No drums across the Mohawk

Went to bed for a brief sleep before nights this afternoon, woke up with a temperature and headache. Chris bullied me in staying off work tonight and I am presently sipping lemsip watching A Bridge Too Far.

Photo has nothing to do with the day but it did make me smile

Round Robin

MOVIE ROUND ROBIN
I was discussing films with Nige the other night and he asked me to complete a "round robin" film questionnaire! Found one today...so here goes...... a relaxing few minutes before going to work later!


Q WHO IS YOUR MOST FAVOURITE MOVIE ACTOR OF THE 21ST CENTURY & WHY?
Well I have many favourites, Laura Linney,Russell Crowe,Patricia Clarkeson are perhaps my favourite mainstream actors......but I have enjoyed individual performances from single films such as Lorraine Stanley's gusty turn in the bleak London to Brighton; Maribel Verdú as Mercedes in El laberinto del fauno and Kristin Scott Thomas as a mercy killer in Il y a longtemps que je t'aime . Overall, the "best" actor of the millennium must be (of course Meryl Streep)

Q CAN YOU DETAIL AN INSPIRED PIECE OF MOVIE CASTING?
Bloody hell...that is a tough one......probably the best piece of casting must have been
Audrey Hepburn as Sister Luke in The Nun's Story (1959) oh and Bette Davis of course in All About Eve (1950)

Q WHAT SINGLE FILM SEQUENCE LINGERS IN YOUR MEMORY THE MOST?
Fernanda Montenegro smiling and crying to herself on the bus at the end of Central do Brasil (1998)-heartbreaking!


Q COMEDY MOVIES SELDOM WIN OSCARS...WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE MOVIE COMEDY?
My Best Friend's Wedding (1997)


Q WHAT MOVIE WOULD YOU WATCH WHEN YOU ARE A) SAD B) ILL C) ROMANTIC?
a) Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (Amelie) (2001)

b)Drums Along the Mohawk (1939)

c)Gawd.....who knows.....anything with Russell Crowe or Jake Gyllenhaal in it!

Q FOREIGN MOVIES....DO YOU EVER MAKE THE EFFORT?

Read the above
Q BEST MOVIE QUOTE?

"Into the mud......slime queen!" Steve Martin The Man with Two Brains (1983)

Any line in All About Eve

Q BEST MOVIE SONG?
Bugger!.......well the worst one is The Morning After from the Poseidon Adventure......oh and let's not forget "You light up my life" from the film of the same name ("sung" by deaf children at the academy awards as I recall) and of course my favourite "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" sung by the blind piano player Tom Sullivan in Airport '77 (before he was crushed to death by his own piano!!)

Q BEST MOVIE DOCUMENTARY?
gawd knows........I remember being impressed with Shoah (1985) but that was years ago and it was very long!
Q WHAT IS THE BEST MOVIE "FIGHT" YOU HAVE EVER SEEN?
Colleen Dewhurst as the insane patient fighting with Audrey Hepburn in The Nun's Story (1959)

Q MOST SHOCKING PIECE OF CINEMA
Too many overtly shocking scenes can be picked out of modern cinema scenes....but I always remember being shell shocked by the first 19 minutes of Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Bonnie Tyler feat. Only Men Aloud

Marks and Spencers in Bangor did very well providing the suits...... bless dont you just LOVE Bonnie Tyler! dressed like your best mate's mom...she gives it rocks!!

Being corny

Both Chris and I are coming down with colds.

Being tuned into possible fox activity last night didn't help, as I didn't have much sleep, so today I feel muzzy, slightly unwell and tired. My bee stung left arm is still aching somewhat too! if I was a hypochondriac I think I should be worrying about my cardiac status! But gladly I am not!

However,the weather has been nice,so this morning I have harvested sweetcorn for freezing, delivered some spare cobs to a neighbour, walked the dogs around the Marian, picked several bucketfuls of apples from the orchard behind our cottage for the pigs and made a chicken curry for dinner.

Like everything that is bathed in sunshine, the village and life in general looks better than it normally does. It has been a funny old week to be honest; the family is still worried about my brother's health and supportive phonecalls and texts seem to be flitting back and forth like the sparrows in the field hedgerows . During all this "drama" I even had time to initiate a slight falling out with a friend who I thought wasn't supporting me as well as he could have done.

On reflection ( and with the balanced intervention of another good friend -thanks Nige) my feelings of hurt were justified but were put into a pragmatic perspective and if we all could have had a group hug we would have done......thank god for phones and email.......and good friends..... I am lucky to have access to all three!

William

"Get away from her you BITCH!!!"

At 6.30 am both of us were woken by the sound of shrill squawking! I ran to the window just in time to see the silhouette of a large fox scrabbling at the nearest of the hen houses, which happened to be the old rabbit hutch in which Blanche and her chick had been housed. It was Blanche that was making the noise and even from the cottage, I could make her out behind the chicken wire pecking frantically at the predator.

Even at the ripe old age of 47, I dragged on my clothes and wellies in seconds and was running to the rescue like Sigourney Weaver out of Aliens.....it is a pity I didn't have the obligatory flamethrower and space rifle, because if I had, I would have bloody used them....but as I got to the field the fox had wisely fled the scene!

All the hen houses were intact when I checked and strangely every cockerel remained silent for a good half hour afterwards.....it was as though every bird knew that danger was about!

This afternoon I have reinforced every one of the coops. New latches have been added to doors, chicken wire has been nailed into places of potential weakness and extra heavy rocks have been placed on hinged roofs. Tonight My trusty wind up torch and clothes will be laid to hand if mr fox shows up again and I have peed ( yes peed) around the perimeter of the enclosures with the dogs tonight (getting them to leave puddles as well) in an effort to discourage foxy noses! Poor Blanche , this evening she abandoned her chick and climbed up into Rogo's ark hen house rather than returning to her small broody hutch.... I carefully removed her and the hysterical chick and put them both into another separate hutch and locked them both in safely. Both settled eventually....I wonder if I will sleep tonight?

Anyhow on a brighter note 5 of the guinea fowl have hatched this afternoon. The two more robust little chaps that put in an appearance yesterday have already been set up under the heat lamp in the shed. They look just like hen chicks but are extremely nervy and jump hysterically when approached! I think they are going to be hard work!
Hazel asked me to go to theatre Clwyd this evening to see a "groundbreaking- 14 years in the making" documentary on the artist Louise Bourgeois (she of the famous spider sculptures!) Time Out stated the film was:- "An unexpectedly lyrical and poetic portrait of the now 98-year-old, feisty, French-American artist. *****"
Perhaps I am missing something..I thought it was a pretentious study of a self indulgent woman who never got over her father having an affair when she was a child! Boring!
..and I gave up having a pint with friend Geoff for this!....hey ho

Bloody Hell

Whilst planning the new turkey enclosure this afternoon I ventured a little too close to the now dying wasps nest and got stung four times, all on the left arm......
My arm now is extremely painful and puffy, despite being bathed in vinegar !
I now smell like a chip butty
In pain......
....and all of the guinea fowl chicks have started to hatch early and I haven't got a heat lamp as yet
Bollocks!!!

Observations

I am almost ready to start rebuilding the Church wall. There is still a load of small stones and dirt to remove before I can begin but I am confident that all the ground will be prepared by early next week. I need to catch handyman expert Steve to organise my first lesson in dry stone walling.

As I worked away this morning, I have enjoyed watching the goings on in the field. Supermom Blanche with her single chick has now left the confines of their run and Blanche's maternal instincts are so incredibly strong that I have no fear that the chick will be harmed by one of the other hens and cockerels.

Today a heron has been circling the field in order to get close to Carol's fishpond, and time and time again as the large unfamiliar shape of the heron has loomed into view the roosters' warning growls have rung out and the juvenile hens have galloped in from the field borders to hide safely under the trees. Even at her very early age, Blanche's chick innately understands the possible threat from the sky, and she too has darted quickly under her mother's outstretched wings when the alarm call has sounded!

Rogo (with Hughie in tow below), have watched my work with some interest, and the guinea fowl is slowly becoming tamer, the more he sees me.Unable to leave Rogo's side, he has been somewhat forced to be around me, but his anxieties have noticably reduced

The 7 young hens that hatched in the spring have turned into buxom pullets, but strangely have been copying Hughie in his roosting behaviour amid the trees just above where I am working to repair the wall. Hens are terrible copycats, and will take every opportunity to "out do" the antics of another in the flock. Last night I had to bounce a few of these new girls off the branches with the soft rake so that they would reluctantly saunter down to their usual hen house

Village news,& Red Cliff

I have been strimming and clearing weeds and small bushes all day. I should have moved another hundredweight of stone from the collapsed wall too, but never quite got round to the job. The weather has been glorious today, one of those clear bright day of autumn, and I think my brother had the right idea to make the most of the mild spell by booking a trip up Snowdon.

Chris took the car today,so I was effectively marooned in the village...... but to be honest I never mind this at all!!!

When I took the dogs out for their walk ( this has become a bit of a trial as Albert has now decided to follow us even though we walk on the main road- so I have to go through the rigmarole of trapping him in the kitchen and locking the cat flap with a spoon!) I bumped into Bob ( the guy that taught me to cull my roosters) and he informed me that there is to be another "open" community council meeting on Monday. Although it will be situated in the neighbouring village of Gwaenysgor, I think I will make the effort to attend......the bunfight at the last meeting was quite illuminating to say the least!.....the workings and factions within the committee had to seen to be believed Anyhow this evening I took myself to the cinema to see Chi bi (Red Cliff).

Now I have no trouble going to the pics alone if I need to, it is a habit Nu and I always got into two decades ago, and even now both of us will not hesitate in going to the cinema by ourselves as long as we phone or text a brief "marks out of ten" score to each other afterwards! Nu has been so supportive to me over the past few weeks, and rang today in between interviewing patients at work......she would have hated Red Cliff, where I in fact loved it!

Red Cliff is a modern day Chinese Spartacus....it has everything a good historical epic should have!---bags of action, a cast you actually care about, a million extras running amok with bows and arrows, a brief sweet natured romance and a snippet of homo erotic zither playing! (well whatever the Chinese version of a zither is called anyhow!)

It also has the very handsome Takeshi Kaneshiro (above) who is VERY easy on the eye...

I loved it 8.5 out of 10!!!