Taken by surprise

I have not felt at all well today, nothing too drastic- a very sore throat and cough, just enough to make me feel as though I wanted to walk aimlessly around the living room with a dirty house coat on! Fat chance......
Chris woke me up at 6am as he excitedly got himself ready for his Birthday treat ( a trip to London to see La Cage Aux Folles) a gift from Jo his colleague at work.
We went through the usual stressed panic in getting him to the railway station on time before I could go home for a lemsip , proper coffee and a long bout of dog walking.
I didn't feel like veg planting in the fine misty drizzle this afternoon, so after the field jobs I got stuck in to weeding the back garden, which was a job that desperately needed doing. The herbaceous planting has started to develop, but the true "cottage garden" feel won't be truly established until May, when the garden is at its true best.I wish I had the skill my sisters have regarding planting all year round colour.
I was just finishing when a large group of pensioner walkers ambled past (all wearing the obligatory woolly hats, waterproofs and all swinging trendy ski sticks)
Now walkers often stop for a brief chat, they like to talk about the poultry (especially Boris who is often photographed ) and many will stop to buy eggs if I have any available, so I wasn't surprised when one matron leaned over the wall and addressed me.
"You must have loved Finlay very much" she said pleasantly, and the comment took me so completely by surprise that I suddenly felt very emotional, tearful and could hardly reply to her.
Obviously she had noticed Finlay's gravestone , tucked in the flower bed in the front garden and felt compelled to comment about it.
We finally chatted about Finlay and the other dogs who had lined up at the gate to watch what was going on for a time, and after the walkers had gone, I got to thinking about how a loss can still affect you in the strangest of moments..especially when your guard is down.

Mind you, my reaction may just be a symptom of a combination of a cold virus and not much sleep!

Gem

Sometimes you come across a little gem of a photo on the internet. I found this moving image of Firemen saving a statue of the Madonna at Paganica Church, L'aquila after the recent earthquake....It's a wonderful study

Interrupted Work

This morning we had several extended thunderstorms which drove me back into the house and the animals back into their shelters. It has been humid and at times windy, so I was soon back out onto the field planting the spring vegetables.
All my remaining potatoes, sprouts, chard, and broad beans are now safely in place behind rabbit proof fencing and tomorrow I will pot up some sweetcorn and plant more peas and beans! Long lines of green shoots have burst forth in the recent sunshine and even the tulips I transplanted from the cottage garden have flowered in the old metal bucket I salvaged recently from the garden (above)

I saw my sister Ann today who suggested that Wellie the lucky duckling be re christened a more fitting Wellington. He still looks ever so slightly scruffy after the "boot incident" but I think that this is more the nature of ducklings which are the dirtiest animals I have ever looked after(especially as they have a gross tendency of pooing on their feet and flinging it around with hysterical abandon)= the inside of the shed had been pebble dashed with a coating of unmentionable materials!! They truly are mucky little buggers!

Am off for a bath now....I think I am coming down with a sore throat and cough.......

Pora umierac

Pora umierac (Time to die),showing at Theatre Clwyd tonight,is a slightly too long,beautifully photographed tale of an elderly woman (the 92 year old Danuta Szaflarska) who is living her last days in her beloved ramshackle wooden house on the outskirts of Warsaw)

Not a great deal happens, the feisty old gal is preoccupied with memories, her neighbours, and her dog Phila (an absolutely amazing "performance" by a border collie called Pawsdown by the way) and I was amused to see that the predominantly Polish audience seemed to love this tale of whimsy and home

The Art of Manipulation

Now readers of this blog will accept that I love an emotional romp and....it has been a while since I have had a cracking good one. Thanks to the producers of BRITAIN'S GOT TALENT, I, as millions of others seem to have done, nosedived blissfully into a true Hollywood moment on Saturday night.Every single person involved in this snippet enjoyed being wrung out to dry by an artful tv manipulation moment As we all watched the Ann Widdicombe-esque underdog -Susan Boyle belt out the specifically picked emotional highlight from Les Miserables (the shop worn middle aged heroine Fantine's swan song), the producers kept the emotionally charged musical score going to punctuate wonderfully Susan's surprise at being supported and the audience's shame fuelled hysterical reactions at her success.On reflection, it wasn't the obvious skill this unlikely contestant showed to a patronising audience that moved so much, I think it was the genuine, typically British and slightly dotty quality that Susan possessed that made people warm to her.A cracking piece of manipulative television

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Llanberis

I am feeling a little Bohemian today...hardly any sleep and the second lot of champagne in three days!.....how daring!
We loaded up the car with the welsh terriers and drove over to Llanberis in Snowdonia for lunch with a colleague and friend of Chris' Jo and her husband Nick.
They live in a picturesque converted chapel that nestles snugly amid the piles of slate and bracken high above the town,with their three dogs and 4 hens (some of my old buffs!)
The countryside in Snowdonia is typically beautiful and rather harsh for my taste, The cottages dotted almost inside the mountains do feel just a tad too isolated, especially as I do like conversations with passing locals, but it is, I'll admit, very, very scenic.
We had a lovely lunch, a bracing walk on the precarious mountains of slate and a tour of their allotments and land..........I must admit I was ever so slightly envious of their pond and orchard....
Home at 6pm, just in time to water the ducklings and doze on the couch

Below pic..(Centre Chris, far right Jo)

Osborn House,Wii play,Welly blossoms and sunburnt pigs

It's a mixed bag Sunday. Like today, yesterday was glorious, so after giving the dogs a good walk and stocking up the animals with food and water, we went to Llandudno for a walk around the shops. Chris treated me to lunch at Osborne House (above), which was lovely. We called down to Janet and Ned's in the evening. Ned's son and his girlfriend was visiting and had brought their Wii box thingy with them. Now I have absolutely no knowledge (or interest) in computer "games", but some of the physical balance games such as skiing and tightrope walking were incredibly clever and entertaining. Mind you anything can be fun after several glasses of champagne!

Today I have made the most of the weather, and typically am working nights tonight. The Church yard is quite pretty and natural looking this Easter Sunday, The council is responsible for the grass cutting maintenance, so unfortunately it will be give the usual "short back and sides" with the strimmer soon. The slightly scruffy old fashioned look , I think suits the place

The ducklings are all doing fine in the safety of the garden shed. All are putting on weight and have literally doubled in size in a week. Welly (above) is bright and seems happy enough after his close shave with death.

I will put some hens' eggs in the incubator in a week or so, the field is in need of some healthy young egg layers that will augment the older pensioners.

As I said, the weather has been quite beautiful and surprisingly hot. After digging through the medicine cupboard in the bathroom, I finally found an old bottle of sun cream, and gave Nora (who is quite bald on her back) a good creaming. She was quite put out by the whole experience and would not keep still for me to rub in the factor 30! I had to corner her with some pig food before I could massage it all in

Hillsborough 1989

If you mention the suburb of Hillsborough to people in a general conversation, the majority will think of the infamous disaster of 1989. Say the word Hillsborough to me and all I think of is the many happy years I experienced living in a Victorian terrace on Wynyard Road, which almost overlooks the football stadium.
I cannot believe that the 15th of April is the twenty year anniversary of the Hillsborough Disaster; coincidentally it is also the twenty year anniversary of my first days in Sheffield.
I thank god, that as a first year student nurse, I was shielded from the aftermath of horrendous crush injuries caused when the Liverpudlian fans were funnelled through to the crowded terraces at Lepplings lane.
96 people died that day and hundreds were injured. The reputation of some Liverpool fans as well as a tawdry gutter press paper were tarnished forever...and the word Hillsborough became synonymous with misery and disaster in the minds of most British people.

I was glad that the tragedy didn't affect me that much on both a professional and personal level.
Cossetted in the nursing accommodation in the leafy suburb of Broomhill, we students still inhabited that selfish, indulgent unreal world of the newly educated and regularly socialised.
My second house, bought in Hillsborough in the mid 90's was a happy, positive home . It signified for me, independence, the cementing of life long friendships and the start of my relationship with Chris.
I am so lucky....when I think of Hillsborough, I only think of the very good times