Fatfighters revisited, a baby blackbird and Heir to an Execution

Reached another milestone today as I am now 12 stone 12 lbs! 37 lbs has been lost and only a few more to go. The huge psychological milestone of 13 stone has been reached and surpassed and that feels wonderful.

When I got back home Joan seemed rather excited by something in our bedroom and there sitting quite still on the bookcase was a young blackbird from the nest above the front door. Before Joan could grab the little bugger I managed to gently nab him and carefully put him back into the nest where he promptly and inexpertly flew off with the parents in hot pursuit. Hope he makes it ok.


Last night I accidentally came across a documentary on E4, which was a little gem of a film. Heir to an Execution (2004) is the reflections of Ivy Meeropol,on the trial and execution of her grandparents Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in 1953. The Rosenbergs, a middle class Jewish couple were lambasted for being Communists who sold nuclear secrets to the Russians, and their imprisonment and execution divided America as to their guilt. The documentary concentrated on Ivy Meeropol's Father Michael and Uncle Robert, who are the orphaned sons of the Rosenbergs, and who campaigned, albeit unsuccessfully to prove their parents innocence.

These two men, who were boys of ten and seven when their parents died, provided the documentary with colour,warmth and heart, and I found the story of how they were effectively dumped by their parents extensive family because of fear of ostracism or worse, incredibly moving. The documentary explored the difficult subjects of shame,cowardice and isolation caused by family secrets and the boys now men near their sixties were shown to be balanced, loving family men who survived their ordeal through the unconditional support of each other and of their adoptive parents Abel and Ann Meeropol. I found it fascinating that Abel Meeropol (under the pen name of Lewis Allan) wrote the classic anti-lynching anthem "Strange Fruit," made famous by singer Billie Holiday. The overall and vital message that this film gives the viewer, is that family love in its most honest forms can save the most desperate and unhappy of individuals and the beautiful scenes between Michael and his filmmaker daughter Ivy underlined this idea wonderfully. A lovely and unexpected film.

Could I be the weakest link?

Much to Chris' disgust, I have been informed today that I am scheduled for an audition for the tv show The Weakest Link! I am delighted as the telephone "pre-audition interview" was great fun! A bored but charming chap who sounded at the most 20, asked me various questions about my life. One question amused me greatly! He pointed out that on my original application form I described one of my interests as "dog keeping" and asked me what that entailed. He missed the irony slightly when I said "keeping dogs".

Flower show committee meeting this evening, which will mean doing what we are a told and eating Auntie Glad's wonderful scones!, Still feeling under the weather today but managed to sort out the garden and plant a load of celery in the allotment. Sold 18 eggs today too!

We have decided to get a couple of goats to graze the Church field, I would like pygmy goats as logistically it will be easier to cart them around in the back of the belingo, and as luck would have it Chris works alongside the head of the pygmy goat association so we have a "proper" contact who is very helpful . I would like to research goat owning for a good while before going ahead with the actual keeping, but I am looking forward in going ahead

A sign of the times and the orders come in!

I think I have had too much sun today when strimming another third of the Glebe field, as I now feel rather shivery and fluey! But even though I have had only an hours sleep this morning after night duty, I feel I have got alot done. Heard an interesting piece of trivia today from the BBC. Welsh language channel S4C is to broadcast a current affairs programme with Polish subtitles.
O Flaen Dy Lygaid (Before Your Eyes), produced by the BBC and broadcast on Tuesday, is thought to be the first UK TV show to use subtitles in Polish. How things change!According to unofficial sources (how do they work this one out?) there is over 10,000 Polish nationals living in and around Wrexham just East of us, and surmise that there are many,many more living along the North Wales coast. I wonder why is area in particular is attracting this particular group of people, or is it just a reflection of a National trend? anyhow I found the article interesting.

I put up a tatty poster up at work advertising our free range eggs and now have 8 orders for the girls' produce! I can now feel the pound signs "Ker-ching-ing" in my head. The pictured lettuce is freshly picked from the allotment , oh to be the hunter gatherer!

Strimming

The weather has been glorious today and quite inspirational after the bloody dreadful rain we had yesterday. I have walked the dogs on a deserted beach, had a 4 mile powerwalk and have strimmed literally half the field of weeds and long grass. It has been lovely, dirty,tiring and hard work, but lovely

No eggs sold today! guess I won't get rich quick being a hen entrepreneur. Am on nights tonight, am aiming to sell a few there!

Glynis Johns-

No apologies for posting this ( yes ANOTHER video)
Glynis Johns LIVES this song...wonderful!

Empire Building and a trip back to 1973

Not the most professional sign but it gets the message across. Do you think that the pink is a little too gay? humm perhaps I should have spelt eggs as eggz?

Chris and I spent a melancholy afternoon at Colwyn Bay's Welsh Mountain Zoo . Unlike flagships such as the the zoo at Chester, Colwyn Bay had not changed with the times and everything seemed unloved,cramped and rather tired. We did love the mountain goats and the childrens' Zoo ( humm strange as we have an average age of 42) but most of the other exhibits seemed rather forlorn as they never seemed to have done to me when I was ten years old. Pity!

Storming , Norming, and an afternoon with my veg

Finlay's death has affected the relationships between all the dogs in quite a graphic and interesting way, and having more time with them has meant that I have the opportunity to watch the nuances of these behavioural changes. Fin's role as alpha male was clearly evident and although not overly aggressive he asserted his dominance swiftly, forcefully and clearly. His departure left the lead position empty and non of the remaining animals have the ability to assume the responsibility of the job. Meg is floundering in her assumption of alpha female, as she has neither the confidence or the authority to make the change effective. Her anxieties to protect the pack mean that she has become overly aggressive to other dogs and constantly alert to danger and threat which must be exhausting.



Maddie has lost her playfulness with Meg , and now won't always back down when challenged over food or closeness with Chris or I. She resembles a somewhat bad tempered maiden aunt to Megs younger, more nervous sister, the definition of who is in charge remaining blurred and unclear. George, being more of a puppy has the clearest of roles and remains the floppy, baby of the group. Getting William will eventually ( we hope) let Meg off her perceived responsibilities and will allow the whole group to settle down. Well that is the idea.

Cracked on with allotment with renewed gusto today and it does look pretty impressive. Planted everlasting spinich and radish this afternoon and plan to attack the rapidly rising tide of pasture grass on Monday with my new strimmer.

Good News

Received a rather terse letter from the agents for the field (which is now to be referred to as "the glebe") and with a heavy heart I rang to discuss the future of the hens and allotment.
Cap in hand I was ready to let them all go and was delighted to find out that both veggie patch and girls are now safe! as long as they are highlighted on the agreement! So something legal and in writing should be winging its way to me next week and everything can be signed for properly. That's one in the eye for the snooty bastards from the village that reported me!

Had a lovely meal last night in Osborns and Duncan,Izzy and Linzi left early this morning to drive back to Kent. So I aim to get back on my land for weeding and normality! nice....