My first year in school and new friends… One of them was Maja. She lived in the countryside in a big wooden house from the 16th century. It was a house full of mysteries, quite closely located to a castle; actually it was situated in the castle park. The surroundings were full of stories and fearsome monuments, which triggered our fantasy. The attic in Maja´s house became our retreat. We set up a secret club “The clever two-women club” and furnished a corner were we could hide. There we made our own "club books" of paper with needle and thread, set up rules for membership, made curtains. When we were strolling around in the neighbourhood we found interesting things to collect: small pieces of iron, stones, sticks, whatever…. Those treasures were brought to the attic were we kept them. The peak of the year was autumn when all the trees in the park dropped their leaves and seeds. We collected a large amount of chestnuts and saved them in an old baby carriage, which we found in a corner of the attic. During winter we had to stay away because it was to cold to be in the club. Finally it was spring and we could return, just to find out that a bunch of mice had invaded the place. The chestnuts had of course been a temptation to them and had functioned as their food storage during winter. The lesson was learned and we avoided keeping mice attractions in the club during winter but I still pick chestnuts every autumn and keep them in my pocket for a while.