Sharing all

I was brought up partially at a boarding school which is a very different set up from day school where you may have siblings but you are not with your schoolfriends all the time and you go out to be with them.

Inevitably you shared a dormitory so you got changed and took off all your clothes to get to bed in front of each other so you know who had a mole 'there' and they know my spine was twisted, so much so it gives me gyp. 
 

We also talked while getting dressed, in bed before lights out and in each others dorms apart from the Common Room so we were very much had emotional intimacy because we all know everything about each other which made for very deep relationships.

The appeal of Lego is almost universal and I dare say many of us have items  in our collections but where do you think such  a fascination might end?

Many of us have limited space, it may be say your dorm, a bedroom or perhaps a small flat but could it contain such a mania is something that you might wish to consider as even with the advantage of of being able to have a whole room to make and display your models in.

We just just might need to limit our wants to end up with something we can use.

It's hardly surprising then that Boyhood was and is the biggest single influence on my childhood as much as I'd of rather things were different.

I so would of loved to had annuals like this in my dorm but back then it just wouldn't of worked out as much they were me.

Ready to return

We're working in Firefox this week from the Windows Laptop as Pale Moon is having issues that makes it unreliable on Google's sites and touch and go on Tumblr too so I'm kind of hoping to see a bug fix this week.

 There's little escaping it from the press advertisements, the notices in uniform shops and increasingly offers from both online retailers plus certain supermarkets, the New Term is upon us.

In my world I'll be returning come September in grey as I have had a grey school jumper with a V neck which after all this medical stuff since July has preoccupied my time apart from how it's left me.

It should go well with my grey, green and black pleated skirts although unlike her in the picture I don't own a traditional leather satchel and indeed remember them fading out for briefcases or hold alls.

The worst thing you could ever have for carrying books in was the Duffle Bag which easily distorted and rubbed the corners of text books to the point some schools prohibited them for the damage they could cause.

The trouble was of course they were really intended for sports kit being made from a canvas material and not books so had no corners just a long tube shape with a drawstring that pulled the top closed.

Anyway I have my music ready to take away with sorted so bye for now!

Play and what we play with

 I'm feeling better this week so I thought I'd write something a little different than usual.

 Something I started noticing several years back when I first started buying my own stuffies and especially dolls was a difference between what some bought them for and what I did before getting involved around the world of littles.

One of things I found odd was what I later called the "collectors mentality" where people bought them in the original packaging and kept them permanently in that state, boxed up at best on shelf or otherwise in a storeroom.

To me they seemed to see them as objects that admittedly they liked  but the bais was clearly on maintaining that collectors item look and monetary value to the point they weren't handled and cherished even if they were intended for children who would play with them.

Personally, I buy my dolls and stuffies to play with although my porcelain ones are because of their delicateness are more handled than played with.

I take them out to sit by, hug whenever I feel the 'need' to hug or carry on in my hand around the house or wherever I am staying. I create stories featuring them which I then play with in real time together freely.

That's for me apart from those 'special dolls' they are my toys which as an adult child I play with in much the same way that I did as a child and as some saw me recently even gently rocking a pram with dollies.

It's what I get from playing with them that matters more to me than that whole collectors thing. 

Card Games from the past

While I am recovering here from an infection and generally speaking not really up to doing terribly much, I was thinking back to some of the card games I used to play when I was younger usually with relatives.

That was a more a test of recall with a set of playing rules

Misfits was about sorting out the right parts to complete each character and then their were games like snap!
There have been themed versions, one of my favourites of which is this one:

 The Beano was the go to comic at the time, for some it still is, and so playing a game of misfits that featured the likes of the Bash Street Kids, Minnie The Minx, Dennis The Menace and his dog Gnasher - a hero of mine - was bound to go down well.

One could also play Happy Families as in this Victorian version
They all helped pass the time while having fun.

Summer days away

This last week was the second het together with friends  I attended and was likely to be a landmark one too for a number of reasons that were apparent from the very outset travelling by train and getting a lift.

Given the weekly weather forecast was for temperatures over 25 degrees c and next to no rain, this dictated what I took with me so it wasn't long before I changed into lightweight black school pinafore dress before colouring a little before we settled for a Pork Chop, mashed potatoes, runner beans with onion sauce and gravy and cakes.

We later watched the Tour de France - they cycle, I'm interested in cycling but lack balance never mind  muscles for it personally - following the competitors and admiring the countryside

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As ever I was up early, making sure I had everything ready and available for loading into the car because apart from our personal effects, we also had games equipment and food for everyone on board too that had to be carefully slotted into it.

We left around of Ten in the morning of Saturday having a warmed up pie with mash and cakes we prepared and cooked ourselves for evening meal at the venue.

We also went out toward the lake for a stroll where we remarked the water levels, a concern in period of high temperatures and lack of rainfall, were surprisingly high there.

The reminder of the evening was very much a free to socialize and relax so I started reading a book and the London Underground jigsaw with 1,000 pieces came out as various folk gathered around desperately trying to find the pieces that went together in sea of white.

The Sunday was the first day proper and it was obvious with the heat the schedule I had prepared was going to have to be adjusted to take account of the impact of the heat.

One sign of this was I wore my blue check gingham dress most of the as it was lighter and more cooler than just about anything else short of only having say a swimsuit on.

Because I wasn't a good sissy gurl I saw this across my knickers a few times which really stung.

The first event event after the breakfasts all of which I set out doing battle with summer flies was the "Make it yourself" event where we used cardboard boxes, paint and make-a-do connectors to make a long dragon with a tail and working teeth which was ably lead by our team leader.

After lunch another lead the Alice in Wonderland treasure hunt with clues all outside for people to find and objects related to the story around trees and bushes  to spot including a spot of croquet and charades. This lead to discovering who really stole the Queen of Hearts, tarts.

This beautifully lead into a Alice in Wonderland tea party with themed cups and 'Alice Cakes' - home made tarts that were enjoyed by all in the blazing sun.

We had an enjoyable steak pie based tea with Apple and Sultana pie, the stake pies being carefully matched to peoples tastes having got preferences in.

Monday saw a switch on the schedule (it's with a K sound if your like me) as the team event leader  miraculously was able to both organize the event and take part in one of the two coloured teams, naturally Green and Yellow all at once that included Archery, Target, Egg and Spoon (no hens were injured in that!) and the sack race where a friend and I  decided to stand out that one as both of us for differing reasons wouldn't be able to do so for our differing teams. A sensible way through that situation.

I was in my lightweight airy t shirt and  green pleated games skirt as that was pretty cool to wear dashing about.

There was some ahem confusion with the Sponge The Staff event where when the yellow team were ask to start everyone regardless of team  just fired on the target as one! I'm sure that wasn't supposed to happen.

The Greens won by 36 to 33 against Yellow.

The afternoon was taken up by a Class that this time was about the Solar System where we learned some interesting facts about our near neighbours and everyone cut and drew some image connected with it. The result was more like a collage.

I made a image of a boy shaped rocket landing on mars with a sign pointing to Sirius  next to the Mars Life Centre with a trash can with a Rat shaped satellite nearby.

An aside to the event, space junk does concern me actually.

We had a mainly Fish and Chips tea, I say mainly cos I spotted a few fried sausage and a chicken in the order that had been phoned in and collected while it was being served.
In the evening, 

We had a  Quiz based upon Disney and UK Facts and figures which was win by the Three Musketeers that included me.

Tuesday morning saw a water pistol challenge was held naturally out doors to avoid damaging anything like the ceiling where four friends and I chased around firing at each other and sometimes as one against the other as we got soaked having fun which yes is kind of like kids but that's the point: we were just letting that side out as is.

In the afternoon, the resplendent in black with ears nekimimi was purring her way through the All Purrpuss Nekomimi Music Quiz that she'd prepared earlier between things like talking to her BFF.

The quiz was divided into two sections, a short classical one and a section of 60's to 90's popular music with three teams competing with the Cycle Paths and another scoring 16 points each and thus winning two magnificent colouring books (they were really good actually) and the last team scoring 12 from a maximum of 25.

I believe it was much enjoyed for the broad selection of questions to appeal to all present.

Given the extreme heat we decided to have an early meal later but in form of a very tasty b-bq by one of our group with kebabs and chicken part cooked in the oven first to make sure it was properly cooked which really is a must with just the burgers and sausages done exclusively on the griddle.

 This was served with salad with fried onions, bread rolls and so on as needed  turning out quite a memorable meal for all the right reasons.

Somehow a camp fire or a bb-q type event evokes the right kind of 'feel' to being together especially on the penultimate day, something I remember from school organized holidays we went on.

Wednesday was leaving apart from finishing apart from two pieces that seemed to be missing another jigsaw time was taken up more with taking down and apart things we'd made, tidying up and getting our things ready to leave.

A few of us went for a half hour walk to look at the nearby lake and countryside.

I'd pre-packed some of my case across the days to make things a bit easier for my friend reloading the car with a good portion of what we took with us in order.

Setting out a bit earlier than originally planned at eleven because I was (and had been for a few days) rather unwell with the start of a migraine coming on rapidly that morning  we arrived back for around half three or near enough I was struggling to focus so recollection for much of that is a bit hazy.

I think the general consensus was that people had gotten the sense of being 'little' for several days interacting together, being in "little space" able to come out from the child within, expressing it through what we did even if we did need to 'big up' to take care of some aspects or run an activity.

The only negative which certainly is no reflection on anyone was the problem of tics and horseflies  as a number of us were bitten which did include me making coping with being unwell less comfortable, running up a temperature as my body was fighting the bites.

What had been a great venue for several years will be warmly remembered as we look forward to new one here in The Midlands having had a lovely time this Summer.