Ann's Allotment open

Ann's co-operative allotment held its first open evening tonight, with all proceeds going to a local Hospice.The small group of invited guests had a good chance to wander around the beds, ask questions and have coffee and cake and everyone seemed friendly , good natured and appreciative of what was on show. A local retired policeman Mr Cook seemed very interested in my allotment and poultry and asked if he could arrange a similar "visit" to my field in Trelawnyd, Mind you my allotment is not a patch on Ann's huge walled garden but I would be happy in showing it all off.

The chicks seem to be doing fine. Quiet, and still rather "depressed" looking, they totter around like little balls of cotton wool on pipe cleaners and don't actually look like they do anything else at all. Joan unlike the dogs, doesn't even notice that they are in the kitchen, mind you she is not looking too well today and has spent the afternoon on the couch, not moving even when William and George joined her for a while.

Judy and her sister Bridget called in for coffee and a fuss from the dogs which was a nice surprise, and I have spent the rest of the day gardening and clearing weeds from the back garden.

Chris rang from Canada and says Banff is beautiful. I am sure the views of the Rockies is lovely, I have seen the Mountain ranges around Seattle from the air, and I remember just how BIG everything looks.

He seems happy enough being over there, and not at all depressed as he usually is. I have told him to buy me a nice pressie .

VIVA! – Buenos Aires 1977

Crónica de una fuga (2006) showing at Theatre Clwyd is not a film I would have automatically chosen to see on a rainy Wednesday evening. But Hazel wanted to see this nightmarish tale of a goalkeeper for a minor team abducted and held for months by the ruling junta of Argentina in the late seventies. The film is based on testimony from the trials of members of the junta and Claudio Tamburrini's autobiographical book . Even with the quality of the makeup effects, the sight of the cast emaciated, shaven-headed, heavily bruised, blindfolded, hand-cuffed and naked on frame beds in an empty house is all the more powerful because it is true and throughout it all, you just can't help despairing for humankind's infinite ability to be cruel.
The final half hour, where the four prisoners actually escape their captors is unbearably tense.............I felt quite wrung out by the end of it all

Lily

The final chick, Lily, hatched this morning,and I have found it interesting that they differ greatly from the screaming ducklings. The chicks all have the hunched look of serious little men with mobility problems., and for most of the day they have tottered around William's crate on huge clumsy feet.

Sorrel, Clover,VIolet and Poppy

four Chicks this morning, and another potentially hatching as we speak. Hen chicks are cleaner than the dirty little ducklings and I think we can cope with 4 chicks until I put up the shed at the weekend.

Chris was up at the crack of dawn, panicking about his trip to Canada..........it's snowing in Banff

In the valley of Elah

In the Valley of Elah (2007) is a good (not great but good) murder mystery set against the trauma faced by servicemen returning from the Iraq war. The movie's rather heavy handed message that war makes monsters out of ordinary men has been seen before time and time again, so I guess it is up to the actors to raise this drama a little above the average. Tommy Lee Jones plays retired career officer Hank Deerfield, a man that was married to the army of old,Whilst investigating the brutal murder of his soldier son (an Iraq veteran) alongside a downtrodden police detective (the excellent Charlize Theron), Deerfield learns that the rules of war are very different to the ones he was used to in his more idealistic early days.

I think that this film plays the "traumas of war" a little naively.It almost implies that modern war is bad and "traditional" war has in some way a dignity, almost as if torture and unsupervised random acts of violence are only the preserve of this evil middle east conflict and never happened in World War 2. .But having said that, it is only a minor complaint of a competent and adult thriller.8/10

Baby Sorell

This evening the 5 out of the 6 buff orpingtons have started to hatch. I bought these delicate eggs from ebay literally for pennies, so I was delighted to see that they have the potential to become another big blowsey Shelley Winters or an Elizabeth Spriggs, especially good as Buffs cost up to 30 quid each!!!!!!!!!!
I have named my first chick Sorrel. I think that original Sorrel is quite pleased.

Tomorrow Chris is off to Banff in Canada for a 3 day conference.

Sorell returns home

Sorrel left rather tearfully for Broadstairs at 11am. As usual it has been easy job looking after her this past week,and we all have enjoyed the break and the weather.

William has had rather a drastic haircut and looks (and probably feels) much cooler in this early summer heat. In between strimming the field and duckling watch, I have given his bottom abcess a good clean out (charming). Bless... the little chap never complained at all,

The Duckling hordes merge,radish,a picnic,William's sore bum and my new gate..

In preparation for the potential new chicks, the ducklings are all now safely shut away in their big hut all together, which was not the easy job it sounds. The weather has been lovely again today, and I have not had time to do much in the field, especially as I am suffering from a severe summer cold.

Sorrel has asked for a bag of my huge radish ( I know I sound like Frankie Howard),to take back to Broadstairs tomorrow. As usual she has bought more than she brought, so weighed down with carrier bags, her journey home will be fairly eventful.

We went up the Gop this lunchtime to have a picnic,which was lovely,It was far too hot for the dogs so we left them at home. William has been a little under the weather ( but still bouncy and cheerful), and has been to the vets this morning . He has a nasty abscess near his tail ( a product of Meg biting it constantly in play), and had to have it cleaned with the tried and trusted hydrogen-peroxide.

He took his antibiotic and steroid injections with good humour, and has slept for much of the afternoon.

Steve has finally set up my field fence posts, and the new gate is up and working. I can almost taste the fact that my allotment will soon be a private piece of land again.