Tag Archives: wishes

A Little More Ordinary

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Treasure Chest

As I wrote in my last post, my daughter and I were heading to a nearby village to visit The Treasure Box, a seemingly magical store where you could find just about anything. However, what I didn’t write was that there was a reason we needed to go there this weekend – the store was closing down, and Saturday was their final day.

I know – sad-face, right?

Well, we certainly were sad when we got there and saw the store filled with people going in and out, cards strung across the room from well-wishers. It turns out that, after thirty-three years in business together, the charming couple who run the store are retiring. When I asked if someone would be taking over, they said no – a Simmonds Bakery was moving in.

I managed to sneak a couple of interior shots, just to give you an idea of what it was like

I managed to sneak a couple of interior shots, just to give you an idea of what it was like

You know, I like a baked good as much as the next person, but to hear that a chain store bakery would be taking over such a magical little shop was disappointing, to say the least. However, if I find I can go into this Simmonds and ask for any type of baked good I can think of, and they can then go into ‘the back room’ and get it for me, then I know that they’ll have tapped into the magical portal of wishes, or whatever it was back there that gave each shopper whatever it was they were looking for.

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When I took this shot, I was standing next to several boxes labelled: ‘Plumbing’, ‘Leg warmers’, ‘Beads’, and one that contained slippers.

So my daughter and I rummaged through the boxes one last time, coming away with an eclectic assortment of goods including ribbons, a nail brush, metal skewers, a saucepan vegetable strainer, an umbrella and, our crowning glory, a giant bag of mixed buttons, which has kept the gorgeous girl busy for the better part of today as she sorts them into individual bags. We could have bought more, but budget and shopping bag constraints meant we had to be reasonable. We paid, then wished the couple well in their new life, thanking them for everything.

Then we stepped out the door for the last time, into a world a little more ordinary.

Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge – Day 5 – The Fairy Mountain

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At the end of last summer we visited Ireland, staying at a small village on the coast just outside Sligo. I’ve written of this trip before, the fossils on the beach, the beautiful scenery and found objects. Not far from where we were staying was a Fairy Village and, having a small fairy-obsessed girl with us, we decided to go and visit.

It was a gorgeous place, green woodland interspersed with gardens where great care had been taken to create tiny fairy villages, small houses and figures nestling among the plants.  There were animals as well, including a cranky goose who took a dislike to my husband, chasing him and pecking at his jeans as my daughter and I squealed and giggled, no help to him whatsoever. The owner came out eventually and shooed the bird away as we gasped with laughter, all part of the experience.

Then we took a walk up through the woods to emerge on a ridge looking towards a hill. This was a famous fairy mountain, Knocknashee, and the legend goes that, if you stand facing the mountain and make a wish, then close your eyes and turn in a circle, if, when you open your eyes you’re facing the mountain once more, your wish will be granted. So we took turns, standing and making our silent wishes, closing our eyes and turning around, feeling the peace of the landscape. I was the only one who ended up facing the mountain when I opened my eyes, so I suppose my wish will be granted. But I felt, as I stood there in the soft green, the three of us alone in this magical place, that it already had been. That all I could wish for was with me in the circle, complete.

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I’ve been nominated by Ali Isaac to take part in the Five Photos Five Stories Challenge – I would like to nominate Louise Taylor – I know you’re busy but if you’d like to take it up at some point in the future, I imagine you’d have some lovely photos to share 🙂

The rules of the Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge are:

1) Post a photo each day for five consecutive days.
2) Attach a story to the photo. It can be fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or a short paragraph. It’s entirely up to the individual.
3) Nominate another blogger to carry on the challenge. Your nominee is free to accept or decline the invitation. This is fun, not a command performance!