size DOESN'T matter



Well it's tiny but one of the new girls has actually laid their first egg! It is a milestone!, rather like a the coming of age thing.

Planted the sweetcorn this morning and weeded the allotment . An old boy went past and complemented me on my neatness and order! which was nice. Now off to Prestatyn bistro for lunch with Chris, unfortunately working tonight but hey it has to be done.

No news from Nu today.

Touching bases

Finally caught up with Nuala in Liverpool yesterday morning, and it was good to be able to give her a hug, a bunch of flowers and some time. I cannot believe that Nancy has hung on for 9 days and the family vigil at her bedside must be a total nightmare. Her tight-knit family is blessed with an infectious sense of humour which has been sorely tested time and again over the past 2 weeks, and are coping....just!


Got to Sheffield mid afternoon and went shopping to Cole Brothers and bought a shirt that was, .....wait for it.........A MEDIUM!!!!!!!!!!!! I have bought a MEDIUM sized shirt!!!!!!! I was so excited as I cannot really remember when I last wore a medium ANYTHING!


Popped in to see Mike, Bev and Maisie then sporting my MEDIUM shirt I went to ALL BAR ONE, to meet Jane. When I was waiting for her to turn up, touched base with friends Vince and Peter who were having a bottle or two of Chardonnay! They have not seen me for a long time and I absolutely loved their comment of how well and slim I looked........it has been a long long time since I had such a good preen! (have I ever?)


Jane as usual was fab and after too many wines and gossip we caught up with Kim at Sarah's house. Both Sarah and Kim looked great! (I have no pics of Kim but this one of Anne Heche is almost a dead ringer for her) Living in St Albans means that we all don't really get a chance to catch up with Kim very often which is a shame , I miss her.

Absolutely knackered this afternoon, so it is great to be sat in front of the fire relaxing.

Fatfighters, Nu and Lino excitement!!

Total weight loss at fatfighters now 32 lbs! (2.5 lost this week) So I feel nice and confident when meeting up with the "girls" tomorrow night! Went on a very quick power walk this morning, much to the amusement of some beautiful dairy cattle near the Gop.

The lino had been laid today, lighter and fresher than that awful black stuff that George attacked. (pic) I could not wait to get everything in the kitchen sorted, clean and neat, as the mess in there was sparking my compulsive neurotic disorder with gusto!

Tried to meet up with Nu today but things seem pretty bad, hopefully I will pop over to Liverpool on my way to Sheffield tomorrow depending on what is happening
Ann came up today and gave me the thumbs up for the allotment! I seem to have done most things right which is a boost! She has a friend who may want to have a plot of land off me when I officiall rent the church field, nice to have connections and networks.

The Joys of House Husbandry

It has pissed down all day and everything feels damp and dirty, so ripping up all the urine drenched lino from the kitchen floor and under the fitted units has been a rather disgusting afternoons work. It doesn't show in the photo but I am absolutely filthy and so is Meg. George I have had to put in the bath after crawling behind the cooker space BEFORE I cleaned it

Pillow faced farmer turned up this afternoon with the offer of more water butts, which I refused with dignity AND with the moral high ground firmly behind me. I was polite too !

Still no news from Nuala! I hope to meet up with her sometime this week to touch base, just hope it's not tomorrow as the bloody clean urine-free lino is being delivered and laid! Friday is a meet up with Kim, Sarah and Jane in Sheffield under a guise of Consultant Ravi's leaving bash

Happy pics

The cottage garden looks quite pretty and I am glad I have worked so hard in getting it organised and planted. Nia sent me the above picture of her and Baby George the other day and although I am not a baby person I thought it was quite delightful!

David Attenborough eat your heart out

I have spent the day in the field today, and have enjoyed strimming the weeds and nettles down with Andrew's industrial sized strimmer. The allotment looks neat and tidy, and I was surprised to notice that two water butts have appeared by my compost bins. Which I thought was a nice gesture and I am very grateful for. The work was hot and messy, so I spent lunch time in the chicken coop watching the girls and their behaviour, which might sound a little geeky but is in fact quite fascinating.

Raquel Welsh (above) is perhaps the prettiest of the hens and like an attractive teenager, she is picked on by her less attractive peers. She is also one of the bravest of the birds and actually took a little bit of apple from my hand.

Whoopie Goldberg is the unhappiest looking hen, and looks rather bad tempered all of the time. As I lay on the grass she started the "let's jump of the chicken coop game", which I have noticed occurs on a daily basis. What happens is that one bird gets all excited and flighty and starts flapping her wings. She then half flaps and half jumps onto the coop roof where she looks down upon the twelve others triumphantly. The others then crowd around in circle, jumping up and down with glee and envy! one after another the girls then try to take over from the roof perching hen, often bouncing her off roughly, like a scene from It's a knockout!

Robina is still the top chicken and is quite ruthless in her domination of the others. Her second in command varies but two of the white comets (The Andrews sisters) seem to be in the running. I have found it all rather interesting.

Good Morning Miss Dove and Infamous

Good Morning Miss Dove (On TCM this afternoon) was an unexpected treat. Watching it, I overdosed on more sentimentality than you could shake a stick at.! The film tells the emotional story of a beloved schoolteacher who reflects back on her life and former students when she is hospitalized; the bit where where ex pupils come to the hospital to give blood to save their teacher makes you want to jam your head in a metal bucket! But.... Jennifer Jones, a somewhat aloof character actress anyhow, seemed just right for the role and I especially enjoyed the finale where the townsfolk hold a vigil outside the county hospital........very Norman Rockwell!


Infamous (2006) .... (at Theatre Clwyd tonight) was a disappointment, as it was just too like the other more successful biopic ; last year's Capote (2005) . The latter was a more dramatic portrayal of the waspish writer during his "In Cold Blood" period, whereas this version is played more for laughs at the expense of the brittle Capote. In Capote , Philip Seymour Hoffman made the character more real in so much we believed his destructive tendencies with friends and lovers whereas Toby Jones' portrayal, although clever, is weighted heavily at humour. Perhaps the truth lies somewhere between the two?
The glittery supporting cast detracted the audience from the drama also and bugger knows why Gwyneth Paltrow turned up as nightclub singer Kitty, a right waste of time.
Sandra Bullock makes for a quieter and more reflective and somewhat tortured Harper Lee and English actress Juliet Stevenson has the best line in the film when she describes Capote as "sounding like a Brussels sprout ,if a Brussels sprout could talk". I need to think about this film a little more I think at times like these I miss discussing films with Nige and John.

Cosmos, Iris and more produce

The Iris I planted an age ago are now flowering and look beautiful and so do the cosmos (below). My planting in the back garden is now looking somewhat crowded and in need of a thinning but I am generally pleased with the results. It has been terribly rainy today and I have gotten soaked three times but it has been worth it as I have planted my beetroot and leek seedlings as well as a mass of lettuce.

Picked up the strimmer from Andrew today too but the weather has stopped me playing. Chris is in London today presenting a paper to some conference.
So the rest of the day has been pretty quiet


Caught up with Nu finally, no news! she sounds so tired! Her family seems to be baring up well though given the circumstances.

Watching the Eurovision Song Contest at the moment
bit like watching Cher (vacant and noisy) Bring back Katie Boyle, and Boom bang-a-bang thats what I say!