End of An Era

The last of the great British movie stars died today. Jean Simmons, that demure (though not-so-squeaky clean in real life), English rose of Hollywood, and movie star since the 1940s lost her battle with cancer at the age of 80.
To me Simmons was a bigger star than the unofficial "Queen" of the Brits Elizabeth Taylor, yet like Taylor, Simmons possessed a steely strength and talent under her considerable beauty, which kept her working steadily for over 60 years.
I loved her performances, and even in some of her more crappy films, she always stood out from the crowd..... who could forget her characters such as Young Estella in Great Expectations (1946),Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls ,Varinia in Spartacus (1960),Sister Falconer in Elmer Gantry (1960) and my personal favourite, Julie Maragon in The Big Country (1958),a film that she was famously quoted to have quipped "Who do I have to fuck to get off this movie?"
I am sure by blog friends Bel-Ami and Alex will have more articulate tributes to Miss Simmons, suffice to say, another great old dame of British cinema has disappeared forever

Up In The Air

Up in the Air is an interesting film, as it is a serious comedy of two interlocking parts. The first is a wry and sometimes painful look into corporate America (and the phenomenon of buying in a company to effectively "fire" your own staff), whilst the second is an affecting study of first love in middle age.
Juno (2007) director Jason Reitman wisely chose George Clooney as Ryan Bingham, the man that jumps from city to city to do the firing. Clooney quite effortlessly becomes the suave and likable, but ultimately emotionally bankrupt employment grim reaper and like his Nemesis Cary Grant, he is at his best whilst indulging in the sexy and ever-so-funny banter with Eva Marie Saint look-a-like,Vera Farmiga, who plays his female businesswoman mirror counterpart.
The two are quite lovely to watch together. and their chemistry is much more impressive than Clooney's wonderful turn with Jennifer Lopez in Out of Sight.......Both Farmiga and Clooney are twin sharks in the corporate world with Farmiga purring "Think of me as yourself with a vagina," however the amusement of their laptop/mobile phone sexual relationship turns slightly sour when Clooney's character actually falls in love with her.
Clooney has never been better as the isolated Bingham, with Farmiga and the prickly Anna Kendrick as the new whizkid on the block being standouts in an excellent cast.
Praise must also go to the score of actors that play the employees on the receiving end of redundancy....their brief yet vital snapshots of shock and despair, are convincing and incredibly moving.Ultimately , the film has lots to say about how people view themselves; some people are defined by their job and status, others by the relationships they engage in, and some, hopefully like the majority of us, define themselves with a bit of both
I loved Up In The Air
8.5 out of 10

Toxic parents

It was with great sadness that I listened to the news that two young brothers aged only 10 and 11, have been sentenced to an indefinite period of detention after their prolonged and sadistic attack on two 9 and 11 year old victims.
It was reported at length, that these two boys had sustained a lifetime of physical and psychological abuse by toxic parenting, and I found the explanation of their violent behaviours by a child psychology expert, illuminating and ever so slightly hopeful.
She explained ( and I apologise as I have forgotten her name), that childrens' brains are literally changed by the the abuse they suffer,( physical changes to the frontal lobe) and the only punishment that these damaged children require is "sustained periods of affection coupled with robust and consistent supervision".....she concluded quite eloquently that then, and only then could the damage to these children be effectively reversed.
Not rocket science to be sure, but it is a welcomed comment of sanity at a time when people are baying for these two little boys to be locked away.
There are always going to be "toxic" families, indeed in my professional career, I have come across so many fragile and damaged individuals that I couldn't count them all, but what I do believe, is that it is better to remove these children from parents who shouldn't be caring for a goldfish let alone another human being. As Judge Judy states, these parents are "fully cooked", and in many cases are beyond the help of talented therapists.,....their children however are barely "half cooked" and therefore have a chance to develop normally if helped intensively .....perhaps the fear that paralyses social services to act and remove kids from the home, should be encouraged to be put on the back burner by all of us.....I say get the kids out and away safe......into homes that love, respect and affection is normal and not just something that can be watched in a quiet moment of a pirate dvd!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/south_yorkshire/8473978.stm

Caught with my pants (off)

After five hours of lugging wheelbarrows of stones from one side of the field to another, I was left tired and incredibly dirty.
I have been tipping the scree from behind the Church wall into the pig enclosure, by the gate to provide the girls with a mud free platform upon which they can be fed and checked over.
And although the work has been back breaking, it feels rather satisfying to have completed a large and necessary job.
When I got back to the cottage, I peeled off my filthy work pants, socks and underpants and put them into the washing machine, and dressed rather bizarrely in just my "Poseidon Adventure" T shirt, I made myself a cup of coffee!
Now why have I told you this small nugget of personal information, I hear you ask? well, it is only "interesting" as I hadn't noticed two Scottish Electricity workmen standing at the back door window waiting to tell me that they were about to work on our power supply cables!
I don't know who was more embarrassed, them or me!!.......as I dragged the dog blanket out of the basket to hide my modesty, I babbled that I was cleaning my dirty pants and that's why I was nearly naked......The two middle aged workmen were not impressed! (by anything!!!!!!!!!!!! erhmmmm!

The guinea fowl survived another night,even though I did catch Alf walking around the churchyard under the glare of the street light from the lane at 9.30 PM!!! I chased him up into the elms and he too made it safely to morning.
Above Alf with Hughie with the small shy Ivy hiding behind!
Ok enough of fowl...we are finally off to see Up in the Air later!

Life IS a movie

Bel-Ami was right when he likened the struggle for life here on my little field as something from a Lillian Gish movie.........ok my animals have not bounced across an ice covered river in their stocking feet, but the last few days have been rather dramatic for a few of the more junior members of the animal population, that is to be sure.

This morning, I walked out into the sunshine with a heavy heart as not one of the guinea fowl could be seen waiting by the hen houses for their morning's ration of corn. I fed and watered the pigs and then called out in the churchyard for Hughie and there was still nothing!

So I as I started to open the first of the hen houses, Rogo the cockerel inside let rip with a lusty crow, and suddenly I heard a familiar chatter from the field wall and there stood Hughie, calling out excitedly with the two surviving junior guinea fowl (who I have now named Ivy and Alf -after my great uncle and Aunt) in tow behind him.

It was just like the end of Lassie come Home!,and all that was needed to complete the scene was some soaring violin strings and a box of Kleenex.

Mr Bel Ami, you ARE right sometimes......"life IS a movie"

ps All guinea fowl are safely up in the tree this evening! (jazz hands!!!!)

Duvet fights

My sister called up this evening in a gesture of support. Both of us watched with baited breath, as Hughie led his new small family band up into the Churchyard elm, and both the little blue male and the tiny black female ( I worked out she is a female as she has been calling the typical two syllable call of "buck wheat" all day.) scrambled up behind him with a great deal of difficulty.
The 13 hen houses have all been locked up tight, and extra door latches have been attached as well as extra heavy stones repositioned in front of poop doors and on roof openings.
Anyway, enough already........I have done all this to death on the blog.....Fingers crossed that everyone is ok by morning!


The cold weather has increased the surreptitious nocturnal events of "duvet jumping" in this household.....and the whole thing, as small scale habits often do, has gotten completely out of control!
Duvet Jumping is the term I give to the sport indulged by the dogs to illicit the most prestigious and comfortable part of the bed in the middle of the night. Now only George has true permission to sleep on the bed at night as he alone curls up well out of the way of legs and bums at the very end of the duvet. Yet over the past few months Meg, William and even Albert have now joined the merry throng, which has caused us many warm but uncomfortably "crushed" sleepless nights.
For Meg, it is purely a need to be close to me at all times. for William, it is a joyful game, which starts when Albert uses the cat litter tray in the middle of the night. Albert will open the kitchen door in order to reach his tray, thus giving William a 3 second window to wake up from his bed on the floor and negotiate the rapidly closing door in order to allow his entrance to the rest of the house.
He will then joyfully swallowdive onto the bed (making as much noise and fuss as possible) and will try to oust Meg from her position of power in beteen Chris and myself. Meg will cling to her piece of the duvet with the tenacity of a limpet, and will usually win this almost silent power struggle
Only Maddie, has any sense at all ( and I include Chris and I in this) as she always sleeps peacefully AND ALONE on the couch....
we must be mad

More Bad news

The fox returned last night.
This morning a small circle of blue feathers marked the spot in the Churchyard where another of the guinea fowl met a sad end.
At dawn, when I returned home, only one blue and the delicate little black male survived the night, but at least both have "teamed" up with the old hand Hughie.
I am gutted.
But dogs need to be walked and pig food needs to be bought....
I will try to blog a little happier blog later

ps.

I have just come in after locking up the stock. I have reinforced most of the coops that required it, and have had to leave the field in a state of nervousness, as the last surviving guinea fowl prepare for the night.
Two of the three birds were injured by the attack of last night, but I just could not capture them to check the extent of the damage!
At dusk the two more robust blue fowl followed Hughie up into the Church elm (albeit just into the low branches), leaving the shy little black male on the ground. I just couldn't bear the suspense of waiting for him to join the others so I bolted for the cottage. I am working tonight so cannot watch over them.....mind you we were both out last night, when the opportunistic fox or badger struck!