One Drop Of Gravy Too Much

Roger Moore

The Prof

Tom Stephenson seemed rather amused with the childhood photo of the Prof that I posted on Saturday. I can see why very easily, for it shows a little boy who possesses a great deal of character and opinion and one , who, from the age of six, probably never really suffered any fool gladly.
Tom stated

  " John says The Prof doesn't smile much and the picture would support that. I always sense an air of mild disapproval coming from over John's shoulder - about everything, including the rest of us in the Blogosphere. Not in a nasty way, more of a tired, almost resigned sort of way. I am sure he loves the animals really."

Now I have absolutely no doubt that the Prof loves the very bones of me. He is constantly amused by my clumsiness, finds my inability to pronounce even the most simplest of words rather endearing and  always seems to be smiling ( albeit inwardly) when I have trouble dressing myself in an outfit which could be mistaken for something fairly smart..
But I, and the mundane things in life do exasperate him to such a level sometimes that I am sure that
one day his Roger Moore eyebrow will explode from the top of his head.
I guess that is part of his charm
He is poised and in control of his emotions in public and his work, whereas I adore a good emotional romp.
He finds blogging somewhat of an odd phenomenon and although I know he reads Going Gently more or less every day, he always does so with the general world weary air of " Whatever Next?"
To many he is a closed book, a common trait of many a man ...... He thinks that I run off at the mouth too much.

Yet we dovetail together rather nicely and have done for many years now......even though the sight of me wearing one more of my gravy stained walking Dead  t shirts may yet put him a home for the mentally bewildered.

Holiday Time

Now there is one things poultry keepers dread and that is coming back from a holiday. Invariably when someone else is left in charge and routines are changed then one disaster or another will befall the flock. Old age and infirmity have reduced my chicken numbers drastically this year. Because we are going to Kent and then Sydney, I have not replenished the casualties as yet and so the Ukrainian hen population has gently reduced to just eleven girls. Moriarty, the old cockerel died just the other day as he sunbathed in the sun, leaving Joe the latest new waif and stray rooster in charge.
12 chickens, four geese and Bingley remain..a manageable number for the teenage boffin Cameron to look after when we are away me thinks.
When we return, A younger flock can then be introduced...............anyhow, my friend Eirlys who lives just on the other side of the village rang me the other day, all breathless and a bit fraught. She was on holiday and had left an elderly relative in charge of her large flock of hens. She wanted me to check up on her.
In the middle of the day three foxes had ambushed the birds in the centre of the farm outbuildings and in the frenzy that followed, even the presence of the elderly woman swinging a broom had not frightened the foxes away. Luckily a passing lorry driver had spied several hens jumping over the farm wall and into the road in a bid to escape and had stopped to help. Eventually he managed to scare the foxes away but not before around 20 had been killed.
I called up to Eirlys' farmhouse yesterday afternoon to buy eggs for another villager. ( I haven't got enough eggs to sell at the moment) and at least one of the foxes was about, for I saw him jumping over the farm wall when I arrived. Eirlys was out, and luckily all of her remaining hens were shut away in the barn.

You turn your back for a second.........hey ho

Anyway am working later so I will leave you with a couple of the latest novelty veg & fruit entries

Keep em coming ! 

And a final thought for all parents and dog owners out there
Have a nice Sunday

The Prof

It is well known that The Prof doesn't smile much

He's an inside smiler

I wondered if it was always the case

And the answer is....

Yeap!

The Choir Concert

The choir out of their usual maroon uniforms

The Trelawnyd Male Voice Choir " Noson Llawen "was the best concert I have seen in the Hall to date. This was thanks primarily to the choir's new Musical Director Ann Atkinson who proved herself to be a talented Singer herself as she belted out the Habenera whilst draped over the front row of grinning choir members.
I have posted two short videos of the performance, and apologies for the state of the filming , I couldn't raise the ipad too high. One video is the choir belting out a " pirate " song and the other was a quick video of the compare who is a very Welsh Farmer from the sticks!
Enjoy

A Turd In The Bookcase

I have had only two visitors this morning.
The first was a new resident from the village who had received a " welcome letter" from The Flower Show Committee along with a request to participate in the Show .
He kindly entered one of his own paintings into the art class and seemed chuffed that his entry was the first one I have received.
I sat him down in the living room with Winnie who was happy making goo-goo eyes at him as I pottered around trying to find my paperwork in the kitchen and when I returned the man pointed to William who was looking all innocent and said in  rather a surprised voice  " That dog has just shat on your bookcase"
I tried to look nonchalant and said   " He does that all the time...he likes to back into things" which is perfectly true and managed to scoop up the offending article with a tea towel without causing too much fuss.
" I've never had a dog" the man said thankfully giving William a dirty look.

And for the third time in as many weeks I thought to myself  " these animals WILL be the death of me.... "

Anyhow the second caller arrived when I was scrubbing the rest of the turd from the bookcase's glass door with a bit of kitchen roll. It was Mandy our neighbour who gave me a big vase of flowers. She does this on a regular basis , not because she loves me, but because her and her husband are always popping away on trips and she doesn't want to waste the vases of flowers she has around the house.
Its a good system, I must say.

My original subject of today's post , ( before I got sidetracked by a turd on the bookcase and neighbours with flowers) was the subject of cheating! Yes, it has been brought to my attention by an eagle eyed blogger that ONE of the international entries to the NOVELTY VEGETABLE/ FRUIT class WAS BOGUS!
( duh duh durrrrrrrrrr!)
Apparantly this clever collection of mice

Had been lifted directly from the website " pure and simple bakes" http://pureandsimplebakes.com/2013/03/30/i-have-mice-in-my-kitchen-edible-ones/
Naughty naughty......thank goodness I didnt put who the culprit was next to their entry...but you know who you are and so it's a case of smacked bottoms all round......the work may be inspired by images from google ( thats where I find my ideas) but must be made by your own fair hand

Rather like this creation!

So keep em comming!

Tonight the village Summer concert by the Trelawnyd Male Voice Choir takes place

For a village event it is surprisingly high brow for the choir has in support 

some nationally well known opera singers and musicians 

I will sneak in my ipad and will record perhaps the tiniest bit of the singing

So you can get a feel of the quality of it all!

Latest Entries For The International Novelty Veg

,

Come on more please

Send to 

jgsheffield@hotmail.com

Goose Gone

For those that don't know, I have four geese living in the Ukrainian village and they make for a tight knit little flock of which I am exceedingly fond.
A few years ago now , I bought two goose eggs from ebay and incubated both successfully in the garden shed. Over a period of two days both hatched with some difficulty, and although one grey gosling injured her ŵing during the hatching process both babies thrived.
I named them Winnie and Jo.
A year or so later Camilla arrived all the way from Kent . She was found abandoned  and was considered to be a rather large and ungainly duckling. Camilla , as it turned out grew into a beautiful Canada goose.
The only gander in the group was another waif. He was rather a sad character who had been bullied by a larger and more aggressive male in the back garden of a chap from a nearby town. He arrived sat quietly inside a sports bag and has remained a gentle little soul ever since.
I called him Russell.
The group of four are noisy but for geese, incredibly good natured birds.

Jo, vocal and distant again this morning

Last night Jo went missing, at locking up time . The three other geese stood quietly at the goose house door and called for her but there was no answer from the field or from the livery stables beyond. I searched the hedges and nettle patches for her, just in case she had made herself a nest, but I knew nesting time is now over.
I mooched for over an hour but there was no sign of her and I could feel my bottom lip quiver just a bit when I gave up the search.
I finally went to bed after midnight but couldn't settle so I put on my head touch marshalled Winnie and William ( George was asleep in bed) and went out on the field then down the lane  to look for her.
We walked a few hundred yards to the Felin, at the bottom of the little valley behind the cottage and from a good distance by the old Mill house , I could see two eyes reflecting one after another in the light of my torch from the tall grass at the side of the road.

I called and recieved a small honk back .
It was bleeding like the final scene of Lassie Come home .

I carried Jo all the way back to the field , and it was the first time she had let me touch her since she was a gosling. She sat still and well behaved tucked firmly up underneath my arm
I've said it before and no doubt I will say it again......
But these animals will be the effin death of me

Village Gossip & A Thank You To Maryanne

I cannot hope to compete with the fantastic response of yesterday's blog entry, so I won't bother!
Today's blog will centre upon the plodding normality of Flower Show Prep.
All morning I was baking cakes for the refreshment stall. All have been wrapped and frozen ready for the day.

Last Night was earmarked for more raffle ticket selling which turned out to be a harder job than I anticipated , not because people were not buying, they were, but because people got me chatting and socialising rather than selling .
I sold a load of tickets at the wonderfully warm Cameron household , had a guided tour of their new garden and was given a jar of strawberry jam before I left. Ian and Jo at the old police house  proudly showed me Jo's collection of homemade pottery and I had a good gossip at another " unnamed" villager's house who told me all about the shady goings on at The Crown ( the village pub) where the latest manager has done a bunk over some " substance" issues! ...I also heard that the old landlords Ceri and Nathan are now returning, which is very good news for the village.

The Camerons ( centre) at my open allotment day

Around 8 pm I had to give up as I bumped into my nemesis, the Chairman of the Conservation group, who was selling his own committee's  raffle tickets .He was coming up High Street whereas I was going down......and although I knew I may have the popular vote when it came down to ticket selling,
 he had the gravitas and seniority.

We both politely said hello and both decided to call the selling thing to an end for the evening but before I left for home I called into Auntie Glads gleaming kitchen to drop off a few tickets for her to sell from the comfort of her armchair.
The old gal , with a slight twinkle in her eye asked me how many tickets I had already sold
" Nearly three hundred!"I told her proudly!
" Isnt that wonderful" she chirped with the faintest hint of a smug smile

For we both knew damm well that she had sold over four hundred last year

And to finish...I must thank Maryanne over at co.ukhttp://sentfrommyiron.blogspot.co.uk
For sending me several packs of homemade bunting to sell at the flower show this year,
Its so bloody kind of her especially as she posted them from New Zealand

I love receiving these gifts towards the show

And please remember that anyone in blogland can enter any of the classes in the show if they wish

Over the years we have had blog winners in the craft section, homemade card section, knitting and photographic sections ...so have a look at the schedule at

http://trelawnydflowershow.blogspot.co.uk