Going Gently

Graveyard at Dawn

I have always loved old Churchyards, which is a good job really as I spend much of my life in and around one! Now it is not a morbid fascination that I have....( I never spend any time at my parents' or grand parents' graves), but I do find the slightly run down, ancient Churchyards to be interesting, comfortable and, well homely.
This morning at dawn I took my camera for a mooch around St Michaels.
Above this the "hooded" tomb of the Wynne Family which dates from the 1700s , but there are also tombs with "table top" covers that date from 1674 (the year that our cottage was originally built)

I only found out recently that our village of Trelawnyd (or "Trevelesneu", as it was known as) was recorded in the Doomsday Book of 1086 and that the church was first referred to in the 1291 Pope Nicholas Taxation documents.

(Above) Albert sitting quietly on the graves, (Below) the famous 14th Century Churchyard Cross in silhouette

Another day of jobs lie ahead. The weather looks a little brighter

Little man syndrome

I have six cockerels. Four of them (Rogo, Stanley,Scotty and Jesus) are large full size fellows, each with their own group of hens, while the remaining two (Pirrie and Roger) are tiny bantams, that live alongside the heavyweights in sometimes an uneasy kind of existence.
Pirrie ( a wyandotte) roosts in a small brooder box with a single hen of his own (Ripley a black rock). Ripley was a single hen out of seven cockerel chicks I hatched last year and after they left the field she was left alone and isolated, unable to join any of the 10 hen coops because of the shirty behaviour of the existing hens. Pirrie soon teamed up with her, after a little manipulation on my part, which helped, while Roger ( above) was set up with some of the bullied hens in their own run.
Now Roger is quite a handsome little cockerel ( he is only 9 inches high) and like most male animals he has no conception of just how small he is. He also has the most aggressive nature of all of my cockerels and will fly and posture against me every time I enter his enclosure.
Now I find all this quite amusing especially as I can usually swat him away with my little finger, but today his bouncy nature did not serve him at all well, as he slipped out of his enclosure and got cornered by a somewhat irate ( and considerably larger ) Jesus.

Jesus is the most junior cockerel and even the guinea fowl give him a good bashing from time to time, so I am sure a sudden contact with a small bantam gave him the opportunity for him to flex his testosterone muscles so to speak, and he well and truly battered Roger before I saw the final pecks of the battle from the bedroom window.

Cockerels when they are beaten, freeze on the ground with head down, almost as if they are waiting for the "coup de grace" to be administered, and I just got there in time, before Jesus went in for the kill. Poor Roger, covered in blood and fairly lifeless on the ground was, I thought , a gonner, but after I ran him under a warm tap to clean him up for a bit, he came round just enough to give me a few weak but painful pecks on my fingers.
The above photo was taken a hour or so after I returned him to his enclosure

The third lesson in my Chicken course takes part tonight.....Chris is away working in London again

Dydd Dewi Sant Hapus

Happy St David's Day!
(Remembering Welshies across the ocean)
x

You can take the boy out of Rhyl........

.......but you'll never take Rhyl out of the boy!
(for those that don't know Rhyl is a grotty seaside town 5 miles away)
The "stunt double" for actor Benicio del Toro (aka The Wolfman) is no other than local boy Spence Wilding, and at the cinema tonight he was there at the Scala (supposedly answering questions about the film and signing autographs for a quid!).....mind you, when we entered the cinema he was sat down in a cinema seat chatting to someone on his mobile phone!...so we missed any interesting insights he might have shared about this uneven, cut-to-hell and rather miscast horror movie.
I can understand why del Toro was chosen for the lead. Craggy faced and mean and moody looking he has the "look" of wolf even before all the CGI kicks into gear, but unfortunatly he sorts of sleeps through the mayhem and gore which is set in and around a rather untidy and decaying Chatsworth House ( that doubles for Blackmoor house). It is a long time since I have seen such a lacklustre performance from a leading man.
Emily Blunt and Anthony Hopkins fare a little better as del Toro's chaste love interest and father respectively, while Hugo Weaving gives his chief inspector Aberline, a rather lugubrious and pleasing twist. And rather surprisingly an ancient looking Gereldine Chapman even pops up briefly as a gypsy wise woman ( with some dreadful looking dirty nails)
Having said all that, non of the impressive cast can save this rather unoriginal and at times rather boring movie which obviously suffers from a bit of over zealous editing, which is a shame.
Mind you, some of the action sequences are truly horrific and rather suspenseful to watch, especially when the wolfman runs amok against the obligatory Yorkshire villagers! ( and better still a Gypsy encampment), but in general I was disappointed by the whole Gothic romp thing.
Sorry Spencer! in the end I am glad I didn't fork out a pound for your autograph
6/10

Sunday

Sundays in winter are quiet and nondescript. Chris has gone to Church this afternoon (the vicar mentioned in the service that two of my chickens had welcomed him at the vestry door!), while I pottered around in the cold and wind. The dogs had extended sleeps in front of the fire as it is freezing cold today while Albert (above) relaxed on the kitchen table
My cousin, Carol and her hubby kindly called around with an old family bible this morning to show us some family photographs (including one photo of my great grand parents, who I had never seen before!) and later in the afternoon Chris made a huge banana cake and dollops of custard for tea...which was a nice treat.
Tonight we are off to the cinema to see The Wolfman (we really want to see Chatsworth House on film)

Sell a couple bottles of Doctor Good

In response to my brother's illness, my sisters and I have been asked to participate in a genetic research project. I say this only as a backdrop to a conservation we all had last weekend, when we brainstormed the well known tv programme phrase "Who do you think [you all] are!!

From basic family hand-me-down history, we do know that our family tree (on my Mother's side) has its origins in Wales, Liverpool, Northern Lancashire and Ireland whereas my father's father heralded from central Scotland. But it is my paternal grandmother's family that provoked the most discussion. Short, dark skinned and swarthy we are now convinced that the ancestors of my Granny Gray and the likes of her brother Dyson came from perhaps Eastern Europe, and that "slightly ethic /"Mediterranean colouring has found itself working down into the features of my nephew Chris, who could easily pass an an Italian "Uomo".
I know all of us are mongrels of sorts. especially given the mobility of populations due to economic need in the last century, so perhaps we should not be at all surprised that the "Grays" are not just pure red headed Celts from the hills..............

My sister Ann is convinced that we have "gypsy blood" somewhere around somewhere......I can't see that myself.....especially as I have a healthy aversion to caravans, gold earrings and old Cher songs!

No News

There is a lot going on in the world......according to the BBC, Britain's economic growth has grown 0.3% during the past three months, the NHS Trusts in Wales is millions overspent,and another UK soldier is killed in the war in Afghanistan.....

Closer to home Chris has secured a multi figure research bid for work and a practice nurse from Rhyl wins a national good practice award!

Here in Trelawnyd, the cold weather, sleet and snow is back, the dogs have all had diarrhoea overnight and I have spent much of the day shampooing the carpets.

Be still my beating heart....the excitement is almost palpable!

Mind you I have broken the greyness of the day by looking for rosettes for the Flower Show Committee members to wear at this year's show. The Internet has opened up a hitherto unknown world of double ruffs, knife and Box pleat, ribbon tails and personalized centre logos.

And I am in two minds whether I shall plump for gold foil or satin for the best in show rosettes......

I am working tonight, so with William still looking a little wan, I will leave the exciting world of rosettes for a brief hours sleep with my sick dog........

Not every blog can be a work of art