I watched this movie last night and although I am not a fan of Michael Douglas..I found this bit of fluff and sweetness rather moving, thanks mainly to Annette Benning who was wonderfully sympathetic.
Loved the music too.
The Ghost hens improve
The power of home grown raspberries!I dropped a couple outside the battery hens' house and after a few unsure steps, five of the youngsters tottered out on shaky big feet.
A small but intensely satisfying little victory
Barbarella and Hot Lips
Funny what you remember when you listen to music.
My last post (Cool and the Gang) got me to thinking about my CB days way back in 1980 (30 YEARS AGO!!!)
I shared an austin 1300 with my sister. It was a shitty brown/green colour, had furry seats and a 5 foot "whip" aerial which allowed me to use my trusty superstar 120 citizens band radio!
They were all the rage back then, and most geeks aged between 14 and 35 had one. At night the airwaves would be full of "1-9 FOR A COPY?" as saddos like me searched the ether for friends that you could chat to or even meet ( this was called rather bizarrely as an "eyeball")
Official and unofficial groups were formed by these CB'ers, and once a week the Prestatyn despots would troll down to a dive in Greenfield for a night's eyeballing complete with too much beer and individualized T shirts with our names ( or handles as they were known as) emblazoned upon them.
My handle was POCKETS! and yes even back in my teenage years I was slightly film obsessed!
as Pockets was the nickname of RED BUTTONS in the film HATARI....I was an unofficial member of the Prestatyn group of teen CB fanatics which consisted of BOGEY MAN and his sister SILVER FOX...., sisters RUSTY NUT and CHERRY BLOSSOM. GREEN GIANT, BLACK SHEEP ( a guy who was a lot older then we were and was,on reflection a bit of a sexual predator), his waspish wife SWEETIE PIE (! no comment) and various other hangers on with the dubious names such as PSYCHO, PONYTAIL , SHADY LADY (pronounced shady laaayyydeee),PEPPERMINT PATTY, SUPERTROUPER and RAMPANT BUDGIE (who was unfortunatly my massive GEEK of a cousin)....
On reflection our social group was fairly benign, but some of the younger girls could have been put a risk from the more full blooded members of the CB fraternity..I am only saying this on reflection as at the time we seemed to have lived in a safer more trusting time......nowadays I suspect that teenage girls would never be allowed the freedom that they had then ( humm mind you we never had the internet then either!!!)
Of course there were icons amid the CB community, those that had been established for
months before we came on the scene! Two of these icons were the velvet tongued HOT LIPS and her sister BARBARELLA.
Every time these Talullah Bankhead sounding sex pots came on for a "copy" there was always a clamouring from the more desperate men who had been lying in wait for a hopeful chat or eyeball..... On the radio, I guess , like the internet the imagination can run wild!and with deep sexy and breathless voices even I would imagine that Hotlips and Barbarella ( Babs to her close friends!) were stunning blondes with legs up to their armpits.
LOL..I should have known better.....both girls lived "over the tracks" in Prestatyn and one fellow CB'er one day informed me that Bab's glamorous job as a beauty "technician" was in fact a part time job in a pet groomers..........when we all finally got to meet these two celebrities of the airwaves, we were slightly underwhelmed by the sight of a pair of grossly overweight, heavily made up teenage girls in grey sweat shirts with the words BABS and HOTLIPS undulating over their chests.
The craze lasted a year or so. We teenagers grew up and started work and University.... but it was fun when it lasted
My last post (Cool and the Gang) got me to thinking about my CB days way back in 1980 (30 YEARS AGO!!!)
I shared an austin 1300 with my sister. It was a shitty brown/green colour, had furry seats and a 5 foot "whip" aerial which allowed me to use my trusty superstar 120 citizens band radio!
They were all the rage back then, and most geeks aged between 14 and 35 had one. At night the airwaves would be full of "1-9 FOR A COPY?" as saddos like me searched the ether for friends that you could chat to or even meet ( this was called rather bizarrely as an "eyeball")
Official and unofficial groups were formed by these CB'ers, and once a week the Prestatyn despots would troll down to a dive in Greenfield for a night's eyeballing complete with too much beer and individualized T shirts with our names ( or handles as they were known as) emblazoned upon them.
My handle was POCKETS! and yes even back in my teenage years I was slightly film obsessed!
as Pockets was the nickname of RED BUTTONS in the film HATARI....I was an unofficial member of the Prestatyn group of teen CB fanatics which consisted of BOGEY MAN and his sister SILVER FOX...., sisters RUSTY NUT and CHERRY BLOSSOM. GREEN GIANT, BLACK SHEEP ( a guy who was a lot older then we were and was,on reflection a bit of a sexual predator), his waspish wife SWEETIE PIE (! no comment) and various other hangers on with the dubious names such as PSYCHO, PONYTAIL , SHADY LADY (pronounced shady laaayyydeee),PEPPERMINT PATTY, SUPERTROUPER and RAMPANT BUDGIE (who was unfortunatly my massive GEEK of a cousin)....
On reflection our social group was fairly benign, but some of the younger girls could have been put a risk from the more full blooded members of the CB fraternity..I am only saying this on reflection as at the time we seemed to have lived in a safer more trusting time......nowadays I suspect that teenage girls would never be allowed the freedom that they had then ( humm mind you we never had the internet then either!!!)
Of course there were icons amid the CB community, those that had been established for
months before we came on the scene! Two of these icons were the velvet tongued HOT LIPS and her sister BARBARELLA.Every time these Talullah Bankhead sounding sex pots came on for a "copy" there was always a clamouring from the more desperate men who had been lying in wait for a hopeful chat or eyeball..... On the radio, I guess , like the internet the imagination can run wild!and with deep sexy and breathless voices even I would imagine that Hotlips and Barbarella ( Babs to her close friends!) were stunning blondes with legs up to their armpits.
LOL..I should have known better.....both girls lived "over the tracks" in Prestatyn and one fellow CB'er one day informed me that Bab's glamorous job as a beauty "technician" was in fact a part time job in a pet groomers..........when we all finally got to meet these two celebrities of the airwaves, we were slightly underwhelmed by the sight of a pair of grossly overweight, heavily made up teenage girls in grey sweat shirts with the words BABS and HOTLIPS undulating over their chests.
The craze lasted a year or so. We teenagers grew up and started work and University.... but it was fun when it lasted
Kool & The Gang - Celebration
love the foot work.....
got home after 8pm to find Janet and Ned (with George) in their car parked on the field watching out for Mr Fox...thank god for sisters!!
As I got the field locked up..this song blasted out across the fields.... and I realised that a party in memory of a popular local women was going on ! She died this time last year, and her huge family and close friends had got together to "celebrate" her life by music, games and plenty of beer!
It was lovely to hear the fun....and this song was a blast from my past.......reminds me of my friend Rol and his sister Nia.....and the CB days of tacky 1980 night clubs!
The Ghost Hens
It has been a bit of a rush this morning, I received a phone call from work desperate for me to do a day shift rather then a night shift tonight. I said I couldn't do the whole day but I could work the afternoon and early evening, so I am grabbing my morning coffee and blog before I sort the animals out then I will be off.The battery hens are starting to take a little more interest in their surroundings after 48 hours TLC. They remain silent and still and are typical examples of the "frozen awareness" that you often see in abused animals and damaged children.
Last night I caught three of the little ones sat outside their run and this morning a couple of them shuffled their sad ways into the sunshine of the hen house door to take in the dawn sunshine.
Look closely on the hen on the right, her beak is completely crossed, giving her the look of someone with a cleft palate.
One hen remains very unsteady on her feet, and all still look hunched, frightened and unhappy.
The other hens on the field have found these strange little birds terrifying. From time to time several of them have crept up to the wire to give the strangers the once over, but look wary and unsure of the new hens...
Web cam
Its not a good look for a 48 year old is it?A hoodie!!
I am on fox watch this evening and have just found out that the wireless broadband reaches the field!!!
so I am here typing out some blog comments and taking photos of myself with the web cam!..a neighbour has just called out
"well I've seen everything now! poultry and the internet"
My plan tonight is to watch the awful film The Presidio (some lovely shots of San Fransisco..I will enjoy recognising places we have been) and eat ALL of a salmon wellington from out of the freezer!.....bliss
Losing George
Yesterday I lost George.
Now If anyone here knows Scottish terriers, they will immediately know that this is an almost impossible thing to do.
They are loyal and obedient dogs that never stray far from their owners' heels, so when out on a walk when you look round there they will be looking right back at you.
Yesterday we walked the length of Gypsy lane, and quite suddenly George had literally disappeared. I called and called, thinking that he had gotten all excited over a fresh pile of droppings, but there was silence after my call... no !"arroooo!" of recognition, no bark of answer.
I retraced my steps....no George. I hurried back to the main road dragging the Welsh by their leads.....still no George.....then I ran back along the lane again....nothing......
I was beginning to get frantic. In four years George had never been out of my sight before let alone gone missing,,,,and with Maddie dying recently, I let the whole thing get right under my radar and I experienced that awful cold prickly sensation you get when dread takes over from objectivity
I called and called up and down the tracks and snickets, all to no avail, and was helped in my search by two women out for a walk. I then decided to race back to the cottage to get the car... and as we turned into the lane just by my field I heard the usual Scottie greeting "arrroooooo"
We turned and in an adjacent sheep field was George sat calmly by the stone style....somehow he had taken himself through three fields full of sheep, negotiated two wire pig fences and a style and had trotted all the way home .
I could have burst into tears! and realized quickly that I am rapidly turning into an old woman where my dogs are concerned.
Anyhow today, Chris has left early for Kent again. His Uncle is having a birthday party over the weekend and Chris has gone down to join in. I am working Saturday night, so its going to be a bit of a boring weekend for me.
I am still worried about the fox too, last night I relaxed "fox watch" just a little and spent some of the evening in the cottage....at 8ish the hens kicked up a huge fuss and I got out there only to find the three main flocks all tightly knit in their own groups calling loudly at some unseen menace beyond the fence. My arrival put paid to any further problems , but he's still out there lurking in the sidelines.
My sister will lock the hens up tomorrow night when I am at work, but I am worried that there wont be a human deterrent around the field for a while after I leave for work at 7pm......I will ask the neighbours if they would like an amble around the field after I go perhaps...
I am getting a little obsessional
ps My rants to the water board seem to have worked...two men arrived this morning and repaired the wall!!!
Un long dimanche de fiançailles
I felt a little out of sorts this evening so watched A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT......I think it is one of my top ten films of all time.....quite, quite beautiful...............moving, exciting and memorable.........if if watch it just for the incredible airship explosion, you wont be dissapointed.......
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