scary

Flickan som lekte med elden

The Girl Who Played With Fire (Flickan som lekte med elden),...hummm what can I say.........The lesbian,pierced, abused and damaged Lisbeth Salander is back....she kicks some ass, gets her ass well and truly kicked and bounces around naked on a Swedish apartment's polished floor with her oddly named Girlfriend Wu........The second of Steig Larsson's Novels to be filmed makes for a passable but rather unsatisfying sequel, ten minutes into itI felt as though I was watching an extended tv movie rather than a multi million Krona film...
It was an ok 6/10
Three trips to the movies in one week
Boy do I live life in the fast lane......

The Trelawnyd Tap dancing ducklings

As requested, a quick video of the tap dancing ducklings..........I am such a tit

When Geese Attack

There is a feral cat that lives some where in the Graveyard. He is a nasty big bugger, who effortlessly survives by killing rabbits along the field borders. He causes me no real problems with the birds but poor Albert has been ambushed quite a few times now by the meaner and larger animal.
The last assault came late one night when the tom bushwhacked Albert right outside the back door. Albert's plaintive howling galvanised every dog to come to his rescue and all of them shot outside barking the cat away. like a pack of wolves.
This morning, the cat was back. I saw him first thing, slinking around the long grass by the farthest coop, and I thought no more about him. The rabbits in the field often crowd the field borders,so I just presumed he was out hunting.
As I was filling the water butts, I saw him flattened out in the grass and it was immediately evident that he was not stalking a rabbit. The object of his attentions was in fact two of the ghost hens who had already eaten and had waddled off behind a tussock of grass to sleep their usual couch potato and slightly helpless, sleep.
Before I could do anything, the geese glided into the scene; with necks extended in anger and fear Winnie and Jo honked and spat at the stranger, and with the three magpie ducks chattering behind them, the five birds effectively out flanked the cat.

Now I have seen the turkeys "face off" a predator before (usually George gets the bum deal) but this was the first time the geese AND the ducks had shown their true metal. Within 20 seconds the bemused cat had retreated towards the church wall and 10 seconds later the angry birds had forced him out of the field, hopefully for good.

I have always found these "little moments of drama" fascinating to watch.

Eyes Wide Open

A gay movie centred around an ultra orthodox Jewish community??? hummmm perhaps I could almost see Tevya and Golde from Fiddler on the Roof worrying about the civil ceremonies of their four husky sons?...then again .......perhaps not.
Tonight Hazel and I went to see the film Eyes Wide Open (Einayim Petukhoth)
It was an interesting if not predictable love story between a married and devot Butcher Aaron
(Zohar Shtrauss) and his student apprentice Ezri (Ran Danker).
The passions of the flesh take over both men over the chopping boards (interestingly Aaron debates with his Rabbi "does sinning bring you closer to god?) and the story takes its inevitable turn when the "modesty squads" from the tight knit community flex their outraged muscles against the two men.
Both Hazel and I found the gay content of the movie much less interesting than the fascinating depiction of an oppressive and claustrophobic religion and community that we know very little about. .....I gave it an interesting but not uplifting 7/10- I think I would have enjoyed a pinker version of "Matchmaker Matchmaker" just a little more............

That's Life

I am finding myself writing a blog that mirrors that bloody awful 1970's tv series That's Life!
Yesterday I had a romp through the subject of grief and today I am going to concentrate on tap dancing ducklings and rude vegetables...
oh the black and white of the phenomenon of "Going Gently".
This morning the seven ducklings gave me a loud rendition of "There's no business like Show business!" when I went in to feed and clean them. There are two that are noticeable smaller than the others but all seem healthy and I can see no runts or weaklings.

Yesterday I spent a strangely hot day in the allotment. I dug up the first of the salad potatoes watched closely by the geese who pulled gently at my tee shirt when I was bent over the vegetable patch.They stood there with me for a good hour or so
As soon as I found this potato I immediately thought of fellow Blogger the smutty minded Tracey over at http://tracey-craftyscraps.blogspot.com/
I can't believe that I actually photographed it! But photograph it I did.... I suspect it will give her a laugh

The artichokes are growing beautifully in the bottom vegetable bed (I have never grown them before) I wonder if someone out there can tell me when I can actually tell when they are ripe and ready to eat?

and my chili plant is laden with ripening chillies

and let's not forget my marrows

From today I am back on weight watchers (I had difficulty cocking my leg over the pig fencing in the turkey run yesterday...and actually broke wind loudly when I did so!" (much to the shocked amusement of the postman who was on the other side of the hedge).....Being middle aged means that the odd extra piece of bread or added potato shoots directly onto my midriff and the battle of the bulge will now be a lifelong battle rather than a one off success at fat fighters!

......the only incentives I need, is to be in control of my flatulence in public! and to be able to cram my arse into my newest pair of combat pants!

tee hee.....and

hey ho

Some thoughts on grief

I have been sorting through some of the allotment vegetables this morning and have been preparing shallots for pickling. Repetitive tasks allow the mind to wander somewhat, and I have found myself thinking a little about grief.
Now, I am not being morbid here, it is just that one of my friends has just lost his father to cancer and I have recently perused Dia's somewhat interesting blog which is centred around the taboo subjects of death and dying (http://acuriouscure.wordpress.com/ )

I am no stranger to death. Intensive care is not all about the high tech saving of lives. many,many people are admitted to us with completely clapped out old bodies that have no reserves to fight the conditions that assault them. In other words, they are dying.

Some say that admission to us , for many is inappropriate.....I am not getting into that debate, but what I will say that for the majority of dying patients, the one to one nursing ratio on intensive care affords them and their families a better chance for individualised and appropriate end of life care.

I have witnessed immensely moving scenes of grief and I have seen the absurd. The "British" stiff upper lip , the screaming, the crying, the anger and the simply lost and numb, every situation is different and needs careful and mature care....it is a role that I am used to, and it is a role that has perhaps , in the past masked my own experiences of grief.

My father died back in 1990 from a sudden heart attack a month or so after one of my best friend's died in a terrible plane crash and my mother died seven years ago from a sudden exacerbation of a long standing respiratory condition. In all of these cases my various levels and experiences of grief I suspect were dampened by my need to be the "nurse" within the family group. On reflection I know I didn't really bury my grief to a place that would cause me later psychological pain and suffering, I just think that my nursing background prepared me for the health care based experiences I went through.

Having said all this, I have suffered a sudden and devastating grief reaction which came out of the blue and which effortlessly sideswiped all of my known nursing defences. My first dog Finlay, died at the age of 5 back in 2007 and I think I was wholly unprepared for the depth of my grief for a "mere" animal when I had effectively sailed through the grief I felt for my own parents.

My feelings shocked me, but in retrospect I am so glad that they did catch me unawares......for the emotions I felt were pure and uncluttered by the complicated and lengthy relationships we have with our dysfunctional mothers and fathers.

Human relationships with animals are often cleanly defined and accepted. Psychological baggage is just not present and the clarity of affection is well accepted by all.....This honesty is perhaps one of the reasons why animals are such a part of my life.

Sometimes it is not always a good thing being the nurse.

The Illusionist (L'Illusionniste) (2010),

Chris and Janet are not due back until well after 11pm, so I treated myself to a jaunt to the Scala
Seven years ago I fell in love with Slyvian Chomet's French animation movie Belleville Rendez-vous. It was quirky, uplifting and had an elderly heroine with a personality and deadpan humour to die for.
Chomet's latest animated feature (The Illusionist (L'Illusionniste) is a very different kettle of fish. It is a sombre , melancholy and at times rather beautiful tale of loneliness and the inevitability of change as experienced by a french illusionist in 1959 Scotland ( of all places!)
The unnamed magician ( picture Jacques Tati crossed with an aged James Stewart) befriends a young girl called Alice in a tiny Scottish village. They forge a platonic relationship before moving to Edinburgh where Alice out grows her benefactor, whose employment and that of other variety artists are on the wane.
I must admit, I did miss the humour and warmth of Belleville Rendezvous (who indeed would not), but having said this the visual depiction of a vintage Edinburgh is so lovingly created in this movie .- The swooping overhead shot of a misty,surreal city at night literally takes your breath away- I can forgive the movie that tiny flicker of warmth and heart
8/10