Colouring

This week I've been thinking about colouring.
Colouring is an activity most children do from an early age when you take a drawing with the outline image in printed usually in black and colour in between the lines.
Colouring can be helpful in improving your hand to eye co-ordination as you learn to colour in tiny areas neatly.
It's also quite useful in encouraging you to exercise your own imagination, by choosing what areas to colour in whatever colour you prefer although for some subjects  you may prefer to follow the examples such as drawings of Disney Princesses.
It came to me a few days back in part through an ongoing conversation and also while listening to a podcast, that I did very little colouring when I was younger and by the time I'd reached nine it was deemed to be 'childish' although I did draw in colour trees and houses cause that was called 'drawing' which was said to be 'okay' for me to do.
Colouring is in my opinion one of the easiest ways of getting into a younger headspace especially if you live away from any local  littles community because you can do it pretty much anywhere making very little demands on apartment space.
You'll need a supply of coloured pencils (mine are Hello Kitty ones for extra cute appeal), an eraser to remove mistakes, and colouring books that you'll find most newsstores stock so you can get out of your chair and go buy it in person as after all it is for you!.
I tend to keep mine by the computer as a stress relief tool when the interwebs go wonky but generally after changing to my littles clothes, I either lay on my front on the floor or across my Hello Kitty festooned bed with the book and pencil case out in front of me. You could if you wished, sat at a desk to do this too as if you were in a play group or school setting.
I find it very relaxing just lying there colouring completly free  from any groan up stuff that may be about affecting my head.

Frill free edition!

Well the idea for this post came to me overnight but as I sleep with Theodore rather than a laptop I wasn't able to type it up until now and anyway I think sleeping with teddies is much much healthier.
I've been talking away with someone on site I don't hang around  a lot at for various reasons we don't need to go into here and I know I've talked to someone else at one place I practically live at around the same sorts of things.
We were discussing clothes sense and what sorts of clothes within a LG context we liked and a common theme that came up was we liked 'regular' clothes and for us it wasn't exclusively frilly stuff and indeed for us even skirt or dress related necessarily.
I guess that will produce a gasp but I know one person who is LG and came complete with the paperwork stating 'Girl' from the get go didn't spend much free time at least  time in anything other than pants and for this other person (cos I ain't revealing who without their permission) also liked shorts.
I wore shorts too quite a lot during my childhood and later on I guess because apart from some things around practicalities they mentally transported me back in time too. I didn't have any gender issues about wearing them at the time, the only issues I had was contextual background stuff wrong pronouns, refusal on the part of others to see my inner girl and so on.
Now pants and  shorts can be worn in feminine way too matching up with girly t shirts, socks  & trainers and are part of some girls experiences too so it's all girl!
The great thing about being a girl is so many options depending on what suits you.

Classical birthday (Magical day pt 2)

Not before time here's the part two to the birthday entry with a few bits added.
As I mentioned I had a number of classical music cds this birthday which ties very well into the LG birthday theme as it always was big part of my childhood so I'll take this entry to talk about them.

I got two sets from Aaron Coplands "Copland Collection series" (1922-1935 & 1948-1971) on Sony that covers everything he wrote such as Music for the Theatre, Concerto for Orchestra and Organ plus his symphonic works.These were the pioneering recordings of this output where he conducts some even playing piano in others.
Copland was a major influence on my interest in music as he explored many differing forms all of which have a distinct American feel to them.

"Bernstein conducts Bernstein" Somy/Bmg 7 cd set.
Back in 1991 Sony compiled a nine cd set of all of Leonard Bernstein's works that he recorded himself which would of set you back about GBP £90 or more new.
In 2011 as part of their Masters series of box sets by Sony Music, this set was rejigged to fit on 7 discs sans notes for a very low price.
Included in it were his recordings of Candide, symphonic Dances from "West Side Story", symphonic Suite from "On The Waterfront" movie score, fancy Free, a selection from on the town, Prelude, Fudge & Riffs and heaps more.
I had the old 1986 CBS Masterwork cd with a number of these recordings on and this sounds much improved with respect to freqnency range and smoothness .
It's the  kind of set you dip into at will.

Delius: Violin Sonatas 1 thru 3
Tasmin Little & Piers Lane
Conifer
This was a disc I had been interested in tghat originally came out at full price in 1997 having had a soft spot for English music from thge early part of the twentieh century.

Vaughan Williams is an English composer I've been aware of having heard performaces but hadn't collected recordings by and I got a set of his Symphonies a few months back.
Being rather impressed by them I decided to get used two discs of his orchestral works to complement it.
The Wasps wasn't dedicated to our Sammy I'll add but is a highly effective soundscape of that insect! It really buzzes in the overture!!!

The Lark Ascending
Five Variants of Dives  & Lazarus
The Wasps-Aristophanic suite
London Philharmonic Orchestra cond Vernon Handley
CD EMX 9508 Issued in 1985 and one of the very first in Emi Eminence series to be issued on cd in 1987

Partita for Double String orchestra
Concerto for Oboe  and Strings
Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis
Fantasia on Greensleeves
Royal Liverpool Phiharmonic Orchestra cond Vernon Handley with Jonathan Small on Oboe
CD EMX 2197
1991 recording on Emi Eminence

Sibelius was a very famous Finnish composer who sadly also had a drinks problem whose  works I first encountered in the late 1980's buying on impulse a 4 cd set of his symphonies after playing to death a cd of his Tone poems such as Finlandia.
I decided to get the 1993 world premier recording of the entire music from the score set to Shakespeare's play

The Tempest
Lahti Symphony Orchestra cond Osmo Vanska
Bis  CD581



Some of us had our minds blown on American music by people like Copland, Bernstein, Gershwin, Ives, Piston and this guy called Hanson.
I got this one used from a vendor in the same town I work in:
Hanson conducts Hanson
Symphonies 1 & 3; Song of Domocracy
Hanson Eastman-Rochestra orchestra
Mercury 432 008-2
plus
Symphony no3, Elegy &  Lament for Beuwulf
Mercury 434 302-2

Finally I got two Stravinsky cds:

Symphony no1, Symphony in C

Ode

Symphony in Three Movements

Symphonies of Wind Instruments *

The Fairy's Kiss (ballet) **

Scottish National Orchestra  cond Sir Alexander Gibson * SNO with Neeme Jarvi

** Nash Essemble cond Sir Simon Rattle

Chandros CHAN 241-8 

Note: 2 cd  twofer re-issue of previous full price discs with stunning recording and playing.

Stravinsky: 

Concerto in E Flat "Dumbarton Oakes"

Concerto in D from String

Danses concertantes

Cantata on Old English texts

English chamber Orchestra cond Sir Colin Davis

London Enterprise 425 622-2

These will complement nicely my collection of his ballet scores covering hislater more neo classical compositions.

Magical day

Whoo woo, guess what happened the other day? That's right I went around the sun again so here's the entry about this.
First of all I'd like to thank the GT people for making the day special in their own unique ways both in the forum and also in chat.
We'll begin with something that may seem trival but is kinda important.
I had a new fluffy goose filled pillow and a Hello Kitty duvet and pillow cover to further transform my sleeping experience because I find it so much more relaxing in a little girl headpsace surround by plushies, teddy bears and HK posters whenever I sleep complete with HK sleeping attire on or need to rest during the day in uniform being 'pawley'.
I have to say a day after having both rested and slept since petting it on, I feel more restful confirming that surrounded in this headspace I do feel smaller, having looked from the corner of too I see a little girl in her element and for me this feeling is priceless.
Also I had  - and we have Sammy to thank in a way for this - a Disney colouring book as thanks to the Christmas colouring a number of us did I re-connected to colouring even though I can only do a little a day with my condition, I found it relaxing, being able to switch off from groan up stuff.
I also had some reading books by Jacqueline Wilson sho I think is wonderful and these were, 'The worst thing about my sister','The Worry Website' and 'Midnight' plus the dvd of Tangled
As Tracey might of guessed I had some classical music cds that I write a separate longer piece about later I think comprising of works and recordings I've wanted for a long time.
Finally I had some lovely flowers too.