GK, bowls and lunch

 Gwyneth from blog https://gzandco.blogspot.com/ visited Trelawnyd today, for lunch with the Manley’s and it was lovely to see her, and to receive the bowl that she had made as well as to join in with a bloody lovely lunch.

Weaver giving the new egg bowl the once over

Ma Manley’s village book is growing every week and looks magnificent too

Roger Saves The Day

 

I was due to catchup with friends in Sheffield today, but I’m still feeling a bit washed out so decided to stay home. My friends understood but it was a bugger as I’d already paid for the hotel.

Hey ho

I caught up with my pals on the phone this afternoon, and made butter bean and chorizo soup, whilst the washing machine scrubbed clean the living room throws and the three stuffed animals that live in a basket in the inglenook fireplace.Now,  I’m not one for stuffed toys but these three have a sentimental sort of value. A chameleon with a cheeky grin I bought from Waterstones on a whim. A red lobster ( a gift from Mrs Trellis and a terrier dog bought on my first visit to Nu’s Irish home.  

All stank of soot and smoke.

I put all three in for a gentle wash alongside a fat platypus ( who I use as a hearth duster)  and thought no more about it.

Only when the machine started to spin did I hear Roger yapping

And when I walked into the kitchen to investigate, I found a worried Welsh terrier sat in front of the washing machine, his eyes fixed on several fleeting glimpses of helpless stuffed animal expressions as they bounced around and around the drum.

The Book of Love - 👀👀👀👀👀news

This piece of music is a breath of fresh air. 

I need a breath of fresh air today

My wee has turned from claret coloured to a healthier blush rosé and I feel a little more human.

Especially as my day in bed, allowed me to get half a dose of flea treatment onto Weaver without inducing intensive care standard injuries.

The downside on heath news is that my eye scan this week has diagnosed another extensive bleed into my right eye. The consultant was thorough and kind and pragmatic when she told me that the injections were not working and that she suggested that they stop. 

My eyesight will deteriorate and I may go blind in that eye she said

Thank good my left eye is ok , I said 

Hey ho

   

Amar pelos dois- Salvador Sobral- Grupo Talía

This song from the lisping choir is so so

It reminds me of the melancholy Sundays of my childhood 

Chilly dark winter teas of cold ham, limp salad and the radio blaring out the depressing sing something Simple 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sing_Something_Simple

Urine Infection Time, 🫩😪

Using Roger as an organic bladder heat pad

Early night

Zohran Mamdani

 

Pause

 

The Incident Of The Dog Cardigan In the Dark

 

Being an old bitch, Mary has bald patches on her back and flanks.

Subsequently Trendy Carol being Trendy Carol has bought her a succession of knitted coats this autumn.

Her latest is an armless cardigan of many colours

And Mary is warm but overdressed  in a village full of sheepdogs and hearth mutts.

Last night on our last walk Mary wouldn’t amble along.

She staggered

And stopped still, with her head down and tail droopy

I cajoled her and petted her but she stood in the rain 

Stock still and miserable 

So I lifted her up and with her head under my chin, me and Roger worriedly ran for home.

I suspected a stroke

Or epilepsy 

Or sudden illness 

And in the light of the fire

I tearfully gave the unhappy girl the once over.

After a couple of minutes I finally sussed it.

Somehow she the old gal had got her back leg jammed in her front leg cardigan arm hole.

Ffs these animals will be the death of me …….

The Show

 Another Spanish Choir , but I need to request from my followers , what’s it all about? 

Please someone tell me …..

I adored the elderly choral lead 

And the power of the choir’s first few notes, it’s bloody amazing 

Anyway, Last night we had another robust meeting about the village show, and things are moving forward with rather a rush.

Shit…..I’m out of my depth with this sort of thing …but I’m trying very hard.

Gulp…..

Now Voyager Through Chic Eleanor’s Eyes…..

 For  those that don’t know this classic movie , it’s a voyage around the story of an awful critical mother (Gladys Cooper) who has brow beaten and psychotically abused an unwanted and unloved daughter Charlotte (Bette Davis). An unexpected intervention from a kindly psychiatrist (Claude Rains) allows the ugly duckling to embark on a cruise to South America where she meets the redeeming unhappily married Gerry ( Paul Henreid) and where she blossoms into a chic society dame.

Camp, and melodramic ,it’s a right romp , and Chic Eleanor adored it from start to finish., celebrating the psychological bent of the narrative with some gusto, multiple pashmina throws and lots of emotion .

It was a true delight seeing the film through a friend’s fresh eyes. 

And she loved it 

When Charlotte finally admitted “I’m not afraid mother” Eleanor threw her arms in the air and threw out a robust “ At bloody Last!” Which I loved….

We analysed the film in the car all the way home xxx

The Village within a Village

 

I live in the South Western Part of Trelawnyd, on a lane which is called Cwm Road . Cwm is the Welsh word for a valley, but also is the name of a couple of villages located near to us here. So the lane not only moves down the valley but to a place called Cwm . 

It’s all bloody confusing.

My cottage is one of six dwellings , which lie next to the Church, and it is ( with next door) the oldest home in the row.

I always think that this part of Trelawnyd as a village within a village.

The lane drops down the valley bottom to where village Leaders Ian and Helen live in the old mill house, then rises up to the farmhouses at Pen y Cefn Isa, and Y Ffyddion 

At night, the lights in the windows of each house are comforting and show me that Lywena and Arfon are home.

This morning the view across the valley is glorious, and this is what I can see if I stand in front of my cottage looking south west.

The livery stables own the fields beyond the Church field, and the ponies that frequent them noisily shoot stem from their noses this morning as the frost lingered. The crows in their murder by the village well are loud and raucous, and lines of gulls call too as they shift sidewards and move down towards the coast. 

It feels as though there’s a lot going on in such a still place. 

Bun follows our walk, and stands guard from the graveyard wall, as Monika and her French bulldog steam by

The autumn colours in the trees and hedgerows are exaggerated by the sun , and everything feels golden and warmed, even though it’s chilly 

I take a deep breath in by the field gate, as Mary raises her head to the sun 

I am home

Espresso Macchiato-Grupo Talía

It’s 9.17 pm and I’ve been out of the cottage at work since 6 am only getting back 45 minutes ago, 

By the time I’ve walked and fed the dogs, and cats, lit the fire and had a shower, I’m ready to collapse in an untidy heap on the couch. 

Weaver has been fighting with the neighbourhood’s  feral Tom , a cat three times her size. He used to bully  Albert rather relentlessly so was christened with the fairly uncharitable nickname of  The Cu*t, a name that rather suited him, but Weaver has already given him a run for his money

It’s all drama …..Jesus! It’s all drama!

The lisping choir paying homage their favourite beverage was a chuckle tonight

Tomorrow Chic Eleanor and I are off to see Now Voyager at the Storyhouse 

A 1940s weepie is just what we both need me thinks. 

Fall

 When I went to London recently I fell getting onto a tube on the Northern Line going south .

I blame my dyspraxia, of course, as well as the fact that I was hurrying, as the tube train was about to leave, but one minute I looked like any other commuter.

The next I was sprawled inside the tube with a dozen people looking concerned if not shocked around me.

Suffice to say I got to my feet immediately and as I sat down on the disabled seat, an Italian woman kindly called out “ are you alright?” 

I motioned that I was , but I had sprained my thumb pretty badly and embarrassment dictated that I showed no pain or discomfort. 

I blushed like a school boy 

Falling in public is an intensely humiliating experience. 

It shows your under belly to the world 

And underlines clumsiness, age and size and helplessness

Why do you think I’ve not told you about it until now? 

I’m imploding with shame….

What was funny about all this, was a genuine premonition, 

For when I was walking to the train in Prestatyn , that morning

I suddenly felt as though I was going to fall over that day…..

And later on , I did just that …….

My thumb is still sore btw

Caps & Gowns

 I never went to my graduation, 

Nu said I should be grateful for small mercies as they can be all anticipation for little reward.

But I wanted to wear my cap and gown in the colours of Bangor University and stand with my fellow graduates ( above) with some pride and hubris.

Im happy to say that my rented cap and Gown should be delivered next week and I shall be wearing it around the cottage like a house coat. 

I’m shallow and needy enough to enjoy the photographs like a toddler with a pink balloon

I’m sorry my mother and father never got to see such a photo.

The child in me still needs that validation….

Alicia Keys - North Wales

For Yorkshire Pudding

Oboe

 

The Metropolitan Orchestra ( who support the lisping Choir ) as Talia Grupo is sublime in this Disney tribute. The oboe player is a dish .

Counselling day today 

Clean Jumper, takeaway porridge for breakfast and big coffee start, walking with purpose , coffee in hand 

Am I pretending to live in New York ?

Too bloody right I am 

A post about nothing……

 I worked the last two nights and walked the dogs after a sleep

Shit it’s almost five pm and already almost dusk.

I ring to see if I can change an eye appointment , no answer

The twins loudly demand their tea, and even Weaver is rubbing my leg in anticipation 

Judus!

I run around and set out the recycling. 

A villager stops to chat for as moment and I ask about his sick brother in law, 

Moments later Animal Helper Pat stops him and asks the same thing. Such is life in small communities.

I unload logs from the car as Roger listens from over the kitchen wall

No goodies on the wall today, 

A day I could have done with one.

I finish laundry and organise a clean outfit for counselling day tomorrow, laying it out on the kitchen chair 

I feed the twins but Weaver has already peed on my fox cushion in what I can only assume as frustration temper.

I wash it but use up all the washing up tabs

Fuck and there’s no milk either

I make a coffee and sit looking at my spotty Ikea plate and jug of plastic tulips.

Mary farts in her sleep

And I wish I was in a sunny cafe in Madrid’s Atotcha 

Youhoooooooo! 

An old lady’s voice. It’s not Pat or Mrs Trellis but another villager I know

She pointed at my recycling and I prepared myself for some sort of neighbourly complaint.

“ look at these beauties braving the elements “ she crooned, pointing to a bit of lane buffering my wall

There, hiding away amongst the weeds were several delicate viola plants 

I had not noticed that the kitchen clock had not been moved back on Saturday . It’s only 4 pm

A violas are metaphor for getting on with the mundane and the ordinary.

Pride

 Royal recognition for the LBGT + community of the armed forces was gratefully received at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire today as the king gave his respect to the fallen, non serving and serving members of army, navy and airforce. 

The memorial is designed in the shape of a bronze crumpled letter, featuring words drawn from the testimonies of former service personnel affected for the ban of gays in the military  which was only revoked in the year 2000

Someone In The Room

 I’m sat with a patient,

In their room. It’s 12.55

The orientating clock says that clearly 

The patient knows I’m there

Medication has been given and the bed is comfortably made.

The patient is fighting sleep but desperately needs it .

Strange shapes hide behind the television and the wardrobe 

And I sit between them and the bed

The patient knows I am there

Silently I read the news on my tablet. 

I reply to an email and a message or two

And try to sound fatherly when I say

It’s time to sleep. 

The patient knows I am there. 

I watch a silent video about a blind horse

And a chubby gay New Yorker dances in the street

I read news on Gaza

And the reviews of a film I want to see

The patient approaches sleep but knows I am there

Someone is in the room.

FAIRYTALE - ALEXANDER RYBAK - TALÍA GROUP

I was in the audience for this performance …a tour de force for the violin section.

It’s optimistic and bright and mirrors today’s mood. 

Yesterday I reached out to an old friend who I had fallen out with and didn’t get a rejected response .

Most things can be repaired if the willing is there x

And that’s lovely

Frivolity and death

 A shabby chic piece of Danish pottery. Not bought from Ikea but from a nearby store, it pleases me greatly. 

Recently, I’ve been looking into organising my funeral details and am in the process of sorting out a payment plan so I do question the buying of frivolous items such as this little jug, when I’m being made more aware of you can’t take things with you ……

Buying this 13£ piece of pottery is a bit like listening to Miranda Elloway, or Talia Grupo. 

Its similar to going to London to see Nu or my trip to Sheffield next week to see Jane and John H

And is the same as seeing that film at the Storyhouse or enjoying a pad Thai at the Chester Market.

It’s all about self care

It’s about respecting yourself enough to acknowledge you are worth caring about, you are worth the effort in buying a cheap pretty jug for yourself if the mood takes you.

And even if I die tomorrow, I have enjoyed my pretty Danish jug for those 24 hours of ownership