China.

Wowee! Texas yesterday and today I have been able to contact the Guide association in Singapore.

I would love to be able to send one to Singapore as it holds many happy memories for me.

Last time the only poster that I received from Asia was from the Taiwanese Brownies, Taiwan, Republic of China.

This poster is just delightful and one of my treasures.

Let's have a closer look at some of the drawings.

Isn't this a delightful drawing of a Brownie in uniform.

Pinned to the poster was the Brownie badge (with the frog)and  a Friendship badge, the start of my Asian Collection.

As well as a letter with great stamps the Brownies had made ornaments to hang up, each with a stamp set into it.

It would be so nice to know what the writing means.

Are there any more tatters out there who might be able to find out about Brownies in their country?

All comments will be appreciated even if you can't help.

U.S.A. and Canada.

I now have a link with a Brownie Girl Scout Troop in Texas...yipee!

Last time my only contact in the states was with a leader in Maine who had a relative living near me. The Brownies were all in the 6 to 7 age group and sent us this poster.
Their troop is part of the Abnaki Girls Scout Council which means Land of the Morning Sun....as they are the first to see the sunrise in the United States of America.

We were delighted when this leader and her daughter came to visit our pack. This really brings home to the girls the fact that there are Brownies all over the world. We wrote to them and swopped scrapbooks and photos and badges/patches.

This is their Brownie Girl Scout pin which is on my very small American badge collection.

My contact in Canada was with a group of Pathfinders in the 12 to 15 age group.

They sent this poster....

 .....and a gigantic laminated poster about Canada.

More posters coming soon, more comments welcome!

Peace begins....

..........................with you and me!

Many years ago.....back in the dark ages......well 1989.....there was a badge going for a Peace Project...and I am a sucker for a Brownie badge!

In our leaders magazine there was a Children's Peace Treaty, and this gave me an idea.

So I got all of my Brownies to draw a picture of something either related to Brownies or to Ireland, just a pencil outline drawing. They came up with some great pictures. I cut them out and made a collage of them around the treaty on a large sheet of paper A3 size..that's about 11.5in by 16in.

 The following week they all signed the treaty, and yet another week later they were all given several photocopies of the sheet to colour.

These things are always long drawn out when you only meet once a week.

This is my coloured copy to just show you how it comes to life.

So we come to the crunch

What were we going to do with our poster????

My idea was to send off as many copies as possible all over the world, to Brownies Guide/Brownie Girl Scouts. Known also by many other names in the different countries.....but all in the age group of 7 to 11 years.

Remember that in those days.....21 years ago we didn't have personal scanners or the internet at home.

Snail mail ruled.

The pack to be sent out contained our treaty and a blank one which we asked them to decorate, sign and send back to us, as well as information about Brownies in Ireland and about our own pack and local area....and anything else we could think of!!

 

My daughter who is a great illustrator had a big part to play in the finished products. She also had lots of penfriends all over the world, some in Guiding, who were sent a copy...with a request to pass it on to a Brownie pack.

Friends, relatives, Brownies all came up with names. Then there were  places we had visited and Brownie packs and Guide shops that we had worked with and visited,  and when all else failed...I just sent them to the Guide HQ in  the capital city of a country, and the 4 World Guiding Centers and hoped for a response.

Altogether I sent out to 25 countries.....Australia, Brazil, Canada, Republic of China, Denmark, Fiji, Finland, Greece, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Portugal, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tanzania, UK, USA, and Zimbabwe.

In 1990 there were 112 member countries, not sure how many there are now.

The red ticks are where I sent to and  the green ticks are ones that sent a poster back...tho' some did write but my poster never did get  a response from a Brownie Pack.

We marked them in on a map...great way to learn some geography!

For me this project goes down in history as one of the best things that I ever did.

21 years later.

  These children are now in their late 20's or early 30's that's a whole generation ago!

And we still don't have peace!

You will not know this but the uniform that our Brownies wear has changed considerably in  21 years.

 In the 1980's I was doing a  doll making badge ....no not a Brownie badge!!

I had to make 3 dolls and one had to be a character doll, made of felt with a moulded face...and it had to be able to stand. So this was my character doll. The uniform is authentic even to the actual material.

She has all her badges and the scratchy wool hat that the brownies used to hate. She stands courtesy of copper rivets in her shoes!!

Now they wear a yellow sweatshirt, navy trackpants, navy neckerchief and navy badge sash and NO hat. Much more child friendly but no where near as smart.

The nearest I can do to show you is my Brownie TatBead from Jane Eb's TatBead family, look under TatBead family and friends in her people section.

OK! well that's the the required tatting element .

So now you are wondering why I said that you might be able to help.

Well I showed my Book Of Peace with all this in it and more, to the latest leaders of the pack and they were so taken by it that they want to repeat it for Thinking Day February 22nd, this year. For those who don't know Thinking day is a special day for all members of the Guide and Scout Associations all over the World.

21 years later now I have so many internet friends, and folks who have email, and so do the other leaders. The Brownies have cousins all over the world...and their mums have email.

 Some of you must have girls of Brownie age, others must be able to find out about a Brownie Guide/Girl Scout/ etc group near you.

Please go out there and find names and addresses that I can send my packs to and lets make the 2010 project a humdinger!!

If you send me your contact info  in a comment, I will not publish it......but you will have to send a second comment that I can publish! Do please leave a comment if you think this is a good idea and may be able to help,

leave a comment PLEASE.

Go, Go, Go!!

Next time I will show you some of the replies that I got.

A tranquil place to visit.

Over on my other blog..which now has all the Kool Tatting stuff...I told you about Grandbaby's first birthday and his Birthday outing.

Lots of you wanted to know more about the garden.
While you can read all about the garden here I decided to share with you some more pictures of my visits there....last year in September for my 65th Birthday and this October for Grandbaby's first birthday.

The garden is a not-for-profit organisation and is a registered charity. Entry fees go purely to maintain the garden.

This is what the garden's founder says...
'Developing Brigit's Garden has been a wonderful process of seeing a dream come into reality. I hope many people will come here and enjoy the beauty of the place and the sense of closeness to nature. I feel that if we are going to sort out our relationship with the planet then we have to engage our hearts and spirits as well as our minds, and I hope Brigit's Garden will play its own small part in this process. We look forward to welcoming you to the garden.'
Jenny Beale

This is a map of the garden....



....let's take a closer look at the area at the bottom of the map...



These four gardens represent the Celtic festivals.
This is Samhain (pronounced Sow-en)The Winter Garden, probably my favourite.



If you click on the picture you should be able to read the sign.



The bronze figure is so tranquil.



Next comes Imbolc Spring Garden (pronounced Im-ulk).



The carved spiral represents the 3 faces of Brigit.



This leads on to a glade with basketwork swings.



Bealtaine Summer Garden (pronounced Belt-an-a) must look stunning inn the summer. The theme is of the mythical lovers Diarmuid and Grainne. We see their grassy bed surrounded by wildflowers in the summer.



A processional way leads between tall stones to a fire circle and a throne of bog oak and yew. It is a must to sit on the throne and claim your personal power and sit as King or Queen.




and the Bealtaine garden features Diarmuid and Grainne's bed, a grassy hollow facing the sun and surrounded by simple wildflowers. The lovers theme is carried through to the Flame Figures sculpture. A processional way between tall stones has copper flames set into the path and leads to a fire circle, backed by a throne in bog oak and yew. Here, the young adult can claim their personal power and sit as King or Queen in their own life.



Of course our little Prince was crowned King..



Finally there is Lughnasa Autumn Garden (pronounced Loo-na-sa).



This is laid out as a place for feasting and dancing.



That's just one area of the garden, the rest is very extensive with woodland walks etc.
The roundhouse in the center of the celtic gardens is where the Halloween storytelling will take place. It has windows looking out to each of the 4 gardens. It is used for art and music, meditation, meetings or just relaxing, and often for most interesting classes.



Here is the Crannog that you asked about...





No garden visit would be complete with out some plants!!









One little boy thought these were the best treat ever..



Lots more to see but you will have to go there yourself!!!

Another year another Queen!

I can't believe that it has been over a year since the old Queen left us to go to another life...and now a new Queen came to town today.

You can't believe my excitement at waiting to see this new boat...I think I must be addicted to liners!

I wanted to see how much she would differ from the previous flagship. She is described as being a liner rather than a cruise ship! She was to be an Ocean Liner for the 21st century, and she went into service on Oct 20th 2004.

Yesterday was her fifth birthday. You can read more about her here.

This time we went to see if we could spot her before she entered the harbour.



Finally she emerged from the mist. It is a wild and windy day.



Then we had to race round to our favourite vantage point to see her enter the harbour. I wanted to take the same views as last time to compare her.

Here she comes, no blue sky today!



Look at last years picture of the old Queen.



The new one was built to have speed and stabilty..a difficult thing to achieve in modern Cruise liners with so much super structure. She certainly has more of the look of a modern cruise liner with large cabin windows.



compare... she is bigger and broader and was the largest ocean going passenger liner in the world at the time of her launch.
The original two Queens were 65,000tons, the retiring Queen was 80,000tons and this current one is 148,000tons.



Does she still have the old fashioned elegance tho'!

She looks so small again within the large harbour.



We were back down in the village with the oldest yacht club in the world in time to see her sail deeper into the harbour.



We didn't go to see her in dock this time, believe that she is going to get a great Irish birthday party send off with band and all when she leaves at 6pm this evening.

The sun has finally come out and the sky is blue, I hope that the passengers have wonderful afternoon.

Hope that she comes again.