Going Gently

Growing up clumsy

As a child I was always falling over. Consistently I would be the kid that banged his head on the corner of a fence, drop something breakable and splatter my jumper with the remnants of my breakfast, lunch and dinner!

It was a "given" that at least once a day, something destructive would happen.

Typical of the time, I was diagnosed by my mother as being a clumsy boy. I was a " klutz ", "awkward" and "stupid", and every time I would clatter untidily down a staircase or walk into a door, she would always sigh in that overly dramatic way of hers, as if to say, "There he goes again"
Today, I am sure, I would be diagnosed as being slightly dyspraxic
for my childhood clumsiness has indeed never left me.Only yesterday when I was clearing out ash from the log burner, I couldn't quite fill the rubbish bag without staining the carpet with ash and the day before the flower show I burnt the back of my hand when bumping into hot crockery!

That burn that caused me to curse myself,just like the way my mother used to do!
"Stupid boy!" ( or words to that effect)............strange that!
Last night I went to see the Spanish thriller Julia's Eyes at Theatre Clwyd. (don't bother going to see it...it's dreadful!)
It's summer season time, so the Theater itself is all but deserted as only the tiny cinema is open.

I bought myself a coffee, so arrived slightly late, but as I always sit in the same seat ( how f*cking sad is that?) I tip toed past the small audience and promptly went flying over my feet down the aisle slashing hot coffee all over the wall whilst shouting out "oh bloody hell!!"

A couple of people sniggered when I wiped up the mess with the sleeve of my coat, and red faced and still clutching a quarter inch of coffee in the paper cup I tried to look invisible for the rest of the film.....
Postscript:This morning I have just delivered eggs to a woman in the village with strawberry jam from by breakfast all down the front of my jumper!

I am a classy date

Church Therapy

Chris gets up very early, he always has done.
At 5.30am he was having a Brian Blessed-esque rant about a "puddle" in the living room, so much so, that I found myself wide awake and surrounded by guilty looking dogs pretending to be asleep.

I gave up on getting back to sleep, so I sorted out the animals, took Chris to the station to catch his train, then collected a jar of polish and dusters and walked up to St Michael and All Angels for my first stint as Church cleaner
Now I don't know the "politics" within the Church, but I do know that I needed to be seen to have done a good job; so with some gusto I polished pews, hoovered floors and brushed clean the wide dark window ledges and enjoyed doing it, in the peaceful quiet of the empty church.

Years ago , when I was working full time, we had a Filipino Cleaning lady in our Sheffield home. She was a tiny powerhouse of a cleaner, who worked like a Trojan for the 4 hours a week she was employed for.
Having her in the house felt a little like a doubled edged sword for even though the house was spotless after she left...I would always feel slightly embarrassed when Eba (for that was her name) used to constantly mutter "Dirty Boys...dirty..dirty boys!" when at full tilt in the kitchen or bathroom!

Anyhow I digress.

An old Postcard of the interior of St Michaels

Polishing and cleaning in the silence of the Church was more therapeutic than any expensive massage could have been and as I worked I took the chance to really look at the fixtures and fittings around the tiny 55 foot interior.
The impressive East Window (top picture) was donated in the late 19th Century by the daughter of Edward and Anne Roberts from the Black Boy Pub from High Street. It depicts the Crucifixion.
On the North wall is the 91 year old Church Organ

The school teacher Miss BA Jones was famous for holding on the organ key from the 1940s. She could be a bit of a formidable character and did not even let the Rector's wife (Mrs Jenkins) an accomplished musician, have the key in order to practice !

Over the vestry door is a stunning painting entitled "I am"
It was painted by a local artist Leonard Hughes who donated it to the Church in 1919.
Apparently locals from the village including the Rector modelled for some of the figures seen in the painting

After 90 minutes, I had finished....and with a final few squirts of fabreeze, I left the peace and quiet of St Michaels for the normal banter of the field and village

Don't thank me......thank the Lord!

Badger and Camilla (still together)- I was going to take Delores' advice and photograph them

I didn't have bloggers block!!!..I should have known it. I've just had a case of the anticlimactic blues coupled with a late night watching Susan Sarandon battling breast cancer in the Antarctic (in the tv movie Ice Bound)...

I took several of you kind bloggers advice and planned a gentle head clearing , so, and with Classic FM on the headphones and with gardening clippers in hand, I told myself to stop feeling sorry for myself and "get over it" with a long bout of weed clearing.

As it happened, it was the good folk of Trelawnyd that bucked me up. The Red Faced Welsh Farmer , chuckling with delight at some piece of farming gossip he had heard, stopped his land rover by the gate and bundled a large present of wild mushrooms into my lap without wanting anything in return

The lady from the still house, who had lost her dog recently called around with a kind gift of all of her old pet's food and treats..and as I trundled the dogs out for their walk, Jason, the part time baker, slowed his car, opened his window and called out playfully
"Get blogging soon! if you don't I will have to buy a bloody paper!"
But not surprisingly it was 92 year old Gladys that made me smile the most today
Beaming with pleasure she made a point of letting me know just how much she had enjoyed the Flower show on Saturday . Even though she had helped run the past 38 shows, she chirped that this one had been the best ever!, which was so kind of her.

As I left her house she pressed a dozen neatly wrapped scones into my hand with a smile
"Thank you" I said
"You're welcome" she said laughing gently and as she touched my face with her hand she called out sweetly
"Don't thank me..... Thank The Lord!"

Bloggers' Block?
pah!

Bloggers Block

Do people actually suffer from "Bloggers' block?"
I have wondered about this before, as several of the bloggers that I have followed over the years have actually documented that they have run out of...
words to type;
steam to share or...
just an inclination not to blog.

Today I feel a little like this.
I know where it comes from.though, or at least I think I know....
June, July and August has been busy, adrenaline filled months where the Open day and Flower Show has filled much of my spare time.
Both have proved to be successful

Both have galvanized a community spirit and a kind of "il fait bon vivre" feeling..
Now I have come down....with a tiny bit of a bump
Yes it's all ME ME ME isn't it?!

Might have a break for a day or so..in the mean time, I will have to pull myself up by the bra straps
I have animals to worm , the goose house to clean out and the front garden to clear up
x

Constance Sunday Morning

I videoed her this morning as she was dreaming on the kitchen couch
Pity there is no sound........she sounded like Brian Blessed in a wind tunnel

I have Heard it all

Apparently there in an online petition sitting around in the Internet ether collecting support for the televising of the same sex marriage of the two confirmed bachelors Ernie and Bert from Sesame Street.

Campaigners say the best friends should marry as a way to encourage tolerance of gay people.
Nearly 7,000 have signed the petition, with more than 3,000 joining a Bert and Ernie Get Married Facebook page.
Producers from the programme have been rather dignified in their response to all this and have stated simply
"They remain puppets and do not have a sexual orientation."
I would have written just a two word answer!
In BIG letters

"THEY'RE PUPPETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Another few "thank yous"

This is just a "postscript" to the previous blog entry....the blog entry where I thanked all of the Flower Show committee and helpers for a job well done.
I forgot to thank all of the competitors in the show itself.
Despite losing our Post Office ( the main Flower Show Schedule distributing HQ) and several of our traditional Vegetable experts to ill health, the village community and stalwarts from nearby Prestatyn came up trumps to give us one of the biggest shows we have had in recent years.
New entrants from St Asaph and a quartet of novice show "girls" from Dyserth ( whose near hysteria at winning several classes was terribly infectious!)....filled in the gaps left from old friends of the show, and I was so pleased to see the likes of The Cameron family, Jean Smith and Eirlys Dutton wipe the board with many of their entries (all villagers that really have not entered much before).
To me, that's what a flower Show is all about.......giving it a go!

Before I go,may I say another quick "Thank you" to Wendy (left)
An avid blog reader and supporter of Trelawnyd activities
She very kindly gave me a little pressie, a book entitled "The Good, Good Pig"
I wonder where she got the idea from?
Answers on a postcard
x

The Show 2011

I don't want to see another standard rose,polished beetroot and children's car made from an egg box for at least another year.
It has been a tiring day, but true to Trelawnyd form....we have just held another successful Flower Show.
I will leave you with a photographic record of the day...suffice to say, I need to give a big thank you to the flower show committee:- namely, Sylvia, Terry, Anne, Carole, Heulwyn, Irene, Derek , Auntie Gladys and to the small band of helpers who turned up today to get us through another year.
It has been a tiring but excellent day!