A Little Victory

My babies have flown the coop, metaphorically speaking that is. Both Winnie and Jo, have been released in the duck enclosure and they have immediately taken charge over the three quieter magpie ducks. Out of , what looks suspiciously like devilment, they challenge the ducks with the typical neck stretch threats of adult birds, and tower over them even at the tender age of five weeks. I have tried to get them to come over and sit on my knee as they did only a couple of weeks ago, but theyare having none of it.

The Ghost hens have turned the corner too.(touches wood)

I sat and watched their antics yesterday, and all of them are now walking normally around their small makeshift run. They seem brighter and more alert in themselves now, and with some encouragement have even eaten cabbage hearts and sprout leaves, rather than their preferred pellets and corn.

They don't bicker or fight at all and will continue to lie out all together, even in the rain , but the frozen passivity that characterised their behaviour when they first came ,has all but disappeared.

The new hens have just about settled in to the buff coop. The delicate cochins with their big fat feathered feet that resemble scuba divers' flippers, are shy and nervous, but are comical looking birds..I have a feeling I will be buying a few more very soon......

Notre Dame De Paris 1 Temps de Catedrali High Quality

The French are not famous for their musical Theatre but I must admit this rousing "The time of the Cathedrals has come" seems to be the perfect start to the musical version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Notre Dame de Paris)

Delayed Hysteria

I remembered a brief conversation I had in the village post office this morning,
and I have just realised just how funny it actually was.......

As I joined the two elderly ladies in the queue, I started to cough...
"Excuse me", I said " I have a frog in my throat"

The woman in front of me half turned,
" Better than a toad in the hole", she whispered

A one way street....and a kind gift

I have just received a lovely newsy e mail from one of my oldest friends Nia.(above) She was sort of apologising for not keeping me abreast with the news of her imminent birthing but quite rightly blamed her lack of correspondence on the blog! (and no I don't think you are are -in your words- a lazy fat tart!)
She reads Going Gently regularly (bless) from her home in Australia, so of course feels as though she knows everything of our news (not that much really happens) where as we know little of her news...perhaps EVERYONE should have a blog...then nobody would bloody pickup a phone or meet for coffee........no Nia it was MY fault for not asking about your news and I am sorry!

Anyhow the day has shot by in a frenzy of weeding. I have picked broccoli and black currents for jam too and was busy digging a live mouse from under the bed when the Postman dropped off a brown paper package.

In it was a jar of Elderflower and gooseberry Jelly (a wonderful gift from fellow blogger Kathy) at-http://the-cottage-gardener.blogspot.com/
And it tasted great!.....perhaps I should have said nothing here as Kathy now may be inundated with requests...
Thank you Kathy, it was very kind of you

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Hellfire)

With all the plaudits being thrown at Toystory 3 , I wanted to flag up some of the more overlooked animated movies, which are in my opinion are classics of their own.

This is Tony Jay's towering performance as Frollo in Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame

Cracking

Sherlock

I really enjoyed the modern take tv pilot show SHERLOCK shown on BBC1 last night. No longer surrounded by Victorian myth and slum, this is a updated twist on a tried and tested formula but having said this the pacy plot did remind me of those 80 minute classics starring the hawk nosed Basil Rathbone.

The modern version has Holmes ( a Dr Who- ish Benedict Cumberbatch) as a freelance police detective whose blunt but sharp deductions have alienated him from the authorities who refer to him as "a freak". Holmes wryly even refers to himself as a sociopath and there are even oblique self references to an asexual homosexuality lurking beneath the genius but thankfully this psychobabble is kept to a minimum as the galloping storyline takes over.

For me, it is Martin Freeman's calm and collected Dr Watson that makes for the most interesting twist in the new aged characters. A veteran medic and soldier from Afghanistan, his boyish demeanor belies a steely hero who is a dead shot and who has a deep need for a lost adrenalin rush obtained from conflict.He makes for a quiet and warmer foil for Holme's rather lonely Sherlock.

The chemistry and humour between the two leads works very well but after an hour I did feel as though I was watching a sort of hybrid Dr Who,what with the cracking one liners,constant action and flashy screen technology.....I was not surprised to learn that the series was co founded by Dr Who producer Steven Moffit.

I look forward to see where this series actually goes

Worry Not!

This Century old needlepoint is on the wall of the cottage right next to the fireplace. and I am resolved to take a lesson from it.
Looking at the weather forecast for the next week, it looks as though my sister's flower show and the allotment open may be rather damp, but I refuse to worry about it all. It has rained every year we have held it!

Statues

Ina in Alaska sent me this wonderful photo of a sculpture entitled The Last Blue Whale by Josef Princiotta .Now I love public sculptures and have my favourites amid the many I have experienced over the years.
The Veiled Lady....the most delicate and serene sculpture in the main gallery of Chatsworth House

Dozens of metal figures standing and staring out to sea just North of Liverpool makes for a rather chilling display, but Antony Gormley's statues on Crosby Beach kind of take your breath away when you see them for the first time

...and of course my favourite...the Angel fountain in Central Park.........I took this photo the last time we went......lovely

Babies no more

Aged just 5 weeks and babyhood is over for the goslings.
Although not quite feathered up, they are hardy enough to be transported into their own shed on the field and have already stood up to the bullying antics of the slate turkey, Jane.
Content in their own company, they still follow me everywhere but now have that slight faraway look of adulthood.

Open Garden Day

The village Conservation Group holds a two yearly "Open Garden " event in the village, and today a dozen or so gardens were open for the public to wander around and to admire.
The conservation group is an entirely different entity to our Flower Show Committee but it has a similar objective to raise monies for village improvements.
The weather has not been kind today, as it remains overcast and wet, but the gardens I did venture round looked lush with the recent downpours we have experienced.
(Below "angel's fishing rods" in my friend Pat's garden)

I picked up a programme of events at the memorial hall, where I hopefully conscripted a guy selling his own vegetables to set up a stall at the Open Allotment day next Sunday. The village Jungle telegraph had been working overtime a many people came over to ask how our neighbour Trevor was. ( They had heard that I had rushed the 86 year old in to hospital yesterday which was not quite the case). I reassured them that he was doing ok and said that I had visited him this morning and he seemed comfortable enough but was rather vague with the workings of his new mobile phone. (I gave him a quick lesson in texting, dropped off some pyjamas and promised to feed his cat daily when I was there!)
Being single, elderly and sick must be a scary experience in today's world....having said that, the show of support and solidarity from the village for one of their own has been admirable
Anyhow the garden open seemed to be a success despite the weather.Above Pat in her typically English garden complete with herbaceous borders and below the chap from Anchor House and his AstroTurf patio!!! (Which incidently worked very well!)

A matter of perspective

I posted this photo in response to some of the comments from the last post, that thought that Nell's death was awfully sad. Poultry of all sorts often live for the shortest of times! that is why if left to their own devices, they will breed like rabbits ...so somewhere like the field would be overrun by eager beaks and scratching feet. Now don't get me wrong, some characters like Boris, the buffs, Mary the bantam and of course Jo and Winnie have wormed their merry way into my heart almost as deeply as the dogs have done, but generally I am never really sad when one of the birds dies a natural, timely and peaceful death.
Above is Lilly with her three young chicks..the little wyandotte bantam (left) is a real sweetie

An odd little moment

I bought my first two runner ducks a few years ago now. and kept the gentle, nervous females, who have mothered all of my many ducklings over the last few seasons.

I named them Nell and Maude, and I suspect both were older ducks when I bought them. Yesterday Nell looked tired and wobbly on her legs, and without the usual hysterical screaming that Indian runners exhibit when they come into close human contact, I caught her and placed her in the quiet duckhouse with food and some water.

Today the old girl remained ill , so I placed her back into the duck house and got on with chores before I needed to leave in order to take one of our elderly neighbours to hospital. When I returned I took the goslings out on to the field for a walk and sat down with them with a bowl of water for them and a cup of coffee for me.

As we sat there in the sun, Nell tottered out of the duckhouse and walked very slowly over to us.

She drank briefly from the goslings bowl as they craned their necks and twittered at her and not six inches away from us, she sat down in the warm sun where she lowered her head into the grass.

I thought to myself that she was dying and very gently I picked her up and let her lie in the crook of my arm where she sat still and very calm.

There was something small but incredibly moving about the whole little scene, and moments later Nell's breathing slowed and then eventually stopped.

It was the oddest thing

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008)

I have posted this before and no matter what is the real origin is of the video is, It is a wonderfully uplifting piece of mini cinema, It should be viewed at least once a week!!!!

Don't Look Now Midget in red

In way of explaination for my previous post

I did look.... now

Sometimes life can be a little strange.
Last night I found myself looking after a young road traffic victim from Sheffield ( I knew the road that his family lived on very well indeed) and this morning I stalked a midget in a red coat around Home Bargains.
Obviously I wont go into details about my patient, suffice to say having someone around that knew the family home city well, went a long way in cementing good relationships between nurse and family...no I want to concentrate on the surreal little moment I experienced when shopping for dettol.
Knackered I had finished work, completed the jobs , walked the dogs and then driven to Prestatyn to deliver eggs and to collect more red mite disinfectant.
Prestatyn has a Home bargain store ( which took over from the now defunct Woolworths) and although a little "trailer trashy!" it is the ideal place in which to buy cheap cleaners and diet coke.
As I walked around the store , a small figure in a red coat kept catching my eye and I found myself transported to the climax of Don't Look Now! when a middle aged lady "small person" shot passed with a large wire basket..

I don't know what possessed me but I followed her!
When she stopped to look for something on a shelf I stopped, pretending to search the higher shelves for an item of interest and after a few minutes she limped to the till with me and my dettol in hot pursuit....I could believe myself, but I wanted to see what she had bought.
I had visions of a sharp kitchen knife, a claw hammer and perhaps a sharpened screwdriver...

What I did see was a packet of wild bird food and can of air freshener!

Time for more sleep

Visitors

Now I know I risk sounding like some old queen swooning over a hot dyson hoover "But I haven't had a minute to myself today!!!"
Truth is I haven't and that's typical as I am working nights tonight.
I had to break off a phone call from Nu an hour or so ago as some neighbours brought around a sick hen for me to look at, Chris' supper is cooking away on the stove , unwatched and I am crawling with soddin red mite after cleaning most of the coops with dettol and jayes fluid all morning!
The recent hot and humid weather I think has given the little bastards a foot hold and "BANG" there is millions of the little fuckers all sucking the blood of every warm blooded animal in sight.
Well I sorted the neighbours hen out with some spare antibiotics, tried to ring Nu back ( no luck) and plated Chris' supper like a good wifey
Now I am going to jump in the bath and dettol myself free of red mites but will grab a cuppa and a few minutes to do my blog.
Nothing much happens here generally but between now and mid August things are going to be busy. I have My sister's flower Show to prepare for which is on the 30th, The allotment open on the 1st of August and Trelawnyd's Flower Show on the 21st. In between these Chris's dad, Richard is visiting and is bringing with him his grandson, Leo ( Chris' nephew)
Now my knowledge and experience of 7 year old little boys could be written down on the back of a fag packet but I guess we will bumble through....
I will give him a few friendly hens to carry around, get him dirty in the pond and will get Chris to take us all to see Toy Story 3......(Nu says it's fab)...so jobs a good 'un..
Right I am off now ( flounces off) I need that bath, the dogs need another walk and I can't find my uniforms for tonight

Au Revoir Les Enfants

I don't know much about Louis Malle's film career but I did sort of knew that Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987) was one of his "coming of age" movies, but that was about all.
Nigel sent me a copy of the movie for my birthday, so knowing his love of quality, I thought I would enjoy it.
Today the weather has been atrocious. This morning I did all the household jobs, walked the dogs, made a meat pie for tea and fed and watered all of the animals as they hid away in the coops and bushes out of the rain. The only good thing is that the field pond has now almost full (above)
So steaming after getting soaked, I sat down with a towel and a hot cup of tea and indulged myself with 100 minutes of French movie.
Au Revoir Les Enfants is striking as it captures the cold, cruelty and pettiness seen within a boys' school ( and by saying cruelty I mean the little acts of harshness that occurs constantly when little boys are forced to spend time together) but balances this with a very real and recognisable friendship between Julien Quentin and Jean Bonet (Gaspard Manesse and Raphael Fejtö)

Quentin is homesick for his mother and is a smart and angry boy. Bonet is a quiet, lonely academic and one of several hidden Jewish borders. The date is 1944 and the Germans are looking for any Jewish citizens not already interned.

The story is simple enough, and from the very beginning the audience can guess where the plot is heading; that much is clear, however it is the realism of a child's point of view that cuts to the quick in this movie. The boys' roles with all of their their whims and contradictions are beautifully portrayed by the two leads, and the loss of innocence by the tortured Quentin when the Germans finally seek out the truth, is truly heartbreaking.

8.5 out of 10

A day in the life

I know I can blog about the opening of an envelope, the habit of "chatting" about the little things that occur in our tiny corner of the globe is now so ingrained totally in my daily routine and existence, I hardly realise that the blog has been "done" along side the washing of the dishes and the collection of the eggs.
Chris has the car today, I forgot that I needed to pick up some medication for Jesus ( who has scaly leg mite) so am stuck at home for the day.
Yesterday the day flew by.......In the morning I baked apple pies, tray bakes and jam tarts for the Open day and quickly hid them in the freezer before Chris could get his hands on them

In between the rain showers I exercised the goslings in the garden, much to amusements of a group of walkers. Jo's floppy wing is clearly seen on the above photo, but again he looks happy enough with it. As I watched over them the red faced Welsh farmer called by and blocked the lane with his trailer as he unloaded huge heavy bags of shavings for my hen houses. He always does this for free and in his seventies he still effortlessly hurls these bags around without any hesitation. I filled his tweed hat with eggs as Ralph the gentleman farmer and another farmer in a pickup beebed their horns in a good natured way as they waited for him to move

I already have 5 people provisionally enrolled onto my next Chicken course. The lady I helped out the other day offered me some hens in lieu of course payment and I collected five healthy young hens last night. The hens are lovely, two cochins with their scruffy feathered feet ; a speckled Plymouth Rock, a gentle Welsummer and what looks like a Rhode Island Red. I sneaked them into the large buff hen house at dusk and will keep them shut in there for the next 24 hours until they imprint on the house itself. (above the Plymouth rock)
Our animal population now numbers around 83.

The wet weather has given the flowers on the allotment and wild flower border a bit of a kick start. The sweet peas, and red poppies look great..I hope they keep going for the open day

Today I will harvest the climbing french beans ( below), which I will blanch and freeze and will do the same with broccoli which has burst into flower overnight.

I talked to a farmer yesterday about the fate of the Ghost hens. He warned me that the broilers may not survive their new "gentle" lifestyle in the field. He said that he had the experience of trying to free range a few before he culled them and he said that all but two died suddenly. The vet informed him that because these birds are intensively reared (literally a few weeks from hatching to being eaten) their organs cannot cope with a slower pace of food and water. So by offering these little birds a "better" way of living, I could almost be viewed as being cruel! Its a weird world eh?

Above the five remaining Ghost hens watching the turkeys walking past their enclosure.

Sigh.....health and safety...again!

Readers may recall that last year an anonymous caller contacted the local council's health and safety department about my proposed allotment open... They voiced concerns over the state of the Church Wall and indicated that the public may be "at risk" if it collapsed!
Collapsed! collapsed! it has been standing for nearly three hundred years!!!

Duty bound a sweet lady trundled out to"inspect" my risk assessment plans for the day and even she scoffed at the caller, surmising that they were either a crank or someone that was harbouring some sort of grudge.
I do detest people like these. Every community has them. The character who is the spokesman for the host of complaints that never actually exist or the nameless phone caller who "just thought you would like to know!"...and all in the spirit of health and safety!
So this year everything has been sorted. This morning at 6.45 (Chris woke me up as he went to work) I downed that first lovely cup of coffee of the day as , I drafted out the risk assessment for this years' allotment open.
It was easy enough to do, gawd I remember completing dozens and dozens of the bloody things when I was a ward Manager....but in these days of litigation and blame, they are a necessary evil if any "event" needs to be organised.
There has to be signs for "uneven ground", (people may fall over a rabbit hole) "These animals may peck" (Boris with a gob on) "Do not pick the hens up" (Fear of E coli).......perhaps I should invest in some very large plastic hamster balls, so that visitors can be safely installed inside and can roll themselves around the field without fear of actually coming into contact with anything vaguely dangerous
I heard through the grapevine that when there was the odd hen in the Churchyard someone indicated that there was a potential risk of someone falling over them! To them and people like them all I have to say is "get a life" Mind you, I guess in these days of courtroom payback, laughing in the faces of stupid small minded jobsworths would probably get you saddled with a lawsuit!

tee hee

Jo, the grey gosling has a deformed wing. I recall that when he hatched he dried out very quickly when struggling from his egg and he came out with his wing fixed firmly to his head by dried rock hard mucus. I managed to separate wing from head using some cooled kettle water and some cotton wool but even then the part of lower lobe of the wing looked bent. This part of his wing has no feather growing on it and sticks out comically from his side, but the little chap is not bothered by all this so I will leave well alone and let nature heal it if possible

(above this mornings shot of the goslings watching a tractor passing the cottage)

Weeding,Ghost hens update and the magpie ducks settle in

I have been weeding for six hours today and have just got on top of the main vegetable bed....all this bending and straightening has taken its toll on my back and I must admit increased my flatulence levels!! ( a sign of middle age I am told!)

From my weeding advantage point I could keep an eye on the newer members of the field population.

The ghost hens are still safely in their prefab chicken run, and remain strangely quiet and careful in every aspect of their little lives. But the ex battery hens ARE looking brighter in themselves. Without the frozen fear they exhibited when they first came to me, they will amble in and out of the coop with a little more purpose and strength of step.

Their bald spots are fading somewhat now and they have pecked at "strange" foods such as cabbage leaves and dandelions, a thing they did not do during their first couple of weeks with me

In comparison the magpie ducks seem right at home in their own enclosure. They are handsome upright young ducks, two with chocolate brown markings and one with black. I think I may keep them!