Foxes, The Trelawnyd Flower Show and Unseen Turkeys

Snowdrops next to Harriet Ellis' 1900 grave

This morning was damp and fairly miserable but not cold, so I have spent an hour or so putting up chicken wire fences against the Churchyard wall. Two hens have taken advantage of the wind damaged barriers between field and graveyard and have been seen wandering around the Church in the afternoons, so not wanting any complaints, I have repaired the damage.
From my vantage point above the field, I had an ideal view of the day's miniature drama which unfolded around 8.30.To start with the guinea fowl started their warning chattering , but there was something more desperate in their cries that made me lift my head from my work to see what was afoot. The three guinea with their heads craned skywards stood screaming from the centre of the field. Immediately the hens , ducks , geese and even the turkeys stopped their feeding and raised their heads, then the birds seemed to galvanise themselves into a collective action. The more nervous hens glided quickly away from the edges of the field to stand next to the safety of the church wall at the same time as the old hens congregated silently behind their hen house.. The cockerels Stanley and little Pirrie took up positions next to the guineas and the geese, with their heads extended low to the ground joined in with the invisible line of defensive positions, honking sharply.
It was fascinating to watch the different species act as one unit and I just knew that there was a fox around.

As I reached the field border, the guineas followed me almost into the hawthorn hedge, and following the gaze of the turkeys, gobbling away angrily a few feet to my left , I saw the "flash" of red/brown as the fox tottered away through the riding school field, scattering the horses as he did so.
I stayed on the field for an hour to watch over the flock, which settled down with minutes of the fox's departure

The hens starting to run in from the field edges

Last night I received the new printed schedules for this year's Flower Show. Without our Post Office, we no longer have a village distribution centre so to speak, so I suspect that if we have enough copies, I will need to hand deliver them to the village houses directly. We moved our show to August 13th so it would not clash with a neighbouring Village of Llanasa's open day.....I learnt recently that they had also moved their day, but thankfully not to the same weekend



For those interested an "on line" schedule can be seen at http://trelawnydflowershow.blogspot.com/

Finally I have posted a video of our "unseen" turkeys ( usually Boris gets centre stage) hope you like it Mrs Fickle!

My Afternoons With Marguerite

Sentimental films seem to be a thing of the past, which is a dreadful shame in our busy, sometimes depressing modern world; Having said this it was with  much sniffing and heavy lump swallowing,that  I enjoyed a real humdinger of a sentimental romp at Theatre Clwyd tonight as Hazel and I sat through the whimsy that was My Afternoons with Margueritte ( French Title La tête en friche)
Germain Chazes (Gérard Depardieu ) is a hulking, middle aged  odd job man, under achiever who lives in a quiet little French town with his unloving mother , By chance he meets 95 year old Margueritte (Gisèle Casadesus)  a genteel ex civil servant with a love of books, who encourages him to develop an interest in words .As their mother/son  relationship grows, so does Chazes fragile self esteem , much to the interest of his eclectic group of friends down in the pub.
Yes it all sounds rather sweet, and thanks to the two leads ( the incredibly sensitive Depardieu and the elegantly frail Casadesus) the gentle relationship between two nice souls does bring a tear to the eye ( I had to hide my upset as Hazel NEVER cries at movies!)
The movie was a little too pacy given the subject matter, but if you want to see a nice movie about nice people being .......well......very nice........go and see it.....its quite charming. 8/10

It was lovely to catch up with Hazel, she's on countdown for moving to Manchester and on countdown with her pregnancy, I shall miss her when she goes.

Dogs

This morning I received an email from a lady with the cracking name of Beatrice Fickle.
She asked me to post a few photos of the dogs ( she noted wryly that the blog was slightly Bulldog biased)
So find "enclosed" a quick video of the dogs this morning. As usual Constance commanded centre stage

Caligula in Hot Pants

A ballet that evokes the "complex and troubling "personality of the Roman Emperor Caligula does not sound like a bag of laughs does it? (even though he seemed to be dressed in maroon Velvet hot pants)
And you'd be right
This short ballet, structured in five acts to the slightly incongruous music of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, did have some innovative male led pieces but the slightly pretentious and confusing "pantomimes" in between acts bored me rigid and at one moment Chris had to wake me up to stop me snoring.
hey ho
At least he enjoyed this live performance of Le Ballet de l'Opera de Paris........

Old Lady power

Does anyone here remember THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN?
I particularly refer to the sequence when the poor Mexicans are galvanised into protecting their village by the bravery of seven men!
This much seen video shows just how the bravery of one old lady galvanised a group of passers into action.....funny how it was only her that took on the 6 robbers initially

I love you, Mr coffee

I am such a hypocrite.
Yesterday, there was a me waxing lyrically about good matters and unacceptable bad temper,
and this morning I could quite easily strangle a moose with my bare hands.
The problem,, as always, is my post waking "fugue" state
Chris needing to get to the railway station before dawn,woke me up with his usual loud "Bonne amie" and even before my spinal cord and central nervous system had registered that it was indeed Tuesday let alone that it was freezing, I had driven him the two miles down a 1 in 4 hill to Prestatyn.
After a decade of uncommunicative early mornings, Chris STILL insists in trying to engage me in inane pre coffee conversations. Actually he still INSISTS on asking me a question that in his mind needs a verbal reply and cannot quite cope with a nod or at the best a  low grunt!
So the usual in car interaction is left with him demanding " AN ANSWER!!!!" and me plotting violent death and destruction.
I just don't do waking good humour!
And so this morning, after my vomit inducing "Rebecca of SunnyBrook Farm" post of last night, All I can think of killing "KILL" KILL KILL THEM ALL"!!!!"
Mind you.........my saving grace is my New York coffee cup full of lovely silent coffee
Sitting here, in a quiet peaceful and dark kitchen....we are having our moment together...
In twenty minutes I will be human again
x

Eric Hoffer was right

The internet is often used as a forum for hate and anger, I have noticed this fact recently when I have read some "professional" political blogs as well as some opinionated rants and moans elsewhere on the net.

Anonymous people often find rudeness easy on line, of course there is no comeback when you hide behind a pseudonym or a character, and harsh words can be fired easily when no one knows or can see the "shooter!"

My mother had a saying

"If you can't say anything good about someone, say nothing"
This amused me somewhat seeing that my mother was an expert moaner about EVERYONE!
But I kind of agree with her general sentiments- badmouthing someone can make you look somewhat mean and ever so, well, bitter.

Or As Eric Hoffer once said "Rudeness is a weak man's weapon"


Perhaps there should be several pre agreed rules before anyone should blog

1. Never blog when you have just had a row
2. Never blog when you are pissed ( sorry US readers I mean drunk)
3. and never blog when you are pissed AND angry!

Stormy Weather

Much of North Wales is flooded. The above photo was taken at Bangor-on-Dee where sheep had been trapped by rising flood water and not too far away from us, a elderly man drowned when he was trapped in his car by rising river levels. When I drove up towards the moors where my brother lives, the wind was so strong that the old Berlingo rocked dangerously from side to side as I negotiated the more exposed country roads.
I know it is lazy blogging of sorts but I took the following video this morning at dawn when I went to sort the animals out, and believe me the wind had dropped from the gales we had on Friday!