£12.50 a worm

Ann, my elder sister runs the Prestatyn Flower Show, and this year she organised a " Worm Charming" competition in order to publicise the main show which takes place at the end of July.

Chris' eyebrows did a Mr Spock when I informed him this morning that he was worm charming in my team (we are representing the Trelawnyd Flower Show!) and reluctantly he grabbed hold of the cheap rake we had bought for the occasion and smacked hell out of the metre square of vicarage garden lawn for the allotted half hour.


My sister Janet (below) took the plot next to ours and employed some nifty footwork in her efforts to raise the worms from their slumbers. but the little buggers remained stubbornly elusive!!!

I think the organisers forgot that we have experienced one of the driest summers for many a year, and the lawn was like a slab of concrete, but after 30 minutes banging, shouting and sweating Janet had found just two worms and we had found two!!! The other 8 teams managed a somewhat disappointing 3 worms amongst them

The adjudicator ruled in our favour! (one of Janet's worms had died of shock) and we won the prize money of 25 quid....which was a real bonus.

My Best Friend's Wedding - End Part

At my freind Nuala's wedding..... I was Julia Roberts.......Nu was Dermot Mulroney... and Chris was ( He will love this) Rupert Everett ... I have never looked better!!!!

My best friend's wedding song I say a little prayer for you

After the last blog I felt I had to be a little more ...well........gay!

I love this scene...........For my 40th Birthday Chris hired a cinema in Sheffield and showed this movie for me and a group of my friends...the lobster claws make you smile don't they?

A Cafe shock

Chris and I went to the supermarket this evening and stopped for a coffee in a cafe. As we sat with our drinks I read one of the cafe's papers and caught a sobering editorial that discussed the continual practice of the stoning of adulterers in Iran.
The above photo depicting the stoning of a woman in Iran, illustrated this newspaper piece and I must admit it has totally haunted me.
I don't want to gallop down the path of screaming at Iran's barbaric penal code. The disgust I have with practices such as stoning could not even be measured..no....what has upset me the most, is the sad realisation that man IS and always will be, consistently and depressingly cruel to his fellow man and this is all done in the name of law, religion and in the maintenance of some sort of control.
I despair sometimes

City thoughts

I caught up with my friend Hazel this evening.

She drank sparking Chardonnay

I drank some coffee and we had a good catch up sat at the kitchen table

She is toying with the fantasy of moving back to a trendy suburb of Manchester ( she lived there in the early years of her marriage) and is quite giddy at the thought of city life again......

I said all the right things during our conversation but inside I was totally upset at the thought of her moving away. (though I do realise that we are still at a fantasy level at the moment)

Hazel is my only "culture vulture" friend here in Wales. She does art house cinema better than anyone, has a critical "theatrical" mind and can "out snob" me any day.....and she is my only local link I have with my former city thinking life.....and quite selfishly I feel rather cold at the thought of her leaving.... The more animated she became at the thought of cafe society, museum visits and brick-a-brack mooching the more quieter I Know I became.....

Even though I love my life here.....I do need some pretentious time with my friends...and there are not many of them around here.

hey ho

Meetings

Yesterday seemed to be day of meetings.
The Flower Show Committee met up to discuss the August Show. Many of the established members are away on holiday the day of the show, so I have been ferreting away behind the scenes,conscripting new members and new blood for our big day.
The new members were a bit of a coup. My friend Geoff is the baby of the committee, and at 40 will have the ladies eating out of his hand soon enough ! and affable neighbours Terry and Ann will be a valuable and good natured addition to any committee as they bring with them a positivity and sense of fun.
We ironed out who was doing what for the day then finished up as there was another meeting scheduled in the village hall, concerning a proposed housing development on the outskirts of the village.
The need for affordable housing in rural areas is a contentious one, and emotions relating to the development of ten houses outside of the village envelope are running high. I personally feel that there is a lack of clarity and information about the whole initiative and have formally asked the community council for open village meetings to thrash out the worries and misconceptions of many people that live here. (we will see if this actually happens!)

Anyhow, as it turned out, the meeting was useful, but not entirely in the way that everyone expected. The woman who had undertaken a survey of the need of affordable housing by the areas population didn't turn up, so the new Chair of the community council held an open meeting to gauge the "feeling" and worries of the audience. The chair was measured and patient and his quiet authority, I think gave the villagers a forum in which to air their concerns and clarify questions in general.
I made the point that when people are not privy to transparency and information then misconceptions and worries flourish.........let us hope that everything can be a little more "open" in future.

hey ho

goslings

My friend Geoff caught me lumbering around the garden chased by the goslings.............off to the Flower Show Meeting now and then the Community Council open meeting!!!! should be fun!!!

Rick James - Super Freak

Two mugs of strong coffee and I am cleaning the kitchen like Kim Woodburn on speed......I am prancing around to this blast from MY past.......is it me but does Rick James look like a faded Donna Summer?

anyhow it certainly woke me up!