Harvest festival and other bits

The Church bell has been ringing this afternoon to signify the Village school's harvest festival service. The primary school children in their smart blue uniforms lined up, two by two, on the Church path, before they entered with their teachers, and their moms and grans drifted in earlier as I herded Rogo, Hughie and a gaggle of hens back over the field boundary. I think it is lovely that there seems to be such a close relationship between school and Church.Using the Church almost as an extension to the school's main hall (I don't think they have one) makes such good sense to me.
I have spent five hours shifting what seems like tons of stone from the collapsed Church wall

and whenever I stopped for a diet coke break, the debris was picked over by a hoard of hens. The job is far, far bigger than I first thought, but once done it will (hopefully) look quite impressive. The hard work will be worth it, as I would have amassed mega Brownie points as far as the Church council is concerned. For them to repair the collapse professionally would cost thousands!
William has spent his usual hour and a half, gazing longingly at the new turkey chicks. I have left the shed door open in the sun to harden off the 18 day old poults just a little and he has practically wet himself with semi controlled excitement.

One turkey chick has been pecked in the eye by a member of the brood and looks a little unwell. Gently I have cleaned the eye with coddled water and put a little antibiotic into his water. Hopefully he will be ok.

Tonight I am meeting up with Hazel for a Pedro Almodóvar fest! we are going to see his latest film Los abrazos rotos (Broken Embraces)

Hughie the gay guinea fowl

This afternoon has been set aside in order to dismantle more of the collapsed Church wall. The piles of rubble ( one face stones the other smaller stones and scree) have been steadily growing all week, and today the hens accompanied by the ubiquitous Hughie have taken over the mounds in search of insects and bugs.
Hughie is such a sweet little chap. Unlike any of the hens, who are pretty peripatetic in their liaisons and behaviour, Hughie is constantly in need to be a only one step behind his hero Rogo.
Wherever the big red cockerel goes the funny little bird with a big voice and a somewhat bemused and shocked expression is surely only inches away, and their "friendship" has been the subject of much comment and amusement by visitors to the Churchyard. "I have never seen a gay bird before", one old chap commented cheerfully as the pair trotted past ...........try going to a Joan Armatrading concert I felt like saying
The guinea fowl is still incredibly nervous of strangers, and if anyone new arrives within 100 yards his machine gun call echoes time and time again around what seems like the whole village.....I have been winning him over ever-so-slowly with handfuls of corn and the odd piece of bread, but he as yet, only allows me to come within six feet or so before legging it behind his hero Rogo
Tonight I called up to give my sister in law, Jayne her birthday gifts Happy Birthday!!!!...... I left Chris complaining about the curry I cooked for him for tea! (I had put vegetables in it!.....unforgivable!!!)

Lovers Tiff

It is no secret that Boris hates Chris........in fact, the spat between them is a perfectly mutual kind of hatred and when they actually "meet", both retreat to their own corners glaring at each other with the venom of two working class slags fighting over their wayward Bill Sikes!

Today it has been lashing down, so I put on Chris' hoodie to protect myself from the rain! and as I climbed into the turkey enclosure to change their water, Boris went for me with some gusto! He gave me a couple of smart karate chops with his huge feet and after catching me by complete surprise, I fell into the wet grass.

Gobbling with success he closed in to finish the job, then suddenly stopped dead when I shouted "Boris!.....it's me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" at the top of my lungs!

He had obviously mistook me for Chris and within seconds changed from jealous crazed dinosaur to meek little canary when he realised his mistake

I sat on the grass and he waddled over to sit under my arm to have a cuddle in lieu of an apology

Thank god I have only one stag turkey! (at the moment)

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....