Treats: aren’t you glad they didn’t say purple…
Find something sunny in the Weekly Photo Challenge: Orange.
Treats: aren’t you glad they didn’t say purple…
Find something sunny in the Weekly Photo Challenge: Orange.
Find a sense of place in the entries in Where’s my backpack?’s challenge
Travel Theme: Belonging.
We always swore to never repeat those awful catch-phrases our mothers (and fathers) would fling out at opportune parenting moments but every once in a while we catch ourselves with very similar words on the tips of our tongues. The platitude that sprung to mind today was “things were simpler when I was a kid”. It doesn’t take a degree to deduce how this can’t, in fact, be anything other than historically accurate as we grew up pre-electronic diversions, pre-colour television, pre-headphones, pre-pretty much everything.
Entertainment was basic but there was no lack of it. Inside or out, alone or with friends, our choices were limited by the little available on the market or what we could scavenge and throw together in a pinch. We certainly didn’t have as much stuff as children today and some of it has survived the long haul of adolescence, leaving home and starting our own families to sit in their own place of honour amongst our prized possessions. Our own bears have seen alot of action, now they watch us compose and create, revise and revisit, like talismans of permanence in a rapidly changing daily life.
This fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme – Toys – suggests that everybody’s got their something…
Last week, Across the Bored was curious – “What form do toys take for you?” – That fuzzy bear, a game of solitaire, pick-up sticks or camera clicks, beads and baubles, stereos sweet, nail polish for toes on pretty feet, shiny cars, long telescopes to see the stars or best of all – a cardboard box and simple ball… We would love to see your vision.
For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this fortnight’s challenge can be found here. Need more info or want to browse past themes? Have a look at HOW DOES THIS WORK.
Before Miss Z convinced us to add a canine member to our already rollicking family dynamic we used to wonder about many of the peculiarities of dog “owners”. Many of the homes we visited had designated doggy areas, special bowls and watering devices, little beds that resembled something Louis XIV would be comfortable lounging on and any number of collars and leashes. Across the Bored’s childhood had seen pets mainly of the feline or rodent variety with the occasional stray pup arriving unannounced for a brief overnighter or two before being reunited with its rightful owner. Our animal distractions had never seemed to need a huge amount of possessions – the cats, not ones to suffer being dressed up as dollies, were happy with the occasional bit of dangling string or outside mousing and the rodents were, well, rodents – pretty much content to chew things down to mulch or run friday night races through cardboard tubes lined up on the dining room table. The whole doggy thing, therefore, came across as a little “much”….
Miss Z’s adoption of one fuzzy puppy changed all that. Our barbet came with his own blanket, a few necessary accessories and an odd grenade-shaped object that the previous owner would fill with peanut butter to keep him occupied during the hours when she could not be at home. When he found out that he had a whole houseful of human entertainment, he never touched it again. We did acquire balls and throw things, went through a variety of leashes until we found ones that didn’t chafe him or us, tried out a series of collars that got chewed through, learned that there are some bowls that really aren’t dog-friendly and got educated about dog car safety-harnesses because, as the man in the store so patiently explained, a flying dog will break your neck if you slam on the brakes….
It was just a matter of time before we broke down and bought that plush roadkill with the 19 squeakers. The Two Cents Tuesday Challenge knows that everyone enjoys some form of amusement, so with that in mind we have done the once unthinkable and indulged our dog with – Toys.
“What form do toys take for you?” – That fuzzy bear, a game of solitaire, pick-up sticks or camera clicks, beads and baubles, stereos sweet, nail polish for toes on pretty feet, shiny cars, long telescopes to see the stars or best of all – a cardboard box and simple ball…
We would love to see your vision.
For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?