Mr Twiddle

You know something don't you? Being in the meadow with the little girls is bringing thing backs  to me that were previously buried under a pile of 'Groan Up' stuff.
Here's an example of what I mean. The other day I was sat thinking as you do and suddenly from nowhere in particular and my mind went back to the books I recall reading as I'm sure many of us in the Commonwealth did as young children and the characters from them.
Like many during that era, Enid Blyton was on our bookshelves and maybe you can recall Mallory Towers, the Secret Seven and so on by her but this one just popped back to me in flash!
It's Mr Twiddle who appeared in a few books in this series based around him, his cat and long suffering wife.
Mr Twiddle is kindly old man who also is somewhat forgetful, lazy and in some respect what we used to call a 'simpleton' making many mistakes through his inability to see what's really happening.
For instance he was quite convinced the garden had magical coins appearing where in reality he was losing money as it fell from his trouser pockets as he mowed the lawn! Another is based around his mishearing the request from his wife to hang the sheet and coat so he hangs a sheep and goat who escape causing mayhem as the enter the house.
One of my favourites though was when he was asked to change the light bulbs and plant some in the garden. Well he only puts light bulbs in  the garden and and the bulbs for planting in the lamp holders!!!
I used to read these religiously often in bed with a touch under the bed clothes and forget now when they went but it may of been when I was 10 or something when we moved home.

I'd like to say thank you for all of you who read this this blog whither or not you get it from the Adisc,ikklespace or Girltalk.to.

Regards Jo.

Musings from "The Meadow"and 'A' is for Abba

Well another week and  almost ready to join in the chat sat here in my Death Kitty goth tutu skirt on with black tights as I really like it and find the experience of chatting away dressed as me just so enjoyable although my cat likes to get in on the act jumping up on the table and all that.
Being in the 'meadow' helps to keep me in tune with me in so many ways it is truly hard for outsiders to really comprehend but anyway a few things were buzzing around my mind during 'chat' so I'll talk about them here I guess.
I suppose the first thing to say is I love music which was very much  part of my life as a kid, singing songs some the pop songs of the day other well older ones sometimes from musical hall productions and our music was very much a shared experience.
People didn't live in a bubble isolated from each other in front of screens and Ipods as some do today so when I say 'our music' it was just that - the music we all sang along and listened to together - because it was shared experience. We played music from tape recorders and records at home during vacations, on the bus to school, during recess and for those of us who went to boarding school in our dorm too.
One of the consequences from this was we talked about our likes and dislikes, got to hear stuff we didn't have and maybe never heard of before so we were both passionate and same time communicating our interests. We'd follow the charts religiously to see how our favourite songs were performing and go to the mall together to buy our 45's and as we got a bit older albums.
In short, it was fun!
And what nobody know in chat last night was I'd been listening to an Abba album -"The ALBUM"  to be precise which was one everybody I knew in school loved, had the annuals, saw the The Movie you name it at least one of us did it. I had posters you had to save coupons for from the newspapers so it kinda brought it all back.
Then everybody started talking about the games we played and dare I say those we'd like to recreate for real because of what we got out of them. Man I was getting so excited I nearly fell off of the chair at one point when Kiss Chase was mentioned!
You see "The Meadow" is the place - the right place for me to be in.

AbbaDabbaDoo! 

All about my Abba lp collection:

You're thinking why that title and actually it was the title of a TV special on the legendary Swedish group, Abba that came out in the mid 70's forget which country now probably their native Sweden.
Back then in the 1970's I bought these records as that records 7 inch 45's and those big long players more or less as soon as they came out but as time went by many of them were damaged and those that worn were replaced with the compact discs that came out in dribs and drabs in the mid 80's.
I have 'Abba' to The Visitors in that series.
My friend loves these compared to all the others but says they missed out a lot of second sides from singles and other stuff the later ones did which was why she has this lovely blue 'Complete Studio Recordings' box that she thinks is better sounding  for that material.
Things is I still missed having those yellow, orange and blue labelled records feeling as good as my old cds are the records are best way to hear the music but all I had left in my collection was the mid 1980's mid price re-issue of Greatest Hits I got to replace the old copy with as that title never came out here on cd although my friends has the rare American cd and Supertrouper.
I've decide having read a lot about Abba records to stick with the UK copies as they're good and not to hard to get over here. I mean like they made them!
My list so far:
Abba - self title Epic Yellow label. my friends said with A and B 1 it's the 1st pressing and she'd know about that.
It sounds very smooth in the presence area.
Greatest Hits. the Mid 80's light blue label one in the Nice Price series. I miss the gatefold on the original but it's handy as the Ring Ring album that was not issued over here would not be represented on vinyl at all if it wasn't for the tracks from the Swedish version that were on our Greatest Hits album.
Anyway it contains Fernando which I adore.
Arrival Orange label this copy is around late 1976 I think .
The old cd is really good but this has so much more 'layering' of the different parts of the mix separating out and yest sounding all part of the same final mixdown it's unbelievable.I used to sing along to all these songs as a young teen!
The 2006 Deluxe Edition on cd is nice for bonus tracks and a lovely dvd
The Album. Orange A2/B1 What came first the movie idea or the album? Anyway it's one of their finest albums ever and this copy sounds really good.
My friend said she had the Italian on "Dig It" with a different sleeve adding you shouldn't waste your money on a reissued lp from last year as it sounds rotten.
There's no perfect cd of this album with the  1987 being the least disagreeable.
Voulez-vous Orange A/B 5 original copy.
Supertrouper light blue mid 80's copy the first went at a party - typical - so got this one which is in almost new condition.
I'll add to this when I get the others.

Two left feet!

For 'dancing bears' of all ages can you think of anything more fun than dancing in a dress or skirt with partners drawn from school learning the steps together?
Hmm thought so. 
I feel such things can help break down gender divisions and help in learning to co-operate together.
I'm hardly the most gifted dancer not being steady on my feet isn't the best of starts but one thing I did enjoy was school dances. Be they Scottish Country Dancing, dancing the maypole or even 'disco dancing', we had a good time and that's really the important thing.

They say it's yer birthday!

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

It's a sticky situation as I get gets through my chocolate and mommy has to come with a wet cloth to clean me up! I'm sure our resident jam lover will identify with this card I recently had - honest I think somebody just might of got the message now -and somehow it seems appropriate to shares the card here although the cake was shared elsewhere!
To me love is reflected in love so you just do these things and sometimes you feel people think I'm on another planet???
Regards Joanne.