LG Winter Camp 2025

It was an odd kind of a week that was running very much on its own alternate time which started with travelling by Transport For Wales trains to Leominster, Herefordshire to be picked up ready to complete the journey to a new venue in the South-west of England.

After a while I got the hang of hearing Welsh and English station names being announced even if they were in England and their welsh versions are seldom used and the journey towards Bristol and the Seven was quite smooth compared to other venues.

Talking of Wales, we went on the Welsh side of the Wye to Tintern Abbey near Chepstow which is a ruin undertaking as can be evidenced from the scaffolding renovation works part structural and part to restore elements lost in previous attempts.

It's pretty big, very much self contained settlement although finding it took a bit of doing as the signing wasn't obvious.

We called in the cafe adjacent to it for a bite to eat as it had been a good while since we'd eaten and I had a "White Monk's Breakfast" which was the local form of the traditional a full bacon and egg "English" fried breakfast that was extremely good.
 

 When we got to the Eleventh Century manor house we were staying at we did explore the extensive grounds there were a lot of snowdrops and daffodils out looking towards the local fields and hills.

 I did mention the time seemed different and it was cos it was CatMas (Christmas) and everything was centred around that so we had a tree that was decorated.

Santa came with presents and a Christmas box on CatMas eve.

There were arts and crafts sessions that included making decorations such as chains, things for the tree such as my CatMas one, making place mats for CatMas dinner and so on that was fun.

We did Home Economics, making Mince pies, decorating Ginger biscuits with seasonal art, cup cakes and even making our very own Pizzas from dough so with a great issue with cheese mine was tomato, turkey and ham.

We held games with a twist on musical chairs, quiz's, landing a jelly object on a CatMas tree target and getting a pin on the top of the donkey. The team I was part of came second in the General Knowledge quiz.
 

Catering was by us and we had a traditional very tasty CatMas Dinner with Christmas pudding  and turkey, ham and salad with chips Boxing day meal. Well we had plenty of turkey and ham so you might as well us it which our parents always did!

On the way we called a cross of gift shop, delicatessen, butchers and restaurant before making our way back to the Midlands which for me meant a stop over at a friends before catching the train back home.

Thanks to Karla and Caroline for organizing  the structure and big chunk of the catering, others who provided party food and a delicious cottage pie and for everyone for making it a super child-like time.

 

Little Camp Winter 2024

I was away last week at Littles Camp Tm which for me involved a train journey to Miss Green's where then we picked up Katie enroute before arriving at base camp in East Anglia which would of been quicker had we'd not of had delays going through Wednesbury, South Staffs but given there was bigger trouble involving the M5 and 6 we probably had the least imperfect route arriving before four in the afternoon.

For me it was the first time since the Pandemic I had returned to this venue missing the first opportunity two years ago when I was seriously unwell so I was interested to see what the new operators had done (or not).

So after getting a room I got changed in one for skirts I had with me as I don't like having my legs encased apart from bad memories associated with trousers that can trigger negative responses that may require attention.

While most people had various curries we opted to have a chicken salad that just required said chicken breast cooking as people started to arrive and rooms were being allocated  with Barbie themed room signs.

Sunday saw the morning Arts and Crafts session where in teams we made Viking boards from card, dowlling and sticky tape which were sailed on Tuesday with Mine and Jennifer's second from right managing to stay up well.

There was a Barbie themed Colour Game in the afternoon with well hidden clues as in on the ceiling before the legendary "all purrpuss nekomimi music quiz" took place covering a variety of genres and eras after the pie evening meal which went down well.

Monday saw Miss Green's cake making class where things for the party the next day were made and I made some with Alice  that turned quite well given measurements were estimated on the fly while in the afternoon Samantha run a Hair Band making session.

After Mary and Iris's mouth-watering Beef Stew with dumplings evening meal, Miss Green read a story from the farm.

Across the week various jigsaw's were made, some easier than others.

Tuesday saw the indoor sports which being somewhat unco-ordinated I didn't do too well at including Magnetic Darts, Skittles and making and flying model airplanes from paper which was more me being the sort of thing I did back in the day and the Barbie party was held with sausage rolls, cakes and games such as pass the parcel and musical chairs.

After the delightful fish and chip evening meal that had to be picked up, we were treated to the Barbie Movie after Jillian's rather good general knowledge quiz.

We did change the midday meals compared to previous years to deal with a few interconnected things like them that stepped up to make food did lose time from taking part in activities, there tended to be a fair bit of waste as people didn't need a substantial midday meal and in the current climate of increasing food costs we could save some money.

This did work out pretty well and we tried to keep evening meals relatively simple rather than things that require lots of supervision.

Some people left first thing Wednesday but a number of us went to a Castle in Suffolk which wasn't far away which was very enjoyable, exploring before making our way back which was a bit late due to two road incidents and major traffic issues that were to delay Miss Green's, Katie's and my return home which rather tried our patience.

I stayed overnight given we were back late before Miss Green went with me into town, seeing me off before I caught the train back home which had some fun such as person who refused to give up a seat for wheelchair user leaving her parked by the very side of the train I needed to get off!

Not her fault, just an atom of humanity that wasn't being considerate so I had to make my way down the corridor to another set of doors to get out but thankfully there was cab on the Taxi rank waiting for me so I was at home in time for midday meal.

Thanks to every one who ran an activity, provided food and otherwise contributed to making our little gathering a great success.

Getting set to go

Actually as you read this entry I'm not really here just with other girls and given for one thing I can't carry the proverbial kitchen sink with me and that I don't wish to be distracted by the infernal net tm the Chromebook isn't with me.

I mean even if I wanted a million dresses with me there's no way I carry them with me on the train as we're doing well I'm carrying anything given how things panned out back in 1994 and that diagnosis.

The whole point is really being together enjoying each others company playing, having fun than anything really competitive or being a how many dresses you put on in a day challenge never mind staring into the monitor every spare moment.

With me play is a bit less traditional being more in tune with modern girlhood so the idea of say informal all girl kickabout is very much me in way somethings may not although outdoor stuff is at the mercy of the elements of which there's much speculation as I type this.

However that goes, it'll be good to be away with friends.

Preparations for being away

Plans are slowly coming together for Camp having worked on my direct contribution to events and got the prizes all sorted out but beyond clothes which probably be finalized a week or so before hand  given the somewhat variable and extreme weather we've been having of late with me specifically there are other things.

Because of what happened to me in the work place I have difficulties with both my hands although the right hand one is more affected which both limit in the absolute sense the amount of use in total from getting up through doing things across the day to getting myself changed for bed at night and that at least one needs to be be splints whenever it is being used.

That's to prevent actions that would cause further inflammation and injury and provide support around my wrist(s).

While physical therapists tend to say you should only wear them while undertaking things, reality is most of the day you just are from picking things up to attempting to get the washing up done so I usually take a spare for those sorts of activities.

Thus I needed to get a new one for less messy uses sorted so I needed to check my hand measurements as mine are more like a teenagers than an adults so they are a snug fit

The other thing is because of my migraines I need to keep a whole box or two with me in case any come on  to aid my recovery although a significant number of people misunderstand them and how they leave you, wanting you to pick up from where you left off focused more on the idea you let people down rather than you had a urgent medical need that needs appropriate treatment including recovery.

It's not midge season so there's usually stuff for them while it's not their season generally speaking and anti hystermines for other things like nettles

Away we go-go!

 Phew! That was a jam hot week wasn't it folks?

It probably was not the best of weeks for thinking about and starting on the task of sorting things out for LG Camp which is actually going to happen given it was cancelled twice with covid and it's associated restrictions preventing both the travelling and staying together under one roof during that time.

It won't be as previous ones have for a number of reasons such as concerns still about infections if we were likely to to any visitor attractions with high numbers as in England we have a good number of the under forties yet to have their second vaccination apart from those  that won't have any.  

No doubt there will be a chore chart or similar to help make light work of what it takes to get a self organized event happen in a fair way and we have a provisional schedule but their should be some things for people to do creatively apart from going on walks, quizzes' or sitting out and play.

See you next week!

Time Together

Because this month I may not be away with friends due to you know what doesn't mean I cannot look back at those moments and some of the views I saw such as walking around this lake in East Anglia enjoying the tranquility of it all.

 Nor does it mean I forget the joy of being able to stroll around the grounds of where we usually stay enjoying the trees and watching the insect life on a warm Winter's day.

 It's the memories we make that help us get through difficult times such as those we are all facing presently.

It is to be hoped we'll be able to get together in February.

Summer Fun is on hold indefinate

Phew! It's a red hot weekend here as I type this entry up, indeed redder than my sweater actually!

 Normally I'm away around mid to late July which usually means a few things such as checking through the wardrobe for dresses, that any school girl socks haven't got holes in the toes and sweaters haven't been attacked by hordes of ravenous moths.

It's also a time of year where I would be putting my thinking cap on working on a quiz, preparing the answer sheets, getting prizes organized and writing out a cheque too but I'm not at the moment.

That is because our Summer Littles get together will not be going ahead this year around the many complications of the infamous Covid-19 virus which would of been held in rented house with a good number of us under one roof.

One issue would be travelling which in England is not presently for stopping overnight and non essential travel is not being allowed on trains and buses which is enforced vigorously in my district with bus users asked where and why they are going and prevented from any non essential travelling and the same goes with trains.

The other is a number of us are or have vulnerable partners or even other household members who would be at grave risk if we were to catch it and there's no way of knowing without medical tests if you have it. 

Just trying to run an event with social distancing through it would be extremely difficult because rather like with bio-kids, we're close and sometimes all over each other, touching sharing each others things and so on.

So it won't be on this year which as unfortunate as it is does happen to be a relief as quite simply if any of us got it in our household then it may well be terminal and nothing is worth risking that.

As and when we are able to hold another event then we can do so and perhaps mark the fact we'd all be living  able to tell the tale.

That was 2019

It's Monday before New Year so it's usual on this blog to write some kind of a review although it may well start at the end because that sets where it's going.

The year ended with me dealing with a few missteps along the way notably having two versions of the same blog which apart from duplication, extra work when what was posted here wouldn't of worked for its intended audience elsewhere, I also found that it pulled in few people to begin to even justify it.
Part of that also came about because the Age Regression wars on Tumblr if not quite coming to a complete end saw one major group change after a lot of internal politics to having an acceptance of the group I had been aligned with since July 2016 when Age Play vs Age Regression battles split those of us more into regression off and then we had a purist schism whose discourse was worse than most school playgrounds.
Finally most it is over cos we've got over that, deciding really respecting an individuals feelings and limits was the more important thing which meant that I could allow that last group, The Kidhearts to follow my tumblr and as sometimes what may be on here might not work with all, seeing few were following the other version of the blog, there was no need to link this to it at all.
Effectively I allowed that alternative blog to pause indefinitely until such time  as it may be repurposed.
The blog has talked about different forms of presentation as sometimes people when regressing go to what they grow up with and so in effect recreate that past down to outfits and uniforms while others may take their inspiration from those actual girls (and boys) of today with a wider range of types of attire.
While I like pinafore dresses, I do fall more down that more modern take on things.
I went to places, exploring more of what was around us, enjoying the countryside getting up to places I'd never managed before with support, enjoying it and spend a lot at time at home being out of doors.
This coming year we may well be doing some more exploring as camp moves to a new venue in the Winter that has many opportunities.
I did buy quite a number of new albums on either cd's or records by artists I liked  not least a  good number of Super audio cd's that sound even better through my dedicated player, reviewing them too although music with my often has either a resetting or a regressive context, taking me back into that time and space again.
I see things as being more on a continuation of what has always interested me as we move into 2020 but with a greater emphasis on being out and making memories free from the groan up turbulence last year with the state of the Country politically.

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.

Summer Littles Camp 2017

 (Picture credits: UK Forestry Commission)

As mentioned on last Monday's blog, I was away for six days on what is called a 'littles' camp although I'm more a middle and it had more of a mainly  female flavour although little and middles boys aren't stopped from attending.
Put simply they are get togethers of littles and middles plus caregivers/partners where we enjoy doing more child-like age regressed things together.
For me attending requires travelling to one of our groups members setting out on the Friday while one bus was one time, the connecting service to our rail station went AWL so I got drenched in the rain for a half hour and then needed to use my cellphone on the bus to let the person I know I'd be on the next train down which as ever is a London Midland service.
The train only takes just over a half hour with two stops before I met with them as finished off some shopping while it rained making our way to the parking lot and driving down to their spacious house.
Wearing my red sweater and green pleated skirt I did some colouring until it was time to eat for which we had had pork chops, boiled cabbage and mashed potatoes with a glass of ginger beer watching some television before getting to bed ready for Saturdays drive down.
On the Saturday we set off around ten having had cereals and tea with myself in my black pinafore dress with its "Junior Prefect" badge affixed, red and white striped tie and grey socks sat in the front passenger seat as we navigated around Dudley and Oldbury stopping at zebra crossings for people crossing the road. This was necessary due to extensive work on the road network around Birmingham that weekend before heading toward St Neots and Cambridge making quick route alterations to avoid delays so we arrived at the large property in East Anglia for two in the afternoon ready for the fun and games meeting the two people who did the booking.
Open opening the door, a series of big paw prints seemed to around the door as the theme of the event was the Gruffalo stories by Julia Donaldson and apart from unpacking our stuff with help, I helped with setting up the chalkboard where the program would be put.
I fixed myself a cup of tea, ate a oatmeal bar and got on with a bit of colouring between meeting and greeting the other people as they arrived and taking some pictures.
Most of the group upon arrival ordered and collected various foods from a well regarded Indian takeaway to eat for an evening meal but the person who took and who looks after me had decided to make something ourselves.
Yes that was a plural cos it Twenty-seventeen and actually I'm expected to do things I am capable of so I peeled the potatoes and fetched the pans, filling them.
There was a mysterious gift that I believe was from a relative newcomer that was a small gruffalo backpack outside so thanks for that.
Soon enough Saturday moved around to Sunday where I did help a lot setting up for breakfast before the morning's activities began which was Arts and Craft where I made a gruffalo themed place mat in the form of a Fox back by card for extra rigidility with my name on it and did some gruffalo themed colouring although felt crafts were an option.
Miss Green presented a most agreeable selection of salad based Black Country fayre to which having lived here in the North-west Midlands for a good while I was most familiar with complete with beef dripping cooked British Chips for our midday meal.
The afternoon was a traditional British school style sports day for which I was in my yellow vest top, green PE skirt and white socks.
I took part in the bean-bag relay, rockets for softies and the sack race which was very much the final event for me as fell hard to the ground impacting the lower third of back  needing help to get up and being shaken up with it apart from suffering bad back pain with bruising.
There was archery and few other events but I was pretty much out of it by that point with people especially Caroline keeping an eye on me and also it meant I needed to rest so she and Kelly set the table for the evening meal which was my 'chore' so this is a good a point as any to thank them specifically and everyone else for their concern for my welfare.
Curly made a scrumptious beef stew with dumplings (potatoes were an option too but  I passed on that feeling off) and a meringue with a fruit topping which was very enjoyable.
Jillian laid on in the evening a general knowledge quiz which was entertaining and enjoyable too that Karla and Caroline won.
Miss Green concluded the evening by reading in the easy for some of us to follow black country accent the first Gruffalo story.

Upon Monday morning after breakfast we had some more arts and crafts so I opted to draw a picture of a friendly monster rabbit, make a Jack o' lantern and colour a picture although others did more crafts stuff and we all submitted our monster based pictures into a competition with Alice winning first  prizing and second and third respectively going to Daisy and Sammy.
Karla and Caroline  had put together a amazing gruffalo themed lunch with table settings to match with sandwich rolls, sausage rolls , pork pies, chicken legs and much salad. To top it they even made gruffalo themed cupcakes. Mouthwatering!
As it was going to soon Sally, Kelly and Suzy's birthdays signed cards were presented and birthday cakes bought to share.
After a period to let all that wonderful food go down, in the afternoon the Gruffalo Games started with a gruffalo version of the British childhood game British Bulldog, a gruffalo item hunt, placing the wart on the gruffalo competition and a couple of rounds of pass the parcel which I did win a prize in and from a lucky draw of prizes I got the Gruffalo dvd.
A number of us got balloons that made a loud squeal when having been blown up the air was released which resulted in a few of us definitely acting like kids.
Our  evening meal was a Gruffalo BBQ where hamburgers, hots dogs, marinated spicy chicken cheeses and the like were on offer and the meats cooked on an actual bbq before being kept in an oven while everything was finished and as the weather was very good , we had this outdoors.
Tuesday morning was a more chilled time where a number of us went outside and played croquet, took photographs as it was quite sunny plus seeing Andi had a stash of Bubble Wands went around running with trails of bubbles following us with Sammy and  I chasing around each other with them in a most child-like way.

Later on Curly put on a dress up session were we could put on different costumes, and maybe some face paint and just pretend to be some character or other which I'm sure many of us recall doing during our actual childhoods.
Lunch was ably provided by Becky who did spicy chicken fajitas with a salad but Miss Green and myself made Oxtail soup as that was more us before resting a short while.
The highlight of the afternoon was the gruffalo themed Treasure Hunt  that was held mainly outdoors by Alice although we did had come come in due to a brief shower, something much forecast for entire time but lucky didn't really materialize. This involved looking for clues that led to others. Afterward we had Owl Icecream served in cornets that was very yummy.
Our evening meal was fish and chips with the odd personal exception like a large chicken Jillian consumed, which we had phone in our orders for earlier on and to which a driver and assistance set out by car to collect and cakes and to which I'd set the table.
In the evening as our brief shower had left we sat outside by the picnic tables where I run the music quiz with twenty-two questions with four teams to work through the printed questions covering music from the nineteen-seventies to today.
The Not a Clues won with thirteen points winning the prizes of a Jacqueline Wilson colouring book (a fine colouring book i.m.h.o) and matching top quality colouring pencils.
After a short break, Daisy, an accomplished guitarist, performed a set songs drawn from the Lindisfarne and Dire Straits songbooks and a magical version of the Pink Floyd song Wish You Were Here which was very well received.
Wednesday soon came around so after individually we'd done our own packing, which if your like me you tend to a do a bit per day we got breakfast and systematically went around tidying up everywhere, sweeping up with the help of "Henry" the sweeper checking nothing was left behind  before packing our cars ready to leave.
I helped Miss Green with our packing as we had things like the sports equipment to transport before we left just after half past ten and arrived within three hours back in South Staffordshire.
Between unpacking which at one point did leave me thinking where did I put my trusty circa 2009 Canon camera we had some left over cakes from Camp and tea.
For tea Miss Green went to a nearby village and bought fish and chips with cakes from the local Co-op store which we had before watching C.I.S and a program about the making of sweets over the centuries on the television before bedtime.
I was up at seven to do the final bit of packing by which time it had started to shower so after a cereal breakfast and tea Miss Green left to go into town and drop me off by the rail station where upon I caught the 09:54 service to our big rail station where seeing it was still showing I got into a six seater black taxi to make my way to my house for just past eleven o' clock.

I would to thank every one who both attended and contributed something to making our time away fun starting with Karla and Caroline who as organizers came up with the Gruffalo theme  carrying it through with their own contributions when it came to catering, events such as the arts and crafts and Grufallo games. Your contribution was amazing.
I'd like to thank Curly, Miss Green, Becky, Daisy and Suzy with assorted helpers for your contribution with providing a midday and evening meal and Jillian with Sally-Jane for ordering and fetching the fish and chips without which they would be many empty tummies.
We don't presently have external caterers and I would support looking more into it so people don't need to pull away from little activities they enjoy to 'big up' for food.
I'll also thank the many activity makers who laid on events such as Mr. Paul with Karla for the disco and the folks who put on games, quizzes, art sessions or performed cos having a busy varied program really helps us bring out or little (or middle) side and engage with it.
My personal thanks to Miss Green for her hospitality at GHS and looking out for me throughout the whole time cos I do have real life needs in that respect.

If doing something like this appeals it need not be on a really big scale, you could have a day or two as a 'sleepover' as a group of two or three in a flat or house putting together a few activities to share although you may feel the need to check if you have a good sense of seclusion if you wish to play very much little (such as with pacifiers etc) out of doors.

Winter 2017 Littles Camp

As you may of gathered, I was away for a period last week so I wasn't on Tumblr, Angels, FA or GT for that period not just 'cos I didn't bring the JoBook with me but in any event the internet where we was was down most of the time so here's how it went.
I caught the bus on Friday (2/9) from our estate to get a connecting bus to our railway station, one of biggest in the UK and the premier one in the North-west Midlands as I was told no taxis were available only to find out later on one did come!
Fortunately the connections worked out fine so I arrived in good time to catch the first train as I needed to catch a service to the outskirts of Birmingham to meet up with a friend who'd take both of us to the large property in Eastern England we'd be at.
I stopped overnight having had biscuits and tea followed by a beef stew for evening meal while we talked about things about what we were doing and some techno stuff.
Upon waking up first thing as we needed to start out around ten o clock, we saw a half inch of snow on the roofs as it had  snowed overnight so we packed a shovel just in case and after a light breakfast set off. It had stopped snowing where we were but as we got near Leicestershire it resumed briefly not without some idiot trying to cause a multiple pile up that would of involved us!
We were a little early so stopped at a famous reservoir nearby meeting with two others in our group before arriving after we had exclusive use of the property during our stay.
After bringing our cases in I quickly changed to my green pleated skirt as people were sorting out individual rooms which involved putting room signs up so having found mine that was downstairs because of my mobility issues,  I set my room up.

I opened the first lot of Jelly Babies having carried the one kilogram bag with me, putting them in a bowl in the front room and soon the first of the week's jigsaws to finish was set out on a table
By the time everyone had arrived, it was getting time to order some food as we all were too tired to fix our own so we placed a big order for mainly curries which for me included Chicken Tikka Nega which is like bits of a Chicken Tikka and fries in a bag from a well regarded Indian takeaway.
I changed then into my trademark black tunic (Pinafore)  with its red "Junior Prefect" badge that was close the last avatar I had here that I had on until Monday.
Karla laid on with support a disco that concluded that day apart from finding mystery objects by our room doors the next morning.

On of the Sunday, We had a morning arts and craft session hosted by Glittery Beth where those mystery objects which for me included a clay hedgehog money-box to paint, a goodie bag that included  bits came in handy so I could paint a horse and make it's tail and do a bit of origami, assembling a card pigs head mask and attaching a piece of elastic.

Although I required a bit of help with part of this, actually I found it  really enjoyable putting me in little headspace being the sort of thing we did at school.
As an experiment Karla and Caroline did Hot Dogs and Hamburgers for lunch  as we'd normally have a meat salad that soon disappeared  down our tummies like we were ravenous dogs. I think it's safe to say that sure was a hit with everyone.
In the afternoon we were treated to a couple of cartoons from Hello Kitty and friends before moving on the main feature, a showing of The Secret Life of Pets which was really funny and in a couple of spots a bit sad too. During the intermission tubs of icecream were served and popcorn was on tap throughout.
Emma cooked a lovely Beef roast with steamed vegetables that you'd of gladly of paid for commercially as it was that delicious and provided a New York style cheesecake.
In the evening the lesser spotted Nekomimi that had snucked in with Andi on Saturday presented a music quiz with a twist: namely most of the questions had a connection to Animals which was the theme of this weeks camp.
I was pleased to see it went down rather well having prepared it, with people having a laugh, making gestures and at one point even singing the Hippopotamus Song which is really the point of this - having fun - and Daisy and Karla won it!
Monday saw me change dress to a a bluey-grey one with a top  pocket on what would be my left for a handkerchief that I stayed in for the duration of the time.
On the Monday we had in cookery decorating Gingerbread Men overseen by Emma using icing although as I was having a periodic R.S.I. flare up making fine wrist/finger control difficult, I opted to do a little colouring instead. This underscores one point which is while obviously they'd be little point meeting up to do nothing but sit in your room, no one has to OR can make you do any one activity as much as they'd like everyone to take part in theirs.
Suzy and Daisy treated everyone to a salad with a choice of meats, cocktail sausages and tuna - the first of two - for lunch.
Later on Alice had a treasure hunt involving finding various teddy bears and searching everywhere for clues.
In the evening we watched a few videos of previous meet ups which was interesting.
On Tuesday we had the second arts and crafts session in the morning and I did some photography as we had extensive grounds plus good light.
After lunch, Alice made a video based on ideas from the group of a group of girls going on a hunt for teddy bears which we called "Unbearable" with us all acting in it shot out in the grounds and edited digitally in the house.
Karla made and cooked a scrumptious Cottage Pie with vegetables for our evening meal before Daisy, Sally-Jane and Alison played guitar, keyboards and sang a number of songs together which was much appreciated.
On Wednesday we need to leave so apart from packing our cases which I'd been doing a bit at a time, we had breakfast and two by two made our ways off with myself and Auntie Andi being the last to leave so we and Karla finished off some of the salad before driving away.
We hit very dull torrential rain around Northamptonshire and into Warwickshire with some flooding in places coming back.
For the two of us, we were unexpectedly invited to stay at a friends place in our part of the Midlands overnight where Jennifer had made a lovely Steak and Kidney Pudding with suet pastry and a Victoria sponge cake with chocolate sprinkled with  hundreds and thousands as decoration for desert.
As Auntie Andi had other business to attend to necessitating her earlier departure, Jennifer who was going into town anyway kindly dropped me off at the station to catch the train back to mine ready to get a taxi back to the door to be greeted by Marmalade feigning disinterest.
For me this period was mixture of things, first and foremost time to actually regress in the company of like minded people doing actual child-like things together face to face, building relationships of which for me one important thing was being able to talk and show things with Karen Marie. It's one thing to be at home with your Netbook or Smartphone talking with people, it's a whole nother thing being under one roof together for days.
It also showed the strengths of our group such as those who catered for us, Beth's inspired littles doodling on plastic backed paper that made the place look and feel like real littlespace that we belonged in and indeed she put a awful lot of thought into everything including the arts and crafts, Samantha R's activity program so while we had spaces for personal littlespace, it provided the structure for more group things and not least Suzy's handling of the booking and monies which went very smoothly. I think I did good with my quiz.
Seeing Karen Marie reinvent the ancient tradition of boarding school midnight feasts  brought a smile to my face. 😃
It also showed how I'd got some control over my social anxiety and had assumed more responsibility to be engaged directly in contributing to our activities, not least helping out and doing my chores.

Summer LG Camp

If you were expecting a post on Friday, well you didn't miss anything cos with getting back here later on Thursday writing something  for then really wasn't going to happen not least feeling a bit stiff and tired.
For six days I was a long away from home on something of an adventure for littles and middles in Southern England that for me started with visiting two friends by train where I changed into my green pleated skirt and had to help out by doing things like popping pea pods which wasn't something with my co-ordination I was exactly good at, being more mediocre at best.
We had pork chops and vegetables followed by home grown rhubarb  and ice cream between talking among ourselves and listening to some music.
On the Saturday when the event proper was to start, after breakfast we collected some of the food we were taking with us as well as other things like games equipment, a chalk board and our own cases to travel for a good number of hours starting out from South Staffordshire but because of traffic and Spaghetti Junction (J 6) on the M6 motorway was closed we took a different route through Tipton that left Susan convinced for a period we weren't going in the right direction although we could see Wednesbury parish church and Wednesbury is directly connected to the motorway.
I travelled down in my black pinafore dress (tunic) with "Junior Prefect" badge on, white blouse, tie and grey socks.
The journey down was fairly smooth apart from some delays and diversions  around of Huntingdon (Hunts) and Cambridge that did delay us a bit before one of our group needed to talk with the venue owner before we unloaded the car.
As quite some time had elapsed since we ate after taking stuff to our rooms and the equipment to where it was needed we had a pork pie and some salad as everyone else arrived some twenty-one people in total, introduced themselves.
Soon it was time for our first evening meal and while most people ordered Indian cuisine, Susan and Jennifer prepped the vegetables cooking  together with the pie for ours although I did scrape the potatoes and kept an eye on the vegetables.  
As it was very warm we ate outside on an outdoor wooden table facing the garden.
This time my assigned duty on the chore list was to set everything for breakfast in the morning although I did help out with a few other things too.
One thing did quite a bit of between other activities was colouring my Frozen colouring book as I could start and resume working a page  with my Staetdler pencils in addition to having fun playing with Sylvanian Families.
The theme of our get together was The Sea so many of the activities related to it.
On the Sunday I tried using a tricycle which was fun as I haven't the balance to use a bicycle but found I needed assistance as I couldn't get it started by myself  lacking the strength to turn the peddles  around. It was a enjoyable experience to go around the field in it though.
In the morning we worked as a team on making a Pirate Ship from cardboard pinned with plastic pins (Makedo) and other bits decorated and cut out to make sails, steering wheel and big branches for oars and so on which came together well give there wasn't a formal blue print or similar to go by, pretty much deciding as went along how it was to look.
We even had a message in a bottle!
I think it did help get people to co-operate apart from being fun.
In the afternoon, Jennifer had a painting class with people painting things that reminded them about the Sea and what it means to them.
I painted a picture "Jo at the Beach" showing a child Jo looking on admiring her sand castle and bucket and spade in the summer, having done the outlines in pencil.

The completed pictures were displayed and the best one chosen.
After a scrumptious chicken evening meal, we had a mainly 80's music quiz where you had to guess from twenty fifteen second  the artist (or group) and the track from each with people in teams.
The team I was with, the "Radioactive Cats" comprising of Fudge, Kelly and I scored thirty-five out of a possible forty-two and so  won it comfortably.
Because the weather looked a bit poor for later on we decided to move the Girl Olympics to the Monday morning.
We had a variety of events such as a relay race, filling the water bucket event, archery which I was rubbish at and an Egg and aSpoon race except golf balls substituted for hard boiled eggs.

 

Get set to go, Jo!

With my disabilities anything like this is very hard going from following instructions to actually having the strength to take part and most of my childhood school games were wheelchair based but I enjoyed it and probably learnt something about the importance of taking an active part having the support of your team rather than just deeking out of it.
After a salad lunch, we had a 60th birthday anniversary party for Linda's dolly, Sally, where we had cake and tea feeding our dolls which was something I quite enjoyed not least for being in something very much in little headspace.
I and an other snucked out to a deserted recreational ground where I went on a slide with help cos I couldn't climb on to it with the physical side of my disabilities, swung from a swing feeling the breeze caressing me in my pink gingham dress and played on a see-saw feeling very much middle/little..
Upon our return it was time for the arts and crafts  session so being a bit exhausted but as high as kite, I did a load of colouring in felt tip pen which is different cos I usually colour in pencil  from the colouring in sheets provided although you could do oil painting, bead work and chain making if you wanted and others did.

 

The classroom is never far from my thoughts as a middle.

We ordered fish and chips with a few exceptions and Samantha and Becky drove down to pay and collect our order which was very yummy.
In the evening we had a disco where the resident Cat Girl danced to The Cure's Love Cats and M's Pop Music with Sammy  as well as Auntie C a bit as this was the one night I was in bed a bit later than normal. I grew up, allegedly, dancing in a wheelchair which is much easier for me but it was very enjoyable to sway about with friends who understand how hard it it can be.
Tuesday saw Sammy take on the persona of Miss Take delivering a fun but effective lesson about Sea Monsters different ones and their characteristics ending with drawing a Sea Monster of your own so I drew a Kelpie in Northern Scotland.
After lunch, Alice did a Sea based Treasure Hunt with a twist, the twist being a making three minute scripted video of "Little Pirates of the Carribean and the Curse of the Plastic  Pearls", a adventure on the high seas involving plastic pearls with several of us having acting and spoken parts around our home made Pirate Ship of which one was with a Scottish accent, one Canadian and one American which was hilarious.
Perhaps it was near Greenland?
Jennifer and Susan cooked a Meat Pie and vegetable tea with help in scraping potatoes which was followed by cheese cake.
In the evening Daisy played guitar and sang Streets of London, Romeo and Juliet, The Boxer plus Donovan's Universal Soldier pretty well and we presented a birthday card and shared cake for a friend whose birthday was in a few days time.
Jennifer read a Tale from the Farmyard out about Scarecrows and why they help farmers in her strong Black Country accent with Southern English translation provided by Susan.
Having lived in the Midlands now for over fifteen years I didn't need it!
The Wednesday  was more a last minute play, hug and leave half day as people needed to leave at different times with one having to travel to the United States too with a group of us having a buffet lunch of left overs before setting off to South Staffordshire where I had a much appreciated overnight stay before catching my train home here in the North-west Midlands and taking a taxi straight home.
I would like to thank Jennifer and Susan for organizing a dead kewl camp, putting together the program and bringing quite a bit of the sports equipment  together with the food plus Alice, Daisy, Debbie, Linda, Mr Paul, Sammy and Suzy for their activities

"We interupt this blog with a Newsflash"

Not the why are we waiting  edition but if you hadn't spotted I'm actually away which makes blogging more difficult as I can't go and place five links at various places and many people rely on social media for updates than tried and true systems like RSS and even 'Following'.

There are classes laid on during this period I'll be attending where I'll be doing some work -ones a bit vague but two are arts and crafts based which apart from being fun to do, putting me in a class really takes me into little space, feeling I'm back in school.
One difference from being in school in my day was we didn't have a half of the technology today's schoolboys and girls had not least that you have at hand as it were and some of issues associated with it. We passed notes and made paper airplanes in class.
Do you think I'll whip out my cellphone starting going through texts and missed calls when we're meant to be working?
I rather suspect if I did it would be dealt with cos apart from distracting others, disrespecting those who take time out to take the classes, it doesn't help me to learn to concentrate on the task in hand as I'm easily distracted.
Rules do have a purpose.

Bouncing about

It's been an odd week for emotions which at times it can be  with me cos when I really feel things then it just is sometimes to the exclusion of much else and there's a lot of that "help out your playmate" in me that shows when she's in need of it.
That took me back a bit in time mentally...

Time was when skipping just for the fun of it was one of my favourite activities outside of any formal games or PE usually involving a traditional knotted rope with wooden handles that actually I kept up until I was about sixteen.
Part of it I think was being in control of my body, making it move which with my disabilities is hard going as it feels often like there's several internal wires missing carrying that information so I can't 'summon' it to move to will, something that perplexed many an adult.
Actually I got pretty good at it.
The other side of it is it makes me feel very girlish, just jumping and skipping from side to side in a carefree way and I think I'm in need of carefree spaces so something like that say at next Camp might just be the thing ideally in pink gingham.

Headspace in littleworld

This week I've been thinking a bit more about Headspace.

What is Headspace?

Headspace to me means the vantage point my mind looks upon everything around of it and relates to it in real time, being a felt, experienced and physical thing I interact with that ties in your sense of you in time and space.

People can have differing senses of head space not least of you're a Middle or Little because you may have, depending on your own development a more adult sense of what you do and how you'd see your role as well as a younger one where in effect you go back to those things and ways of looking at life that you may recall from your childhood.

The way people may move from one to another depends on the individual and their circumstances such as you may have a triggering thing such as a particularly activity that from the second you start to interact with it, you subconsciously move to that side of you.

For example I used to find being in schools often brought out the more Junior side of me so much so if I was left their for long enough on my own I'd 'drop' into being that child or playing with say dolls just does.

It may be also that how you are attired does and with me putting on my school clothes like what I'm wearing right now typing this 'throws the switch'.

I think one thing a good number of us find useful is where we can meet up because it enables us to interactive not just with our own person sense of being a Middle or Little in such a headspace but also with others as if we were over at other folks houses playing which I think is something many of us did as children and it's that kind of feeling we're recreating.

When looking at recreating there is a question to be asked about the extent to which it is or can be complete replication simply because the nature being a child and the 'play' has itself changed over the decades.

The modern child has electronic play devices and quite often access to say a Tablet Computer which may be used to play games on or join sites like Club Penguin or use to write or draw things on. A computer may be part of your Little/Middle headspace.

How much of that we may do when we're together is something that we'll need to work through in the same way thoughtful parents do with their own children and for similar reasons because it is easy-too easy perhaps-to have a situation where we're all huddled together but staring into our own screens so while individually we're having fun the one thing we aren't doing is interacting with each other. That is a genuine concern.

The other area with that and the all pervasive Smartphone is handling Adult related things such as any requirements an individual may have to check emails and the like from 'work' which whatever your personal thoughts on the rights and wrongs of  (and I think it has for some gotten too intrusive in folks free time) such things are part of their working conditions they are expected to comply with when outside work such as at such meets.

I feel it needs to be done in way that doesn't disturb the Middle/Little space of other people attending which may involve say the use of your own private space or a designated area and certainly the associate electrical gubbins like chargers need to out of peoples way when sitting or walking about.

For some of us, though this isn't necessarily the biggest threat to that very headspace at all and while I won't speak for everybody one reason I do like being in that Middle/Little space is to be free from adult level intrusions not least those I have functional difficulties with.

When we were younger the Grown Ups, knew it mattered that while the Big World went on around us, it was wrong for that to dominate Our World so some conversations and topics were 'not for young ones ears' because playing talking through our thoughts and ideas mattered more for us.

That's why it does matter to some of us the sense of leaving things like political, religious and 'adult matters' out of where we are playing, talking or even sleeping and it may be sensible to check with any Little or Middle if they wish to be involved in or ideally leave that to as something in another room people may do.

Personally I have no inclination at all to engage in discussion around those areas simply because it's not part of Middle me that comes to meets apart from experiences in other groups that had allowed it lead to enmities between folk whose reason for being together had had nothing to do with these topics.

To me then to the extent one cannot and would not want to restrict what people can talk about not least that of any groan ups/Caregivers present, there's something to be said for holding back it until after little bed time  or perhaps of having that in just one area of a meet you'd make a deliberate point  of entering.
That way it's managed but those of us who are either playing or just resting have our needs respected so we can enjoy ourselves in our younger headspace freely.
To conclude being in it to me is the mark of being a middle or little. It is us.