Who do you think you are?

Dinner party at Janet's tonight, and the conversation was based very much on family history. Ann and Tim are looking forward in getting DNA assessment of their lineage, in effort to understand where in Europe some of the family was based from. Ann would like to think we have some Spanish ancestry ( Chris is very Spanish-looking), but who in fact knows. The recent BBC programme Who do you think you are? featuring John Hurt was immensely moving, as he was so disappointed and deflated when he found out it was not in fact related to an Irish blood group!

(Lovely teeth Tim!)

Yeah Right!

I have been writing a book in my head and have been doing so for a while now. The old saying states that we all have one in us, and I have been day dreaming about mine during walks up the Gop and ambles along the beach. Now my novel has elements of a film in its construction and I can visualise some of characters quite clearly, as if I was actually watching them up on the screen. I won't go into too many details but actress Elizabeth Spriggs is one of my character's face and voice!. I was day dreaming about it all so much today, that I didn't see two dogs and their owner following close behind me down the old farm road (right pic) and there was an unholy scrap between a springer spaniel and Maddie who was trying her chest bashing bullying technique! Off to Janet and Ned's later for a family meal.

Autumn

The weather has changed, albeit imperceptibly, and there is the merest hint of chill and autumn in the air. Work has started to renovate the village hall (several hundred thousand pound grant from the Welsh Office) ready for spring and the Chickens and ducks are all off to roost earlier and earlier. Fox activity is apparently highest at this time and I have become rather paranoid about the "girls" safety every night. The ducks, led by the two females Maude and Nell have realised the nightly routine, and actually queue up at the entrance to their house at dusk ,waiting to be shut in. Their ark is robust so would withstand a direct fox attack, as is the large coop which houses Mildred and 9 of the other hens. Robina, Trinny, Susanna, Glen Close and 2 of the Andrew's sisters are crammed into the other ark which looks fairly safe, but I am still worried about the black hookers who are housed in the all together more flimsy ebay house. Chris has suggested I buy a gun, but I suspect I would look like Elmer Fudge on a bad day if I ever did.

Is it me, or does Samantha Morton from Elizabeth-The Golden Age look absolutely nuts
striking but nuts!

Elizabeth golden age trailer 2

This is a wonderful trailer, I absolutley adore Blanchett spitting out "I have a hurricane in me, that will strip Spain bare if you dare to try me!!!"
Brilliant

Joan's turn

With 32 animals there always seems to be a problem with one of them at any one particular time. One of the Andrew's sisters has a permanent limp, George and Meg are just getting over worms, at least William's fighting has calmed down somewhat! This afternoon it was 19 year old Joan's turn for the vets, with something stuck in her throat.
After a traumatic cough, choke and run moment, I managed to pick her up by the allotment and drove quick sticks to the vets. Polish vet was available and brandishing a pair magills forceps as she shouted "old her still!" she knocked out a couple of Joan's wobbly teeth before deftly removing a chicken bone.
Unlike the dogs, who would have gone into a mental decline for the rest of the day, Joan immediately started purring and stood with her paws on the dashboard all the way home, as if nothing had happened.

Went to Weightwatchers today (no weight gain!!) and a senior weightwatcher's official called Pat (trim and power suited) tried to conscript me as a potential session "leader". I said I would meet her to discuss the matter after all extra money would be useful in paying my Barclaycard off! but I think being a leader would be more useful in keeping my weight off! permanently

Elizabeth The Golden Age

The trailer for the film Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) looks stunning! and has a cast to die for! Cate Blanchett,Clive Owen,Geoffrey Rush and a striking Samantha Morton as Mary Queen of Scots. The scene where Blanchett stands up to Philip of Spain ( a very sexy Jordi Mollà) looks quite spectacular!

A Blair Witch moment & Atonement

The mystery of the wooden structures in Gop wood has been solved. For months now, the dogs and I have come across a whole selection of rough teepee like wooden houses, constructed in the woods on the Eastern slope of the Gop. The one that George is exploring (right pic) is quite professionally made, and I always thought they were too tidy for kids "dens". Apparantly the woodland houses are a project organised by Trelawnyd school, to increase the childrens' knowlegde of county pursuits.

Happier (and busier) day today. Up early to shampoo the carpets to rid the cottage of George's hormonal scent marking, did some cooking and had taken the dogs up the Gop all before 10 am. After I had disinfected the coops and changed the ducks swimming water it was nice to sit in the coop and watch the birds. Some animals just enjoy the physical contact with people, and I am always moved when for one reason or another they seek you out.

Meg always climbs into bed after her early morning walk with Chris, and seems to "need" that closeness every day. George and Maddie just need to be in close proximity, perhaps with a muzzle just touching a leg or shoe! Out of all the hens Mildred is the only one that will initiate a physical contact and actively seeks me out to sit on a knee or to collect the odd stroke and I am convinced that it is the contact she enjoys rather than an opportunity to collect the odd titbit. I must have looked a bit wierd lying in the field with a chicken on my chest!

Strimmed the rest of the field, and started to clear some of the overgrown hedges which is a grotty job. I have also chased up the estate agents acting on behalf of the Church about the documentation for the field and I should (finally) sign for it on Friday. I also (how middle aged is this?) spoke to a nice chap from Flintshire Council road planning dept asking for help with the increased farm traffic and damage to the cottage wall. He is comming out to surey the problem personally on Friday! which I thought was an excellent level of service.

Atonement (2007) at Llandudno tonight is one of the best films I have seen in 2007. I just loved it. Complicated,wonderfully underplayed and beautifully shot by Seamus McGarvey, I could sit through it all again. James McAvoy and Keira Knightley as usual are perfect but the film is stolen from them just a little by 13 year old Saoirse Ronan as the lovelorn Birony and old trouper Vanessa Redgrave as her 7o year old alter ego. A cracking film!

Out of sorts

I feel a bit out of sorts today, which is a rarity for me! Nothing seems to have gone smoothly, and every job has seemed to have dragged on way too long. By tea time I could have bitten one of the chicken's heads off I was so irritated and fed up !It has not helped getting a letter from a guy in Prestatyn whose car I knocked into near Janet's house in May. I had immediately told him It was my fault and gave him my details but didn't think too much of it as the faint mark was only on the wing mirror and not even half a centimeter long! Anyhow His letter quoted 187 quid to get it fixed! (100 quid in labour alone).....we will see.



This evening Hazel and I went to see Au-delà de la haine (2005) at Theatre Clwyd:- a bloody irritating documentary which should have en extremely moving story of how a French family coped with dignity and pain through the homophobic killing of their son by a trio of skin heads. The family and legal team seemed so articulate and the narrative at one stage seemed so "directed" both Hazel and I were convinced that all the characters were in fact actors and the piece itself just a fictional story........we eventually walked out 15 minutes before it finished. A perfect end to a shitty day! Thank god I don't have many days like this!