Winter is almost in the air

After last week's more observational ow-ish post we're back into the wild this week although you'll need your thick tights on as it's bloomin' cold at the minute as I can feel it in me bones.

 These creatures have been keeping my company  on the smallholdings I pass while out walking, trying to keep myself fit as the go "Baa" making me feel my stomach and leaving me feeling hungry

 The leaves are beginning to grow and if you look carefully there are Dandelions stillout by the base of the tree trunk.

The signs are for the Farmers Market and Unprocessed milk you can buy from the farmers gate as some people prefer it to treated milk. Personally I prefer sterilized!

The leaves be a turning colour here all crisp which makes walks in the wood so enjoyable if you don't get a dozy wasp flying out of a hedge at you which is what happened to me the other week.

You should of seen me run the other way!!!

I haven't know too many village centres were between the shops, you can see and hear that much wildlife which makes even a trip to get a bottle of milk and Allied Bakeries finest can be most pleasant.

Weird Wintertime

Sometimes the seasons seem well a bit weird to me  having spent part of last week and the start of  this with strong gales that blow rather a lot like next doors fence into the garden  and left the curb side here covered in debris.
Yesterday I even went out wrapped up well walking in the rain in a duffle coat getting very excited!

 Then, that being said having had only on Tuesday some stuff, would you of expected to see the Catkins out? Well when I was out walking late last week as I find it good for my mental health as well as physical fitness I did spot them on our subsiding public meadow that had trees planted on to help stabilize things as everything was starting to fall in a hole.

The Brrr Edition II

This weekend we had something like proper Winter weather sadly not Tundra but better than we've had for a bit which has helped taking my mind of discourse and drama elsewhere with temperatures blow - 7 degrees C (other measurements are available).

I definitely needed to put on white and grey bobble girls gloves and trusty Puma track pants as it was bitter cold.

It doesn't look too bad toward the grumps shed and his antennas but looking to right  towards the wood it is thick and proved icy too having had a few near misses falling over.

As you can see it got everywhere including the wheel barrow I only rescued after the storms a few days before sent it to the ground.

Another and most little appealing picture appeared during this period shown on the BBC and the Express & Star  newspaper on Friday of the Reindeer at Dudley Zoo out in the snow.

*Picture credits Express & Star

Just keep warm folks!

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.

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.

Making plans an that

Things are it has to be said nothing on here that even with the weather the last week being at its coldest so far this winter I have been out for a good three quarters to a whole hour a day taking in the fresh air walking and observing things  such as several birds singing in a nest, a group flying in a V shaped formation and with the eather being mild until recently even the pussy willow being out in the local woods.
Arrangements are being made for February Littles camp where an unexpected offer of an extra free day seems to have caught a number of us with limited time off from work to take full advantage of it although if it were to be offered again I am sure that it would prove useful although to date seems likely we'll be returning in the summer to the old venue as the appropriate has taken that off the property market and is taking bookings into mid summer.

Given this is a new place we've been asked to arrive more toned down than full on little although given my Tom Boy side tends to come out that's no big deal as I'm still little in regular brogues and shorts and never had a big thing for super frilly dresses anyway.
Perhaps I should bring a catapult?

Coping with the weather part II and stuff

We begin this weeks entry where we left off last week with the challenges of the extreme weather we had and how that effects me.

 The weather took a turn for the worst on Thursday when an awful lot more snow came down and indeed the overnight temperatures went below minus 11 degrees C which is is 'brass monkey weather' was my mate pictured here could tell you.
The snowfall was such that I couldn't get out on foot with ice trapped underneath and many of our roads were subject to restrictions too compounded by issues on the neighbouring motorway network.
I didn't get out until the Saturday but then have had to rest my left leg since for a couple of days as in an attempt to deliver some items in in very icy conditions I strained leg muscles and badly hurt my lower leg bones making it very painful to put any weight on it.
Yesterday was a ahem special day which given the challenges I faced and was able to master seems more deserved than ever although with the weather somethings like cards were a day or two delayed arriving just in the nick of time. 
I've also been working on the 'other' Tumblr removing those who just want to live through the idea of a spanked me rather than people who are more interested around age regression, past childhoods and cute stuff even if from time to time I may get spanked.
By co-incidence my BFF was doing something similar with hers with both of us remarking when it comes to blogging and reblogging images of it it gets really quite tedious so she's posting just the things she likes posting as like me she's more than just a spanked girl.
The thing is there's been less than 2% of posts even relating to spanking on that Tumblr of mine and that for me there's nothing sexual or kink in it but their own accounts very much are and I'd rather people followed because they were interested in me as a person and are prepared to support spanking me where it's necessary to train me to do better.

 That's the thing, we're appreciative of what people are doing to help turn us around as adult but child people with the needs and issues we have using such means because it's make a difference for the good for us but we're not your entertainment.

Winter Time

Looking out watching the snowfall during the Winter months was always a thing I loved doing the Winter months as the intensity of the bluey-white snow was just so intoxicating, as you saw it fall mounds that later on you would make into snowmen or have playful  snowball fights with.
Sharing the magic of the season, learning to embrace it's possibilities when suitably attired (snow pants anyone?) the zest for a positive approach for life can be nurtured.

Snowbusiness!

What's white, comes by the bucketful and if you were to ask me is really rather fun even if it's a pain for the groan ups with all their considerations around getting into work and shopping?
That's right-Snow!
It might be me and my crazy upbringing but I always look forward to the winter for this powder dry reason: Sleighing, building snowman and having snowball fights really is the most fun plus it's easy to track all the animals and birds that visit your garden cos their footprints are so much the more visible.
You can watch birds arrive for feeding too:

See I'm organized,eh? Plus I have heaps of long socks to keep my legs warm.
 Cold also kills of nasty bugs off to which is no bad thing.

It's a wrap!

Well, the first week of new improved life went pretty well from the ability just to do a bit a work and keep up with the lives of my work colleagues now the crazy world of paid work is over. I had a blast talking with and helping our clients out as I've so much more control over how much I take on.
I was able to spend some more time dealing with sorting out presents for people although as some of you will recall from last year with the current financial situation effecting us all, I have again parred down how much I'm spending as have those who'd usually treat me. I do sometimes wonder if we'd be better of giving more of ourselves all year round instead.
Arrangements have been made to get me to and help me throughout this years works Christmas lunch which usually involve a quiz and various presentations outside of the formal meal.
I also did some more reading last week and will be taking part in this years Winter readathon where we read a set book and discuss together which should be fun as we're tackling the first Secret Seven novel!
I've wrapped up all ready my stuff cos as I think we all know sometimes it can be hard to get folk to get you what it is you really would like for Christmas with people feeling a bit awkward and that, so to avoid that foot stamping angry protest from the Little Girl within, she's been the money to get what she would prefer with the help of her bigger side.
That makes a lot of sense really as Christmas is really important for children.

Wrapping up time!

It's started to get colder now and as I like to go out a good deal walking, a form of exercise that not only keeps my weight under control but also keeps me mentally alert thoughts drifted toward new extremity covering garments for the season. The colours are so girlish they're irresistible.
This caught my fancy at Monsoon. Made by Accessorize, it's a thick woollen hat and glove set entitled "Bright Heart & Check chunky Chullo" with the hat being £18 and the matching gloves for £12.

A Winter Wonderland

This time of year is always associated to me  with sledging, snowball fights and making snow men which is what I did when I was younger.
I actually damaged my right shoulder and upper arm in my teens when after coming in from a recess snowball fight I came into the classroom near a radiator  that melted the snow on my shoes. This lead to me slipping!
I still have the irresistible urge to throw snowballs at people and to help kids making their snowmen.