Gardening and Gloria Abyss and a brief moan

William now looks like a real Welsh terrier,after being dragged into Rhyl for his biannual hair cut. I hate going into to the "cultural vacuum" that is Rhyl, but at least I could hide for a short while in Marks and Spencer when I waited to collect him.
The weather has been lovely today, so I look William and George into the allotment with me for a while, before clearing the back garden of dead wood and weeds for the first time in many months.

I love this photo of Robina, I found it on the camera memory when I took some shots of the coops just before lock up. Obviously half asleep I love the way she is balanced on the one roost rail....I think she looks a little like Robert Mitchum

Taken from a short story by Ian Flemming, the title of the new James Bond film staring the broody Mr Craig has just been announced, Quantum of Solace is a cracking title that friend Nige would enjoy! as from time to time we would amuse ourselves by making up titles for Novels or films or indeed people. I have never beaten his name for a tragic drag queen Mz Gloria Abyss...............priceless

I can't believe that there is no where in wales that we can go and see the new Cohen Brothers film No Country for Old Men (2007) !!!!!!! Hazel and I are off to see it in Liverpool on Monday.......shame on all local cinemas!!!

12 Angry men-The Flower Show Emergency Meeting,Transference,Thoughts on suicide, and a U-ish turn.

Tonight's blog will be a bit of a mismatch, so forgive the leaps from one subject to another, it is symptomatic of thinking all day whilst pottering!

Anyhow, the Trelawnyd Flower Show Committee met this evening at Auntie Glads to hear the potentially catastrophic news that the memorial hall will not be finished for the August show to take place. The news looked grim as most of the committee were ready to cancel the whole event!, so I was surprised that suddenly I felt like Henry Fonda in 12 Angry Men, when I took the floor and fought for the show to continue but in the suggested relocated position of the village school! I can't believe that I actually said "where is our spirit that won the war???" when trying to encourage team cohesion, but said it I did and I am pleased to say that after a general vote, we ARE now going to hold the flower show (school principle permitting) in the school!.........job's a good 'un.......

Working outside for most of the morning I have enjoyed watching the hens and their interactions with the new roosters. Now it is always dangerous to attribute human characteristics to animals but I had to laugh today when I witnessed a wonderful example of Transference .Stanley, feeling a bit confident with himself, cornered one of the Duncan's Nolan sisters by the feeding trough and gave her a quick shag! Incensed and angry Duncan ran the length of the enclosure and promptly gave him a brief but very aggressive seeing to!.Stanley shrieked and fluttered around in circleslike a big camp queen for a while then ,muttering loudly to himself he stalked off to a day dreaming Robina and gave her a series of sharp nasty pecks, just like a little boy having a tantrum! Very Funny!
pic- from left to right- One of the Nolans,Black hooker,Whoopie Goldberg,another Black hooker and Suzanna! You can just see Stanley on the far right
The sad news that Heath Ledger had been found dead in his New York home, got me to thinking about suicide ( Note that this may not be true in this case) I know this statement sounds dreadfully flippant, but I certainly do not mean for it to do so. At work we see so many apparent suicide attempts admittedly often from overdoses after binge drinking, that sometimes it is easy to class all self harmers as self pitying and, indulgent and my thoughts today were not concerned with the "para suicidal" impulsive behaviours that can happen when under the influence, but with those people that for one reason or another carry such a blackness with them that the only way out for them is to take their own life.

Even with my psychiatric training, I have never been able to truly appreciate what pain some people go through,perhaps I am lucky never to have really experienced despair in its deepest form and that is why I cannot associate with these depressive actions and feelings of others, Perhaps the truth is that I just don't want to! To have a glimpse of such pain is frightening , as is the very act of suicide. It also seems to be such an intensely private thing...the ultimate frightening and private thing!

It was sad to think of Ledger's lost moments, when I was walking on the beach, but to be honest the overwhelming emotion I had was of thankfulness and relief that I have never suffered from even a hint of what true depression sufferers go through.

Now, I will have to admit to a half U turn today! not a full u turn definitely, but a half one! Popping in to the supermarket for a few bits and bats, I did see one mother (with two babies) struggle to get her kart under control when loading her hatchback with goodies. The shopping trolley with the kids in it had been positioned behind the car, instead of the in the area to the side (even though she was in a mother & baby space) and rather frighteningly the thing swung around in the front of another passing car, which had to stop suddenly. Now I hate to say it, but I can now see why these spaces are important for parents with prams to use ( and I have to underline PRAMS here and not parents with a healthy ten year old in tow) but I still concede that I think that these allocated places should be positioned all over a car park and not just at the prime entrance position!

No News day

Worked until 8.15 am,
Three hours sleep,
three sets of dog walks,
Bleached the kitchen floor,
Made a casserole,
fed,watered let out and put back 29 foul,
cleaned toilet, cleaned fire...lit fire,
read paper,
made a large list,

average day!!!!!!!!!

Cloverfield

Another busy night last night, so got home this morning knackered! Made soup, walked the dogs then went to bed for a couple of hours. The wind is blowing a gale, so checked on the girls at midday, photographed a rather windswept churchyard and snowdrops near the field gate,then took the dogs (gratefully) to Carol's for a gallop in the garden before going to be for another hours sleep.
I am on nights again tonight and wish I could sleep longer, but it's 3pm and I am up and blogging!
Chris and the sore toe/sore neck/sore arm (delete as appropriate) is better after his convalescence yesterday



On my break last night I finally succumbed to the Cloverfield (2008) phenomenon (http://www.cloverfieldmovie.com/) and watched the cleverly constructed trailers last night. Hype and manipulative marketing has always been used to sell\movies. flimflam techniques are nothing new!
Every decade comes another scam and 2008 it is Cloverfield.
Word of mouth and "one off" "home videos" leaked onto the net about the destruction of New York (oh not New York again!!!!) by something huge and unseen, have excited the movie going public hungry for excitement and spectacle! just like the films The BLOB did in the 1950's,EARTHQUAKE and (Sensurround) in the 1970's and THE BLAIR WITCH did in the 90's!

I am looking forward to Cloverfield and would have gone to see it despite all this secret advertising. Ok it is another monster destroys New York movie, ( and I hope the monster looks a little more exciting than the Internet drawings of it), but it looks bollocks and fun, and I know I will enjoy it

Nights again

Chris is driving me crazy! Crazy!!!!!!! He has spent the day bored and feeling unwell (aching neck) so has been lathering on the volterol gel and swigging paracetamol by the handful. Now I don't want to sound like a 1970's Northern comic by partner bashing too much, but someone lying around a very small cottage with a woolly hat and scarf on- groaning sporadically about how awful they feel DOES MY BLEEDING HEAD IN!

Now I love him dearly, but Michael Learned (Olivia Walton) I am not!!!!!

I am just about to sneak up to bed for an hours respite, where I can dream of my new incubator!(right) the impressive sounding Covatutto 12 Manual .

Coronation Street - Vera's death

Now I have not watched the soap for years, but I was sad to see that Vera, one of the last Northern lasses has shouted her last insult. With the Likes of Hilda "woman Stanley.....woman" Ogden, Ena Sharples and the magnificent Elsie Tanner, Vera was a throw back to the days of "pots in the sink" and "brown ale in straight tumblers"
End of an era

Ruthin

Spent the afternoon in the small but perfectly formed market town of Ruthin. Then went for lunch at Avonwen, a sort of nothing nice afternoon discussing new kitchens and dining tables and the like.
Took the dogs up the Marian in the rain (see pic below) and did what I have been meaning to for ages, I asked the owner of the top cottage if I could buy their old chicken coop which has been lurking in their garden for ages. I didn't get a yes and didn't get a no, but I was happy with the maybe.

Night of the Sunflowers

Noche de los girasoles, La (2006) English title -Night of the Sunflowers is a wonderful first film by Spanish writer/director Jorge Sánchez-Cabezudo and will be in my top ten favourite films of this year. The plot is complicated yet very downbeat; the lives of two cops (one bent the other old fashioned and honest) a rural recluse,three city folk,and a serial rapist and murderer become embroiled in arbitrary accidents of fate around a deserted Spanish village.

The narrative is separated into six chapters that overlap each of the others in time and space making rather deep and serious comments on how crime often begets crime and how a simple small decision can affect ones life forever. The whole thing feels like a chess game and is incredibly tense and atmospheric.A cracking film