The Last Ghost Hen,Youtube,and A Chillout Sunday
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| Ruth,the last of the Ghost hens |
Now only one of the fat, physically challenged old girls remain on the field. and despite probably having a heart not unlike an average obese beer swilling chav, she looks in remarkably good health.
I shall miss having these birds around the field when she finally succumbs to multi organ failure.
Their valiant battle with enforced in breeding has given them a semblance of a normal "green" life......indeed the final girl (who I have named Ruth) Laid a perfect small egg today...it is a nice reminder that she is in fact acting like a proper hen.
Her star shining brightly just before it fades.............
Last night we chilled out with a kind of "you tube" night.
Now this is a bit of an indulgence as it comprises of us all choosing our own favourite you tube clips in turn.....a bit of a nostalgic wander down memory lane....and an occasional boring one for the other "watchers" if you pick something a little off the wall!
Here is one of Nigel's favourite choices.....what ever happened to Kathy Kirby? answers on a postcard
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| Chris (his sun hat) and Nige |
The rest of today has seen us lazily mooching around the cottage.
We braved the chickens and had a peasant and pleasant lunch in the sun on the field......
Later , when it's cool I will plant my potatoes out, tidy up the cottage which resembles a bomb site and perhaps catch up with some blogs.........
ps a new arrival is being delivered to the field tomorrow , his name is Russell
ps a new arrival is being delivered to the field tomorrow , his name is Russell
Caer Sion
Caer Sion is a Iron age Hilll overlooking the small walled town of Conwy which is located just down the coast. Nige, me and William negotiated the somewhat steep terrain with some gusto ( he in sensible trousers and walking shoes) me with the aforementioned chest infection and croc sandals
The Hill fort dates from 300 BC and as the descriptive plaque on the top of the mountain states:-
Caer Seion is a large and strong hill fort. Excavations were carried out in 1951 but did not produce any dating evidence. However, it is believed to have been occupied during the Middle to Late Iron Age, about 300 BC to 1st century AD and it seemed likely that the fort was abandoned when the Romans conquered North Wales in 78 AD. The fort had a commanding position overlooking Conwy Bay and estuary and over the ancient trackway that followed the coastal ridge, continuing westwards towards Anglesey.
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| me giving up the ghost (fat bastard) |
Next time.........I will be prepared
Sounding like an old pervert
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| The View down the vale from the top of the Gop this morning |
."perhaps you've got Psittacosis" he volunteered cheerfully!
Also, I am getting a little frustrated today as I know I am so behind on my spring planting.,Our Friend Nige comes to visit later, so I am now off to the supermarket for some grub....so the potatoes will have to wait a day or so more
Forgive the banality of this blog entry.......real life and sputum has got in the way!
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| George and Constance, rabbit hunting |
Islwyn Thomas
I know I risk soundling like a "interviewer" bore, but I must tell you that yesterday I spent a wonderful hour or two with the most "senior" of all of the Trelawnyd residents....Mr Islwyn Thomas, who has lived in the village for over 89 years.
Not only did he tape some facinating stories for me, he gave me hundreds of family slides to check through in order to sort out some "historic" village photographs as well as loaning me some old books and vintage magazines depicting village life here.
So last night, I set up a loaned slide projector in the kitchen and using the fridge as a screen, I somewhat voyeuristically perused my way through decades of someone's life!....It was fascinating. I found slides of "old village characters", scenes of a village carnival and photographic records of buildings now demolished and I must admit Chris must have been pig sick with me yelling through the cottage every few minutes asking him to come and look at one interesting photo after another!
After just a week of information collection..I now have nearly 9 hours of conversation to "analyse" and two folders of photographs to sort out and from today I need to get my arse into gear and get my records sorted into some sort of order.
I am up at my brother's today , so will conscript him to scan some of my donated photos so I will have them ready for the blog site.
I must publically thank Islwyn Thomas, Gladys Jones, Bryn Davies,Gwyneth Jones and Trevor Evans for their time , effort and good humour...I have another six villagers to see next week!
So last night, I set up a loaned slide projector in the kitchen and using the fridge as a screen, I somewhat voyeuristically perused my way through decades of someone's life!....It was fascinating. I found slides of "old village characters", scenes of a village carnival and photographic records of buildings now demolished and I must admit Chris must have been pig sick with me yelling through the cottage every few minutes asking him to come and look at one interesting photo after another!
After just a week of information collection..I now have nearly 9 hours of conversation to "analyse" and two folders of photographs to sort out and from today I need to get my arse into gear and get my records sorted into some sort of order.
I am up at my brother's today , so will conscript him to scan some of my donated photos so I will have them ready for the blog site.
I must publically thank Islwyn Thomas, Gladys Jones, Bryn Davies,Gwyneth Jones and Trevor Evans for their time , effort and good humour...I have another six villagers to see next week!
John "the dogs"
Yesterday a neighbour asked me if I would like to go with her to the Methodist chapel for a "frugal" lunch. Now not being much of a Church goer, I have little knowledge of the traditions of lent, but as I am a fan of The Archers, I now feel pretty more informed of the state of frugal lunches as experienced by Clarrie Grundy at Ambridge over the past few weeks or so!
There was around 20 villagers at the lunch, which consisted of hot pot ( is hot pot frugal?) cheese and bread. I knew most of the people there but there was a few faces I did not recognise, so I seized the opportunity to "conscript" a couple more of the older villagers for my oral history blog.
As I introduced myself to one older lady she preempted me by saying with a smile "I know you, you're John the dogs",
This kind of "title" pleases me, it is also a typical Welsh description of a personlike myself. as I can always be seen twice a day walking around the village and local countryside with the four dogs walking cleanly at heel.
This kind of Welsh nickname remains commonplace in communities like ours.
Now I know recently I have been waxing rather too lyrically on the virtues of a deadpan flatulent bulldog with an over abundance of saliva and in answer to the prolific e mailer Mrs Fickle, I agree I have not perhaps shown William, Meg and underdog George in a similar positive light.......so today I will endeavour to rectify my mistake.
William is a delightful five year old Welsh terrier. Of all of our dogs he is the one with the best manners and the sweetest personality.
William possesses a gentleness about him which I always think is a rare trait is such a young dog. He is slow to rile and quick to welcome other dogs and people.
He also allows himself to be bullied by the physically more dominant Constance
Meg is the baby of our pack even though she is the oldest dog at six. Neurotic, needy, clingy,and constantly jealous of anyone and everyone, she is not happy unless she is within a gnat's crotchet of me at any given moment of the day.
If Meg was the female version of Woody Allen in the household and William a canine version of Matt Cardle (?) George is a bit of the Elliot character from ET.
George has always been and will always be the underdog in the house...even the hens understand his low status and will bully him without a thought when he checks each of the hen houses for spare eggs.
However, despite his low standing, George remains the comic of the group. Resolutely cheerful, he remains a constant wall flower in the daily cottage routine......and therefore secretly dominates everyones affection by his undemanding behaviour. He is just a real sweetie
If we had a bigger house and garden, we would have a huge pack of dogs, of that I am sure.....but then I guess my nickname would not then be "John -the dogs".......it would probably be "John the "f*"king" nutcase
There was around 20 villagers at the lunch, which consisted of hot pot ( is hot pot frugal?) cheese and bread. I knew most of the people there but there was a few faces I did not recognise, so I seized the opportunity to "conscript" a couple more of the older villagers for my oral history blog.
As I introduced myself to one older lady she preempted me by saying with a smile "I know you, you're John the dogs",
This kind of "title" pleases me, it is also a typical Welsh description of a personlike myself. as I can always be seen twice a day walking around the village and local countryside with the four dogs walking cleanly at heel.
This kind of Welsh nickname remains commonplace in communities like ours.
Now I know recently I have been waxing rather too lyrically on the virtues of a deadpan flatulent bulldog with an over abundance of saliva and in answer to the prolific e mailer Mrs Fickle, I agree I have not perhaps shown William, Meg and underdog George in a similar positive light.......so today I will endeavour to rectify my mistake.
William is a delightful five year old Welsh terrier. Of all of our dogs he is the one with the best manners and the sweetest personality.
William possesses a gentleness about him which I always think is a rare trait is such a young dog. He is slow to rile and quick to welcome other dogs and people.
He also allows himself to be bullied by the physically more dominant Constance
Meg is the baby of our pack even though she is the oldest dog at six. Neurotic, needy, clingy,and constantly jealous of anyone and everyone, she is not happy unless she is within a gnat's crotchet of me at any given moment of the day.
If Meg was the female version of Woody Allen in the household and William a canine version of Matt Cardle (?) George is a bit of the Elliot character from ET.
George has always been and will always be the underdog in the house...even the hens understand his low status and will bully him without a thought when he checks each of the hen houses for spare eggs.
However, despite his low standing, George remains the comic of the group. Resolutely cheerful, he remains a constant wall flower in the daily cottage routine......and therefore secretly dominates everyones affection by his undemanding behaviour. He is just a real sweetie
If we had a bigger house and garden, we would have a huge pack of dogs, of that I am sure.....but then I guess my nickname would not then be "John -the dogs".......it would probably be "John the "f*"king" nutcase
Julie Zenatti - Notre Dame de Paris
The French can sing out the ingredients and flavourings from the back of a cornflake packet, and make them all sound good. This is a Moody little piece from Notre Dame de Paris...."Zingara" by Julie Zenatti..I have been playing it a lot in the car at the moment....I love it.
"Interviewing" Gladys Jones for the sister blog this afternoon which should be lively, this documentation of memories will be a bigger job than I expected......last night I listened to the 2 hours I recorded from Trevor and Gwyneth.....a lot of it will make a cracking read I hope....however after most of the evening of analysis I had only managed to write a couple of paragraphs! Once more into the breach
postscript
....Today's first entries went a little easier! see http://trelawnydhistory.blogspot.com/
Interviews-Round One
I met up with my first interviewees today
Sat around a kitchen table with a plethora of old photographs two village octogenarians recalled village life from the 1930s with halting affection, amazing precision and just a bit of ribald laughter
After two and a half hours, I was fading with a concentration headache....but they, I was sure, would have carried on Merrily until dusk.......I now have reams of information to sort through
Thanks to my first Voices from The Past.....namely
Sat around a kitchen table with a plethora of old photographs two village octogenarians recalled village life from the 1930s with halting affection, amazing precision and just a bit of ribald laughter
After two and a half hours, I was fading with a concentration headache....but they, I was sure, would have carried on Merrily until dusk.......I now have reams of information to sort through
Thanks to my first Voices from The Past.....namely
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| Mr Trevor Evans |
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| and Mrs Gwyneth Jones |
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