Red Bracelets name the actors

I have posted before that my brother has a version of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) which is often referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amyotrophic_lateral_sclerosis)

His walk down the Mountain of Snowdon went a long way to highlight this syndrome and other health conditions , and it provided my sister with a springboard to publicise The ALS association by selling their distinctive red band bracelets to everyone she can.

Her added challenge is to photograph each person she sells the bracelet to and to publish the photos on a specific facebook page (I need to find it out!)....she even wants Boris to "sport" one of them..which will be a first on facebook I suspect.......

Above is a photo on Andrew's facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1448484955#!/photo.php?pid=31521543&fbid=1561383961704&id=1448484955)
He has set a challenge up on it for anyone to guess the actors in the above photograph (My brother is third from left next to the Welsh pop star Mike Peters (second from left)
The winner will be sent a free ALS Bracelet!

Below me sporting my ALS bracelet during yesterday's cloud watching moment

Post Show thinking

I had to go for a sleep this afternoon as things kind of caught up with me. As usual William (above) and Meg joined me for the afternoon siesta and the "catch up" was much needed believe me. I thought it prudent to keep out of Chris' way, as he is suffering from nicotine fueled irritation (the odd fag coupled with incorrect nicorette patch usage
...hey..bloody .....ho!

In between jobs, I indulged myself with a bit of cloud watching. As I lay there watching the clouds bounce by,I spent 30 minutes giving the flower show a post mortem and was joined by Winnie who has been transformed into one magnificent goose. She ( I am still not sure of her gender..although she has the most beautiful blue eyes) waddled over to me as I lay in the grass and honked loudly in my ear, though just stopped short of rubbing my neck with her beak as she did when a gosling.

We have not worked out costing as yet, but I am sure that although attendance on the day was down ( remember our sister village of Llanasa was staging their all singing and all dancing scarecrow festival at the same time)...entries and raffle ticket sales were up on the day which I was rather proud of. Mind you Auntie Gladys personally trolled round the countryside and sold nearly 350 quids worth of raffle tickets all by herself.

What WAS nice is that a nice cross section of new participants won prizes in the show. One lady from the village sheltered accommodation was tickled pick to have won the best hydrangea bloom with her last minute entry which I heavily encouraged her to enter and almost lost the power of speech when she won the Judge's "special" rosette for the best in show flower entry.

It was nice to witness her reaction

Yesterday I met a great number of very nice people.

Two ladies from a nearby town, were a case in point; they entered a score of show sections without any experience of either our village or show protocol. Their enthusiasm for the old fashioned feel of our set up, I thought , was rather infectious and they have promised to enter more produce in the Show next year.

As for family and friend "winners" Geoff nabbed several firsts for his cakes;My sisters won for floral displays and garden flowers and my cousin Carol ( who always supports us very well) got a second for her tomatoes.

Apart from my embarrassing second for my quiche (that's still smarting!) I won for herbs, flowers and of all things my courgettes...and nabbed second places for my boiled egg,apples (nicked from the orchard behind the cottage) and cactus)

The Trelawnyd Flower Show 2010- Quiche failure

The Flower Show maintains it's successful 37 year run.

It has been a hard days slog, but with a group of positive and helpful committee members and a host of affable helpers, as usual we have produced a show which has increased its entry numbers and one that remains popular with the village and surrounding areas.

Below are a few photographs of the day

Some of the kitchen volunteers under the guidance of cool as cucumber committee member Ann Malthoff ( Centre)

Some of the Flower Entries

Arts and craft table ( my friend Kathryn won a first for her handmade card)

Irene ( The Show Treasurer) walking beside the cut flower section

Yes those onions ARE massive...some of the vegetable entries before the show opened

The miniature floral displays

One of my favourite winners Mrs Jones (from the farm down the lane) and her crocheted blanket.

The School childrens' art work, backing another of the vegetable tables

Mrs Parry, who wipes the floor in all the domestic classes, gets a sneak view of her numerous first places!
My aunt Judy won the five decorate cakes!!!

Oh the shame....I entered the Quiche class and won second!!! ( AND....I was the only entry!!!!)

Committee members John (left) Show Secretary Sylvia and Geoff discussing Jam

Myfanwy and Terry ( showing off his steward' badge)

The villagers start to fill the Memorial Hall

I was grateful for the fact that some of my blog readers turned up to support the day!!

The speeches by the Judge...old faithful professional judge Mr Butler

Off now to feed the Chickens and have a large gin!

10pm

Its 10pm and my net book is not connecting to the net!
I have monopolised Chris' computer for a few minutes before I get stuck in with making my last entry of the Flower Show....namely a quiche,

The village Hall has been organised, decorated and set up ready for the influx of some 350 entries tomorrow morning, and like the big gay Flower Show chairman that I am, I have cut fresh flowers from the garden and placed sweet looking displays on each of the tea tables.
I will photograph the event for tomorrows blog

So forgive the brevity of today's entry.
I am off to do more baking

Walking and Flower Show PR

Small factions of the village are jumping into to the flower show preparations with some gusto.
When I was out walking the dogs I spied the sprightly form of octogenarian Mrs A waving frantically from her bungalow garden.
She rather shyly ushered me inside to show me a photograph she thought she might enter in the art class and asked me to try some ginger cake which was wonderful. When I told her so, she cackled with glee and promised to enter it and her photo into Saturday's show.....result
Around a corner I encouraged Mrs W to enter her own hen eggs into the "boiled egg" section of the domestic classes and further on Mr H came out of his house to quiz me on why the flower show prize money was so low! (I did explain that the committee's remit was to provide money for village causes!).
I picked up the notice boards to display the childrens' art work and Jenny from the now almost closed post office donated much of her old stationary stock in order for us to display it when I called in to buy my daily diet coke, which was very kind of her)
I then called in to a red faced Sylvia (the show secretary) and caught her in full cake making mode. Every corner of her kitchen seemed to have cooling sponge cakes steaming away on one surface or another and I am sure that her blood pressure was rocketing away quite nicely amid the organised chaos.

Tonight I will do my share of baking , for the refreshments on the big day... by 10pm I am expecting my blood pressure to be soaring nicely too...I have not slept since Tuesday night .

The Flower Show Rival and field animal updates

I was at the village Garage yesterday when I spied a yellow flyer on the counter. In bold loud letters, it advertised a scarecrow festival in a neighbouring village on Saturday- THE DAY OF OUR FLOWER SHOW!
Compared to our 1950's style show, this festival day seems to be offering everything to the festival going public!- free runners (!),a moterbike display team, Morris dancers, amusements, wood carving and trade stands!!!( to name but a few attractions)......I wonder just how many people will be more attracted by the "glitz" of it all rather than the staid old fashioned nature of our show.....hummmm we shall see!!!!
I am working nights tonight and tomorrow morning I have to drive to Mold to pick up the noticeboards , so we can exhibit the village school childrens' art work in the Hall on Saturday. We still have not had any of the school winners cups returned as yet, so will have nothing to present on the day......oh the trauma and worries of organising a village show.......
Anyhow,I have had a few queries about Boris' condition. So this morning I snapped a few photos when I was feeding the animals. Boris IS better, that's for sure, but he is NOT his old self. He remains slower and not as bright as he used to be, and seems to get tired more often. During the afternoons , I now catch him sitting down , resting in the grass and I am sure his appetite remains somewhat variable, so the big guy is not out of the woods yet, but he is miles better than he used to be.
This morning I sat with him for 20 minutes and we shared my bagel side by side watching the field birds wake up, it was a nice turkey/man bonding moment with me humming "lord of the dance" and Boris snorting snotty gasps through his snood!.

I noticed that one of my oldest hens (the last one of the four "andrews" sisters) has "gone light".

Going light is an odd syndrome that older hens can go through. Despite being fed correctly, wormed and well treated, these old hens just lose their appetites and slowly fade away to nothing.

She now weighs next to nothing and because she is weak the bullying from the other , more aggressive hens has now started.

I have now set her up into her own little house with food, water and peace. She can see the other hens through a piece of chicken wire but can no longer be bullied by them. I suspect she will eventually die within the next week or so.

The junior cockerels from my spring hatching have had their flight feathers trimmed and have been set up in the Ghost hen's coop. I will be advertising them " free to good home" but suspect that they will have to be eventually culled.

Meanwhile the ghost hens have been set up in their , more robust permanent and more stylish coop, which they have taken to with an emotion bordering on silent glee!

I have a huge amount of affection for these fat girls.Unlike the "normal" hens who constantly bicker and fight, the ghost hens remain slow moving, benign and good natured. I can sit right in the centre of them without them battering an eyelid and all will lumber up and gaze up at me with their interested but sad little piggy eyes....I wonder what,(if anything) they could be thinking

Winnie and Jo have started to "honk" when out and about with their constant companions, the magpie ducks. They seem so comfortable with each other now, that I will be bunking them up together in the big goose house.....Dan's ducklings when they hatch will then have a duckhouse of their own...............the constant juggling act of who lives just where seems never ending does it?

calon lan

The weather has been atrocious this morning. I am in the process of moving the teenage cockerels into their own run and setting up the Ghost hens into a new more robust hen house. I have come in for a coffee and a dry off before I go out again, and wanted to blog my top desert island discs!. It has been fun picking my favourites

Now I have picked this slightly "odd" overly dark video mainly because it underlines the power of impromptu singing...a thing I would love to be able to do properly if my lack of confidence could be overcome.

Calon Lan is the MOST uplifting of Welsh hymns, ( see this moving previous blog http://disasterfilm.blogspot.com/2008/08/calon-ln-pure-heart.html it has to be on my desert Island

Lord of the Dance (Christian Hymn)

I have blogged before that my Childhood was made fun and warm by my maternal grandparents and my elder sister Ann.....

However every sunday ( when I was around five or six) Ann would ritualistically "abuse me" by forcing me to "perform" for the family!

This performance would comprise of me skipping in a large circle singing "Lord Of the Dance" at the top of my lungs...........................................oh the shame!