Away thoughts

One thing about being away is there's so much on and you don't have servants to do stuff for you while you play, make things and so on so you all have to "muck in", tidying away, table duties and so on which isn't untypical of being a child in a family.

We could when they did things like get food and running around sorting you out whenever you needed it but your folks aren't away with you and we have to step up.
 

I helped out setting up, clearing and even doing some washing up as not everything goes in the dishwasher and then putting it all away.

I also helped loading and unloading the car even though my wrist hurt a bit too.

I did okay so the lessons of past years relearned are working.

Thoughts on being away

As you may of noticed I was actually away last week and on the other blog  I did publish an account of that time in something like chronological order which is more the how and the what part of this thing.
It's usually the thing on this blog to look more at what I felt about that time and what if anything I had learnt from that time away cos apart from ouchie content, this blog is about the emotional side of life.

 One thing to talk about is unlearning the Cotton Wool  people misguidedly put you in as a disabled child because they feel you need more protection but the trouble is that leaves you not to learn how to survive and to actually grow which requires a certain amount of resistance not unlike in working out you start off low increasing as you become stronger.

You do need risk and being challenged even accepting your limitations so you learn to work at the almost extent of your abilities, getting the most out of life and actually maturing a little, learning to deal with say climbing over rock, walking carefully sideways to get along ledges is something I had to learn rather than run away from this week.

Same goes with dealing with winds even if needed support, I had to learn to accept and trust that rather than chickening out or screaming my head off when the going got tough, finding courage and inner strength.

I've been there and done that and I dare say I'm not alone in it but I need to be better because such an set of attitudes limits my own enjoyment of life with the actual disabilities I've got so I need to use and develop my abilities too.

I know I made one miscalculation in that week but I lived going out of my comfort zone and did stuff I never managed before which didn't just feel good to me but also impressed others not by droning on about my disabilities but actually using the abilities I have.

Ditto helping out whenever I could doing chores to make a contribution to other peoples enjoyment and getting the feeling of being a net contributor to everyone's enjoyment of our time together rather than just using people to meet my own needs.

I think I'm moving on.

n

Summer Littles Camp 2019

Last week I was away at a 'littles camp' a place where you can let your little/inner child out with others and caregivers/ significant others which was in East Anglia, UK and today's post is about that.

I set out about Twenty to Eleven in a taxi to catch my train from the best rail station in the Northwest Midlands to travel to a large town in the Black Country meet with Miss Green who kindly agreed to drive both us to the venue.


Travelling was mainly uneventful outside of a broken down vehicle causing delays on the motorway from Wednesbury, Staffs to Castle Bromwich , Birmingham and heavy rain that reduced visibility plus ongoing roadworks around Cambridge and Huntingdon on the A14.

We arrived just on Four in the afternoon, with assistance, moved bags plus things for camp such as food, games equipment and so on. 

The society of Little Girl engineers solved how to make the Lego Disney Princesses Castle in eighteen hours that involved making over 14 sections including various Disney characters on the castle drawbridge and then dropping in each completed section which was a room in the style of a Disney Princess.

We also completed one jigsaw but had to terminate another as it was way too hard for the time we had remaining.

The Games Morning:
Mrs Green on Monday put on a 'Sports Day', a kind of homage to the kind of school sports days many of us can recall from being around 8 through 12 when while winners got prizes, it was really rather more about the taking part than how things got by high school with the 'jocks' an all.
Archery, relay race, score a netball goal, the 'egg and spoon' race, sack race one I certainly did hobbling about at the time and even a sponge the staff competition for good measure. 
One felt sorry for a well soaked Mr.Pool 

Arts and Crafts
This time a 'formal' session wasn't laid on but various materials such as things to paint, paper, kits etc were set out for anyone who wished to do some either indoors or as the weather was pleasant outdoors.

 This is what I painted after going for a walk on Tuesday morning, a Cheshire Cat in the manner of Garfield.
For me arts and crafts are enjoyable even with my co-ordination and damaged paws, providing the kind of relaxed, more child-like headspace I need.

Walks: A few of us did venture out for a spot of rambling though fields and woodland nearby toward lakes, meeting cyclists, people walking dogs and families with children.

 I am a more outdoor, exploring, identifying and self challenging sort of a person who really doesn't like being cooped up indoors and not given to changing outfits much give the difficulties dressing itself presents frequently.

I set breakfast up for those who wished to across the time apart from helping out within my (limited) means.

Alice put on a Space Themed treasure hunt on Monday afternoon with clues to find which was fun.

Lunchtime catering was mainly salads with cheese, eggs and meats  apart from Monday where Jacket baked potatoes with optional fillings were available put together by Daisy, Suzy, Jillian and a few others whose names escape me.

Evening meals were mainly cooked by members of our group with Karla and Caroline doing a great outdoor Barbecue on the Sunday with sausages, pork, chicken, beef burgers and kebabs complete with onions and baps and Jennifer did pies, mashed potatoes, creamed parsnips and mixed veg on Tuesday.

On Monday evening having got details of what everyone wanted and telephoned them in, we had fish and chips apart from the odd person who preferred either sausages or a whole chicken which Samantha and a.n.other collected from a shop a few miles away.
On arrival most people had an ordered 'Indian' - various curried dishes - apart from Jennifer and I who had pork and vegetables coupled with cake with strawberries.

On Sunday Mr Pool, suitably dried put on a disco with lighting  for everyone and on Monday, the resident Nekomini laid on her "all purr-puss" music quiz after tea that everyone enjoyed complete with prizes.

Apart from one furson and two people who needed to leave earlier we all left on Wednesday morning before 11 am and apart from a few roadworks that involved one minor detour was largely uneventful we arrived at the train station so I could catch my train home which after a short taxi ride got me in for just after 3 pm to unpack and unwind.

I'd like to than everyone that did something tidy up, help with food and drinks, put on events, handle the booking and so on for a super time. 


 

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.