Rapid rhyme #33/ Melissa the mouse

I talk to them, they talk to me

in easy stages one two three

First greet them with a bright “Good Day”

and ask them if they’ve time to stay

Then if they have, ask how they are

and have they had to travel far

Are they alone or with their spouse

Do they live in a hole or house

It’s truly magic, meeting friends

the joys of walking show no ends

 

Some of you may know that I go for a walk most days.  I talk to the trees and anything else I encounter along the way.  In these days of Covid I have changed my route and now I mostly go through fields, woodland, along the river and canal.  I stay away from roads and people as much as possible!

Today I had a real bonus meeting and conversation.  Apart from the cattle, horses, swans, spiders, grasshoppers, and birds, that is.

I quite often come across a dead mouse, or vole, and that’s what I saw this morning, and then……she moved.  It was a teeny tiny mouse, and her name was Melissa.  I know that for a fact because she told me.  You may think me a little potty, nuts, crazy, or whatever.  I don’t care.

I asked Melissa if I could take a few photographs to remember her by, and she agreed.  In fact she was quite happy and so that her friends on Mousebook could see what a big girl she is she asked if I could put a Pound coin alongside her to compare with. A pound coin is 23.43mm diameter.  That is 0.922 inches in old money!

Melissa was exploring her neighbourhood for the first time but couldn’t remember how old she was.   Baby mice grow up very quickly.  After just six days, they have fur and can move and squeak.  After 18 days, they are ready to leave the nest.  Female mice can start having babies when they are just six weeks old.  They can produce 10 litters every year, with up to 12 babies in each litter.

She soon went back to the nest which was accessed by a small hole in the ground.  Another of her siblings popped his head out to say a quick hello but disappeared and didn’t want his photograph taken.

Seriously though, folks, isn’t she gorgeous.  So much so that I am not sharing her space with any other friends I met today.

Rapid rhyme #32

leaves are flying

I am trying

every day to rake them up

heap gets bigger

need a digger

make some tea and drink a cup

now I’m grinning

think I’m winning

bloomin’ heck there’s millions more

leaves decaying

I start praying

leaves will blow into next door!

Apology to a spider – second leg – Rapid rhyme #29

I’m sorry Mrs Spider that I destroyed your home

I merely wished to walk your way whilst on my morning roam

I hope you soon restore the mess that I so rudely made

Please send the bill to me at once, it will be swiftly paid!

 

I went the same way once again to see if she was there

I found a cup and saucer smashed and half a broken chair

Her neighbour said she’d moved away, we talked of this and that

I understand that she has moved into a brand new flat

Police image of the perpetrator at the scene of the crime

First leg is here.

Apology to a spider – Rapid rhyme #28

I’m sorry Mrs Spider that I destroyed your home

I merely wished to walk your way whilst on my morning roam

I hope you soon restore the mess that I so rudely made

Please send the bill to me at once, it will be swiftly paid!

Lundi limerick #99

Glossop is windy and wild

but lately the weather’s been mild

they blamed global warming

for storms not conforming

Nat Nutter* just sat back and smiled

 

Glossop is a market town in the High Peak, Derbyshire, England, 15 miles (24 km) east of Manchester, 24 miles (39 km) northwest of Sheffield and 32 miles (51 km) north of the county town, Matlock, near Derbyshire’s borders with Cheshire, Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire. It is between 150 and 300 metres (492 and 984 ft) above mean sea level, and lies just outside the Peak District National Park. It probably dates from the 7th century.

Architecturally, the area is dominated by buildings constructed of the local sandstone. There remain two significant former cotton mills and the Dinting railway viaduct. Glossop has transport links to Manchester, making the area popular for commuters.

*‘The Gnat Hole Wood, Glossop,  is very pleasant in the Summer time when there are no gnats about. The small stream of water that runs through the wood at one place forms a small pool; this was known as Old Nat Nutter’s Porridge Kettle. She had the reputation of being a witch and fortune teller and used this pool for unholy practices and incantations. She was a bogey to children.’ [Glossop Advertiser, 1913]*

 

 

 

Rapid Rhyme #21

On hearing the wonderful Blackbird song at twilight tonight:

 

It really is delightful

It really is sublime

I cannot do it justice

in just a simple rhyme

Lundi limerick #76

OK, I have to admit defeat. There is, apparently, no village, town, or city in the UK that starts with an X!

There are plenty that start with EX, such as:

Exe – Somerset
Exe – Devon
Exeter – Devon
Exley – Calderdale
Exminster – Devon
Exmoor – Somerset
Exmouth – Devon
Exnaboe – Shetland Islands
Exning – Suffolk
Exted – Kent
Exton – Hampshire

Although the great google in the sky says that Exe exists in both Devon and Somerset I can only find the River Exe, which I was aware of.

It rises at Exe Head, near the village of Simonsbath, on Exmoor in Somerset, 5.2 miles from the Bristol Channel coast, but flows more or less directly due south, so that most of its length lies in Devon. It is 35 miles long.

The longest river in the UK is the River Severn which is 220 miles long and has the greatest flow in England and Wales. It has been the source of a great deal of flooding recently.

Not that any of this gives me a limerick, so here goes.

 

Sexy-Sadie from Exe in Devon

thought she’d died and ended in heaven

but sad to recall

she had suffered a fall

and was drowning quite fast in the Severn

 

On reflection #2

Now you see me

Now you don’t

On reflection #1

Rapid rhyme #15 – The end?

Oh the smell, and the whiff, and the pong
as the world goes terribly wrong
it’s all just erupted
with earth much corrupted
hold your nose and join in with a song!