When I was collecting the eggs this morning, I was greeted by the typical guttural warning growl of a hen in full broody show. I am not surprised that the first broody hen of 2009 is in fact Blanche. Blog readers may remember ( and if they do I shall be amazed), that it was Blanche that valiantly took over as carer to the first of the allotment ducklings last year. She proved herself to be a doting mother, so quick to capitalize on her natural instincts, I have moved her into the maternity coop, with 9 hens eggs for her to sit on. The cockerel who was so battered by Stanley, has been moved back into the buff enclosure.Blanche is back
When I was collecting the eggs this morning, I was greeted by the typical guttural warning growl of a hen in full broody show. I am not surprised that the first broody hen of 2009 is in fact Blanche. Blog readers may remember ( and if they do I shall be amazed), that it was Blanche that valiantly took over as carer to the first of the allotment ducklings last year. She proved herself to be a doting mother, so quick to capitalize on her natural instincts, I have moved her into the maternity coop, with 9 hens eggs for her to sit on. The cockerel who was so battered by Stanley, has been moved back into the buff enclosure.
Friend catch up
Apart from Nu, I think I have neglected some old friends over the past few months. I know it is an unwritten rule, but usually I am the one that makes the effort and calls back to Sheffield to touch base with friends Mike,Jane,Jonney H and Joy, Katherine and Micky.Financial constraints has put pain to my monthly catch ups, and in some ways I have got used to not "making the effort" and staying at home!
But I know I cannot live with just Turkey friends alone (even if it is the ever faithful Boris), so I am glad, I got off my arse and have booked to go over to Sheffield on the 23rd. I am so looking forward in a good old gossip, laugh, an occasional cry and the obligatory too many white wines.
I just had to laugh , as I have just received an e mail from friend Jonney...describing our forthcoming night out..
"It's going to be an emotional roller coaster to match
anything Bette could have offered! Fasten your seatbelts...it's going to be a
bumpy night!
In other words, the bitch is back!"
The ducklings are all going fine. Four Whites and two mixed. Albert hasn't left their cage (put into the kitchen as the temperature in the shed is a little too low)Tonight I am catching up with one of my Welsh friends...Hazel and we are going out for a meal to "celebrate" her forthcoming divorce.......sounds weird but she deserves a bit of a party, she's had a hard few months!
I can hear Chris snorting......" emotional romping" he says when friends go out for a good gossip!
At last a PROPER cafe!!!
This morning I had a little respite from duckling watch (the 6th final duckling hatched this afternoon). I went to St Asaph to put the Belingo through its MOT. St Asaph is the small town where I was born, and is a historic, but rather empty place, that sports a magnificent Cathedral (above) and the Scenic river Elwy (below).
Unfortunately the Market town centre of St Asaph, with its pretty Regency High Street is quiet and devoid of the usual shops and businesses, However I did manage to find a small, shabby chic fair trade cafe that sells PROPER COFFEE (a rare thing in North Wales I can tell you), so when I was waiting for the car to be sorted, I had a relaxing and indulgent time with my Americano and the daily papers.You cannot believe how such a simple pleasure can be so appreciated.,,,,,,,,,Wales generally does cafe culture VERY POORLY!This evening I contacted Chris' dad, Richard, who has been conscripted in as Small Holding manager when we are away in San Fransisco. Luckily he has not got cold feet with all the work that will be involved. I hope Boris will be ok with him.....Yesterday he attacked, Gary the guy who runs the neighbouring Village Pond. Gary was looking at the Indian Runners and Boris went wild at him!.....beating violently with his wings and feet.........I was proud as punch at his first show of masculinity!
Il y a longtemps que je t'aime
Finally I have managed to watch Il y a longtemps que je t'aime (I've Loved you so long)....and it was well worth the wait. An epic family drama and history has been condensed by director Philippe Claudel into a beautifully paced and crafted study of a woman (Kristin Scott Thomas) who is hiding a huge dark secret. Ever so slowly, the audience comes to realise the nature of the beast and finally the elephant in the living room whose shadow has fallen over all of her family's lives, is explained finally in a quiet and incredibly powerful end scene.Scott Thomas is amazing as the chain smoking, cardigan wearing,complicated and ghost-like Juliette. She grabs your attention from the melancholy opening scene in an airport lounge and never lets you go. She has the presence of all the best silent movie stars rolled into one. It is a stunning truly Oscar winning performance.
The film' message seems clear.......it is family bonds and friendships that provide refuge and rehabilitation to the damaged and guilty...and despite the dreadful subject matter, the sense of hope and positivity within the complicated and clever narrative is compelling
9/10
A million miles from the G20
So far 5 ducklings have arrived. Three are already under the heat lamp in the shed, two are still in the incubator "drying off". The last egg looks as though it is going to hatch too, but we will wait and see. They are, as always, incredibly cute.Today I have been working outside as the weather has been lovely. As I planted lettuce (below) and surrounded one of the vegetable plots with rabbit proof wire, I listened with interest to LBC's report on the G20 demonstrations.
The more I learn about the protesters activities, the more I think of how unfocused and pointless the whole stupid thing actually is. It seems to me that the right to show anger of Government policy is perfectly justifiable but the "riots " at the G20 seem to be a happy slappy fun day out for the great unwashed that stink of Patchouli oil and who have dogs on bits of string.
It seems to be less a rant about capitalism and more an excuse to fight the police.
I would have liked to have shouted from the top of the tallest building of the Square mile
"GET...A....JOB!!!"
This afternoon after planting lettuce, I cleared the vegetable patch I had fenced, and dug over the damage the rabbits had caused (below). I re planted cabbage seedlings, and broad beans, before returning to the cottage knackered and a little sore.
The first duckling of 2009
I can never quite get a clear photo close up with my cheap digital camera, but you can just make out the first of Connie's ducklings lying exhausted inside the incubator. If all of her eggs are hatched then I will only have 6 babies to watch over, which is so much more manageable than the 14 we had stinking the kitchen out last year.I have worked the entire day outside and have planted early potatoes,asparagus, broad beans, onions,spinach and parsnips.
The power of cheap white bread
The weather has been wet and windy for most of the day. It has precluded me planting my seed potatoes and asparagus, which was a real shame. It was so wet, I felt it wise to stay indoors, so I did some baking and made a chocolate cake and a large flan.At midday I noticed that George was perched on the back of the sofa gazing out on the field, having a look at what he was watching, I saw several chickens running up towards the graveyard followed by a rather excitable squealing pig! Nora had somehow escaped her pen and if she escaped further amongst the graves, then bang would go my year's lease!
Grabbing a piece of white loaf, I galloped over to the allotment to find Nora chasing off Boris and Gloria from their feed bowls. Waving the bread madly (Like Jenny Agutter in The Railway Children) I called her, and even though little piggy eyes cannot see very much they certainly recognised a slice of white from 400 feet!
She stopped dead, squinted to make sure what she was seeing was in fact food and sprinted after me at remarkable speed! (scattering hens and spit all over the place as she came) and with me jogging ahead, she chased me back into the pig enclosure where she scoffed the bread with huge rapture!
I checked the fencing and found a small broken area where she had escaped and fixed it with some spare wire.
The duck eggs in the incubator have started their pre hatch "pipping" and the kitchen once again is filled with the tiny cheeps of ducklings not yet "born". I expect them to start hatching tomorrow night!
Not much else to report today......oh Albert fell in next door's pond this evening and raced into the house soaked to the skin. He is curled up with Maddie on one of the sofas as I type this. steaming gently to himself.
The above photo is the view of the East side of the village from the Llanasa Road
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