Childhood fiction

One author whose books I grew up with was Enid Blyton who apart from writing who character based series also wrote a number of short stories and one off pieces that have been collected over the years.

This collection assembled by Dean's and Son's in 1965 and in an early 1970's reprint is typical of it being a mixture of short stories, poems such as The Wind and  a few extracts from The Children at Happy House written in 1951.
This is my original copy which I treasure.

Self care and looking after your needs

This week as this is a kind of an online journal of mine I'm looking at coping strategies cos as this girl I have my ups and downs emotionally, sometimes from what I've done, sometimes from other people and you need to take some action to look after your mental well-being.

The start point is get to a place we can think straight about the problem and what matters  as sometimes we attempt to manage things that truly we cannot and put our efforts more into those areas we can.

That can make us tired and grumpy.

It's fine to be ambitious, have targets to work towards but they have to respect your needs physically, emotionally and spiritually.

It's also important to remember you make your own path on this journey and so it's fine to ignore others that are based on their needs and abilities.

False comparisons are an emotional killer. 

Team games III

Here go in the last of the current Team Sports series looking at the the time sports I loved  from Junior and High school.
Field Hockey

We're on the case of the ball!

Fielding, what you need to be good at

Overall view as the match is well underway. 

It's no wonder I've always followed the NHL don'tcha think?

The day before the edition

For me with just one day to go this is so apt a playful Tomboy can become that refined pretty young lady even if chunks  of how I'm wired mean I can't do everything you expect and I still require your love  and support.

The Girl (Comic)

A special offshoot of The Eagle but for Girls:

The Eagle was a iconic British boys comic from the 1950's when boy were boys full of beans, heros and daring-do but girls then were regarded more as dainty, fragile things best kept for marriage and being of use to boys and men.

It was interesting that this comic taking some inspiration from what Women contributed during World war Two when the menfolk were on the frontline helping the War, effort showed a woman at the helm of an important role.

Girls can be aviators too!

Secrets

To say Enid Blyton wasn't an influence on me would be to miss something that overlapped the other big thing in my life boarding school life as I read one while at the other and a good number of her novels I read were about communities of children in boarding school like me, living in the country or as this series starts with children running way from uncaring and abusive even by the standards of the time adults who were responsible for them, making a new life with amazing resourcefulness.

 I did eventually get the Secret Island in hardback which isn't really an adventure book in the way all the others are but more an account of their lives giving you the background to the adventures to unfold as we learn about Jack, Peggy, Mike and Nora.

The Secret of Spiggy Holes is the first adventure proper  introducing us to important people such as Prince Paul.
As with the first one it took ages to find a serviceable hardback and like the other, it didn't come with the full colour dust jacket although the images in both are replicated as frontalis so it's just an irritant not to have the actual jacket.

This is a more modern edition, the 1991 omnibus published by Mulberry of the last three novels, the Secret Mountain, Secret of Killimooin and Secret of Moon Castle being held captive in the Secret Moutain, travelling the the Killimooin Forrest where they feel a ferocious band of robbers  hangs out and exploring Moon Castle looking for ghosts at the end of night.

Dresses from my youth

Wow this picture takes me back to the mid 1970's when Mom and the adult females in my family wore these light summer dresses. 

They were into cutting and sowing their own - Gran was a champion cutter outer - and in addition often kitted me out in hand knitted girls jumpers.
I've enhanced this picture digitally as the original was very washed out and flat.