Beautiful

 A friend in the village rang me to ask if she could watch the traitors at my house as her tv is defunct 

She’s had a great time , so far and has drunk all of my gin …..lol, what fun 

Enjoy these lovely videos , and enjoy that the cottage looks and smells lovely after a deep carpet clean 

Ikea

 

One plastic plant in plastic pot

One pair of green kitchen scissors ,

One garlic grater

Two rattan mats ( small)

One rattan mat ( large)

Two spotty plates with elevated rims

One useless plastic box

On reflection I was somewhat reserved in my spending 

I’m so British

 

Another Madrid Choir

Not my beloved Talia Grupo 

But the Madrid Modern Choir

I wish I could let myself go ! 

Business

 A blog reader sent me some of my own business cards today.

A kind gift for sure and I must admit that’s it’s weird to see myself in print so to speak, even though I write here daily.

Today was my counselling day, with me seeing five clients in total. 

Nice navy jumper in place 

And no gravy stains

And finally AI is good for something

This rather moved me

Remembering Camilla Parker Bowles

 This is a lovely blog memory, ignited by the long v’s of geese flying away from their feeding grounds near the Elwy Estuary.

A typically autumnal memory from a decade ago

  

Camilla Parker Bowles Takes To The Skies.

That's two and a half hours I won't ever get back.

Foolishly, I let Mary have a gallop around the field this afternoon.
Goo-goo eyed she chased the sheep, (undaunted by their brief show of horn and stamping feet ) and like a lunatic rounded up the remaining hens and boxed them into a coop before scattering them again  to the four winds.
She was impossible to catch.
I almost grabbed her several times, but like most puppies, she sensed the chase to be a game and bounced under the gate into the lower field where the geese had been hiding.
The domestic geese, Russell, Jo and Kate all stood their ground and hissed and honked their displeasure as Mary galloped around them , only Camilla panicked and in a fit of hysteria took off from the field.
Now Camilla, is essentially a wild Canada goose so should,on paper , retain her ability to fly, but since I raised her, she has more or less followed her adopted flock's sedentary grassed based existence.  In four years she has perhaps glided a mere 100 feet, and on two occasions has crash landed  into the fields next door on windy days.
Today, Camilla took off like a jet fighter. She circled the field in an untidy loop at a height of perhaps a hundred and fifty feet, then, buffeted by a gust of wind  she soared away over the Church and out of sight past the Rectory.
" Shiiiiiitttttttttttt!"
I managed to grab Mary and locked her inside a hen house before galloping like a loon through the Churchyard in pursuit but Camilla was no where to be seen.
I searched the livery stable fields, Pippa's field where the alpacas eyed me nervously , The Rectory gardens and the village green beyond, but there was no sign.
I even raised a few eyebrows down nearby Well Street by calling " CAMILLA!" down alleyways and driveways, but that part of the village was deserted too.
Menna, The lady from Abbott House looked particularly surprised when I told her that I was looking for a black and white goose called Camilla Parker Bowles.....like you do.
Systematically, I extended the search.
I checked behind the pub and the chapel and behind the cottages on London Road and still there was no sign, so I went up Byron Street and knocked on a few doors.
An  old chap who was washing his car told me that he had seen a " low flying goose" heading East
" she was honking like a train" he said.
I was onto something
Now on the far east part of Trelawnyd is an upmarket housing estate of say ten houses and beyond that are Basil the farmer's sheep fields. So I took a chance and climbed over a few fences and nearly two hours after the whole bloody mess started, I found Camilla sitting open beaked where she had crash landed in the centre of a flock of ewes.

I carried her all the way home
And after I introduced her back with her flock mates I returned to the cottage for a restorative cup of coffee and a custard tart.
It was only then , that I remembered Mary locked away in the hen house!

Mado Kara Mieru

I’ve just finished nights so will leave you with some entertaining videos.

The AI Queen is famously doing the rounds as is my sexy Italian baker. 

And the Japanese choral Mado Kara Mieru is all rather sublime doesn’t you think? 

Just found out that IKEA has just opened just over the border into England , around 25 minutes from the cottage, I know where I’m going on Tuesday

The Gop

 Look at the photo of Trelawnyd carefully and you can see Gop Hill behind. The burial mound atop the Gop is around 800 feet above sea level. The village is around 550 feet. Many of the fir trees have recently been cut down, giving the hill a slightly unframed look, which I understand was how it looked 100 years ago before the saplings were planted

The village, feels braced for winer. Many of the field hedges have been trimmed and the community  orchard strimmed and cleared of fruit . In two weeks the village apple festival takes place at the school and the ponies may return soon across the lane from the cottage.

My sister is talking about Christmas

Every Brilliant Thing

 The trains have been cancelled from Thames Ditton , but I’m ok. The station has internet and good coffee so I can muse about yesterday’s theatre. 

Every Brilliant Thing is a unique production, part one woman show, part audience participation it features an unnamed girl, who we witness navigating the tricky path of  the daughter of a mom with severe mental illness. The mother attempts suicide ( several times) during the child’s and then adult character’s life and several members of the audience are roped in to play important life characters such as a vet, the child’s father, a school therapist, a college tutor and finally the girl’s boyfriend.

Of course these parts are brief and accessible by the public who gamely join in , but I was surprisingly moved by several of the performances. The woman who played the therapist for example looked and acted as a therapist , using a sock glove puppet to gently cajole the girl into talking about her fears.

Minnie Driver is a revelation here too, before the performance started we watched her carefully select her characters, grooming them gently into their roles with charm and wit. During the performance she guided them effortlessly giving the narrative a flow and pathos all of its own.

The title Every Brilliant Thing refers to the girl’s coping mechanism. She uses an ever growing list of things to be thankful for , as a panacea to the bewildering hurt she is experiencing. The list grows with the audience shouting out more obscure brilliant things as we watch, incredibly moved , as the girl grows into a damaged young woman having to cope with the eventual suicide of her mother.

The last time I was so moved by a piece of theatre was Come From Away and that was just after lockdown, so Every Brilliant Thing was a wonderful surprise

After the play we had a drink in soho then a lovely Chinese meal in Chinatown before home. Apart from a rapt time in the theatre Nu and I caught up with hours of chat

And I feel replenished, this morning, even though the trains have been cancelled