365 days around The World of Joanne Chan 2018 style

This last years has had its up and downs, there appears little point in not acknowledging that and sometimes even mixed in each other.
For one thing it was a year I did spend  lot more time out of doors observing nature, going on walks interacting more with people face to face getting more physically and mentally resilent even if it was also the year I came close to leaving this world in wooden box being seriously ill thanks to an infection.
It is quite probably that increased resilience coupled with with my treatment made a big difference in its outcome.
Fun times were spent at littles camp in February and July just switching off from adult concerns to just enjoying playing, having games and quiz's  and actually going on walks outside together enjoying the countryside.
One thing I'd like to see more of is just going beyond our immediate surroundings visiting a nearby town or attraction together.There's a world beyond four walls.
It was a year I listened more to classical music with a high proportion of it being bought on better sounding Super Audio cds often newer recordings but also a few carefully mastered older ones.
Collecting classical music is nearly always a long term affair as you explore not just all the works in a variety of genres by any one composer but also interpretations by various conductors and orchestras.
I hugely enjoyed the recordings conducted by Sir Andrew Davis of Gustav Holst's music  that goes so much beyond his ever popular Planets Suite for the British label Chandos.
It was also the year I upped the quality of recorded visual content with the addition of a HD Blu Ray disc player and replaced a number of dvd's with their much sharper blu ray ones not least my Studio Ghibi full length animes.
It's hard for some to comprehend the distance we have travelled from our adequate VHS tapes that lack really fine detail we had since the popularization of owning home video content in the 1980's , the advent of the dvd in 1998 and more recently the Blu Ray that's the same size but being able to store more data uses it to give some the sharpest images we've ever seen at home.
The year ended with the annual GHS bonfire and Halloween weekend party which was fun as ever and for me a delightfully little christmas.
Thanks for everybody the people in cglre/liltot, the asb's of tumblr, the furries of f.a, the g.t site and associated littles, the i.k chat and finally my bff for your contributions for making 2018 a great year.

Christmas Edition 2018

The day is finally here and I'm out of my jim jams and into my pinafore dress and grey socks as we get to open this years presents.
The kitchen has been placed in Custardy as Mom is making custard by hand for tonight's trifle having tracked down some decorations go on top of the whipped cream while the Turkey Crown woke me up as it's smell wafted into my bedroom.
Starting this Christmas edition like last year made 'on the hoof', Elgar has always called with most my recordings being from the very late 1970's to the 1980's.

This newish acclaimed one, came out in 2016 offers two works I did not have and adds them in both stereo and surround sound in Super Audio cd quality (playable also in regular cd).
It will no doubt be treasured.

The Dandy is the always the Dandy, one a few comics I had as child and while sadly it no longer comes out weekly, it does have summer specials and this annual that stay with the original stories and indeed do even have reprints of cartoon strips from past years

One difference this year is I didn't get the Beano annual because there has been a big change in how the more traditional cartoon series have been drawn, in some such as Dennis the Menace written so he doesn't actually menace that messes up the whole backdrop to the character and a move toward so-called political correctness in the newer stories.

Instead I opted for this compilation issued to mark the 65th anniversary of Minnie The Minx  which consists of reprints of classic adventures as is which is a tribute to a heroine of mine.

I did however pick up the 2018 Christmas special edition which as 68 pages and printed more like a softback magazine.
lt fits in where I'd of had the comic editions across Christmas  where its a good example of where the comic is at today.

 Finally a new anime for me to watch in blu ray and regular dvd too.

And another but this one is just in blu ray.

This was a much talked about anthropomorphic animated film from 2016 that I had as a 'stocking filler' on Blu-Ray. I also had some money and vouchers.
We had a turkey roast for dinner and a Christmas pudding that I microwaved with cream afterward before I cleared the table and went off for a walk.
I hope everyone has had an enjoyable Christmas.

Christmas greetings

Another year passes us by and just eight days to go for the biggest bestest day for every one of us who's very much a child at heart with all that overnight anticipation.
Like most people I switch off during the period from social media as there's much to do here and with my folks who have more need for me to stuff to make Christmas happen than checking notifications on Tumblr and the like.
Then there's the great present swapping rituals that require me to be around when they can't to get everybody's things at the right locations so while I may just check it over, that'll be pretty much it.

Wishing you all a happy Christmas  not least my friends at tumblr, f.a. and g.t and all the best for twenty-nineteen.

The next edition will be out paw permitting on TUESDAY December 25th with live updates across the day.

More on the Tumblr purge

It's that thing again, nearly as  bad as the six  letter b  word in British current affairs you can never get away from.

lf only that were so things may not be so bad but there's other stuff going around connected to the use of Artificial Intelligence to save Tumblrs owners Verizon Inc money in moderating mainly with humans.
Adult Content as defined by Tumblr doesn't include age regression but it appears it is taking a hit where even outside of any relationship communities are being caught out by a system that appears to be ignorant of what it is banning.
The first one we talked about last time, flagging what the A.I. says is adult content no longer permitted that will be deleted unless you act.
The first problem is it is not integrated in the dashboard with an an indicator that you have any and the ablity to click or tap to see a list of flagged content but instead you are expected to look through your dash for it.
This may not be so bad if you have a few hundred posts but it you're like me with over 8,000 it's a nightmare because the flagging applies retrospectively to your posts which for means all the way back to 2013.
The second is the high error rate- Pikachu can get flagged as did the Pink Panther - and the delays in getting content reviewed by humans so a sequence of  posts is seen and published out of sync.
The other is something a few friends of mine alerted us to is seemingly some of us are being silent banned, allowed to post but not having our tumblrs searchable and in some circles even being unable to contact new people.
This means over time your interaction with people declines as older people leave but newer folk can't find you.
All right you can appeal and appeal but spending your time trying to watch your back of a A.I program that's hard to predict and waiting on such processes to be  overridden by actual people kills interaction and I dare say your enthusiasm to be on site.
I'm just not sure the anxiety issues this brings out with my real life conditions is honestly worth it.

The Tumblr Purge of 2018

One thing I did not anticipating have to write on the build up to Christmas is the 2018 Tumblr Purge that kicked off around November 19th that followed Apple Inc removing the Tumblr app from the iStore around concerns over child pornography that was found and access to adult content on a platform that allows it provide you flag it up as "Explicit".
Let's make one one thing plain before we begin:  sexualizing childhood, the posting of sexual images of children often arising from sickening abuse has no place at all in a civilized society and those that do post them are complicit on this.
Tumblr has every right to remove content, terminate accounts and  in certain cases hand over details to child protection agencies those engaged in it as they feel fit.
The problem here is there is no replacement for human judgement when it comes to what is explicit but lawful and what is not - it is what a judge in a court of law looks at in such cases - but because Tumble has a low staff to user ratio it uses algorithms often in the form of scripts to just take out anything that *might be*  automatically.
This seems to have resulted in a good many tumblrs correctly marked and tagged as explicit but lawful and permissible under Tumblr's rules being removed as they took out whole accounts rather than reviewing individual blogs.
That wasn't my main concern in writing this though it's the other things Tumblr is doing that come closer to home.
Age Regression is a popular activity, form of therapy and coping mechanism for people who suffer from traumas, mental illness and developmental disabilities with associated emotions.
In general we do more child-like things outside of that we cannot help such school, college, work and so  such as play, colouring, reading stories and hugging our plushies.
There are many communities on Tumblr devoted to this where people post coping tips, images they find calming, running clubs with activities and so on.
It is entirely non-sexual and any kind of carer role is paternal having non of Dominance and submissive side that applies to DDlg and its gender neutral CG/l equivalent.
It is by design minor friendly and safe for work being free from anything 18+. 
Tumblr decided to remove a raft of tags and that included amongst others that of the Cglre age regression community meaning it is no long possible to search by that tag for posts about that age regression community.
This means any minor who did search by looking under Age Regression risks seeing minor unfriendly posts and is less likley to find what they need.
Many of us of all ages have sent an open letter to Tumblr staff and support explaining what cglre is, how it helps us and why we feel they have made a mistake in regarding us as in any way sexual or kink related.
I joined in simply because a community we do not deserve it, we keep ourselves non-sexual, minor friendly  and take an active part in stopping anyone who would harm children.
We are therefore playing a responsible role in helping the site keep this material off it and yet they are lumping us in with it.
I do hope they reconsider this action and credit us with the responsibility we have shown and the care we take in helping each other cope with our traumas and disabilities.
In the meantime those of us in Cglre are voting on another name and main tag to use should  it prove necessary as having something that cannot be searched and is regarded by Tumblr as nsfw isn't helpful as much as we'd sooner not have to spend our time on it accepting too it is unsettling for people.
I'd like to thank Mod Kay for all her work on this.

Thanksgiving

After last weeks post, for some of you there was an important event you marked Tuesday November 22nd that is marked regardless of what else may be going on in your country.

I think actually here in the UK we're kind of remiss on not having a day of thanksgiving simply because for us as a people, society and nation-state we do have reason to be thankful for what is done for us be it by friends, your family or those in public employ who educate, look after and protect us.
Through them all we are helped on way throughout each year dealing with challenges in our lives such as lack and for some of us, ill health and disabilities that go beyond what people have to do.
Let us be thankful for all those who make our lives that much the better.

A Little Knight Music

For me Gladys Knight began around 1972 as I beginning to hear new music for myself, listening to the radio, watching what were all too brief music shows on tv and even venturing out with my parents and siblings to that  institution called "The Record Store" to buy new music.

I think - cos it's a mighty long time ago - the first album I heard by her and her band The Pips was Greatest Hits and the first I remember getting myself because it was an import was the British compilation Help Me Make It Through The Night which was issued in 1973 which I still own followed by that first Buddah album 'Imagination'.


Of late I've gotten around to collecting the five cd series issued by Motown UK in 2006 that features 10 albums by Gladys knight and the pips spread with two albums per cd.
It's not like I'm unfamiliar with some of these titles as I have lps of them some in mono as issued by Tamla-Motown in the UK and so the stereo is new to me although I'd of preferred to have mono for the earlier albums as it's that nothing in centre, with all else hard left and hard right stuff that is so distracting especially on headphones.

Following a period whilst signed to two labels releasing the 45's Letter Full Of Tears and Every Beat Of My Heart re-recorded for their Motown Greatest Hits album, they signed up in 1965 to Motown, recognizing the talent but it's fair to say Berry Gordy didn't really know what to do with them.

 

Everybody Needs Love issued in 1967 was their first Motown album and is a mixture of songs written for them and covers showing from the get go the call and response Gospel infused style they were to become famous for.The Tittle track, Take Me In Your Arms (and love me) ans well as they take on I heard It Through The Grapevine. The first cd couples this with Feelin' Bluesy from 1968 which is all covers as Berry Gordy didn't want then muscling on the Supremes territory but this nonetheless proved to be great vehicle for displaying Gladys voice on tracks like It Should Of been Me (Yvonne Fair had a top 5 UK hits with this in 1976) and The End Of Our Road.

The second disc in the series sees Silk 'N Soul issued in 1968 and is another covers but they were teamed with Norman Whitfield who just put another of a twist to enable the material to become theirs.with songs such as The Look Of Love, I Wish It Would Rain and Every little Bit Hurts.
1969 saw the issue of the second album on this cd, Nitty Gritty, a rousing piece of psychedelic Soul that contains not only the title track, a re-interpretation of Cloud Nine and Didn't You Know You have to Cry Sometime.

Disc three is a gem containing the If You Were My Woman and Standing Ovation albums from 1971.
The first album is a mixture of songs written for the group such as the title track and I don't Want To do Wrong as well as covers such as Let It Be and One Less Bell To Answer.
Standing Ovation was an album of covers - the group felt very much pushed back and were to leave for Buddah Records soon - but among the covers includes their sensual remake of Help Me Make It Through The Night and Make Me The Woman Go Home To written for by Clay McMurray

A Ghoulish Affair

This weekend last I was away for what is a highlight in littles life, parties, and in particular the Halloween one staged by a friend here in the Midlands which for me meant a short train journey after a bus ride and meeting with them as they dealt with some other business in town before picking me up.
Although compared with certain other events I attend this was comparatively short in terms of days away, obviously bringing things to literally add to the party soon takes up space so I needed a full complement of tote bags and case.
Having arrived back, the first task was to get the fire light and a brew on because three more people were staying overnight on the Friday after finding a good spot tm to put my stuff as with fourteen of us being here for Saturday and Sunday space in the front room in particular would be at a premium.
Some things I brought for Saturday's buffet  were taken out and the Pumpkin the host had brought for me saving trying to carry that on the train was paid for.
As well by prior arrangement I'd be sleeping in their so it made sense to put what I needed at hand but not in other folks way.
I sorted out my advance Christmas card pile for folk and got out my Hello Kitty white and pink plushie.
It wasn't long before the first two guests arrived which as our host was otherwise  detained I let in and by the time the last one of the day had made it it was time to get some food going.
We had a big pork chop with well cooked rind, roast potatoes from the garden which I washed for the host and Andi helped with vegetables.
The remainder of the evening was taken up with much conversation punctuated with bangs from a local firework display.
Come Saturday morning I was up fairly early in a grey jumper and wine coloured pleated skirt ready to take my pills and fix a spot of breakfast after rounding up stray cups and glasses.
 As people were coming later on, I had a few things to do of which one was to help out - it's 2018 and I'm expected to do something(!) - and that involved converting Gingerbread persons into Gingerbread Girls by decorating them.

I used eatable cake icing to add eyes, tops and skirts for them 

I made a number of variations on a theme which included one as a girl soccer player.
By about 13:00 hours most people had arrived so our Host and Andi set on making Burger with fried onion and to which another and brought salad together with sauces to add to suit your own taste.
By about 14:25 the last four guest had arrived in time for theirs.
Soon it was time for Fred and Florence's Exceeding Good Food Hunt which was a kind of treasure hunt out of doors where you had to find one item for which there was a prize which then lead to clue for the next and so on until we got to the last one where everyone had something - for me it was a caramel filled chocolate bar.

The next event was also out of doors, namely Pumpkin Carving to which several people had brought various tools to get into the pumpkin with and most of us remembered first time to save the top we'd cut out ready for the tea light to be fitted.

Finished mine looked a bit like this.
We went indoors to clean up and otherwise get ourselves ready for the cold buffet that included Pizza, pork pies (drools), salad and a home made trifle with cream.

By just after 19:00 it was time to put on warmer attire as it was time for our bonfire to be lit a safe distance from us which was a good idea as it turned a bit breezy. I had my Puma trackpants on.
It roared loudly with much crackling as people held sparklers waving them about.
Then we started our firework display oohing and aahing to the vibrant colours and sounds.

The display ended with two fireworks dedicated to members of our group who'd passed away.
After a short break it was time for the music quiz which had food connections where a tune was played and you had to guess the answer. Sammy won a cabbage for it!
The was much lively conversation until just before one in the morning when I got to bed.
I was as ever the first up and dressed this time in a green jumper - our host likes green apparently - ready to take my tablets and have a cup of tea as gradually everyone got up and about.
We had a bacon sandwich  to keep us going before we went to a gastro-pub within walking distance for a meal together before we all set off as some people had three hours or more to travel and it is a nice way to end a weekend together.
I had a turkey roast with trimmings and sticky toffee treacle with cream which arrived very efficiently given it was really busy with diners plus regular drink trade.
Upon arrival back at our hosts venue, everyone said their goodbyes before we meet again next year and Andi kindly took myself and another to the local rail station to make our ways home which for me included a taxi straight home as Sunday buses are infrequent and in any event don't run to our estate on that day.
I'd like to thank our host for a well put together party with fun events, everyone who helped out in various ways and for just being a gas to spend time with.

Sparkle!

Well folks after the weekend I am back, with a half a day before this blog is due so where is a post I made earlier on while I was googling around as you do when I spotted this lovely poem which seamed apt for those of us whole struggle with various aspects of our lives.

Sparkle In Your Eye:


When I look at you, I see the sparkle in your eye, 
It tells me whats true and never tells a lie.
The sparkle in your eye, 
Even when you are sad, never does it cry.
Whenever it expresses its feelings, 
It tells me straight away, 
What you are stealing, 
Without doing a survey.
It tells when you'll fall, 
So I'll catch you like a ball.
It's the sparkle in your eye that says, 
You'll make it in the next couple of days.
The sparkle in your eye, 
Never, ever shall it die. 


By Ulveena Aitzaz from Lahore


Poetry was one thing I really enjoyed at school, reading learning and reciting it in front of the class, traditional European as well as Japanese styles.

The Ghouling years

Just a matter of few days before I'm off for a ghoulish time so I'm working presently on packing my case, double checking as you do that everything you need is in there plus other things like money.
It's interesting to reflect on how it has been in the last three and a bit decades the way we mark this time of the year has changed because over here in the UK Halloween as such wasn't marked but people did hold All Hallows Day parties with guising and toffee apples.
The more recent custom of Trick and Treat isn't native to the UK but an import from the States a good number hold the children's tv program  Blue Peter responsible for doing a feature on in the early eighties that then spread like topsy.
Into that the participates created outfits to which people rewarded with candy and it wasn't long before as in the States commercial outfits became widely available even if face paint and the like obviously was hand applied.
In this country it cuts into the Guy Fawkes season where we mark the foiled attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament with effigies, bonfires and fireworks in 1605.
For that ear muffs may help as some fireworks are really loud!

Fall Sightings 2018 Part 2

In what seems more like a last hurrah of spring  rather than The Fall, I've been out quite a bit this last week noticing things.

 We're getting in classic golden fall territory in our local wood withe the leaves going a coppery colour and a good number down to ground level making a colourful carpet.

Strange things having been going on as while as you can see the leaves are starting to decay actually on Saturday Afternoon they were smothered with at least three Ladybirds per leaf and indeed I had to carefully scoop one that had attached itself to me and put it on a leaf.

There were two spotted ones and the Harlequin ladybird.

The trees at the end of the  lane are starting to go go coppery as those just opposite already have

 Down at ground level you can see the leaf carpet around each trunk and to where Zee-Zee's mates were spotted running up and down the branches in a carefree way.

It's been a great week out.

A spot of colouring

The weekend was not particularly conducive to going out with strong winds on Friday so with even bigger and strong people than myself struggling I needed to stay indoors which as you probably aware isn't something I like at all, being an outdoor girl.
One thing you can do when it is like this is colour and so I had my colouring book out on Friday.

 Normally when I colour I use Staedtler colour pencils available in the Noris Club 36 colour pack as they respond well to different pressures for shading and don't easily break in the way some cheaper ones found in convenience stores do
They also sharpen well.
That illustration is from the Jacqueline Wilson Colouring Book published by Penguin UK and illustrated by Nick Sharratt who does the drawings in her stories.

Fall sightings 2018

This week in the crazy world of me we actually go outside at the start of the Fall where within a built up area you actually get to see things you'd normally have to go a bit beyond down the country lanes for.

 I wouldn't go mentioning requiring a new jumper in the presence of these two as they may well Baa you out within seconds. They're within a hundred yards of a community centre but it doesn't feel like it.

 If anyone ever accused these two of horsing about they'd have quite answer to that as I careful supported the camera with the lens set at 105mm in uneven light and later on adjusted the exposure a little.
It was around here I once almost lost a camera bag to curious horses!

 There's nothing like crisp leaves and sunlight although I used to cheat in the old days armed with the Olympus OM4 and use the TTL flash with a warm up filter sometimes to get the kind of golden colour cast I like.

Teenbeat XVIIII - Driving to Billy Paul

More from the the time it was less clunk click fasten your seat belt so much as as it was a rat-a-tat CLUNK  coming from Pops Q8 player as we sped the highway between hospital appointments which both avoided being out of FM range on the radio and gave us four speakers.

 Life was simple then! Speakers in all four doors, push tape in to play, pull out to stop or spin the radio dial for a station and that was it.

Anyway that trip on takes us to these three albums and yes I can count -just!-  cos we had them .
Billy Paul was one the big names of the then big Philadelphia International  records label that specialized in jazz influenced soul, going beyond Motown and PhillyGroove and I loved that music and it has to be said, still do.
Philadelphia International was formed by producers Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff after their earlier Neptune and Gamble labels with the backing of Columbia Records who wanted to tap into soul and "Black Music" sales.

In 1972 Philadelphia International issued 360 Degrees of Billy Paul which wasn't his first album but it was the home of the smash hit Me and Mrs Jones, the more decisive Am I Black Enough  U.S. follow up and Brown Baby which I think was issued in the U.K.
The record was issued in SQ quad (four channel surround sound) that played on regular stereo players and tape but released on Q8 quadraphonic tape in early 1973.
War of the Gods was issued in 1973 and is a more psychedelic soul album that personally I find more musically interesting if less overly commercial. 
From it Thanks For Saving My Life was lifted reaching #37 on the U.S. singles chart and #33 in the U.K. It two was issued on SQ record and Q8 Quadraphonic tape.

In December of 1973 Philadelphia International brought over a number of artists to the UK and Europe and two albums, one by the O'Jay's and this short set by Billy Paul were issued the next year.
Billy's is a short set recorded in London and Chatham, Kent where he expands upon the studio versions and acts today as a reminder of his ability to hold an audiences attention.
The Quad mix unlike many of live albums doesn't just place the audience in the rear but does put a few effects in the rear channels.
The SQ records were phased out  by the end of the 70's and the Q8 tapes were discontinued  by around 1977 although we hung onto our player for several years. 
In that time until last week, these albums in those mixes remained locked in the tape vaults when Vocalian-Dutton in Great Britain re-issued them as extra content on the Super Audio cd versions they issued complete with original stereo mixes on sacd and regular cd layers.
They sound superb on my player and accompanying hifi equipment.

Classical sacd round up part ten - two from the Atlantic

As I am road testing the second update to Pale Moon to see if they've been able to make it stable enough to use I am listening to some discs that I intend to talk about today,

 Leonard Bernstein was many things, composer, music teacher, advocate of the Arts and a great American of the last century.
I have a good number of his compositions originally recorded for Columbia (UK/Canada: CBS) records conducted by himself in a 7 cd Sony Music cd box set and a few choice extras such as the 1993 recording of On The Town.
Recently over here, the London symphony Orchestra's own cd label issued a recording in Super Audio cd (also playable in regular cd) taken from a live performance at the Barbican Arts Centre, London of his Wonderful Town musical.
Set in the 1940's but written in 1953, it tells the story of Ruth and Eilleen quest to make it big pursuing careers in writing and acting moving from Ohio in the Midwest to New York's Greenwich City  from the cramped basement apartment they moved to.
Along the way they meet colourful characters they'd never lived cheek by jowl by before in this city that never sleeps and the score reflects this being a a bright and cheery love letter to it.
The infectious jazz influenced score includes such classics as 'Ohio', 'One Hundred Easy Ways' and  A 'Little Bit in Love'
This performance is exhilarating, never letting up and technically superb.

Seeing this years Proms season ended September 10th thoughts went back to composers of the WW1 era.

 I have a good number of cds by by the mystic Gustav Holst and spotted this 2008 recording by the late Richard Hickox in a series of his Orchestral works he started and whose baton has been picked up by Sir Andrew Davis
This Chandos Super Audio cd has the popular Ballet from "The Perfect Fool" conceived as a an opera but written to ballet form in 1922 plus the much less popular but worthy The Lure ballet and Golden Goose choral ballet together with The Morning of the Year ballet the last two being composed in 1926.
I found this recording most enjoyable.

Read and in uniform

The weather is a bit better than it had been from the start of this week so I start with saying the last few entries that have been a little different from the the norm on this blog have been fairly well received.
I have been continuing with refreshing some items of my uniform although in certain  others areas I'm well stocked adding a  few replacement blouses and a green jumper to it.

 As most people know I usually look very much like her never happier to be wearing our school dresses although I dare say if I were to accidentally cause the netball to land though Miss Green's window I may well know it for a while!
Seeing it is early September I have been working my though some past stuff connected with roles and courses I've had that were very much paperwork heavy  tidying things up as there comes a point where most of that is no longer needed it just takes up unnecessary space with notes, bulky folders and so on.

As well, I also got around to reading Little Women although I'd had it for a while which is a timeless coming of age story of the four March sisters set in the post Civil War period in the States as though through childhood to adulthood, helped by their mother learning to navigate what it means to be a young woman from sibling rivalry to love, loss and marriage.

A walk around

It's been a damp weekend here  meaning going out was more a matter of picking a spot when it was either dry for a short while or just drizzling a little and given how I've been over the last month or so such venturing out has taken me beyond my usual haunts.
I normally go into town which as more seasoned readers will have worked out is a rather old market town with black and white buildings just out of the sprawl of the North Staffordshire conurbation but closer to edges of it are still just about detached villages admittedly with much mid twentieth century ribbon development prevailing along the main road.

 There are for me two ways of starting this trek, one is on foot, the other is to take a bus so normally I walk from my place passing the woods around the local rather imposing Hall and vast Estate at Rode with farms passing the main Anglican church to arrive at Scholar Green.
As I was walking I noticed signs of the onset of the Fall such as the changes in colour of the leaves and that thanks to the recent rain, fields and gardens have started to repair themselves from the summers high temperatures.
Although in recent years the number of Public Houses has fallen, there remains rather more than what the local static population would warrant and one famed both for its food and ale plus its architecture which has a Grade Two Listing being built in 1936 replacing a older ne on the same site but having a thatched roof.
This does a great passing trade.
Passing it I walked toward Lawton Woods where you can toward the sprawl that starts from Red Bull and Butt Lane and doesn't stop until Blythe Bridge and Trentham in the south or the woods that form a part of the barrier between it and the cluster of detached villages that increasingly function as detached suburbs of the sprawl.
One thing I like about this area and it is also true for much of the South Staffs conurbation too is the relative ease in which for all the built up environment it is easy to get to the more quieter countryside that you can walk and enjoy the flowers, trees and farm life at a more slower pace.
It's a close to the best of both worlds you can get.

Gender Spaces

Another week and one update to Pale Moon and that still hasn't cured the browser of freezing over so we're still in Firefox which as much as I don't like the interface does work very well.

Spaces are a contentious issue as anyone on Tumblr knows only too well and some of that also applies into off line life too as well as what people do when we allow them into our own.
One area I think worth talking about is gender spaces where yes most of us say people should be free to mix with whoever they want, take part in activities together and not be barred from an activity just because of their gender. 
This you might think is the end product of decades of arguments won when it comes to equal opportunities and as such the very last word but today it's not.
Unlike perhaps a few of you I've been in the work place and it isn't uncommon for female employees to actually have their own social groups that they keep to just women going out together or spending time at each others places.
Even in 2018 here in Great Britain there are Universities that only accept women being founded expressly for female higher education and women have voted to keep them that way because they prefer a all female ethos and under English Law at at least a private members club can be all female only too.
Part of the argument is it is nice to have a place just to talk and share things with without men around who as nice as they are would  change the feel by just being there and maybe inhibit conversations people needed.
There is a chunk of me that goes with that, indeed in my area Secondary Education is organized on gender lines unless you go out of town because that's what people here prefer feeling it's less distracting to study and children do better academically with girls feeling more able to show an interest in things like the sciences not trying to be a 'bimbo' or letting the boys take a dominate role and boys more able to express feeling in say both English's without feeling either a 'nerd'  or a 'sissy''.
If you accept the idea that some spaces should be able to be gendered if females wish, then we have to bear in mind we cannot then object if boys and men may also prefer a few   themselves to kept that way such as men's clubs where they may socialize and talk about things that wouldn't happen if a women was there.
That's different than arguing that say a woman shouldn't be allowed to a sports club that runs competitions such as golf clubs where teams are mixed.
Perhaps more give and take on gender spaces rather than battle cries might better suit our needs?

A Mars Bar is can be claimed for anyone spotting the typo in the illustration. 😁

Check and replace edition

Here we are on a August Bank Holiday over here having to use Firefox as Pale Moon, the browser of choice on my ageing Windows 7 laptop is having stability issues and and so I am waiting for a major bug removing update for it as it is not reliable enough for blogging.
Today I have been out for a walk and across this week I have been  sorting through my old clothes especially woollens for winter between those that simply need to go due to wear and tear like holes in elbows and those that just need a wash and airing out.

One thing I did do was replace a sweatshirt I have had for a number of years for another with slightly longer arms in it apart from obviously being new in better condition that I tend to wear  with my grey and green pleated skirts.
As well I did toss out some old ankle socks for new longer black ones as they were showing signs of wear in the toes and heel.
Think Ill just rest now and relax. Roll on September!

The Rolling Stones on CD part II

This week we resume the music posts that go back to November 21 2016 no less where I did discuss my collection of Rolling Stones cds.
 As explained at the time in as far as their recordings before 1971 go, they are the property of Abkco Records who have released them as they felt fit and whose last re-issue series goes back to 2002 although in 2006 that series was reissued on standard cd in jewel cases.
Why did I say Standard cd?
Simply because in Europe, Japan and North America they all were issued that year on Super Audio cd with a layer playable on regular cd players too so that on those Super Audio cd players you would get a sound much closer to the original analogue recordings.
I bought a good many of them at the time but apart from missing the odd US only title that had little to offer over the UK one I didn't get around to picking up this one.

It is the least understood album of theirs of that era entitled Their Majesties Satanic Request and issued originally in December 1967 in mono which came on cd in the Rolling Stones in Mono box set and stereo.
The original sleeve used a 3D art insert of the band in the centre but this was dropped several years later as it was way too expensive to make and assemble.

 The whole theme of the album is so "The Summer of Love" it was almost dated on release but while it does contains a number of great songs it's biggest downfall was the the combination of the group using the recording sessions to just drop in the studio, goofing about without a producer to say "enough of that" and turbulent events around the including arrests and group founder Brian Jones increasing drug addiction with all the issues from it.
They had to pull bits up to make a album very quickly from very little that could be regarded as releasable.
Throw in experimenting widely with a psychedelic sound in the studio, incorporating unconventional instruments, sound effects, string arrangements, and African rhythms and what you had was an album far removed from the rock sound they had only created the previous year on their groundbreaking Aftermath album, Paint It, Black and Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadows? singles.
It took me a while to get into this album mainly on the back of hearing free form jazz and even then some touches like the snoring segment before 2,000 Man which was covered by Kiss, still don't make any sense.
It's a interesting album to listen to especially in SACD but the group clearly learned from their experiences making this album bring in producer Jimmy Miller and a more disciplined approach to recording for their next album Beggars Banquet.

We *may* also have to go back to using Firefox on the Windows laptop until some issues with Google's Blogger and that resolve themselves on Pale Moon since the major change on version 28 in the last few days get bug fixes.

Play and what we play with

 I'm feeling better this week so I thought I'd write something a little different than usual.

 Something I started noticing several years back when I first started buying my own stuffies and especially dolls was a difference between what some bought them for and what I did before getting involved around the world of littles.
One of things I found odd was what I later called the "collectors mentality" where people bought them in the original packaging and kept them permanently in that state, boxed up at best on shelf or otherwise in a storeroom.
To me they seemed to see them as objects that admittedly they liked  but the bais was clearly on maintaining that collectors item look and monetary value to the point they weren't handled and cherished even if they were intended for children who would play with them.
Personally, I buy my dolls and stuffies to play with although my porcelain ones are because of their delicateness are more handled than played with.
I take them out to sit by, hug whenever I feel the 'need' to hug or carry on in my hand around the house or wherever I am staying. I create stories featuring them which I then play with in real time together freely.
That's for me apart from those 'special dolls' they are my toys which as an adult child I play with in much the same way that I did as a child and as some saw me recently even gently rocking a pram with dollies.
It's what I get from playing with them that matters more to me than that whole collectors thing. 

Card games from the past

While I am recovering here from an infection and generally speaking not really up to doing terribly much, I was thinking back to some of the card games I used to play when I was younger usually with relatives.

That was a more a test of recall with a set of playing rules

Misfits was about sorting out the right parts to complete each character and then their were games like snap!
There have been themed versions, one of my favourites of which is this one:

 The Beano was the go to comic at the time, for some it still is, and so playing a game of misfits that featured the likes of the Bash Street Kids, Minnie The Minx - a heroine of mine - Dennis The Menace and his dog Gnasher was bound to go down well.

One could also play Happy Families as in this Victorian version
They all helped pass the time while having fun.

Littles Camp Report Summer 2018

This last week was the second littles camp of the year I attended and was likely to be a landmark one too for a number of reasons, some sad, some quite pleasant that were apparent from the very outset.
The first being this was the first such meeting since the death of close littles friend whose last contact was during February's being unable to attend herself and emotionally loaded because it was the place we spent so much time together at my first meet way back in February 2014.
The other without breaching confidences is the venue has been up for sale and a result was we needed to find another for early next year so unless it was to be bought for vacation lettings, it would be our last time at this idyllic building in the countryside.
So it was with an somewhat emotional heart, I commenced on my way to meet a longstanding friend to stop over before they drove down to East Anglia on a warm day waiting for a twenty minute delayed bus to the rail station to catch the London Northwestern train where I'd be picked up from.
Given the weekly weather forecast was for temperatures over 25 degrees c and next to no rain, this dictated what I took with me so it wasn't long before I changed into lightweight black school pinafore dress before colouring a little before we settled for a Pork Chop, mashed potatoes, runner beans with onion sauce and gravy and cakes.
We later watched the Tour de France - they cycle, I'm interested in cycling but lack balance never mind  muscles for it personally - following the competitors and admiring the countryside.
As ever I was up early, making sure I had everything ready and available for loading into the car because apart from our personal effects, we also had games equipment and food for everyone on board too that had to be carefully slotted into it.
We left around of Ten in the morning of Saturday going around Amblecote and across toward Hagley to avoid delays around Birmingham and Coventry going along Northampton and back up via St Neots toward the venue location.
On arrival at Ten to Two, we met Daisy, Suzy, Andi, Becky and Karla and Caroline the latter just stopping for a shorter period than the remainder of us before having warm pie while we settled in awaiting the others to arrive.
As usual, the majority elected to have an Indian takeaway so they ordered and fetched that while those of us who didn't including myself and Jennifer had a warmed up pie with mash and cakes we prepared and cooked ourselves.
We also went out toward the lake for a stroll where we remarked the water levels, a concern in period of high temperatures and lack of rainfall, were surprisingly high there.
The reminder of the evening was very much a free to socialize and relax so I started reading a book and the London Underground jigsaw with 1,000 pieces came out as various folk gathered around desperately trying to find the pieces that went together in sea of white.
The Sunday was the first day proper of camp and it was obvious with the heat the schedule I had prepared was going to have to be adjusted to take account of the impact of the heat.
One sign of this was I wore my blue check gingham dress as it was lighter and more cooler than just about anything else short of only having say a swimsuit on.
The first event event after the breakfasts all of which I set out doing battle with summer flies was the "Make it yoorself" event where we used cardboard boxes, paint and make-a-do connectors to make a long dragon with a tail and working teeth which was ably lead by Sammy.
After lunch Alice appropriately enough lead the Alice in Wonderland treasure hunt with clues all outside for people to find and objects related to the story around trees and bushes  to spot including a spot of croquet and charades. This lead to discovering who really stole the Queen of Hearts, tarts.
This beautifully lead into a Alice in Wonderland tea party with themed cups and 'Alice Cakes' - home made tarts that were enjoyed by all in the blazing sun.
We were joined by Amy and Netter on this day who contributed with events.
Miss Green came up with an enjoyable steak pie based tea with Apple and Sultana pie, the stake pies being carefully matched to peoples tastes having got preferences in.
Monday saw a switch on the schedule (it's with a K sound if your like me) as Miss Green miraculously was able to both organize the event and take part in one of the two coloured teams, naturally Green and Yellow all at once that included Archery, Target, Egg and Spoon (no hens were injured in that!) and the sack race where Sammy and I  decided to stand out that one as both of us for differing reasons wouldn't be able to do so for our differing teams. A sensible way through that situation.

I was in my lightweight airy t shirt and  green pleated games skirt as that was pretty cool to wear dashing about.
There was some ahem confusion with the Sponge The Staff event where when the yellow team were ask to start everyone regardless of team  just fired on the target as one! I'm sure that wasn't supposed to happen.
The Greens (Miss Green, Jillian, Daisy and myself) won by 36 to 33 against Yellow (Sammy, Becky,Alice and Debbie).
The afternoon was taken up by Sammy's Class that this time was about the Solar System where we learned some interesting facts about our near neighbours and everyone cut and drawed some image connected with it. The result was more like a collage.
I made a image of a boy shaped rocket landing on mars with a sign pointing to Sirius  next to the Mars Life Centre with a trash can with a Rat shaped satellite nearby.
An aside to the event, space junk does concern me actually.
We had a mainly Fish and Chips tea, I say mainly cos I spotted a few fried sausage and a chicken in the order that had been phoned in and collected while it was being served.
In the evening, Becky held a Quiz based upon Disney and UK Facts and figures which was win by the Three Musketeers (Alice, Jillian and Myself).
Tuesday was a bit different because Victoria for personal reasons wasn't able to be with us all the time, joined us for the day, which was the last full day of littles camp.
In the morning, a water pistol challenge was held naturally out doors to avoid damaging anything like the ceiling where Victoria, Miss Green, Alice, Debbie and I chased around firing at each other and sometimes as one against the other as we got soaked having fun which yes is kinda like kids but that's the point: we were just letting that side out as is.
In the afternoon, the resplendent in black with ears nekimimi was purring her way through the All Purrpuss Nekomimi Music Quiz that she'd prepared earlier between things like talking to her BFF.
The quiz was divided into two sections, a short classical one and a section of 60's to 90's popular music with three teams competing with the Cycle Paths and another scoring 16 points each and thus winning two magnificent colouring books (they were really good actually) and the last team scoring 12 from a maximum of 25.
I believe it was much enjoyed for the broad selection of questions to appeal to all present.
Given the extreme heat we decided to have an early meal later but in form of a very tasty b-bq by Andi with kebabs and chicken part cooked in the oven first to make sure it was properly cooked which really is a must with just the burgers and sausages done exclusively on the griddle.
 This was served with salad with fried onions, bread rolls and so on as needed  turning out quite a memorable meal for all the right reasons.
Somehow a camp fire or a bb-q type event evokes the right kind of 'feel' to being together especially on the penultimate day, something I remember from school organized holidays we went on.
Wednesday was leaving apart from finishing apart from two pieces that seemed to be missing another jigsaw time was taken up more with taking down and apart things we'd made, tidying up and getting our things ready to leave.
A few of us went for a half hour walk to look at the nearby lake and countryside so sorry for missing you leaving, Jillian.
I'd pre-packed some of my case across the days to make things a bit easier for my friend reloading the car with a good portion of what we took with us in order.
Setting out a bit earlier than originally planned at eleven because I was (and had been for a few days) rather unwell with the start of a migraine coming on rapidly that morning  we arrived back for around half three or near enough I was struggling to focus so recollection for much of that is a bit hazy.
The main catering  for lunchtimes  took the form of a salad spread with meats, egg and so on done extremely well by Suzy and Daisy.
I think the general consensus was that people had gotten the sense of being 'little' for several days interacting together, being in "little space" able to come out from the child within, expressing it through what we did even if we did need to 'big up' to take care of some aspects or run an activity.
The only negative which certainly is no reflection on anyone was the problem of tics and horseflies  as a number of us were bitten which did include me making coping with being unwell less comfortable, running up a temperature as my body was fighting the bites.
Events went smoothly, our self catering arrangements worked out fine as having a professional caterer on certainly would add to the catering cost per person and within the group we have the skills set to cater well.
What had been a great venue for several years will be warmly remembered as we look forward to new one here in The Midlands so with that I'd like to thank everyone who ran an event, helped with catering, picked up or washed things up or otherwise added something to what was a lovely time. Personally I'd like thank Miss Green for her hospitality  not least her own catering and other things tm that made the time memorable.