A nice morning in Sue's home. All good stories, John started off by taking us into the jungle and the Island leading to a romance. Joan E told of a childish crush that never came to anything. I wrote of a vicar who found God from his love of motorcycles. Sheila was too busy to write anything. Brian told of a naive recruit from the labouring class who volunteered. Pat told of their travel to the new land good old USA and the cold Pacific ocean. And she never got the photo she wanted of Dean Martin. Sue's story about breaking away from Mothers clutches to get the dog she wanted. Joan R was fascinated with wolves South American and North American. Rosemarie's story was about dogs as well. We finished reading and choosing the favourite a bit early, the rest of the time was a lively discussion about death mainly. Sue was tired of getting funeral plans while I complained I never got any. This went on about the various ways of going and relating incidents from white vans picking up the body to delayed invoices. Ann won the vote and when I get my scanner fixed I'll put it on. Next month Easter Monday "Show her"
Infatuation
It seemed that winter had at last come to an end and spring was beginning to unfold the new season’s fashion. The trees were starting to unfurl their young fresh leaves and the daffodils and primroses were making a splash of sunshine in the gardens and along the hedgerows. The Dando family had moved from the inner city into their new home on the edge of the town at the end of the autumn and were still discovering the joys of being so near to the country. The house was on a well-established estate overlooking the fields of the nearby farm. There was a large garden with plots for vegetables, several fruit trees and a large lawn area surrounded by shrubs and flowers beds. The three children, Robert, Robin and Rachel, collectively know within the family as “The Three R’s”, revelled in seeing what each season brought forth. The family dog was in heaven with all the new smells and things to investigate and spent most of the time outside when the weather permitted. As the weather got warmer and the evenings lot lighter, the whole family started spending time working in the garden. One evening Scamp, the dog, started barking. It wasn’t the usual warning bark or the “pleased to see you” bark, but a “come and see what I’ve found” type of bark. They all went to see what their pet had discovered. Scamp was stood staring at a prickly ball on the lawn. He gently nudged it with his paw, but quickly drew back when he felt the sharp spines. The children were quite excited as they had never seen a hedgehog close up before. They stood watching and eventually it started to unfurl and sniff the air before moving quickly into the flowerbed. It was suggested they put a small bowl of dog food out later and see if it was gone in the morning. They did and it was, so it became a regular ritual. Scamp would wait in the evenings for the visitor to appear and soon they became very tolerant of each other. One could almost say they became good friends, as each night he followed the hedgehog around just watching to see what it was doing. He always knew that the food left in the garden was for the hedgehog, not for him. There was added excitement one evening during the summer when a family of four tiny hedgehogs appeared with the parents. The “Three R’s” felt very special to have this family living in their garden and were very protective of them. By now the parents were quite tame and would stay still for the children to hand feed them. They even were able to very gently rub them on their noses, the only part they could find that didn’t cause them pain! They would love to have cuddled them, but hedgehogs aren’t built for that type affection. Some nights there would be a lot of grunting and squealing coming from under the shrubs and it was assumed the hedgehogs were doing what presumably hedgehogs do very carefully! As the summer came to an end and the autumn approached, the evenings became cooler and the nights started to draw in, the little family continued to come each evening and would dart across the grass catching the daddy-long-legs as they emerged from the lawn. It was quite incredible how fast these little creatures could move. They seemed to really be having great fun chasing around. The family had discovered they lived in an old pile of grass cuttings, so it was decided to leave this well alone to ensure they had somewhere warm to spend the winter. In due course the colder weather came and the visits became less frequent. One day the family were having a tidy up in the garden when the children found an old wooden scrubbing brush in the shrubs. Their father said he thought he had lost it, but must have thrown it away with the dirty water after he had scrubbed the flowerpots and tubs. Was this the cause of the noisy amorous hedgehog? Did it have an infatuation for an old wooden scrubbing brush or was he just having a wash and brush up before having a big night out?
