Just caught up with the friend I "had words with" earlier in the week....
everythings back to normal....sigh!
Visitors and Julie Andrews
It was past 7pm before I could soak in a chamomile bath (with the obligatory Home and Antiques magazine, where the steam and herb finally managed to break my chesty cough. I still feel rough as the proverbial bear's arse, but at least I can breath a little better through the wheeze!.
In between the usual animal jobs, it has been a day of visitors (I am not going to complain about the amount of work I have to do, especially after reading my friend Ruth's blog (Ruth lives in he wilds of Canada)--- see http://lifethroughthecracks.blogspot.com/ it is an eye opener.
My friend Geoff called around for eggs and the promise of teaching me some rudimentary carpentry skills (I need another hen house), my sister,her husband and hyperactive pattertale terrier, were next on the list. then a nice young couple from Rhyl called around to pick a couple of runner ducks for their large garden.Finally my friend Sandra from the flower show committee and her hubby popped in to wax lyrical over my baby turkeys. If I have one spare I am sure she will buy it for her own allotment on the other side of the village. Already she has a small pure breed group of hens............and is thinking carefully of my proposal to take the handsome Bill off my hands!
They will let me know how much her weaner piglets will be, we hope to get them at the same time!
I do like Sandra!, she is one of those genuinely nice people who always seems to have a skip in her step and a good word to say about everyone....conscripting her onto the flower show was a stroke of genius! even if I do say so myself
Anyhow, tonight we watched Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967)...a little uneven and a tad overlong, this musical is actually great fun.....and I must admit I was just a little surprised when I realised that Julie Andrews did prove herself to be a very talented comedian as the suger sweet Millie!.
Mind you, Beatrice Lillie as the evil Mrs Meers (from the famous Big Mary's tart shop Peking)--steals the whole film with her sooooo wonderfully non PC performance as a Chinese Madam! (sad to think that in any modern day Broadway production I bet the powers that be would now insist that a Chinese actress take the role!!!)
As Beatrice Lillie would say....."OOOHHHHHH POOOK"
Off to have another lemsip
In between the usual animal jobs, it has been a day of visitors (I am not going to complain about the amount of work I have to do, especially after reading my friend Ruth's blog (Ruth lives in he wilds of Canada)--- see http://lifethroughthecracks.blogspot.com/ it is an eye opener.
My friend Geoff called around for eggs and the promise of teaching me some rudimentary carpentry skills (I need another hen house), my sister,her husband and hyperactive pattertale terrier, were next on the list. then a nice young couple from Rhyl called around to pick a couple of runner ducks for their large garden.Finally my friend Sandra from the flower show committee and her hubby popped in to wax lyrical over my baby turkeys. If I have one spare I am sure she will buy it for her own allotment on the other side of the village. Already she has a small pure breed group of hens............and is thinking carefully of my proposal to take the handsome Bill off my hands!
They will let me know how much her weaner piglets will be, we hope to get them at the same time!
I do like Sandra!, she is one of those genuinely nice people who always seems to have a skip in her step and a good word to say about everyone....conscripting her onto the flower show was a stroke of genius! even if I do say so myself
Anyhow, tonight we watched Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967)...a little uneven and a tad overlong, this musical is actually great fun.....and I must admit I was just a little surprised when I realised that Julie Andrews did prove herself to be a very talented comedian as the suger sweet Millie!.
Mind you, Beatrice Lillie as the evil Mrs Meers (from the famous Big Mary's tart shop Peking)--steals the whole film with her sooooo wonderfully non PC performance as a Chinese Madam! (sad to think that in any modern day Broadway production I bet the powers that be would now insist that a Chinese actress take the role!!!)
As Beatrice Lillie would say....."OOOHHHHHH POOOK"
Off to have another lemsip
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)
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)
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?
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!!!
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!!!
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