Ballet Time

First of we've gained two new followers which suppose shows what a bit self publicity can do.
Seeing we're on the build up to Christmas needless to say the other events that take place during this season have already started and amongst them is the grand tradition of the Christmas ballet show. I  love the dances, costumes and music to many of these ballets.
Coppéllia
Coppélia is a sentimental comic ballet with original choreography by Arthur Saint-Léon to a ballet libretto by Saint-Léon and Charles Nuitter and music by Léo Delibes. The ballet is based on two macabre stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, Der Sandmann (The Sandman), and Die Puppe (The Doll) premiering on May 25 1870 at the Théâtre Impérial de l´Opéra.
The story of Coppélia concerns a mysterious and faintly diabolical inventor, Doctor Coppéliuswho has made a life-size dancing doll. It is so lifelike that Franz, a village swain, is infatuated with it, and sets aside his true heart's desire, Swanhilde, who in Act II shows him his folly by dressing as the doll and pretending to come to life. It's a favourite of mine having bought many years ago the Mari recording of the music on an imported HMV UK record.

Change

Where shall I start this week?
I suppose I could start by saying I managed to straighten out some differences at work with people that were beginning to really bug me because while I like what I do and it has it's 'little' opportunities  that many sadly don't have, this 'big' stuff was taking the shine off it.
Also I feel a bit more at ease with past events, events that really shook me, being able to go about everyday business without having that must be  'watching over your shoulder' feeling all the time.
I'm also winding down yet another part of my internet existence as this particular place has lost much of its functionality and as so few really visit it, I've come to the conclusion the time I spend on it is better spent on my 'little time' . It's that much more rewarding.


Anyway to fashion and this was a Pansy flared dress while aimed at and in groan up sizes sizes isn't a million miles removed from a teen dress available from top shop:

I thought it was cute working well with a few accessories without being too fussy (I don't like fussy designs).

Malory Towers and more

Well I guess the good news is I'm feeling better than I was around this time last week as was really down in dumps with some work related stuff best not gotten into on a publicly accessible blog and wanting more 'little' time something I understand most of us struggle with.
Thanks to everyone in chat this week including our guests from US camp.
I've already gotten two self presents sorted so it's just a question of putting some money aside for a few things for my family as like a good many others facing big bills we've decided to par down what we get each other.

As I think I've mentioned  the odd time in Chat I've been re-reading Malory Towers, the classic story of a all girls high school on the coast of Cornwall, South-west England directly overlooking the sea as written by Enid Blyton.
I bought a set of the original six volumes recently with the front cover of the slip case using this illustration the girls arriving at school. My school skirts are very similar to that of the girls on the far right which is more junior/middle school one. The current editions use some ghastly cheap computer generated images of girls while this 2004 set is more classy.
So far in I've just finished the Fifth volume.
Her books were a big part of my childhood that I loved mainly for their sense of innocent adventure, well observed characters and moral tales interwoven into the narrative.
With Malory Towers we see the world of this  boarding school which is a Castle like building with four wings, mainly through the eyes of Darrell, a first year boarder aged 12 getting to grips with induction procedures, new school rules, making new friends who as the series progresses we learn all about, their strong points and well their failings and learning to take on more responsibilities for themselves.
Each wing has inter-house competitions and for some sports their are coveted matches with other schools, the values of giving your all for your team and team mates, honour and being a gracious winner are write right through.
We also have escapades, ill thought out actions like going awl to perform and becoming so ill we can't sing, playing tricks on teachers and even some serious stuff like poison-pen letters not to mention theft.
For some such stories were (possible are even) a fantasy -a school life in childhood never experienced but preferable to the one they had - but to me much of this was very much like the reality apart from the poison-pen letter bits.
Newsflash: I did play tricks on people back then!
You could say it was really a guide cluing me in to what I was to experience making the transition from day school easier. 
I hope to re-read a few more of her series in the upcoming year.

Better later than never...

Sometimes the truest lines can be found in the cartoon strip.

I have to honest and say I never had enough real respect for my Mom only going along with what she wanted if she sugarcoated me.
Any sense of authority, of being a Parent of playing a important role in in the family never mind my life was just disrespected at will with no real conseqences. It wasn't helped by her issues with disciplining me too although I am responsible for what I did more than she failed to impose on me.
Reid's words ring true to me. A strong man should of spanked me for it years ago.

What I long for

That in a nutshell is exactly how I feel about life and relationships

Presents of the past

Somebody mentioned in Chat last week - might of been Sam R - about the new range coming to ToysRUS in time for the upcoming Christmas (and other) festivities.
This got me thinking about some of the things I had and maybe you did too from your chronological childhood and I feel like talking a little about them this week.
At the time there were at least in my country quite a number of shows on the television featuring Magicians who invited members of the public to take part in their acts and these shows really held my attention.
It was just so super exciting to see something disappear and then by magic reappear at the waving of a wand or a chant so my folks bought me a magic set with a wand, hat and a few other things to try these tricks out.

 It was something a bit like this one but in white background box going by memory.


I also had something quite useful as I have dyspraxia  which makes trying to write neatly something of a pain and that was a basic Child's Typewriter with a small frame, limited to A5 or maybe going as far as A4 paper.
Iused that to write short stories, thank you letters, lists and labels for school projects on.
This dear reader was well before the personal computer was widely available with word processing programs like Word Star came about never mind MS Word so you really didn't have too many choices!
We didn't have the spell checker - hurrah for the Can-E spellchecker on here! - so you had to use a little erasure and overtype this  being before even correction fluid became widely available for budding typists.
Mine was a Petite a bit like the one below which I kept until high school when I got a grown up manual typewriter.

For the Dominate Mommies

It's funny how so much of the stuff you read around being a little and the Adults who act very much as their 'Parents' is so Daddy orientated not that being a Daddy figure is in anyway wrong but an equally good dynamic for a little girl is Mommy having had some Female Adult Authority figures as a child who you'd not upset in a hurry!
I could just imagine myself being the girl she's spanking in this picture.