A Bucket Of Apples

Our bells the only sound
we passed the farmyard
and stopped at the house.
One dog on guard
and one with three legs,
the combination
of the cattle grid and dogs
at their destination
made the young cyclists' day.
The long black cat indoors
was the icing on the cake.
We stayed while it poured.

The man in socks held court
on spiders, weather, cattle.

We received so much more
than a bucket of apples.

(In August 2018, as around the same time in 2017, we opened our front door to find a bucket of apples. Last year we didn't know who had left them at our door. This year we cycled to our neighbours' to say thanks. I felt my children were a little disappointed at not having the mystery of the year before; the wondering about who had left the apples fascinated them! But, certainly the visit to our neighbours' house more than made up for any disappointment there might have been).

Meteor Shower

A wish sent high,
a wish sent far.
A cloudy night,
a single star.

And then the scare;
no hope of prosper:
The wish set square
on a helicopter.

(In August 2018, there were a couple of days when meteor showers could be seen in the sky. We were unfortunate in that we told the children there were going to be meteor showers only to have them staring at cloudy skies. Convinced they had wished on what they thought to be a shooting star they were devastated when their dad told them that it looked more like a helicopter than a star).