Storms

Day 15: Today has been one of those days. By one of those days, I mean we got very little sleep last night. We were entertained by one of those humungous electric storms that Singapore is so fortunate to receive rather more frequently than on average.

Flashes of lightening, thunder that rumbled like someone's stomach was churning with excruciating hunger, crackles and bangs as the lightening made earth and then the rain. It is like being in an ultra noisy shower. Your senses are just bombarded, overloaded and then of course, you cannot sleep anymore.

I reckon this is what turns people into zombies, not being bitten by some strange alien, but rather being subjected to a cacophony of inclement weather sounds.

And so, today, it is my turn to write a rhyme, and for Max to edit / approve it before we publish.

The Big Storm

Last night there was a thunder storm,

It kept me scared right up till dawn.

The thunder clapped,

The lightening snapped.

So now all day I know I'll yawn.

I also had another thought:

A mighty storm raged last night,

It gave me such a terrible fright,

The thunder thumped,

And I just jumped,

It sounded like a meteorite.

Max's comments were approval, and he has promised that after taking a break today because he did not get much sleep either, that he will be back rhyming with Mum with extra enthusiasm tomorrow.

I am sure there are more rhymes in my head and more to come from Max, we have another 16 days to get creative. 

Mummies

Day 9: Ha! I got my way. We are writing a rhyme about Egyptian mummies. Or rather I ended up writing most of this, as today was one of those days filled with no spare moments. 

I wanted to write about his brain making his nose runny - well the embalmers would pull the brain out though the nose. They didn't think it was very important - could you imagine having your brain extracted in chunks through your nostrils? Mind you, sometimes when people sneeze, what comes out of their noses could easily be mistaken for brain tissue.

I could not work a runny nose into the rhyme, without making it more than a limerick. We will have to settle for writing a poem about mummies and runny noses some other time.

We did however, manage to include the bits about the inside bits of the mummy being removed. They were kept in giant pickling jars. Could you ever imagine going to the food cupboard and accidently taking out a jar of pickled stomach thinking it was something else? No, I doubt you could, and nor could we. But it was fun thinking about it.

Mummies

We couldn't find a good photo of a mummy,
so here is a black cat with an ear ring instead

I once knew an Egyptian mummy,

Whose demeanour was really quite funny.

All wrapped in a sheet,

From his head to his feet,

He'd no brain, no heart and no tummy.

I still prefer my Mum to one of those strange bandaged up things in painted boxes.

Water

Day 8: we went to look at mummies, but I didn't like any of them. They didn't have a heart and their eyes, well all I can say is that they gave me one of those stone stares.

We had tons of fun doing some of the activities that came in the "activity bags". It was soon obvious that they some of the tasks were really far too young for an eleven year old. But Max still beat me at the memory game.

I was naughty, I got caught taking a photo of a cat with an earring - but that lady was taking photos, was my quick response. (I looked around, but I couldn't find any Don't Take Photos or we will smash your camera, signs).

Now on to rhymes. We are starting week 2, so I am hoping to see some improvements or creativity blossoming.....

I wanted Max to write about Mummies or Egypt, but he has made his mind up that today's word is water. So, water it is. 

Water

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1289650

A huge roomful of water,

Can explode just like a mortar,

It's refreshing to sip,

It's so great for a dip.

And we are 95 percent water. 

There really are not very many "good" words that rhyme with water as we discovered. While daughter was a strong suggestion, it just didn't fit. So, water it was again.

Ice Cream

7th October 2013

Day 7 already! we have made a week of silly rhymes. I am quite impressed at our staying power. 

Max got to choose the word again today, although I reckon that I maneuvered it into his conscious! 

After a morning waiting for the carpenter and some magnet fixers - not the store, but men to replace the rusted magnet catches on the doors in my outside kitchen, (yes, I have to admit, I have an inside and outside one, the outside one is for cooking anything that is rather smelly or sticky), I dragged both boys out for ice cream at Holland Village. Not a village in the Netherlands, but an area in Singapore. In fact it was named after Holland Road, off which it conveniently sits; Holland Road in turn took its name from Mr Hugh Holland, an early Dutch architect. 

There is fairly good site with a little more about the origins of the history of Holland Village.

I digress. In the interests of global warming, or doing our bit to stall it a tad, we walked and took the bus - I was naughty as I did not put my seat belt on as Max pointed out.

And so we arrived at one of those High Definition ice cream shops where you can buy waffles, lava cake and overly aerated milkshakes. It was an obvious choice, our word, or words for today had to be ice cream.

Ice Cream:

Little bowl, big treat: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/664567

Delicious cold ice cream,

Turns into a chocolate stream.

In a cone,

Or in a cup,

It's every school kid's dream.

It was extremely tasty ice cream.

A Drink of Milk

3rd October 2013

The subject challenge for today, we decided, would be "milk". <br/>

Max has been pondering how we came to start drinking milk. Who discovered that we could drink milk from cows, and then bottle it?

So, milk it was, or it is:

A Drink of Milk

The man who first drank some milk,
Found it tasted as smooth as silk.
He put it in coffee,
He put it in tea,
And now I eat my cereal with milk.


This does not clear up the conundrum of who decided milk from cows would be good to drink, nor does it uncover who was the first person to take a sip.

Well, that will have to be for another day, another challenge, another post.