Well from the least expected places there seems to be more girls like me from what I've seen so if you're reading this for the first time, welcome.
To business now, following on from that bit of a resorting of casual sporty clothes I found a few things from my childhood I want to share.
I loved the wombles at the time, really I did having pictures, records and having watched the Tv series and here's my Great Uncle Bulgaria which is a late 1990's version as I think I lost the original like you do.
Also I found a C70 battleship made by Lesney of England in 1976 which is in very good shape with just a few marks on the underside. I wasn't really into war related toys much so I think someone bought it me (kinda forget who just now) so I just kinda took care of it putting it on a shelf so it wasn't played with unlike my dolls or thumbed like my annuals.
I gave it a bit of a dust before taking this picture
Whenever I've talked before about fashion and me mainly it's been around the whole kind of image of myself with some variation of an 'A' line skirt coming from the waistline down as I'm more a girly girl in that regard more inclined to stomp my feet at the mere suggestion of anything when it comes to over wear with legs screaming "I'm not a boy" at the top of my voice (or what's left of it!).
But actually there was period in the late 80's and 90's where I did do less boyish sports wear teamed up with Baseball jackets cos I could fem it up a bit and anyway whatever the frou frou girls say sometimes pants are the only thing that really cuts it.
I was reminded of this while sorting through my more casual clothes while being unwell this week sorting stuff into the Goodwill and Textile waste recycling piles.
Well back then I was into Puma being a cat and the black non-shell track pants in particular cos they were easy to team up and dead comfortable.
I have an Adidas tracksuit which is handy especially if I'm vacationing but seeing my last separate pair of track pants were a bit worn from knee bending setting up my photography gear on the ground, I bought these Adidas ones that arrived today.
They're grey in colour with white triple stripes down the legs which will key into t shirts I usually wear with skirts and dresses because I really really want to intergrate my clothes rather than having separate piles depending on what I'm doing and things like the weather.
They tie fastening which is elasticated too which of you a curved spine like mine makes for a much neater fit.
I also ditched some t shirts that didn't really mix with the rest of my stuff be it casual or school wear and bought some white and orange plain ones and at the same time bought a new red school sweatshirt.
I
just love the Animal Print Mule skirt at M & Co featuring an elesticated waist band three tier frills with the print all over.
It has a goodly amount of pouf making it ideal for parties which how groggy I'm feeling today is the kind of boost I could use being a good alternative to a dress teamed with a top.
Talking of mood lifters, on the post Return to work day - typically before I became ill! - my immediate colleague came bouncing in (she's borderline LG) so I went out to our kitchen area to fix the coffees with her. Naturally conversation turned to Christmas so she asked me about what I'd had and that. I start jumping up and down on alternate legs waving arms about telling her all about my new teddy, kitty chocolates and how wonderful it all was just like an excited 9 year old completely forgetting myself!
I half expected a "What???" response but she goes all animated to telling me she'd had a teddy too and childrens chocolate.
Heck it was just like the post christmas greeting you'd have when you met in the schoolyard with your friends, it was so little!!!
So know she knows I'm little and that's definately okay.
No this isn't about my school although I've told you a bit about that in the past but 6 days ago Ronald Searl who did such a jolly good job of illustrating St Trinians died. He always felt this work overshadowed some of his other excellent material and maybe over here we're guilty of it.
This said it took a special kind of a man to get into the head of just what a all girls boarding school could be like when the authority figures weren't really in control and to extend the series as much as he did ending up with the science class blowing themselves up. No chance it would happen with me around cos I'm terrified of matches!
Anyway as a bit of tribute to the man and what's become a iconic series of films I'm showing this image of the four girls victorious waving their hockey sticks through air having seen of their rivals on the pitch.
There's so much of that in me it's worrying!
Well before Christmas I mentioned they'd be a hiatus in the Teenbeat articles and now that's over we're back.
This like most of them is connected to my past in as much as this artist Chaka Khan as part of the soundtrack of my life as I grew up (don't laugh!) with her sounds being on the radio as well as the emergent MuchMusic and MTV television networks.
Born Yvette Marie Stevens in Chicago, Ill. in the late 60's she took the name Chaka from the Yoruba word for 'fire' and following the break up of her marriage to an Indian bass player kept the Khan surname as part of her stage name. Unlike most of her generation, her singing career didn't start via Gospel singing in the Church but more from her listening to Jazz and in 1972 she joined what became Rufus, a R&B band (when R&B had rhythm and blues) who signed to ABC Records recording seven albums as their lead singer.
By 1978 however the lead wanted to a solo career and so signed to Warner Bros working with producer and arrnager Arif Mardin creating five albums together.
That is where she entered my life though the radio play given to her '45 "I'm Every Woman" where that voice and Arifs arangements hooked me although ther 1981 album with "I Know You I Live You" passed the casual R&B fan.
By 1984 she was back getting column inches with the funk and electro influenced "I Feel For You" complete with turntable scrathing helped by popularity of the previous years "Ain't Nobody" a product of the last contractual release with Rufus followed by the "This Is My Night" and "Eye To Eye" in 1985 which remain favourites of mine from that era.
What makes this complilation "The Essential Chaka Khan" attractive is it overs the whole 1978-1996 period completely so we get to hear tracks like her version of "End Of A Love Affair" (a Billy Holiday number) from the 1988 C.K. album, "Love You All My Lifetime" from 1992's The Woman I Am as well as tracks from her final Warners album Epithany so providing a great oversight into her vocal abilities as well as a few raretities.
The sound quality is very good on this disc and as this is a budget double on Music Club Deluxe (UK) is inexpensive making a good introduction to her catalogue.
I usually write an entry on sites and what not around this time of year as kind of reflection on the years events and maybe some clues about where I think I or the site may be headed.
I'm not much good with worms(!) but 353 days ago something pretty big happened and by around 340 days ago the very thing you are reading right now came live.
The scene was "The Meadow" where after a period where other kinds of places just weren't giving me what I wanted, a chance encounter with Prissie gave an hint of a place where I girl like me might belong getting more out of it from where I had been.
It wasn't like a good many places entirely visable for some very good reasons but in the end I placed my trust in Prissie's description, signing up and plucking up enough courage to tell everyone a little bit about what makes me, well me.
That was when I started to learn something about you dear reader as you welcomed me to "The Meadow" around what sort of girl you are, your fashion tastes, interests and so on.
Some of you were using words I wasn't familar with and I guess you weren't familar with mine as B.C to me means a Province in Western Canada not a part of the English Midlands!
It soon became apparent I needed to tell you more about me than a series of jottings ever could and so asked around and looked at some of your sites and having seen LittleKarenMaries place it came to me what this site could be about, not just a all about me site but also a site that shared the LG spirit with readers.
In time this lead to the mention of UK Chat and Sammy who hosts it, which added another dimension because not only was I learning more about you, we were interacting in real time as LG's (apart from a certain Squirrel and a few LB's!) where I'm nearly always dressed in my take of LG cos we're all a bit different.
I described on site the experience of encountering you all as one of the bests gifts I've ever had and I meant it because you all have helped me in ways you may not of realized to freely express my LG self both on line and in everyday life that has made me so happy this year even through the Pawley(tm) days.
So thanks Fellow Meadow people, readers of Sparkle and also thanks to Sammy for IK plus IK Chat and the christmas colouring drawings.
Love Joanne.
P.s. stay tuned folks!
