Floral relaxation

It has been a somewhat turbulent week not least today with current affairs so I'd sooner move on to something more soothing

 Although we're alternating between seasons having had when I typed this snowfall followed by brilliant sunshine followed by drizzle it is proving fine for blossoms out of doors and indeed even indoor ones as these flowers I had for my birthday are surviving well.
I find looking at flowers very relaxing just having to change the water every so often and typically they last a few weeks by which point I usually replace them.
I'm slowly but surely working through the PIP form with just a couple of bits to do before photocopying and mailing it back

365 days around the Sun 2019 style

*Something* happened last week that has a tendency to occur once a year I believe.

 In many birthday cards and best wishes offered at various sites, this card from my BFF who knows who she is arrived by out of space pigs which is very much little.

 One tv show I  loved was Blue Peter and this originally published a few years ago is less a potted history of the show by  its producer and film editor from 1975 through 2011 although it does give you a breakdown of presenters, notable program items, years expeditions and appeals talks about the challenges in filming and making the show and working with presenters, guests and yes the numerous pets who were for a long time on the production set.

One thing I also love us music, especially classical music and this acclaimed recording came out but a month ago on Super Audio cd, playable on regular stereo cd on what looks to be a great new symphony cycle by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra of music  by Schubert. My main set is from the 1960's with the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra conducted by the late Karl Bohm,

Bartock was/is even one the most important composers of the last century and the legendary 1971 Columbia/CBS recording of the Concerto for orchestra was reissued in its stereo and quadraphonic mixes last year by Dutton Vocalion coupled with the account of the complete Miraculous Mandarin that was issued shortly afterwards on SQ Quad record and Q8 Quadraphonic tape.

There's no one like Andrew, Andrew Davis that is  having seen him conduct and a week ago this brand new recording of Berlioz's L'Enfante du Christ was issued as a double Super audio cd that will join my collection of Berlioz's works on sacd.
Birthdays do have an element of the past in the present for me and so it was fitting a collection of stories that connected a certain Paddington Bear with a tv show I loved was bound to feature.

 The stories were written by Michael Bond for the year annuals of Blue Peter published 1966 through 1972 so tend to be about 14 pages long per story that makes the easy to dip into although a little familiarity with the show and presenting team at the time helps.
Actually I did at one point have a copy as I had other things connected to the tv series  so it's nice to get another hard back copy.

This is an illustration from it and it's in lovely condition, with no felt tip pen scrawling and the like in its original 1973 form.
Thanks for your cards, birthday wishes at various sites and so on and paws crossed for the next trip!

A message from Theo

Hello. It's Mr. Theo the 2nd here this Monday morning sitting here having been sunbathing after last weeks really sunny weather while this blogs own tries to figure out how to make the self timer work so I can take my own picture.
I think they've been going outside not that I get taken out much enjoying the fresh air and the strange case of the winter flowering species  that should be like the daffodils planted locally.

 You normal expect to see them in Spring but it appears to have come up early as have a number of blossoms too following a period of higher temperatures in the last few weeks here in the North-west Midlands.
That said it was blowing a strong gale last night when I went to bed.
I think they may be something different happening later on in the week here but I can't remember much being just a stuffied teddy bear but I think you might see something about it in a week or so.
Regards, Theo

Winter Littles Camp 2019

This week we go back about a week and a few days while I was away at the UK Littles Camp somewhere in the Midlands for a meet up that turned out a bit different than normal and not just because we were in a different location.

First off setting off on the Friday was chaotic in the extreme for damage near Norton Bridge that caused over 50 minute delays and cancellations on my train and on many others as it affected the whole West Coast Mainline between Scotland and London.
It was more by luck and following gut instinct I found a train within a few minutes to time although technically it too was delayed by over 50 minutes so arrived something like on time as I waited with a friend to pick up another person.

I like taking pictures so when I spotted this view nearby, I was rewarded with this lovely sunset scene that to me sums up Winter with the rolling hills in the background.
Arrival on Friday afternoon was made easier for it being roughly an hours drive from my friends as we went around the countryside and  through a  town  with walled gates that anyone familiar with this part of the Midlands would recognize.
We unpacked meeting Andi, Daisy and Suzy, putting the food we bought for the week away and had lamb shoulder steaks, mashed potato and greens while everyone else had various Indian foods ordered locally before making a bit of start on one of several jigsaws and I read a couple of comic annuals.

Saturday after getting up and helping set things up for breakfast, Miss Green had organized a cake and biscuit making cookery class where various biscuits and cakes were made in animal shapes such as Dinosaurs using moulds and a caterpillar  from swiss rolls covered in pink icing.
Fudge and I decided to make cupcakes - eighteen of them - using a commercial mix to which two eggs, a portion of margarine, milk and flour were added and whisked by hand before going in the oven.
Above is a few that were decorated with icing sugar, the shapes being cut out using a mould.
The midday meals were meat based salad buffets put together by Daisy and Suzy that were much appreciate with fries too.
Saturday saw Jillian's General knowledge quiz complete with pictures of famous stars in their earlier years you had to identify.
We had mainly fish and chips from a nearby chip shop (where else?) for our evening meal Caroline having places the order earlier  and being picked up just after the mad hour at the store.
It may of been had a little later than normal but I think the quality more than made up for it.
Sunday after going out was more a relaxing day and for tea we had various mainly steak based pies mashed potatoes and peas prepared by Miss Green with help from assorted others followed by  Sammy's home made Strawberry cheesecake having been made the day before was served which was delicious.

Across the days several jigsaw were done including a three dimensional Harry Potter one, one of Amsterdam and this one.
A number of people took advantage of this areas outstanding natural beauty - it has an official status to that effect - to go on walks.
Sunday night meant it was time for the "All purrpuss nekomimi Music Quiz" that was hosted by a certain Neko who has a lot to do with this blog that was run in four teams.
Amazingly there was draw so the Neko had to generate a tie-breaker that put Mr Paul's Tone Def's in the lead followed by the LKMFK's.
This was followed by Miss Green's reading of a farmyard story before bedtime, a ritual I very much like.

On the Monday, a good two cars worth of us walked two miles each way from a parking lot to visit the attractive  medieval market town of Ludlow which can be seen here with St. Laurence's church to the left with the castle, which we visited together with the towns market interacting with people.
Although I didn't make the very top, the Normans not really being into disability access, I did with assistance did get beyond ground level which was great for me personally.

This is Clun Castle that a number of us visited on Sunday as Fudge kindly offered take a few us with them which is more a relic of motte and bailey construction, quite a way up for which I did need a fair amount of assistance.
Monday afternoon was taken up with Alice's enjoyable Disney Princess treasure hunt that was staged in the place we stayed going up down a good number of stairs.
In the evening after the Chilli Con Carne that Karla and Caroline had made with cottage pie for one who cannot be doing with spices and rice that was delicious.

A couple of people left on the Monday due to work and related commitments but as unexpected we'd been allowed to stay an extra night and my train had been booked for midday when everyone had left by around ten am Tuesday, Miss Green and I went to the Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre to see the exhibit on the ice age Woolly Mammoths that were found at Condover, Shropshire in 1986/7 and how that part of Shropshire had changed over the centuries covering geography, history and agriculture to the present day.
It's interesting to note how this part of Shropshire played an important part in Great Britain and the significance of the Woolly Mammoth find.
This also included a film presentation in a mini film theatre with seating.
We went on to see the meadows plus a short walk that was accessed via the fire doors and returned where Miss Green enjoyed her cream tea and I had a choco pudding with cream all of which were sourced from local producers and made by hand in the pleasant cafe.
We then moved to a nearby rail station to catch my train straight home but not before seeing a freight train come through on platform one and arrive at the biggest and best rail station in the North-west Midlands, hopping into a taxi in minutes straight home.

Doing something like this doesn't take an ocean of organizing necessarily but does require a certain amount of planning and  co-operation which remarkably worked well even though unlike previous times there was no fixed rota with people just helping out as needed even if you were there to relax and enjoy being in little space.
Thanks to the various persons who bought, fixed and served food, loaded and unloaded the dishwasher, put on events that made things so enjoyable plus thanks to Suzy for organizing and Miss Green and Andi for finding and checking out the place.
As remarked upon in the main text, this time people really went beyond four walls in large numbers enjoying what the area around where we stayed had to offer both in ones and twos and even going as a group out, carpooling as necessary enjoying that time.
If coming to this place can have that effect, let me say this plain: Unless there's a good reason not to, let's return for another Winter because that wasn't just healthier for being outdoors, it brought people more together. This is what I feel we needed.
From a personal point of view this was easily the most rewarding Camp for not just being out but also for doing more challenging things such as getting about Clun Castle and walking to Ludlow and back being helped along the way.
It may of been difficult but your help doing this was so rewarding so to those who literally pulled me up and along helping me to do things I hadn't managed before many many thanks cos you can't know what that feels like.
Roll on Summer Camp.

Away edition

Making hay when the sun shines isn't literally where I am right now as it's not that season although there's a working farm near us actually but is rather more a part of a way of life with my difficulties I subscribe to.
To me as difficult as things are, what matters is the experiences you have, the memories you make using the times you are better because they sustain you through the patches that are not so good.
You also learn to master your abilities and develop new skills which is why time away is so important for me beyond just company and no doubt I'll be having fun, doing different stuff today.

Remaking the past

In the week as I get ready to go way for a few days I've been working on a small project, namely remaking a few minidiscs I have had for a fair few years

That's the minidisc in all it's nineties glory with its original largest capacity version, the 74 minute one that was on sale in 1997/8 as it wasn't until the third quarter of 1999 that 80 minute versions were available on the high street in the UK.

One reason for liking using them even now is tactile - handing a object is more enjoyable than scrolling for it and you do need to keep back ups of files on memory cards as they can and do die on you whereas I've had very few minidiscs ever die and believe me I have over five hundred of them the balk of which go back to 1997 that still work.

A few of my recordings from then were compromised by the digital connection between the recorder and cd player not being as good as it easily could of been in and the intervening years I'd lost the original cds.

An example was Take That's Greatest Hits that came out in 1996 and was one of the first albums I put on a brand new Sony minidisc in early 1997 so taking advantage of cheap older cds being easy to find online I got a copy to redo it using my better equipment.

I also have remade my own Oasis compilations made at the tail end of the BritPop era noting the original tracks  I used and taking them from cheap copies of the cds that had disappeared over time that I enjoyed playing  and still like to hear.

I also decided to remake a set of four classical titles where although I had the original cds, I had now better sounding new sets that featured the performances  thus my recordings of the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra performing Tchaikovsky and the London Symphony orchestras recordings with the conductor Claudio Abbado of Stravinsky's music  were remade.

As indicated I will be away  so a post will most likely be left to self publish next Monday but as you might expect I won't be able to post links etc in various places.
Have fun!

A winter wonderland

It's been a bit of  busy week here with a few projects on the go, some work around my few days away in the middle of the month and some stuff involving the way the Government pays my living expenses.
We also did have some old school wintery weather when I went out so I took a few pictures one day and indeed it tried to snow hard on Friday but ceased by noon.

 Looking around after the baa's who'd been taken indoors, the smallholding had a fair coating of snow and almost certainly would of felt frosty under foot as I had to stand on a grass verge sinking into hole to take this picture.
The background is part of a wood that is wider toward the right that survived both road building and increasing encroachment of the built up area in a sensitive part of the North Staffordshire conurbation.

 The "Gatehouse" that leads to a privately owned park, well covered in snow.
I decided against trying to cross the road at that busy and usually dangerous  point in view of the slush and ice on the road.

The entrance to the park that leads to a big estate and a very famous hall, lake and surroundings although much is obscured by road looking very picturesque at this time of year.
At weekends people travel though it to get to the Cricket Ground set in the park for the local club which plays in the North Staffs league to watch them play, enjoying drinks and other light refreshment
In many ways we're most fortunate to have literally on our doorstep such lovely places to walk by and through.