Blog @ Work

Weekend

Creation Saturday! Did you have a favorite stuffed animal (or toy) when you were younger? Give it an interesting origin story- tell us what it did in its life before he/she met you and became your pal.(30-Day BC)

In my youth, there was a Dutch television series TiTaTovenaar (translation: WiWaWizard). In it featured a so-called Grobbebol. It was a stuffed puppet made by colored threads. I remember getting a package one day for making one grobbebol. Mine was green as I recall. I just called it Grobbebol. It had no past since it was created out of woolen threads. WiWaWizard was a story about a young girl living with her father the inventor in a cloud castle. She had Grobbebolls as friends. They look like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52w0RyUDOjI. It’s in Dutch, but you can see what the stuffed puppets look like. I have absolutely no recollection of what happened with the stuffed puppet. I think it got thrown in the trash.

I didn’t have many toys in my youth since I was the girl always reading, so I got books for birthdays and Xmas. I read everything, from children’s books to my father’s library to the public library. I was always, always reading!

November 12 is Chicken Soup for the Soul Day. It is ".... a celebration of who you are, where you've been, where you're going, and who you will be thankful to when you get there!" Write a poem or story in celebration of Chicken Soup for the Soul Day.(BCoFs)

Chicken Soup for the Soul Day.
It’s been a long journey from where I was to where I am now. I’ve been where turmoil and fear were, I went through major despair to a good place where I am right now. Perhaps, strangely enough, the biggest thanks for getting through these past ten years is me, for not giving up and continue to go on. So I have to pat myself on the back for accomplishing this! I am not accustomed to giving myself compliments, but in this case, I will. I have no God to thank since I am an atheist, although I do believe in the power of the Universe. That Universe has been graceful to me for not giving up, for keep believing I would make it through the dark times. And eventually, I did. Of course, there are family and friends who were part of my life, but in retrospect, I was very much on my own during my ordeals.

"It's not going to be easy. They know we know about them." ... "Do you think they know that we know about them?" It's your blog, have fun creating whatever tickles your fancy.(BC)

That reminds me of my past in my youth as an ultra-left wing radical who was very busy with a group called The World Shop, trying to change the world with politics, non-governmental actions and a place where we met with like-minded folks. We were demonstrating a lot in those early years in the late seventies, early eighties of the last century. We were against the bomb and against nuclear power; pro third world and we were very busy ventilating our opinions. In those years we were sure the government had a list of left wing protesters we were on. We knew that they knew about us. Somewhere in the system, our names were on a list, we were sure about that. We didn’t care one way or the other since we made sure we were not acting against the law. After those turbulent years, we got disappointed since nothing changed. I began writing poetry and was busy with art and growing up. I left the scene and became more of a law-abiding citizen!