Australia

It was only a couple of weeks ago when I found myself waxing lyrical about the movie Australia (2008) . This week, I have been watching with horror, the devastation caused to the rural communities of Victoria State in South Eastern Oz.

There is something terribly chilling about civilians being caught up in a firestorm of this size. The visuals of a young teenager's body covered in a tarpaulin yards from his motorbike which he hoped would help him escape the flames, brought forth the reality of ordinary people being overwhelmed by sudden disaster.

It was all truly horrifying

Testosterone city

The fence posts for the pig enclosure were delivered this afternoon by the fat faced and slightly asthmatic farmer. The field seemed rather crowded as Steve and the cheerful Gary have continued to cut down the old overgrown western hedge and another local farmer dropped down to loan us some hedge cutters and to huff and puff about the size of the posts ( too thick apparently!)

Another Garry (who oversees the neighbouring village of Trelogan's duck pond) drove up to so we could negotiate the transfer of two of my female runners to augment his flock so I felt a little overwhelmed by the surrounding practical country life masculinity!

The general consensus is that the whole triangular corner of the field will be filled with pig enclosure, various ideas for storage and even a stile have been discussed at length......... my lot is not to reason why in all this......I am still just going with the flow.......

The wire fencing is being dropped off tomorrow

Pig Tuesday----- Betsy and Daisy

I drove up to Whitford this morning to measure up the pigs......it may be a little tight, but I am sure that both will fit into the duck house, albeit somewhat snugly!
Both girls are full grown, food orientated and somewhat shy with strangers, but seem terribly cute and bright as buttons.

The family that presently own them will be moving to the states soon, and are genuinely upset at the prospect of them leaving....I have promised that the family's daughter can visit them anytime and have agreed to keep their original (and slightly saccharine) names!

No news Monday

It has been another dark and dismal day here in Trelawnyd. Misty and damp, the Sky remained a constant grey but at least the snowdrops have blossomed around the borders of the field.

No real news to report. I have been given a second hand hen house which will serve the ducks once the pigs arrive, tomorrow I will pick it up then I will go to Whitford to give the pigs the once over (I need to measure them to make sure they actually fit through the duck house door)

Doubt,Bantams and the like

I enjoyed the film Doubt. An austere version of director John Patrick Shanley's stage play about potential child abuse in Bronx Catholic school in the 1960s, this movie has the benefit of an abundance of ambiguity within the storyline and the characterisations thus leaving all the hard work to be done by the audience. Our sympathies see saw constantly between the emotionally warm Priest (Philip Seymour Hoffman , who may be responsible for inappropriate relations with an isolated black 12 year old pupil), and the fierce, pig eyed witch of a head nun ( Meryl Streep), who makes it her mission to prove his guilt.
Shanley leaves proclamations of blame to the audience and by doing so, lets his actors enjoy the nuances and depths of their characters without being too explicit and transparent.
Streep is absolutely stunning as the nun with more hissing anger than an average rattlesnake, whilst Hoffman sparks wonderfully off her as her slightly weaker but more passively aggressive foe.
I loved the scenes where priest and Nun spar and parry together, it's a pity there is only three or so electric encounters to "enjoy" in the film.
You leave, with more questions than you have answers about motivations, themes and character traits......I feel I need a big chat about the whole thing with Nu, who saw it yesterday!
I let the 6 bantams and the four fat buff chicks out of their shed this afternoon. They are now 8 weeks old and ready for the field once all the snow and frost has gone, unfortunately their confidence is pretty low to be able to face the cold slightly grubby world of the back patio, so I sat there with them for a half hour or so, coxing them out to sit on my knee.

This evening Judy came over for supper.....fish pie..........sherry trifle......and dog attention was the order of the evening......she doesn't seem to mind

The Royle Family -

Sometimes you catch a scene on mainstream tv that stands head and shoulders above anything else. The first 4 minutes of this video is a little gen of a scene. Sue Johnston and Liz Smith milk every inch of feeling out of this clever little piece.
I dare anyone to watch it without crying!

Winter Saturday and Knitting

Winter days have a tendency to be over before they have really begun.And today has been no different
After his "egg fest" yesterday George has been banished to the turkey run where he has spent a merry time shadowing Boris. I am not surprised he has been somewhat constipated

This is the view from the Northern corner of the allotment and will be the situation of "pig town"I have removed more overhanging branches from the hedge this afternoon but it remains painful work as most of the undergrowth is hawthorn!

This evening were are settling down to a normal Saturday evening.....Chris knitting madly on one sofa, me and the four dogs on another (not knitting but blogging).........bad tv....fire on.....yes all pretty relaxing.

Mind you you could hear the language when meladdo drops a stitch.............

Losing Control & losing George

As Chris would swiftly testify, I am a bit of a control freak. I also can be incredibly bossy, but I always think that is a product of an organised mind and a clear vision of what needs to be done! Anyhow I do find it hard letting others assume responsibility for my needs, so today has been a bit of a red letter day for me!.
Steve (the village spokesman) has heard of my need for fencing, so has arranged for some "slightly shopworn" fence and posts to be delivered on Monday. This morning he turned up with an organised vision and good intentions of the pre-pig arrival jobs to be done. With cheerful friend Gary in tow (with his trusty chain saw), the two of them have cleared the bottom hedge borders and debated where was the best place for the pig shed to be placed.
The fat faced elderly farmer has been roped in to help with fence building next week....and it wasn't long before I felt like a character from the barn raising scene from Witness.
Steve, who enjoys a bit of a project, has various ideas regarding gates and pig shade requirements, Gary had his own suggestions, and I suspect the fat faced farmer will throw in his two pence worth on monday...so instead of getting mad with my lack of control....I smiled to myself , made them all tea and gave each a dozen eggs.............

As the workers got on with hedge cutting and planing, I got on with coop clearing. Now Maddie and George spend most of the day with me in the field. They potter and sniff quite happily and even the bad tempered Clover leaves both of them alone.

By 2pm I had finished cleaning the duck house and looked up to check on the dogs. Maddie was sat nearby next to Boris who had been watching me all morning. George was nowhere to be seen. I checked each enclosure, the Graveyard and the road, without success and by the time I re checked each one in turn I was starting to get slightly frantic.
I galloped down the lane to check the cottage, ran around to Mandy's house then Carol's to see if he had ambled off there, then went back to re check the field with a cold dread feeling.
I don't know why I checked inside the main hen coop, but when I did,there was George, sat quite happily amid the wreckage of half a dozen eggs. The little bugger had somehow squeezed himself into the hen house, then from two nesting boxes he had stolen eggs to munch on!
Hybrids Blanche and Raquel Welch were sat rather anxiously in their own boxes ( with eyes like saucers) , so I suspect George was waiting quite patiently for them to move so he could fill his face even more.

Never a dull moment!