Sticky Toffee Surprise: A story retold

Lovisma was planning a big surprise for Halloween night.

Last year Breeze spoiled her surprise, this year she was being careful.

“He won’t ruin my Halloween night.” She muttered. She sat on a fat mushroom watching her spoon do laps of the pot as it stirred the thick bubbling mixture.  “Hmm vanilla toffee apples who can resist them?” She giggled.

On hearing a twig snap she looked up, then relaxed as one of the Muppet Bunnies dashed past her. He was carrying a carrot and intent on getting back home.

“Nothing will spoil this surprise. I am safe here as that stupid Ogre is helping Elegant and the Fairies make bobbing marshmallows.” She said.

Breeze was standing a short distance away disguised as a giant pumpkin.  He got the idea from Bob (click here to see him as a pumpkin.)  Breeze wished to prevent another Halloween disaster created by the tiny witch.  Everyone knew Lovisma hates pumpkins.

Sometime later the wood was filled with the silence, as everyone was preparing by dressing as either their favourite witch or ghost, Lovisma placed buckets of her special toffee apples around the party tables. The apples sparkled and glowed. “What child or ogre could resist these twinkling smiling apples?” she muttered.

Meanwhile, Breeze was holding a meeting with the adults. “I am not sure what will happen when you take a bite so I took one from her basket.” He stared at the Fairies and Elves who were busy shaking their heads as they muttered things like, “well you would have to be mad to take a bite”.

He held an apple in his hand and stared at it.

Tulip said, “Well we won’t know until you take a bite from it.”

Breeze didn’t want anyone to think he was afraid. He closed his eyes and took a bite. Hmm, it tastes lovely. Then as he watched the toffee ran off the apple like a river and lay around his feet. He made an important discovery. I am stuck. He groaned.

Elegant said, “I bet she plans on taking all of the children’s treats while they are stuck to the ground. I am sure it will wear off soon Breeze.”

“How soon? I don’t want to miss the best party ever.”

He sounded so sad that the fairies and elves started working on a spell to free his feet. Once he was free. Breeze said, “I think you should create a special spell for Lovisma.”

The party was great. The children loved the bobbing marshmallows that looked like giant spiders. They laughed when Matt tried to eat a real spider thinking it would taste of marshmallow. The spider was not happy as he scuttled away into the dark night.

The children turned their attention on the toffee apples. Lovisma held her breath and waited.

Matt grabbed an apple. He took a bite. She flew upwards impatient to see his distress when his feet became stuck. However, once he broke the skin, the apple fizzled and sparkled sending bolts of dancing lights into the night sky.

Lisbeth, Lillian and Daisy-Lyah’s apples played a musical tune the minute they held them.  Children were grabbing apples and dancing and laughing with delight as each apple revealed a treat.

Lovisma was angry. Her face was bright red. Something was not right.

“Give me one!” She grabbed an apple and instantly the ground beneath her feet began to shake. Everyone ran for cover as two tall scarecrows appeared carrying pumpkins. They placed the pumpkins on the ground and rolled them at Lovisma.

She was knocked off her feet to land on a huge pumkin. It seemed to swallow her then with a soft, pop, her feet and arms and head appeared.

Lovisma screamed.”I’m Trapped. Help. I’m not a pumpkin.I don’t even like pumpkins.”

Hisilicon K3

She waddled off into the wood crying, “I bet you did this Breeze.  I will get out and then you had better watch out.”

Lisbeth was sitting beside Breeze shivering. “I hope she doesn’t get out. She is nasty.  But why do you look happy? You should be worried Mr. Breeze.”

He smiled and said, “I am not, because Elegant added her forgetful potion to the spell so Lovisma will escape from the pumpkin but she will have forgotten everything and we will have a great party.”

Daisy-lyah and Lillian were kind Fairies and they filled a basket full of treats for the naughty witch.

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A note from Breeze.

Hi,

I understand some people are asking why is there a fishing line dangling down the side of a blog site about a wood?

The answer is simple. The worm – Hector and I have found a great use for this.

It happened by chance when I was taking a nap in my favourite tree after a morning spent fishing (I caught nothing!)

The rod slipped and the hook slid down to the ground where Mrs. Groundsel was laying out a picnic for her grand children. My hook caught on a berry pie. I woke found the rod lying across my feet and pulled the line up to discover – a nice warm berry pie.

So there you have it, – Hector hops on the hook, I lower him over those people below having a picnic and he finds a tasty snack for this ogre. In return I allow Hector’s family to live in the mossy mound outside my cave undisturbed, guaranteed never to be dug.

Breeze lists his top five foods.

My five favorite foods.

1. This is easy everyone knows I love cakes and biscuits.

  

2.  I love green salads, I put a whole lettuce into a bowl and add in green pepper, parsley, chives, and eat it all in one go.

3.  Nuts. I am lucky living in a forest. Hazelnuts are my favorite.

4. Mrs. Groundsels home made soups.

5. Carrots. They help me see better at night.

 

My top five most hated foods.

1. Chocolate.  Yuck hate the stuff but oddly I love smelling it.

2. Cream – some people put it in their cakes. I think it ruins the flavor.

3. Sea-weed. My cousin Bertie brought some back from his holiday by the sea. He thought it was delicious. I  buried it in my garden.

4. Pumpkins.  I hate them so much I don’t use them at Halloween.

5. Mushrooms.  They taste slimy to me. Though Spike my pet frog likes to sit on them and sing.

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?

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.

 

 

The Battle of the Party. Part 1

The Party

Breeze was excited. He  was jumping up and down like a rabbit.  On the fourth jump he was frightened by a loud voice shouting. “Stop!  Breeze stop jumping now.”

He paused mid jump by clinging to the trunk of the tree closest to him.

He scowled. It was his best friend, Tulip, who happened to be a fiesty fairy.

Tulip pointed her finger at him .

Breeze spoke first, “You are scary for a fairy.” He giggled at the rhyme.

“Huh, we sent our invitations a month ago for our Fairy Tea Party, what did I get today?”

Breeze puffed out his chest. “An invitation to the Ogres Afternoon Tea Party. It’s on the 12th.”

“I know. It can’t be. We are having our party on the 12th.”

Breeze scratched his chin. “Two parties, well…”

“Exactly we won’t have a full table, neither will you.” Her loud voice drew a crowd of onlookers because Fairies never lost their temper.

“Well then there is only one thing to do..” Breeze said.

“Cancel the Ogres party.”

Breeze shook his head. “No.”

“YOU will!” She roared, making the wind turn and run in fright.

“No need, we will have one giant party.” Before Tulip could say anything. The crowd cheered.

Breeze smiled. “There you go problem solved. I need to go. I must tell the others to make some small ogre cream pies for all the fairies.”

 

Part two tomorrow…

In the meantime have fun colouring in your own fairy cakes:

Breeze’s favorite Fairy Cakes.

This is the recipe I have made and I love them, I cover them with icing (made with icing sugar and a little water)  or with melted chocolate and often add a cherry on top.

 

Ingredients

• 110g/4oz butter or margarine, softened at room temperature
• 110g/4oz caster sugar
• 2 free-range eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 110g/4oz self-raising flour
• 1-2 tbsp milk

 

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and line a fairy cake tin  with 12 paper cases.

1. Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until pale. Beat in the eggs, a little at a time, and stir in the vanilla extract.
2. Fold in the flour using a large metal spoon. Add a little milk to make the mixture a dropping soft  consistency and spoon the mixture into the paper cases until they are half full.
3. Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes, or until golden-brown on top and a skewer inserted into one of the cakes comes out clean. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes, then remove from the tin and cool on a wire rack.

 

An Ogre’s Guide to Holidaying in Mudpile Wood

According to a certain Dog     you need to take precautions before taking a holiday in Mudpile Wood. I disagree.   But to make the most of your trip you should be prepared.

1.         For plenty of mud fun. As the name of the wood suggests we like wallowing in it. You can be certain you won’t get sun burnt but you will leave with amazing skin.

2.         There will be many parties. The late nights are followed by long sleepy mornings broken with a long lazy breakfast on left overs and finally a snoozy afternoon.

3.         Visitors are not allowed to work. Most occupants of the wood don’t like working so why should we ask you to do it?

4.        I do agree with Mr. Bob about:

a)     Warm hats and gloves, (finger-less gloves are best in case you are trapped in a warlock’s tavern, you may have to pick a slippy, disgusting lock to escape.)

b)     Wellington Boots (but not red, as witches despise red boots, they tend to set them on fire.

c)       Chocolate smelling deodorant. Everyone in Mudpile hates eating chocolate but they adore the smell.

d)      A clever friend who can solve puzzles in case Murphy the Leprechaun catches you, he will only release you when you solve his puzzle.Bring loads of books. Ogres have an insatiable appetite. First they  read the book then they eat it.

5.    I love books. They give me ideas, as I eat them. ( I learnt this lesson from a friend of mine called Hungry Henry. I will tell you about him another time.)