No use crying over spilt milk

Is this just an English English idiom, or is it used in other parts of the English-speaking world? This milk is definitely spilt - and spoiled - and there's nothing that can be done to put that right. Accidents do happen, don't they?

But I reckon Mid-West Mom doesn't see it that way and little Miss Mid-West isn't going to sitting comfortably on that milking stool any time soon. I love this illustration and have seen it here and there over the years, but don't know where it's from or who the artist is. Can anyone help?

Fair shares

I'm a firm believer in Equality, with a capital E. So how can I sit quietly (though not comfortably) and let inequality go unchallenged?

I earned myself a short, sharp little spanking today. Over the knee, bot bared and attended too with the clothesbrush that we call 'Aunty Fanny'.

But surveying the damage at bathtime right cheek has taken all the punishment, while left cheek has got off scot free, I'd say both are just as naughty, so how can it be fair if one gets all the attention?

And I'm not one to complain, but it was all a bit high. To my mind the sit-spot is where it should all happen.

Secret Spanko touched on this issue recently, saying he liked a nice uniform shade of pink, all over - "the sides, the top, down the thighs just a little bit, in the crease, even some fire crackers too".

Which leaves me with the problem of how can I nudge SO in the right direction? I don't like to be bossy, but can't abide to see a job half done.

Monday moment: Old friend

Sorry, I've not been keeping Another Country frisky and fresh just lately. Not good enough, D minus, see me at the end of the lesson...

The problem is, the weather here has been so, so good that we've been living the outdoor life to the full. It's hard to break off halfway through a beach BBQ to do a bit of blogging.

Anyway, a quick find to share. Or rediscovery. I was thinking about spanking fiction that I like the other day and found myself going back a decade or so to when there was a fab story site that was called Laura's something or other.

Laura's Spanking Corner? That was it, and a quick google led me to it. Amazingly, there it is - still up in cyberspace after all this time.

There is some classic writing. I'm now going to spend some time catching up with old friends, starting with the series about Kate, 1950s store-owner and traditional disciplinarian. I love the characters and the situation - it's all so Benson (hence the pic).

Travel section

Bed, breakfast - and a bare bottom spanking? Maybe a red behind on room service. Or perhaps turned over the bed instead of turning down the bed?

I was looking for somewhere to stay for a planned business trip and for some reason this place caught my eye. Bit off the route I was planning, but perhaps I should check it out. Although I'm sure my imagined stay is far more interesting than a visit would be in reality... 

On the beat

"It's coming along at a spanking pace," he said. I have to say that stopped me in my tracks. It was a response to an innocent question (over the phone, from me) to a colleague.

I was asking about how a commissioned article was coming along. For a moment I was thrown and wondered if there was some sort of sub-text.

But then I realised that 'a spanking pace' is an every day turn of phrase for anyone other than a spanko. If we'd been face-to-face I suspect I'd have blushed and, I suspect, given the game away.

Luckily we weren't, so my cover isn't blown - or so I hope. But it has made me wonder what a spanking pace might be.

It's all a question of tempo, isn't it? Personally, I need a brisk tempo. A larghissimo (very, very slow at 20 bpm and below) wouldn't do at all, but andante (at a walking pace, 76–108 bpm) might be a little too fast.

Given the choice I think I'd opt for adagietto (rather slow 70–80 bpm) building to a climatic finish at allegro. Apparently that's fast, quickly and bright, 120–168 bpm. Perhaps I should buy SO a metronome. Or would that be topping from the bottom.

Monday moment: Innocence

Innocent as in kink-free, that is. This image makes me smile - and feel a bit squirmy too. I happened on it the other day and, of course, read it as a spanking-related fantasy.

It does it in a way that lots of vanilla people will be totally unaware of, I think. It was taken by a photographer called Jeanloup Sieff (1933-2000) and I went looking for more info about him and his work.But on googling for Sieff I began to think that maybe I'd misunderstood the composition.

Did my spanko-sensibility twist it into something it wasn't. Chross certainly thinks so, saying: "I am rather certain it is not meant to have a kinky undertone; it's just 'normal' erotic photography, quite beautifully composed. Still, I can't help thinking of spanking whenever I look at it..."

If Sieff wasn't trying to conjure up something that would thrill us spankophiles I'd be surprised. Looking further I hit on Valdor at The Spank Statement, who says of Sieff: 'As he grew older, he increasingly concentrated on nudes. 1998 saw the publication of his book Derrieres – “an ode to the bottom – a photographic tribute to 93 behinds – in all their apple-cheeked glory.”'

Take a look at his work for yourself and make your own mind up - if nothing else, it's will boost your Monday mood. Personally, I'm convinced that Mr Sieff was one of ours; I like to imagine him in his studio and peering into his camera as he worked but with thoughts of post-shoot smacking on his mind...

Book Club: Saddled Up

'Some girls need to be spanked.' Can't argue with that, can I? 'I need to be spanked anyway, not often, but just occasionally.'

And I'm not going to argue with that either, although sometimes it's a bit too occasional from where I'm sitting. With those opening couple of sentences 'Saddled Up' had me gripped, because it could have been me speaking.

And reading on I felt a real connection with the the novel's 'leading lady' Amber Oakley. Later she says 'All my life I've fought against that need, but never managed to conquer it', and again I know where she's at.

Mind you, what follows doesn't seem to involve much fighting against that need and a fair bit of giving in to it it.

I'd say 'Saddled Up' is my spanko fiction find of the year and deserves a Book Club post. The writing tag team of Penny Birch and Miranda Forbes have created a great cast of weird and wonderful characters and put them into a contemporary British setting that I could recognise and feel at home with. 

Their story has lots of humour, but when it gets to the spanky bits it was, for me, seriously sexy. Of course, the horse-riding aspect of Amber's life is the thing that caught my eye, although her interest in equitation goes beyond the normal confines of jodhpurs, bits and bridles and takes in ponygirl play too.

Actually, I suspect bits and bridles are involved in the ponygirl thing too, especially naughty bits. But I digress, personally my horsey interest is of purely vanilla, so the pony stuff left me a bit cold. 

'Saddled Up' touches on one or two non-spank kinks along the way and that does mean that it has a bit of a Quality Street problem. You know, your tin of sweets has plenty to love - but inevitably there's something in there that just isn't your thing at all.

Unavoidable, I suppose, if you're not creating something that is strictly for the spanko community. It does raise a question: how narrowly niche should an erotic novel be? .

For all of that, when 'Saddled Up' was in spanko country it did have lots and lots that I found very sweet indeed. It's one of a series of novels that feature Ms Oakley and I'm going to look out the others - I feel like Amber and I are on the same wavelength.