The Flower Show

Trelawnyd's 36th annual Flower Show is firmly booked for the 15th Aug, and some of the fine tuning for the day was debated this evening by the Flower Show committee at Auntie Gladys' house.
I now have been "elevated" to the position of Chairperson(!!!) and the committee itself now numbers eleven people with a score of "show friends" who will be available to help on the day, so people wise we seem to have bums of seats as it were.
Historically the show has always poured donations and sponsorship towards numerous village causes and has never really publicised the fact, so this year I personally feel it is important to let the village population realise how we support our own community.
If people understand that we have purchased the new tables and curtains for the village hall for example, then perhaps some of the new members of Trelawnyd may feel that the show IS of use to the community and may be compelled to be a part of it..... I do hope so.
As the meeting went on Auntie Gladys pottered around her farmhouse style kitchen organising tea an biscuits. The "ladies" of the committee always receive their tea in china cups and saucers where as the men have china mugs! She didn't quite have time to bake her usual scones for the meeting's interval but I did receive the surreptitious "scones in a bag" when I left her house an hour or so later (a small thank you for the small gift of eggs I drop off to her every other week or so)

Menagerie update

A neighbour lost one of her beloved dogs today. He was ten years old and died in his sleep after a short bout of illness, but the shock of his passing was profound and upsetting for our friend who, like us, treated her animals as surrogate children. I called around this morning with some garden flowers and as I have worked in the field for most of the afternoon, I have witnessed a steady stream of neighbours calling around with flowers and plants, to offer their sympathetic best wishes. People can be extremely kind when the wind takes them, I always think.
As George spent an extended playtime stealing eggs as they were laid late, I got on with planting sweetcorn seeds into plantpots and weeding the 5 large vegetable plots and I stopped several times to watch the field population "enjoying" the summer-like afternoon.
The early seasonal warmth seems to suit the animals who all slow their pace of existence right down to almost a Mediterranean amble.
The pigs spent most of their time asleep in the shade of their house, venturing out only to use their latrine or to slurp nosily from their water bowl.
The ducklings, almost full grown, spend their time sat together in the long grass, but remain, silent and alert and aware of all what is going on. Bunny the runt, Mary and Roger the bantams sat next to them just on the other side of their enclosure fence, and all are fast sleep. I can see Bunny's deformed leg sticking out between the chicken wire, both her and the tiny Mary are laying small delicate brown eggs daily.
The remaining buff girls sit in the shade, slightly overheated by their heavy feathers, and Scotty (the young buff cockerel, who I have recently separated from the flock to give their feathers a chance to recover from repeated sexual advances) is alone wandering around the turkey enclosure. He looks bored.
Boris is still acting like a typical stag turkey and consistently shows his fan tail to Gloria and all of the runners in a sexual display, She and the ducks ignore him and appear to be dozing in the long grass.
I can just make out Susan, pecking absently at the ground, and she seems to have enough energy to peck at Maddie, who is ambling by on her way to watch out for passers by at the gate, all of the other hens are grouped untidily together in the shade of the hen houses.
I can see Albert stalking a rabbit by the compost bins, as Welsh terriers Meg and William sit quietly watching his antics. I am listening to the LBC discussion about the recent MP's expenses fiasco as I realise that I have a touch of sunburn.
Being outside is so much better then completing jobs in doors, I really should have been looking for my mobile phone, I mislaid it somewhere in the cottage the day before we went on holiday, I just couldn't be arsed!

...all about my mother

I have been thinking about my mother a lot recently. It has been over six years since she died so I wondered today why I should be remembering her at this particular period of time? I guess being on holiday with Chris' mum, and seeing his interaction with her has made me reflect on my own somewhat troubled relationship with my own mother, but I suspect my meeting with Nu in London and our discussions about her family had really triggered those memories, that have been slotted neatly away in my Psyche.
My mother was a difficult, bad tempered and rather bitter woman in her later life. She had a chronic anxiety disorder (which had never properly been diagnosed let alone treated) and numerous health problems that I would prefer not to discuss is this type of open forum. Typical of many women of her generation, she became isolated in the role of housewife and mother (neither of which fulfilled her in any way) and I would like to think that beneath her somewhat brittle and critical personality there lived and breathed a bright,active brain that craved to do something more with her life.
The problem with my mother was that she didn't (or more importantly couldn't) escape from her own negativity and ultimate depression. The gloom that constantly surrounded her alienated her family and friends and even now years later this legacy of bad feelings remain firmly atop her family's memories of her.
Years ago I went through a bout of counselling to get into perspective some of the more painful aspects of my mother's behaviours. It helped too!......not in that Hollywood "road to Damascus "sort of way.....you know the sort of emotional romping- "ahhh Ha Moment" , experienced by Tim Hutton in Ordinary People, but through a patient exploration, I started to see a woman who did not always possess the skills to be an effective and successful mother.
Today, I don't have any burning regrets or heart aches about her, I neither feel angry or upset and I am also aware that I am not remembering things through rose tinted glasses; all I do know, is that I perhaps have the occasional need to remember a more balanced view of her. I talked about her to Sorrel when we were at dinner one night in San Fransisco........I thought it odd that it was my first conversation about my mother with my mother in law in the nine years I have known Sorrel....

The Magic Of Pasta

Someone who reads this blog, asked me today how Susan was getting on, and I must admit the valiant little girl is doing ok, thanks primarily to spaghetti!
Every morning and evening I cook a large bowl of pasta up for her and sneak it carefully under her hen house. She has swiftly learnt to dart in before any of the other hens realise what is actually going on and I lock her in with a huge bowl of her favourite food.
In just a few days the skinny little hen has put on some weight and is looking definitely perkier.
I know it sounds a little indulgent to be cooking separate meals for a sickly hen but I have been so moved by her long-drawn-out fight to survive this mystery illness, I think, boosting her remaining chances it is the very least I can do

Allegretto from Palladio by Karl Jenkins

This is the "original" palladio....slightly better than the previous version that was led by the electric harp
A lovely piece of music

And then there was twelve

Much to Chris' disgust we now have 12 chicks in the dog cage in the kitchen. The temperature in the shed at night was just a little too low for the babies to cope with, and at this crucial part of their lives, if the chicks are a few degrees under optimum temperature, they will not eat and drink. I will harden them up this week and into the shed they will go on Wednesday or so. Unfortunately one small chick (number 13 to hatch) had to be dispatched, as she had a muscle problem with her neck and couldn't hold her head up straight. The other dozen chicks all looks perky and healthy

Karl Jenkins conducts Palladio

Karl Jenkins is one of my favourite composers and as it happens he is also Welsh! I This clip is his famous Palladio..which is probably his most famous piece apart from The Armed Man

Chris' Belated Birthday

Yes, the cake did seem a little lacklustre but after several large glasses of wine the family seemed to enjoy eating it in a late celebration of Chris' fortieth birthday. Tim & Ann and Janet & Ned all clubbed together to buy him some very impressive and professional dance shoes...