Winter approaches

This morning the Ukrainian village that is the field has been smattered with a covering of light frost. The weather has finally turned. Blanche's young chick is now properly feathered,robust and is facing the autumn with a healthy bounce and Kate Winslett's six babies have suddenly put on weight and now look like proper small hens. I have not had a chance to sex them as yet, and already have a buyer for a couple of them once I can separate the cockerels,they seem to be handsome little chaps.
In two weeks time the guinea fowl in the incubator should be starting to hatch and again the shed will be "full" of eager young beaks, Having chicks in the shed in October is a little foolish, I should have sorted all this out this spring, when the weather was better, but hey I am still learning this complicated lesson of animal husbandry.
The cold weather is a mixed blessing. Good frosts will kill off bugs and the red mite, but will increase the chances of fox attack as natural food becomes scarce. Sick hens like the delicate Susan will find the rigours of winter a little tough, and the pigs, with their adverse climate sensitivities, will want to spent 99% of their lives tucked up in their shed.
Two fading hen houses need replacing, a new turkey house for the poults needs constructing
and all of the allotment beds need clearing and manuring before the earth becomes too hard...outside work in the frost IS invigorating but can be terribly tough on the old chilblains....I need to dig out my range of woolly hats!
After their walk with Chris this morning the dogs gleefully dived under the bedclothes to get warm --they may look pretty but 17th century stone cottages are terribly cold in winter without the fire being lit....and bald dogs like Meg (below) dont cope will being chilled!

I am working nights tonight then am off for a week or so, I may have to do some extra shifts to pay for coal stockpiles but I know I am going to busy every day preparing for winter.....

Away we go

I think we all needed a little diversion this evening, so Chris, Janet and I went to the scala to see the "gentle" comedy Away We Go.

The film is essentially a "road" movie where an irritatingly affectionate couple who are expecting their first child travel around the US to visit friends and relatives in search of a new base. Ultimately, it doesn't come as much of a shock to the audience that home proves to be where the heart is, and director Sam Mendes employs a large talented cast to its best advantage, when exploring parenting extremes and stereotypes. So we have Allison Janney as a grotesque drunk mom.Maggie Gyllenhaal as a grotesque hippy mom who hates pushchairs and a delightful Catherine O'Hara and Jeff Daniels as thoughtless middle aged grandparents to be. John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph play the home-searching couple rather sweetly and Mendes gives his leads a little over saccharine quality which is at times rather cloying.....having said that Rudolph (centre pic) provides such a depth and genuine warmth to her character, that single handed, she saves the film from its own smugness.

I must also add that I absolutely loved the cinematography by Ellen Kuras as each state the couple visit is captured with some exquisite shots and brief montages . One particular scene has the image of a jetliner reflected in the mirrored frontage of an airport building. The plane is seen to gracefully leap from window to window , a brief yet stunning visual treat!...

7.5 out of 10

giorni dispari-ludovico einaudi

i only worked 3 hours overtme this morning, as I was not needed for a full shift. I came home when Chris was at Church (He will be reading the lesson in a few weeks time), made a carrot cake and drove up to visit my brother . This beautiful melody was playing on Classic Fm as I came home.
Simple and haunting

Absent moment

As it turned out last night turned into a bit of a marathon of phone calls. By late evening I was all talked out and when Chris returned home going on midnight, we were both shattered,
I couldn't believe it this morning when I woke to the delightful strains of Maddie emptying her bowels merrily on the hall carpet, to find every hen out of their coop!
With all the talking last night, I had forgotten to lock up the 9 hen houses!!! The ducks and turkeys I had put away at the usual earlier time, but I had totally forgotten the hens!!!
A quick head count reassured me that all "bums were on seats", but I do realize that they were terribly lucky not to be killed by a passing fox.

Julia Fordham - Behind Closed Doors Live

It has been a funny old day. My brother has come out of hospital this evening and my sister in law Jayne has just called around to discuss the events of the day. Suffice to say that he and his family have some life challenges to deal with in the future but at least they are more informed and suported than they were 24 hours ago.
You feel helpless when people close to you are in distress, often all you have are platitudes and good intentions to offer, that too is the way of the world of families I guess.,...
Opened a mini gin and tonic and listened to Julia Fordham this evening by the fire
Time to be a little thoughtful
...Chris is working until very late....

2012 - Exclusive Scene

Hummmm....me thinks it is a case of MORE is potentially LESS......impressive to look at, but as usual it is the human story which is more important to a good narrative......... again where is Jewish Granny swimming champion Shelley Winters or Carol Lynley in her hot pants when you need them?

Spitfire & Streetcars

Apparently a few miles from the village is a veteran air enthusiast who actually owns a world war II Spitfire!....and hearing a deep growling in the sky I looked up and actually saw it skimming over the hills just across the valley.

I always think that there is something quite valiant about these tiny little planes and according to the every ready wikipedia there are only 44 left in "service" amazing!......

Hazel and I went to see a rerun of the 1951 classic A Streetcar Named Desire at Theatre Clwyd this evening, and I was so glad that we did.......on reflection I realised that Streetcar was one of those films that I had never seen, despite thinking that I had watched it years ago and I was thrilled and shocked by this steamy tale of madness,loneliness and sex.

Director Elia Kazan's production is electrifying on the big screen. Marlon Brando 's Stanley Kowalski, with his lightening flashes of violence scared the shit out of me, and the shopworn, fragile and truly talented Vivien Leigh breaks your heart as Blanche duBois, the southern Belle crashing terribly out of control under the strains of alcohol and mental illness.

It was one of the best things I have seen in a long time......next I would love to see
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

9/10

Thinking of Jayne and Andrew today..my brother is in hospital..much love x

Turkey & The Changeling update

I am snatching a couple of minutes to complete a fowl update..(if anyone is interested?) Chris is working away in Newquay later, so is pottering around and getting in my usual mornings routine way! Mind you he has just made me a bacon filled bagel, so I can live with the interruptions.

The turkey poults are just starting to develop those long necks of the adults and are looking so irresistible. I always make sure I spend some time handling and playing with the babies and I know they now recognise me when the shed door is opened, as they crane their necks and "peep" for England

The changeling is in fact a Leghorn cross (centre pic) and she has set up home in the buff house yesterday. Pirrie the bantam cockerel who oversees the buffs seems to be quite chuffed with a new member of his flock, the old hen is a wise old bird and so far I had witnessed no overt bullying. She is underfed and rather thin but shovels corn down her crop with a sickening gusto.....sigh...another useless beak to feed me thinks.........

I have called her Charlotte Vale.....(my friend Jonney H will understand why)