What does it make you think of?
Auntie Glad is 99
At yesterday's meeting we had a salute to Auntie Glad
She was 99 years old
This is the Facebook entry from the village choir's visit with her
The old broad will reach her 100!
She was 99 years old
This is the Facebook entry from the village choir's visit with her
The old broad will reach her 100!
Penblwydd Hapus iawn Anti Glad!...Gladys Jones is 99 yrs young today and choir members gathered at the Prestatyn Care Home this morning to pay tribute and share this Special occasion with her. In the presence of members of her family, Gladys was presented with a framed certificate in recognition of her wonderful support & service to the choir and also a personalised wooden frame with a 1973 photo of senior members that included her late husband Bob 'Railway' Jones. With Ceinwen at the keyboard, the choir sang Happy Birthday and a few other songs which she said 'made her day'. It was great to see her happy and smiling, she is bright, charming and wonderful. Her lifestyle and clean living is the reason she has reached this wonderful age, our warmest wishes for a super day!...Côr Meibion Trelawnyd."
The Last Flower Show Meeting
Flower Show secretaries have to be multi skilled, thick skinned politicians who can sell sand to Arabs. I've inherited my sister's skills in that respect and like her, I ran a good show.
I worked alongside the powerhouse that was Sylvia Evans who ran The Trelawnyd Flower Show for more years than can be remembered and my easy manner and ability to get people to participate boosted entries considerably at a time when flower shows were not thought as sophisticated pastimes.
It was a valuable apprenticeship to be sure, and has been one I have enjoyed but as you all know with a move fairly imminent, it is now time to step down as Show secretary.
This morning I bought each of the committee a gift and a card . The ladies received a small posy of spring flowers. The gents silly gifts that echo their humour. Terry , for example received a new cake tin. ( he always battled and failed to beat my award winning boiled fruit cake.
My resignation has meant that the Flower Show committee will now fold. The commmittee has been a great one but all on it realise that the commitment in running such an event is a vast one. It's flattering , just a little, to realise that I am a hard act to follow, but it also very sad to think that the flower Show will end just shy of it's fiftieth anniversary.
So I gave my thanks to a wonderful set of despots
Matriarch Irene, animal helper Pat, Derek and Heulwen , the ever cheerful Ann and dry-as- toast Terry, oh and sailor John who never got flustered as committee treasurer.and soon I will chase up the members that were not able to make the meeting...namely Trendy Carol ( off having a trendy lunch with friends in a beige trouser suit and matching assessories ) and Meirion and Daphne who are away on holiday. I will drop their gifts off in due course.
I will also call to see Auntie Glad next week with her own bunch of flowers. She may not remember me too well but it was only two years ago when she opened the biggest and best show we had ever held in Trelawnyd, and she did so with an elegance and grace befitting the grand old dame that she is.
I must also pause here to thank the people who have supported the show over the years...The Evans' family, Eileen Jones' family and Christine Davis. The competitors past and present who have gone that extra mile to bring in their cakes , crafts ,flowers and vegetables and fruit for everyone to see and to enjoy.
I will post a public thank you on the notice boards next week, and information of where the Show's savings will be spent will be shared with the village at a planned tea party in the village hall. The tea party will be an opportunity for the Show committee to say goodbye and will be open to all.. We
intend to give almost all to it to village and local initiatives and charities
After all that's what the Show was designed for....to support the village and its people.
I'll leave you with a few photos of Shows past...
And Mary and I will now go for a nice long walk in the afternoon sunshine .
And again, I think I shall have a brief, but much needed weep.
My mother's embroidered tablecloths and flowers picked from the garden
The flower exhibits
Gladys preparing scones to be sold
She is 99 years old today x
Committee meetings around Auntie Glad's table
The trophies all polished on our mantelpiece
The cookery classes
The novelty veg class proved popular
Naked
When I worked on spinal injuries I was one of two specialist nurses that dealt with erectile dysfunction issues of the male patients.
At that time one treatment was aprosadil, which is a drug that you can inject into the side of the penis.
When used correctly , the resulting " reaction" could be utilised for a good 45 minutes or so!- if you get my drift.
My job was to assess the need of various treatments, and to assess the right dosages when teaching the patients to administer the medication themselves. Subsequently I used to joke that I saw more penises in one day than an averagely busy prostitute !
The comment often broke the ice with certain bashful patients.
I tell you this as a bit of background colour. Only because I was literally caught with my pants down in the loo at fat club this morning. My fellow weightwatcher seemed nonplussed by the whole thing but I was mortified . I am not one that copes well with the thought of my own nudity even though I dealt with the nudity of others for years and years and years.
In the last twenty years only two people have ever seen me naked. the Prof , of course is one, my old friend and badminton partner Mike is the other.
I wish I was not so bashful......
The Walking Dead Finale
It's all over
And as always , for me, the peripheral characters made the drama
Peace now is the way forward in the zombie world
Ok ok I know Maggie and Daryl want Negan Dead( and their turnaround against team Rick offered the necessary conflict) but the saviour storyline is thankfully now over...to continue. It would have been madness.
So .....what did I like
I liked Jerry being the comic foil saying "shit" to the king
I liked Jadis ( Pollyanna Macintosh ) gently saying her name is Ann ( she is such a good actress)
And I liked Carol finally being mom and returning to Kingdom
Oh......and noting the gay vote.. I liked Alden (Callan Mc Auliffe) being all New York sexy
I will miss my geek Mondays .......( something the Prof will never understand)
And as always , for me, the peripheral characters made the drama
Peace now is the way forward in the zombie world
Ok ok I know Maggie and Daryl want Negan Dead( and their turnaround against team Rick offered the necessary conflict) but the saviour storyline is thankfully now over...to continue. It would have been madness.
So .....what did I like
I liked Jerry being the comic foil saying "shit" to the king
I liked Jadis ( Pollyanna Macintosh ) gently saying her name is Ann ( she is such a good actress)
And I liked Carol finally being mom and returning to Kingdom
Oh......and noting the gay vote.. I liked Alden (Callan Mc Auliffe) being all New York sexy
I will miss my geek Mondays .......( something the Prof will never understand)
Jadis (nee Ann)
Alden' bum fluff
Jerry is a delight x
Well That's A First !
Last night I was moved by an episode of Antiques Roadshow
It's not a phrase I think anyone hears often.
What moved me was the story behind a box of children's treasures, a box from the 1940s when a poorly/ housebound little girl called Catherine amused herself by hiding clues around her home which would lead the future homeowner to a hiding place which contained her box of goodies. The goodies as it transpired were simple things, an ink pen, a spoon, a purse containing pennies - a favourite book but to the present house owner ( who found the clues some seventy years later) the treasure was a delight snap shot into the past
It moved me greatly.
When I was out with Mary on our power walk this morning, I tried to recall situations that had really moved me. Times which stung at the soul and will remain with me always .
Even though this list will ebb and flow depending on memory and insight this is what I came up with
It's not a phrase I think anyone hears often.
What moved me was the story behind a box of children's treasures, a box from the 1940s when a poorly/ housebound little girl called Catherine amused herself by hiding clues around her home which would lead the future homeowner to a hiding place which contained her box of goodies. The goodies as it transpired were simple things, an ink pen, a spoon, a purse containing pennies - a favourite book but to the present house owner ( who found the clues some seventy years later) the treasure was a delight snap shot into the past
It moved me greatly.
When I was out with Mary on our power walk this morning, I tried to recall situations that had really moved me. Times which stung at the soul and will remain with me always .
Even though this list will ebb and flow depending on memory and insight this is what I came up with
- Walking silently around a near deserted Theresienstadt concentration camp on a bright sunny day and shadowing a distraught former inmate and his family on their first pilgrimage to the Czech Republic from Israel .
- Watching Five middle aged sisters hold hands and sing their dying father's favourite hymn as I reduced the support of his ventilator settings.
- The " ghost hens " ( six fat broiler hens I rescued from a factory farm) emerging fearfully into sunlight for the first time where they sunbathed with a breeze in their faces and grass under their feet.
- Dancing on the roof of a Sheffield hospital with friends in the dark and feeling more alive than I thought possible
- Visiting my first dog Finlay at the animal hospital he was admitted to for the first time ( and thinking he would survive a condition that eventually killed him soon after )
- Seeing The Prof uncharacteristically smiling too much on the day of our wedding.
Yours? I be interested to know
The ghost hens
23 hours
I'm a cross between this
And this
However my friends in the US are just about to watch it !
For god's sake someone tell me what happens!
Mentors
The Prof has gone to have his second sailing lesson today.
He has an experienced sailing mentor.
I am sat at the kitchen table completing some mentoring paperwork.
I am a mentor to two Samaritans in training.
If you are fortunate you will have a whole succession of mentors during your lifetime.
Parents and grandparents are obvious mentors if you are lucky.
Role models that teach you to "do as I do and not do as I say"
Sadly for many the credo is the other way around in many families.
My father didn't really mentor me in the way of manly things. It wasn't quite done in our family. I always thought that you father was there to teach you about sex, how to shave properly and how to change a tyre on the car.
Mine did non of those things, but he did teach me to drive.
" Always anticipate the other road users to do something wrong" I remember him saying and his words have stuck with me to this day
Funnily enough I'm a crap driver too!
He has an experienced sailing mentor.
I am sat at the kitchen table completing some mentoring paperwork.
I am a mentor to two Samaritans in training.
If you are fortunate you will have a whole succession of mentors during your lifetime.
Parents and grandparents are obvious mentors if you are lucky.
Role models that teach you to "do as I do and not do as I say"
Sadly for many the credo is the other way around in many families.
My father didn't really mentor me in the way of manly things. It wasn't quite done in our family. I always thought that you father was there to teach you about sex, how to shave properly and how to change a tyre on the car.
Mine did non of those things, but he did teach me to drive.
" Always anticipate the other road users to do something wrong" I remember him saying and his words have stuck with me to this day
Funnily enough I'm a crap driver too!
Flashing
for Liz
My husband has worked away all week. he returned last night and has gone to work again this morning.
Such is the life of a senior academic.
I shall be driving over to the University later to join him and the other boffins for dinner.
I have just spent a frustrating 30 minutes trying to get William to have his medication.
The old boy is a clever old sausage when it comes to spitting out tablets, I wanted to weed the flower beds in readiness for house showing......
I caught two middle aged women peeping through the kitchen window on the lane at lunchtime.
They were part of a rambler group.
Other people's houses hold a fascination for some people and they were having a right old "neb" until I suddenly walked around the side of the fridge
For some strange reason I found myself pulling up my third best walking dead T shirt and exposing my stomach to them, which made them jump back in shock ( or could it be disgust?)
I've never done such a bizarre thing before in my life
thank goodness I had my pants on
Passport Review
I've just applied for a new passport .
It's all on line now ...even your photograph can be downloaded digitally from an appropriate photo booth.! Mine was in Tescos!
I compared my new photo with my old one this morning.
Vanity has prevented me from comparing the two here ....
My hair is now a salt and pepper grey, ten years ago it was a lusty brown
My beard now looks like a badger's head and my eyes look tired.
Where does the time go? So sang the statuesque Julia Fordham
She's bloody right too.
Where does the time go?
I'm typing this on the train to Chester.
I've got things to do there...
I may go into our favourite cafe, to have a flat white
It's always full of bright young things
Hey ho
Lifestyle Rabbit
The estate agents are photographing the cottage this afternoon. They will arrive in a moments time
The dogs have been put safely away in the car and I've done the lifestyle thing and put fresh Aldi flowers in each room.
The place is clean and tidy.
Surfaces are clear.
And Albert's decapitated lunch of baby rabbit has been removed from its bloody pool outside the back door.
Eve
"Hi John, one of the Sec’s has asked me to pass on the following. Len H (Eve H's husband) has contacted us and asked if a message can be got to you, to inform you that Eve sadly passed away a couple of weeks ago. If you would like to know about funeral arrangements he is happy for you to contact him on ( telephone no) ta Sxx"
I haven't worked on the spinal injury unit in Sheffield for over twelve years and hadn't cared for Eve for a good 25 years but this sad little message floated to me through the Internet from my old friend and matron this afternoon.
Eve was one of my favourite patients. A party mom with a nice family , she dived into a neighbour's pool after a couple of gin and tonics and on a hot summer's day she broke her neck.
She was paralysed from the shoulders down and I was one of her named nurses during her difficult rehabilitation .
We became friends.
Despite her injury she remained very much the party animal . Gin and tonics continued to be quaffed but adapted cups with palm straps had to used rather than the best crystal .
Carers wrote her letters that accompanied her Christmas cards to me and when she was re admitted to the unit where I was now Charge Nurse, I would pop into her room and wipe away her tears of frustration at having a urology problem or a pressure sore.
I hadn't seen her since we came to Wales but she had always kept in touch albeit infrequently and I was touched that her ex husband had remembered me.
All this kind of caught me unawares this afternoon.
And the woman who came to buy the last of my hen houses said exactly the wrong thing
" I enrolled in the first of your " how to look after chickens" courses " she said " you were very patient with me when you taught me to clip your hens wings..you were very sweet..."
It was a nice complement , a simple one. But my thoughts were elsewhere and after she had gone I had a walk around the field with Irene in tow.
And had a brief weep
I haven't worked on the spinal injury unit in Sheffield for over twelve years and hadn't cared for Eve for a good 25 years but this sad little message floated to me through the Internet from my old friend and matron this afternoon.
Eve was one of my favourite patients. A party mom with a nice family , she dived into a neighbour's pool after a couple of gin and tonics and on a hot summer's day she broke her neck.
She was paralysed from the shoulders down and I was one of her named nurses during her difficult rehabilitation .
We became friends.
Despite her injury she remained very much the party animal . Gin and tonics continued to be quaffed but adapted cups with palm straps had to used rather than the best crystal .
Carers wrote her letters that accompanied her Christmas cards to me and when she was re admitted to the unit where I was now Charge Nurse, I would pop into her room and wipe away her tears of frustration at having a urology problem or a pressure sore.
I hadn't seen her since we came to Wales but she had always kept in touch albeit infrequently and I was touched that her ex husband had remembered me.
All this kind of caught me unawares this afternoon.
And the woman who came to buy the last of my hen houses said exactly the wrong thing
" I enrolled in the first of your " how to look after chickens" courses " she said " you were very patient with me when you taught me to clip your hens wings..you were very sweet..."
It was a nice complement , a simple one. But my thoughts were elsewhere and after she had gone I had a walk around the field with Irene in tow.
And had a brief weep
Have You Ever Punched A Viking?
Mostyn Art Gallery
I had planned to drag all of the damaged old hen houses into the centre bonfire of the field today but the weather is so atrocious , I gave that up as a bad job.
It feels like a museum mooch day but as these are few and far between in Wales I have had to settle for a visit to the Mostyn Art Gallery .
Tonight I'm going to see a Japanese movie thriller The Third Murder
As I sit here having a flat white I remember a trip to a museum which went titsup after the person I was with punched a Viking in a display from Ye Olde York!
The museum was in York and my companion was a paranoid schizophrenic out on a day trip.
Luckily for all involved the Viking in question was a waxwork dummy and not a jobbing actor .
I guess I was primarily to blame as I sort of knew that the patient had a thing about red hair, but the penny failed to drop after we entered the reincarnation of ancient York with realistic depictions of Viking home life and were suddenly surrounded by a plethora of ginger Scandinavian types.
The museum didn't have a security guard as I recall, just a matronly usher who was no use in helping me disengage schizophrenic from ginger dummy.
My patient got four punches in and effectively decapitated the exhibit before I dragged him away by his coat collar.
That was the last time I took a psychiatric patient out in public
December 1988
The Running Of The Horses
This one is a doozie !
It has every cliche thrown at it and it still works.
The group of people running to meet a herd of horses on a faraway beach include a lesbian couple expecting a baby, a wide eyed young girl and a man with downs.
It should, by rights be terribly mawkish
Instead it brought a tear to my eye
Telepathic
The Prof left for a week's work away before dawn this morning
Seconds later a certain bulldog fought her way under the duvet with a satisfied sigh
She woke me at 7.30 demanding a snog
No lie in ....proper blog later
Seconds later a certain bulldog fought her way under the duvet with a satisfied sigh
She woke me at 7.30 demanding a snog
No lie in ....proper blog later
Bum Marks On The Fridge
Facebook and blogging like most aspects of " social media" provide people with a Vehicle to show off.
See what I've done,
See what I've got, see how lucky I am...
See what an interesting , valid person I am
See me
See me
Like me
I've been asked by two people now to post some photos of the new( ish) kitchen. I think that many will think it a shame that we are moving so close to all the hard work it took to organise it....perhaps they are right but kitchens sell houses ( I am told) so it was fortuitous I got it done. It remains my favourite room in the cottage.
Today I've given it the weekend once over, and minutes after the last duster was packed away and the last bit of dirtymop water chucked down the sink, I am showing it to you
Of course it's not really like this....
The photos are there to underline how lovely I am.
How lucky andhow houseproud and interesting I am...
The photos lie
The arm chair never looks like the chair in the photo. The arm seat and back usually have strategically placed teatowels on them ---a protection from muddy paw prints.
And along the window ledge , just out of shot in the first photo is Albert's smelly cat food bowl half filled with bits of horse that has had the gravy licked off it.
Just right of the New York arty cushion ( see more me, me me !) are paw scuff arks on the paint where Albert knocks his bad leg at every visit to his dinner plate.
They are there every day
And I wipe them off every day.
Hidden under the table George is keeping his usual low profile on his sheepskin bed.
Despite regular washes the bed remains grey and "doggy"
Not quite homes and gardens material me thinks.
Part of the kickboard by the sink is not quite square , there is a dust trail the length of Hadrian's wall on the new radiator and I can make out a clear bum mark left by William on the side of the fridge cupboard which I somehow missed in my frenzy of cleaning
See not quite perfect everyone
Not quite perfect .......
" We Are Sailing.......stormy waters...."
Eat your heart out Rod Stuart..it was a flat calm .....not good for sailboats !
Whoa! Ok ok .... well the Prof and friend Nick went sailing
I spent the day with Nick's wife playing with dogs on the beach and eating tuna sarnies
A Quiet Place
Noah Jupp, Millicent Simmonds and John Kraninski
To survive, you have to be quiet!
It's a simple but incredibly effective premise.
And so in a practically empty post apocalyptic world we follow a survivalist family's quest on their farm festooned in light bulbs but without an animal that may give their presence away.
The family has a head start above other survivors. Father Leo ( John Kraninski) is a tough protector sort whilst chubby daughter Megan ( Millicent Simmonds) is deaf allowing her and the family to communicate effectively by sign language, but a childhood game with a noisy rocket ship brings tragedy when the youngest son is killed brutally on a forage out for medication .
Despite the family strengths , the odds are clearly stacked against total silence and safety here. A crying baby, a deaf child who cannot hear the noise she is making, a nail on a staircase just waiting to be stepped upon at the wrong moment have all been set up to give the game away, and at times the story gets unbearably tense as the monsters move in....
A Quiet Place is what it is , a great old fashioned monster movie......
With a twist
8/10
" shut the fuck up" Emily Blunt
Plans
A Sunny Morning over the village
I've started to let people know of our intention to move.
One neighbour kindly said that they were "stunned and saddened"
Mrs Trellis was more pragmatic " How lovely, pastures new!" She trilled as her bobble hat wagged in the wind.
I've also had quite a few " we will miss you statements" which is nice but I am in no doubt there will be an Occasional pleased expression to our news..especially the by the villager who I had a run in with on Monday night after her unleashed staffie had belligerently faced off William who was helpless on his lead. Her dog got a swift kick for her trouble and I got sent a " You walk round the village as if you own it" social media comment......
It's interesting how people see you.
I've just resigned from the newly formed community Association and my next step is to get the flower Show Committee together to discuss the future of the show.
I suspect that the show will end if a new secretary cannot be found!
I have someone coming to view the good quality hen houses on Sunday and joy of joys now have a potential new owner for the skittish and lonely Irene. Dear friend and former blogger Sue ( and her lovely hubby) have kindly offered to adopt her.....so at some stage in the future all we have to do is catch her!
A dear friend told me this morning that he always liked my optimistic nature.
Onwards and upwards dearhearts!
On A Lonely Road
Have you ever broken down on a pitch Black Country road in the middle of the night?
I have.
Last night!
Around nine pm I was driving to my Sams shift when I took a call on my mobile. I stopped at a layby , just south of the village to take it and got talking to an old friend for good while
Foolishly I had left my side lights on and when I eventually set off, the car battery was dead as a dodo
It was chucking it down too!
I was in a pickle, so I did who so many Trelawnyd-ites do when things go tits up...I rang village elder Islwyn to see if he could help.. As it turned out he hadn't got any jumpleads and so I rang my breakdown company and prepared myself for a long wait.
Now the dark does not spook me much, but sitting in the dark,surrounded by trees away from the main road is a somewhat stressful experience especially as my mobile's battery was low and I am an old queen with a vivid imagination ! ( I almost wet my panties watching The Blair Witch Project)
Around ten twenty pm I spied a car's headlights though the rain . It was Islwyn , who had decided to come out to see if things were alright. Kindly he offered to keep me company for an hour.
Now Islwyn is a raconteur of some note so I was kept amused and diverted from thoughts of serial killers and monsters in the dark until he too finally had to go and I was left for a further half hour wait for the breakdown lorry to arrive.
I made sure the central locking was on
And finally got home just before midnight
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