Viv and Mike, my neighbours who kindly opened up their garden to support my "Open allotment" day work tirelessly to improve the country look of the village. They have tended and cared for the flowerbeds next to the Church, and with the burst of wet weather we experienced last week, the whole border has flourished and blossomed.The village has been entered into this year's best kept village competition , an honour it won in 2006, and by the look of the Church border and the flower beds in the centre of the village, it might just win again, I do hope so. Trelawnyd may not be the most chocolate box type of village, in the vein of perhaps the picturesque Llanasa obviously is, but it does have its own amount of charm.
Bill and Leslie (the affable despots from the Prestatyn Horticultural society) called today with a whole selection of rabbit hutches for me. They are volunteers at a local animal rescue centre and thought that they may be of use to me! I could almost hear the neighbours groaning at the prospect of rabbits on the field in addition to 80 existing animals, but they need not worry as the hutches actually will house the broody buffs when eventually they hatch out their own eggs. It was very kind of Bill and Leslie to think of me.
The rest of the day has been filled with collecting broad beans and cauliflowers and delousing the poultry which is the most disgusting of jobs that need to be completed on a regular basis.The few hens which have been grossly feather pecked by bullies, such as the moth eaten Mildred Pierce (above) also needed bathing in a mild antiseptic (and tea tree-thanks to Rural Rose for that one!). I then sprayed their raw "pecked" areas with a blue antiseptic which may stop the "attacks".....and getting the scrawny little girl on her own gave me the opportunity to feed her up with extra pasta and corn. It took me two hours to treat all the buffs , Mildred and Maureen one of the new fox attack survivors from Lloc.
When you are completing a repetitive job (such as washing a chicken!) your mind gets to wander somewhat!...today I got to thinking how funny life is, and how cyclical it can be. At the weekend I was talking to Rowenna, a lady that has lived in the village all of her life. She recalled going to a relatives wedding many years ago, and I thought it amazing that the wedding was actually that of my Mother's Brother Jim!
Quite by chance I have found out that I may related to a whole bunch of the villagers including Steve who is renovating the Churchyard.......weird or what?
In some ways it feels that I was always destined to live here!
Seeing that Chris is flicking heels up with the gayest of abandon with Janet in Liverpool, I managed to persuade Hazel to bunk off work early to go to Theatre Clwyd to see the movie Genova (2008). We needn't have really bothered as it was all a rather pointless study of grief and the necessity of time and space required by the bereaved to cope. I was slightly bored by it all, and found myself staring at Colin Firth's new set of teeth for much of the film!
The new girls Maureen,Patty,Jenny,Faye and Sheila have settled down famously, so I have let them out into their bigger run with cockerel Poppy, who accepted the newcomers with a conceit of a male that knows he has 5 adoring fans.
Halleh is now a buxom, robust and almost adult sized duck. I let him (or her- I haven't sexed him yet) out of his small enclosure today with the loyal Blanche in tow. He didn't venture too far but did laboriously haul himself into the pigs' old water bowl for a proper swim, and bath I will move him in with the young runner ducks tomorrow, hopefully he will team up with them.
The view from the Gop is quite beautiful in nice weather, and I took the dogs for their walk slightly earlier so that people attending Mrs Ellis' funeral could park in our driveway. I didn't know Mrs Ellis, but it was clear by the hundreds of people that crammed themselves in and around the Church that she was a popular and well loved woman.
PS. If I EVER have a photograph like this taken of me and Albert (or indeed of any one of my 83 animals) PLEASE, PLEASE SHOOT ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Albert and George cuddled up on the couch as I watch Mock the Week.......I just had to take a picture before going to bed.
Viv and Mike, my neighbours who kindly opened up their garden to support my "Open allotment" day work tirelessly to improve the country look of the village. They have tended and cared for the flowerbeds next to the Church, and with the burst of wet weather we experienced last week, the whole border has flourished and blossomed.
Bill and Leslie (the affable despots from the Prestatyn Horticultural society) called today with a whole selection of rabbit hutches for me. They are volunteers at a local animal rescue centre and thought that they may be of use to me! 
The rest of the day has been filled with collecting broad beans and cauliflowers and delousing the poultry which is the most disgusting of jobs that need to be completed on a regular basis.