Getting that cubby feeling

This last week has been interesting with the usual mix of a few decades past and the current intermingled as the post on the main blog on Friday will show with found memories of original childhood experienced in my second as that child in an adult body.
It has also been an interesting one for being out exploring nature, watching, feeling and hearing it intently.

I have observed the habits of Squirrels, watched on a daily basis the changes in the hue and colour of the leaves on all our local trees and a good many insects.
Indeed actually on Saturday, I observed at close quarters hundreds of Ladybirds out in the fall sun that must of emerged.

An example of the Harlequin Ladybird I saw is this one which I took a picture of while a wasp seemed to take an interest in my hat!

Wild berries were also out too although normally it is a little late in the season to see them.

While I can never be invested into the cubs nor actually be awarded the badges, this week I feel the sense of being a cub scout in spirit learning more his woodcraft  and scouting skills such as observation while having fun.
The very things that are passported into the remainder of your life after that stage.

Prayer

There was a part of this year where having been facing death, I just felt I had to actually pray and while in connexion with my own religious beliefs this takes more the form of understanding yourself as God's own creation, focusing on what is right with it through silent prayer and reflection, nonetheless I found myself praying the above prayer aloud.

Atonement for me means the at-one-ment with God, the renewal of that past bond and the re-dedication to serving, making a difference for the better in the lives of others and through that your own.

Becoming a Cub in spirit

We've mentioned the origins of this blog in the introduction and touched upon in the second the start point of how it would apply as this eternal "age dysphoric" boy returning to what might of been and resuming.

To get going you really need some kind of guide that gives a clear expectation of the things I would of been expected to had worked towards with your badges and awards over that period.

This will help because it sets the challenges, the things to learn and to gain experience of while providing some of the information you need for that I'd of gone through and I need to be challenged to grow to learn to do and look after myself, to learn about my environment and community, gaining a sense of purpose while having fun.

I'm ready to take it on.

The Forever Cub Scout

This account is mainly around the Cub Scout who wasn’t able at the time to be the one he felt because his folks never even considered enrolling him in something that not only his classes pack of boys all belong to but something actually of helped when it came to life skills and provided appropriate socializing opportunities for that boy.

It says a lot about how that affected me that when I first started age regressing with my mixture of physical and developmental disabilities that it was this I returned to and today I am a cub scout in spirit following similar challenges, developing new interests and having adventures to learn lif skills and have fun doing so.

That was how it was supposed to have been back then and believe me it’s been the best thing so far for me.

Pix credits:  Cut of from the 1979 Cub Scout annual showing the then uniform I’d of gladly worn.

The Trek

Going on an expedition, fully prepared knowing exactly the way with your standard in hand. What it’s all about.

On a trip out, you wait with your leader - you might call him "old Bill" until everyone is accounted for as he sees to it you are looking smart at all times.

100 years of Cubs

 Cubs. Who'd want to miss that even in its modern form?

A hundred years of Cubs, from a couple of years back and these youngsters sure wouldn't with a number wearing uniform only a little different from what I recall as a lad.

The Adventure of Life and You

What does this thing "Being on The Adventure of Life" actually mean?

I think it means looking at life not as just something to which you are a passive member of, waiting for inspiration from others, just being caught in its flow but more personally involved in looking at the path you wish you life to to go down by learning skills, doing new and exciting things and creating your own fun.

It's about feeling alive in your own skin, being confident you know what you know and critically what you don't with the knowledge on where to find it so you move on rather than stopping at first base.

It's the moment you realize You stand up and take responsibility for You.

The great outdoor cooking challenge

Having got a fire going, it is time to get some old school cooking done so given we've no controls, you have to sit by turning things over to ensure through cooking, removing when properly cooked ready for the remainder of the pack.

Introduction pt.2

Where do I begin writing this Blog?

The blog started out on Tumblr during a period of issues on that site we need not go that much into but it's enough to say I felt a separate new Tumblr with a narrower focus than one that with having those issues was needed.

For me one simple and painful issue from the past remains, how it was something I wanted to join and be a part of that had every potential to transform my life was effectively blocked not by that organization but by parental attitudes so it was unlike even my own siblings I was never invested into Scouting at ANY level

I had written a few bits on That Uniformed Schoolboy about this in the past so don't wish to go over old ground but one of things is while it is perfectly true to say we can't go back to 1972 and put that right I need not stay holding that sense of lost opportunity.

I'm sure any Akela would say to me now it makes more sense to do something about it positively and that is what I'm doing obviously not by being a member of a Cub Scout pack as much as a pack for developmentally developed disabled adults who are very much boys might well be a good thing but by following more what I'd of done then as a Pack Member.

That as time would of gone on is what you do as a Scout, a Venture Scout and so on as you move on but still in that Family doing more things involving personal planning, initiative and responsibility even if I didn't make first base.

So that's more what I am doing using the resources around me to fill in the gaps that weren't covered through other opportunities through school based activities such as orienteering and hiking or those areas where I did develop the skills to had been awarded badges for in the wider community 

Over and out, Chris

 Seeing it is halloween, what could be more apt than a carved pumpkin with the The fleur-de-lis.

The fleur-de-lis, a three-pointed, flowerlike symbol with rich historical significance, is an essential part of Scouting iconography. 

Shining a light

There is something about the use of fire, here in torch lit parades, that somehow connects with us in a symbolic way that aids the making of Camp and of the memories it leaves us with.

Introduction

 All blogs start somewhere and this one does go back a long way although it is only in recent years I've began to explore more that past and what it means to me.

This blogger had a boyhood that in respects was fairly conventional of the period, mixing more with other children specifically boys at Playgroup before moving to Infant School which in this part of the district was combined in at the time was an inadequate Victorian school building with Juniors.

That was where we played at playtimes, acted up in class and learned things about each other as we got to grips with school life and learned of what sorts of groups outside of school each other belong to.

That was where I first learned of Scouts but as I will talk about later on there was a brick wall in the least expected of places with that at the time.

Time moves on, school to school to college eventually but while some aspects of life did change not uncommonly, a good many others given my disabilities did not so I remained this hybrid mixture and the interest I had in revisiting those areas that had helped in managing that, learning more life skills lead me to looking more at Scouting as an inspiration beyond the normal age structures as a way of making more of a life in a way that was a good fit for me.