Last Year's Christmas card

This was last year's Christmas card....I have not got around to design a new one this year!

Winter jobs

Overnight the wet Autumn has been turned into an icy winter. as temperatures have dropped dramatically. The frost was thick this morning before I let the birds out, and I did feel so sad for Hughie (centre of pic) who has spent another frozen night up in the Churchyard elms.

Tonight I have gotten my usual lists ready and have started my Christmas card writing, which I think is a tradition that has become somewhat out of vogue the more we gallop into the paperless Internet noughties.
I love writing, sending and receiving Christmas cards. The best cards, of course are the carefully written ones sent through the post and part of my own ritual is the anticipation of knowing who has written which card. after it "plopped" comfortably on the door mat.

With The Royal Mail practically defunct, and with people feeling that cards are no longer "green" or indeed necessary the thought of the dreaded E -card taking over, is, in my opinion a step too far in this energy saving, slim lined world!
Christmas cards take effort and some thought in their execution, by taking a little time to write the card, address the envelope and indeed to lick the stamp before posting, you are saying to the recipient "I am making this effort to remember you"...and to me, that is never a chore...

Ho Ho Ho

The cottage is still this evening as the animals crowd around the fire, Chris is still in Glasgow, it is quiet not having him around

Back to normal & A Serious Man

Again Chris is working away for the majority of the week, so with the weather cold but dry, I have gotten on with outside chores for over eight knackering hours. All 13 coops have been cleaned of the wet steaming bedding that has almost gone mouldy in the damp weather and fresh bedding has been laid down in them and in the pig hut. The baby Turkeys and guinea fowl are still holding their own in the shed and have been cleaned out too and I have arranged for local feed shop owner Helen to deliver an old unwanted shed to the field, which should house all of the turkeys including Boris and Gloria. The guinea fowl can then be housed in the old turkey house and the circle of animal movement can continue.I even had time to fit in a bout of dog bathing

Hopefully I can catch up with some more good cinema this week with Hazel. She wanted to see A Serious Man , but I think was glad she didn't after I gave her my slightly lacklustre review of it this morning.
I was disappointed with A Serious Man. Typical of the Cohens, this voyage down the vagaries of fate and life of a1960 middle class Jewish Professor, centred about the misfortunes that beset people, but unlike their previous movies, all of the bad luck that visits academic Larry Gopnick (the excellent Michael Stuhlbarg) is not of his own doing. In characteristically deadpan black humour, we see Gopnick's career,homelife, family and health crumble around him , and although I could appreciate the humour and pathos of it all, I found the whole film rather exasperating and just that little bit indulgent and irritating
I gave the whole thing 7/10...... and thought to myself as I left the cinema, that the whole excitement over the film was perhaps a case of The Emperor's New clothes?

London Photos

We had a lovely informal chatty dinner party last night. Annie Lennox (lookalike and indeed soundalike), Jen (left) kept the conversation animated and fun and it was great to catch up with Nu's hubby, Jimmy (right) too.

It has been ages since I have felt so sophisticated!

Kew gardens is probably one of my favourite places in London, and was quite deserted yesterday. Below is Nu in the vast Victorian glass house, which you can see more clearly from my "action" shot from the treetop walkway (second below photo)

The walkway was an amazing experience and as I have already mentioned was a truly terrifying experience for me, even though we were only 59 feet in the air.

Organic sculptures of seeds (fashioned in willow) by Tom Hare, were dotted all around the grounds and looked wonderful in the Autumn sun. We spent most of the relaxing day ambling around talking and laughing....

Mindful of the fact that Nu doesn't often have time to catch up with her work obsessed hubby, I reluctantly left them early today to have a mooch around London before my train this afternoon. Typically the weather was dreadful, so I treated myself to an expensive visit to the cinema to see A Serious Man. (Mini review tomorrow)

Scary Mary

Nuala is busy cooking for a dinner party tonight, so that leaves me a few minutes to catch up with a quickie blog.
We have spent a delightful day at Kew Gardens, where I scared myself silly negotiating the terrifying treetop walkway (have you ever seen a middle aged man, white with fear dragging himself hand over hand around a flimsy metal catwalk?.......not a pretty sight)
It is lovely to be here

Country Mouse

The partridge buff Lillian and the lace buff Peggy this morning(partridge buff Jennifer is looking on)

Well, I got up early this morning and have completed the chores promptly. With the animals all watered and fed and the dogs walked, I have dug out some clean pants (without the usual bleach, sawdust and animal waste stains on the kneecaps), ironed a couple of shirts and am just about to walk down to Prestatyn to catch the train to London to see Nuala.Back blogging on Sunday
Very excited at the prospect at seeing Nu....tee hee

Reaping what you sow

Now I know I can be a fairly "assertive" individual at times, ( actually the word bolshy comes to mind), but I know I do make an effort to be sociable with people from the village and that sociability can have its rewards! and today was a case in point.
When selling eggs to neighbour Mike, I mentioned that I wanted a new "free range eggs for sale" sign, and he stated that he and his wife Viv enjoyed painting and perhaps could knock up something for me.Well today he showed me the first draft of the sign completed by Viv ( before it was to be varnished), and it was absolutely wonderful! People generally can be so kind I think.

Time after time I have received small but welcomed kindnesses from people here.......some free bedding from the red faced Welsh farmer, bags of home made scones tied to the front door from Auntie Glad, help with wall building from Steve, pasta parcels for Susan the sick hen from Joanne and left over designer bread all neatly packaged up from Pippa, left as a special treat for the pigs.
Carole and Ewan have babysat the dogs on numerous occasions, the birds have been locked up by Geoff in his designer wellies and vegetable cuttings and seeds have been left for me by the Camerons, who have planted out the new allotments at Bonk terrace........
I don't want to sound too sugary about all this, but I am very grateful for these small but consistently kind deeds!
I feel like a group hug!

Susan Boyle - Wild Horses -

Now I heard this on the radio and loved it, without knowing it was in fact Susan Boyle.....good luck to her, the girl has obviously done very well for herself....