Strictly Ballroom

For those that don't know, Chris used to be a professional dancer in a former life. He still has a passion for the odd twinkle toed moment, so he has been greatly looking forward to a glittery dance in Liverpool's famous St George's Hall this evening. Janet (my twin sister) and he have been going to dance classes with my elder sister Ann and husband , Tim for the past few months, and all seem to have been bitten by the ballroom bug BIG STYLE!, so finally, they have decked themselves out in their evening wear, buffed themselves until shiny, and with a group of like minded despots (and with a picnic basket full of gin and tonic and nibbles) off they have gone for a evening of saucy rumba-ing and cha,cha, cha-ing !

I don't mind at all, in fact I have gained a great deal of vicarious pleasure by their new hobby. All of them looked lovely when I dropped Chris off earlier!

From left to right- Sister Ann,Tim, twin sister Janet and Chris

Chicken course

tee hee....

Sun Burn in March

Firstly I must apologise for the boring content of this blog...........sometimes I do forget just how mundane my life may seem to those not excited by the prospect of finding a turkey egg in their duck house or by planting a row of root vegetables in a perfect line! I can be interesting....honest!
Often my days can merge into one steady stream of chores and routines, and whilst I love the pace and rhythm of time passing, others may find the whole story , well, bloody boring!

I have made most of the glorious weather today and have bordered my raspberry bushes with chicken wire as well as planting out broad beans,parsnips,turnip, asparagus and peas. The dogs have spent the day with me yet again- Maddie and George gallivanting with the poultry and pigs and William and Meg tied up to the Belingo's bumper. After an age William finally managed to grab a passing hen, but was so shocked my her show of aggression (it was Mildred Pierce) he backed off quick sticks. The fine weather also relaxed him and Meg somewhat and believe it or not

I have got a mild sunburn! and it is only the first day of spring today

Dimming the lights of Broadway

I think that the Broadway tradition of dimming the marquees of the New York theatres in tribute to the death of a respected actor must be of some small comfort to the family of actress Natasha Richardson.
Her film work has been rather sporadic, but I was interested to read of her long and much lauded theatre career.
Her premature death is terribly sad

Dawn time

I have blogged about my lack of morning perkiness before, and I know I will never be able to have a civil conversation, smile or even grunt before 8.30 am (and/or after a proper filter coffee)-to be honest I am such a tw* t first thing in the morning. However! (AND WAIT FOR THIS), Being outside at dawn is actually growing on me! This morning I was up and out around 7am. The sun was shining on a frost covered allotment and everything was calm, still and quite beautiful!
Mind you, the silence of the dawn is always ruined by the hysterical runners, who always seem to know that I am around to let them out. They cannot wait patiently for release as the hens seem to do, but blunder around in the darkness of their little house, screaming and quacking at the top of their little lungs!(below).God love them, they are thick as mince!
Hearing the squeak of the gate, the pigs then start their squealing and tantrums, and this is only hushed when they are fed and watered; as long as this is done, and after the runners are calmed out on the grass, does peace return to the field

Today I have booked the memorial hall for my "hen course" in late June. The posters have been designed and I will print them up tomorrow before distributing them to libraries and noticeboards locally. I hope with the credit crunch looming and green issues being so in vogue , keeping poultry may be more popular than it once was.....who knows.....organising the course will be fun anyhow
The rest of the day has been allocated to fixing up rabbit proof fences around each one of the vegetable patches, it has been fiddly work but relaxing as the weather has remained warm and fine . It is March and I have got a touch of sunburn.....

Sunny Day

The weather has been glorious today. I was up at 7am and had completed all the household jobs (including preparing the evening meal) by 8.30am. I only stopped to have a coffee and a small heart attack ( more about that later) and then at 9am all the dogs and I went over to the field to spend the whole day in the warm sunshineToday I have started to plant out early peas and potatoes, but the work was slightly slow as a steady stream of visitors have graced the field. The two Mrs Jones' (Morwenna and Gwyneth) called down to visit the pigs. Mrs "pen-y-cefn-isa" Jones (right) ran a busy farm for most of her life, and does miss having livestock around her. Ever the pragmatist she delighted in giving Boris a good "feel" to check how meaty his breast was. She is slightly disappointed that I will never kill him to eat! Mrs Jones' grandfather actually rebuilt our cottage! Morwenna does not get out very much due to bad health, but seemed to delight at being given the guided tour. Her joy at having a morning out was infectious.
During their visit, another elderly chap called in to photograph some of the animals and stopped for a chat, and soon after Sue (who had donated her kids old rabbit hutch to me last week) turned up for some eggs and a chin wag

This morning I let Albert out into the garden and literally within seconds he had climbed onto the shed, then from there he scrambled onto the outhouse then appeared on top of next door's conservatory!..I guess it was a case of excitement over sense! The dew on the conservatory roof proved too slippy for his unconditioned paws and quite gracefully and in slow motion he slid out of view and off the roof!..............My nerves were shot to ribbons! I galloped around into the neighbour's garden expecting to see the little chap broken on the stone patio, his stiff leg fractured all over again!, but after swinging quite happily by a paw from the plastic guttering, he had scrambled down the water pipe and was nonchalantly licking his slightly whithered leg......I think he must of frightened himself just a little, as soon after he wandered back into the cottage and plonked himself down in the bedroom window seat! He has sat there all day!

The chicken wire pea supports don't look pretty but will hopefully protect the pea plants from the chickens (though not from mice).

Far North

Set in an eerily stateless, ahistorical landscape, Far North (at Theatre Clwyd this evening) is a disturbing, beautiful to look at and rather empty film about maternalism,survival and rivalry. Saiva (The stunning Michelle Yeoh) and her adopted daughter Anja (Michelle Krusiec) live isolated and hunted lives out on the tundra. A soldier Sean Bean blunders into their lonely camp, fleeing an unseen enemy. The trio battle the hardships of the frozen landscape with eventual tragic results.

Yeap not a bag of laughs and all rather obscure for my liking, but at least Yeoh is always worth the price of a cinema ticket!

7/10

Spring time

It has been quite beautiful up here today- warm with a very faint breeze All the animals in the field have been quiet and dozy in the spring heat and the pace of the field has relaxed tenfold. In between jobs I dozed for a few minutes during my daily "sky watching" moment, but with George feeling he has to copy everything that I do, I got little real rest
At midday, I took William for a walk up the lane to deliver some eggs to Pen-y-cefn-Isa. In the middle of nowhere we came across this heart symbol stapled to the inside of the field hedge. It was the oddest thing

My vegetable and seedling "swap" enterprise got off to a good start this morning. An old chap from the village called in with a plastic bag of growing garlic bulbs and very kindly refused some eggs as payment. I planted the garlic and two small herb plants in a small "rabbit proof" plot. All five of my vegetable patches will have to be protected in this way