic.” Lovisma said.

“I will catch up later.” Elegant said and went into the wood.

She found Tulip and Hamish trying to get close to a huge dog.  He was standing on three legs, the third one was bent and blood poured from it.

“My magic isn’t strong enough. He is in great pain.” Tulip whispered to Elegant.

“We will work together and fix this.” Elegant said.

Even with magic it took them a long time.  When his paw was mended and bandaged. Hamish  said, “We have to get him home.”

Tulip agreed, “yes he can’t stay here he will frighten everyone but where is his home?”

Elegant thought about the problem and declared, “there is only one way to do this.  We need a potion from the bubbling cauldron. Hamish, we will be back in a jiffy.”

The bubbling cauldron was asleep. It didn’t like being wakened and asked to work. Eventually Elegant persuaded it to allow her to make one potion.

When they returned they added the potion to water. When the husky drank it he told them his story.

Elegant was happy to return the animal to his home but she felt a little sad she had missed the fun at the ball. The next day when everyone in Mudpile Wood  heard of Elegants kind act, they decided to hold a party in her honor to thank her.

 

Breeze shows us a picture of the nicest witch in the world.

Many people believe witches are nasty and love to be nasty.  Well….here in Mudpile Wood we have one of the nicest witches on any planet.

Why do I think this?

Because… nope I think I will simply show you a picture of Elegant and let you see for yourself. I will leave a story about Elegant Witch for another day.

Lovisma plays a birthday trick on Breeze

Birthday’s were special to Breeze but he kept his birthdays a secret. He always treated himself on his birthday. Last year it had been an extra 6 fairy cakes.

A few days before his birthday he woke to find Tulip staring at him.

“You were talking in your sleep.” She said.

“Well I hope I was polite.” Breeze watched a very large bumble bee fly overhead. It reminded him of Lovisma. He decided it was his imagination.

“You were muttering something about a birthday. Whose birthday is it?”

Breeze scratched his head. “I have no idea.”

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

On the morning of his birthday Breeze woke to discover Spike his pet frog was missing. Most mornings he woke to the sound of Spike darting around collecting his breakfast of flies and insects. This morning there was no happy “ribbit” sounds. He walked to the entrance of the cave and stubbed his toe off a chunky sized box. On top of the box was a bow and a card.

He read the card:  “Happy birthday, Mr. Breeze.”

Breeze looked at the box. He nudged it with his toe. It jumped three inches into the air and landed on the same spot. He bent down and carefully lifted the lid. There was a loud angry “Ribbit…ribbit” and a frog jumped out. The frog looked sad and odd.

It jumped onto Breezes knee and jumped once more landing on his hand. Breeze raised the frog close to his face.

The frog said “ribbbiiiiitt..”  He looked ill to Breeze.

“Oh Spike, what happened? Are you ill? Why are you yellow with smarties on your skin?” Breeze suspected it was a trick played by one of the goblins.

To cheer Spike up, Breeze took him to the Hiccuping pond close to Mudpile Wood. Within minutes of arriving Spike was happily catching flies.  Breeze however wasn’t happy because he made another discovery. Each time Spike hopped his skin color changed. One moment he was a smarty covered frog and the next he looked like a pair of pajama’s all stripes. The flashing colorful frog was attracting a lot of attention. Spike hid in Breeze’s pocket.

Breeze concentrated on solving the problem of poor Spikes skin of many moving colors. Tulip was not impressed either. “Why would someone do such a thing?” She demanded with red poofs of angry smoke shooting from her wand.

Breeze moved away from the wand and showed her the card. “It’s your birthday!” She shook her head. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I celebrate it quietly in the way I want to.”

Tulip put her hands on her hips. “That sounds like a load of rubbish to me, but it is your day. However I will bake you a special cake. ” She looked at Spike. ” First we will ask Elegant to fix this.”

“But don’t tell her about my birthday.” Breeze hissed.

“You are very peculiar for an Ogre. Most stand on the mountain tops and shout it out. But don’t worry I won’t.”

They found Elegant hanging out her washing.

“I thought Witches just zap things and they get done.” Breeze said.

“That is the lazy Lovisma way of doing it.” Elegant said. She looked at Breeze. “What has my little sister done now.”

“Why would you think she has done anything?” Tulip asked.

“Because she was so happy today and she was up before the sun, which is most odd for her.”

Breeze whispered, “Please Elegant. It’s poor Spike, please fix him.”

When the kind hearted witch saw Spike she took him in her hands and whispered to him, “Oh Spike you poor fella. Don’t worry, close your eyes I will have you back to normal.”

Spike and Breeze closed their eyes. When they opened them Spike was back to green. He was so happy he did a happy frog dance tumbling and hopping around Breeze.

Breeze looked at Elegant. “What about Lovisma? Who will punish her?”

Elegant tapped the side of her nose and said, “already done, you won’t see her for a day or two.”

Suddenly they heard a terrible screech. Breeze hid behind a bed sheet on the clothes line.

Lovisma appeared before them.”Who did this to me? I look like Goldilocks. Help me Elegant…” Her hair was golden, her skin like milk and her lips a soft cherry red. She was dressed in a pale pink dress. Her hat and shoes matched perfectly.

When she spotted Tulip, Lovisma screamed and vanished.

Tulip said, “Come to tea Elegant, about five o clock, I am baking a special cake for Breeze.”

“Will it have cherries?” Elegant asked.

“It will.”

Though Breeze felt sad for Spike he was delighted to hear about his special cake and decided that next year he might remind Tulip about his birthday and leave creating the surprise up to her.

 

 

Breeze: Introducing the tiniest witch, Lovisma

We have many different beings in Mudpile wood but the one who creates the most trouble is a witch called Lovisma.

 

She is like no other witch I have ever met. It doesn’t matter what she is doing she creates mischief wherever she goes. Lovisma hates to walk and is often seen flying about on her dashing purple and pink broomstick.

I often think she has fallen into the wrong wood.

Take a look at this picture Doris drew of her and you will see what I mean.

 

Doesn’t she look like trouble?

I will be back to tell you more about her.

The Party. Part 2.

The Ogres and Fairies had the center of the wood ready for the party.

They stood back to inspect their work.

“Its amzing.” Breeze said. Nudging a balloon with his head.

“Yes.” Tulip agreed.

Everyone was coming to the party, so the table zig zagged its way around the large trees near the center of the wood.

The table had tiny wooden bowls set at certain points in the center. These were decorated with, woodland flowers, silver stars and red fairy lights.

For each Ogre there was  a giant wooden cup, a knife  a fork and a spoon. The chair was decorated in moss and spiderwebs that twinkled when they caught the  sunlight.

Each Fairy place setting had a tiny glass knife and fork, a drinking cup shaped like a star with a squiggly straw peeping from one point. The fairies chairs were decorated in see through silk, with long red ribbons fluttering across the floor.

Place names were made from wood bark, names carved with fairy dust.

Guests arrived, they sat down chattering to each other. The Ogre menu read: Surprise stew, home brewed snow cone drink. or to a fairy dinner. The Fairy menu twinkled and glowed,  pleasant pie, a glass of cold milk, and an array of cream pies and cakes to follow.

There would be music and dancing later.

“Why did you hang lanterns from the trees? I banged my head off every single one.” Hamish the Goblin muttered lifting his hat to show a whole group of bumps and lumps.

“The fairies did it.” Breeze said. The other Ogres nodded in agreement.

“Well they are stupendous bumps, ” Elegant witch said as she arrived with her younger sister Lovisma.  A giant cauldron appeared to be flying behind Lovisma. There was a lot of hissing and bubbling coming from the cauldron and the wooden spoon which was spinning about was sending drops of liquid spattering the guests.

“We brought, devils delight, for those who don’t really care for milk or water.” Lovisma clapped her hands  in anticipation of the party.

There was silence while the guests and hosts wondered who might be brave enough to speak.

“Ahh what is in devils delight, it smells delicious.” Ellen an elderly tree nymph asked.

“There is a little bit of this and a lot of that but..”

“Nothing that was alive or walked through the forest.” Lovisma said.

“Did it fly?” Breeze wondered.

“No, it’s herbs spices and water, you fool.” Lovisma was starting to spin. When ever she got mad the tiny witch would spin so fast she created a hole in the ground.

The sound of a deep gong filled the wood. “Food’s up,” The Ogres declared. With a flick of their wands the fairies had the food appear infront of the diners.

“This is yummy, did you make it yourself?” Mrs. Groundsel asked Beaver an elderly Ogre.

“I did. Just a little something I rustled up.” The Ogres found his answer funny. They giggled. Their laughter turned to a bellowing noise. The Fairies sitting opposite Ogres became airborn many landed in trees or on the ground.

“Please don’t do that again.” Tulip snapped brusing cobwebs off her wings.

But they found they couldn’t stop laughing. The madder the fairies became the happier the Ogres were. Their laughter rang out throughout the wood, sending fairies flying through the air.

After the third time, the fairies got into a huddle. They whispered amongst themselves. When they broke apart they were smiling.

The Ogres’ looked at one another. “Is this good?” Breeze wondered.

Once seated the fairies began to eat.

The Ogres relaxed. Breeze was sitting opposite the tooth fairy. “Knock , knock, ” he said.

“Who’s there?” She asked

“Tooth!”

“Tooth who?”

“Tooth or dare!”

He began to chuckle. His laughter sent Ellen hurtling onto a passing squirrel. Ellen looked mad, she walked back to the table and asked, “Ready fairies ?”

The others pointed their wands at the cream pies and with a flick of their wands they each sent a pie into an Ogre’s face.

“Food fight,” Hamish roared.

“Hang on, Hamish, give us a mo, we can’t waste a pie.” Breeze said.

They waited until every Ogre removed the pie from their face and carefully ate it. The fairies were not happy when the food was flying through the air. They picked up their drinks and flew high into the tree to watch.

Everyone declared it to be the best party in the forest. They went home tired and happy though there was no music or dancing.

This was noticed by a few of the Ogres who agreed it would be a fitting excuse to host another event.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can you keep a secret?

There was a lot of noise in the wood yesterday morning while I was snoozing in the tree tops.

There was two dogs searching for someone,

They were looking for me and there I was staring down at them.