Mrs Trellis Wins The War
The velvet Voiced Linda sent out a round robin on the Street Wardens what's app Group stating that Mrs Trellis had organised herself into a one woman, bobble hatted dynamo
Good morning all you wonderful people and Happy VE Day. I've been contacted by Joyce aka Mrs Trellis- she is going to do a sponsored walk (3 x 1hour stints in keeping with the lockdown guidelines) to raise money for NHS charities. She will walk on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and I've said I'll collect any contributions. So, if you would like to sponsor Joyce, please will you let me know. Thank you 😘 xxThe wardens that received the app have pledged almost 200 £ in just an hour or so , so I suspect Mrs Trellis will be tickled pink!
if anyone wants to contribute from the village please see Velvet Voiced Linda at Well Street
Mini Drama
The girls tonight
I took the younger dogs out for a walk this morning
We walked up to Chic Eleanor's house
Leaving Winnie asleep on the lawn
We were gone perhaps half an hour
On returning to the cottage I turned the corner by Trevor's bungalow to see a British Telicon van stopped in the middle of road with its driver standing in the lane by the open van door.
I could see a large brown bulldog shape lying in the road
" oh god!" I shouted out and galloped forward dragging the dogs with me and the driver suddenly grinned when he saw me
" He won't move !" He said pointing forward
Winnie was sunbathing in the middle of the lane, right on the corner
She was grinning at both of us
A Safe Place
One of the saddest things about divorce is that you have to split joint possessions .
I managed to keep my beloved grandfather clock and sort of swapped it for an antique writing desk I bought years ago with money from my mother's estate , but on reflection it is the loss of several of the paintings bought during our early years together that smarts the most.
Buying paintings together is something intensely personal and indelibly shared
And so the watercolour of the Bluebell wood in Derbyshire and the gentle 1930s painting of rolling wheat fields of Kent I still grieve for.
Not because of their monetary value
But because of the memories and feelings about how they were acquired.
All this talk stems from my chimney sweep
He returned yesterday morning as promised to give my flue a bit of a going over after I had experienced so many smoke problems a while ago.
" I'm one of those hidden key workers" he told me cheerfully from behind his face mask " No lockdown at home for me!!"
Winnie blew him kisses as he beavered away with his brushes and as he walked through the kitchen on the way home, he noticed an oil painting sat against my art wall.
It was a painting I had saved up to buy for an age after seeing it in exhibition at Theatre Clwyd
" Now I like That!" he said brightly " May I?" he gestured to pick it up.
I nodded
He chose a study of a woodland scene in autumn by Irene Goodier
"A Safe Quiet Place" he read from the label on the back of the painting"We all need one of those !"
He made a note of the painter saying that he needed something similar for his living room only larger
I told him it was my first purchase of my new collection.
" Hedy Lamar the actress, said that "a good painting is like a friend it keeps you company and inspires!" he added.......
Not something you expect a chimney sweep to say for sure
But he and Hedy nailed it
They do keep you company
And they do inspire!!!
Hallelujah Hugs
Jamie and his now robust 1940's RAF moustache , had everyone donning hats and sharing personal " pink" photos which gave the meet a lightness which usually comes from Lyndi showing off her Charlie !
I did manage to log in as the Choir was giving Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah a good bash and as everyone sang in their own little rectangles I could see that one friend was having a hard time with the emotion of the song and instead of singing to the camera was glazing out of her window
I texted her a " hug" and she nodded its arrival
I'm a hugger, as so many of us are ......
Last week at work handover one of the support workers was saying her goodbyes on her last shift after resigning . She was crying so hard that social isolation rules went out of the window and a queue formed for hugs and kisses to be shared
I know, I know.......enough already on the lecture
Two minutes before I was standing arm in arm with the same support worker as we turned a patient
So a hug when oh so needed, in my book was allowed .
The Lows Of Owning A Neurotic Dog
Me on the loo this morning
Invariably they are hard work,
And often need careful handling
So dealing with them is often fraught with winced eyes and breaths held,
Owning a neurotic dog is no different.
In fact I think, caring for one is harder than looking after a person with high anxiety
For neurotic dogs can more more unpredictable and difficult to handle.
Dorothy runs on a certain high desperation level ...
She is desperate for acceptance and reassurance and is jealous of anyone or anything else who receives what she pecieves as praise or attention.
When I am on the loo she will sit on my feet content at that physical warmth my fat feet will provide and when I am talking to passing villagers , she will be stood with her paws on my thigh and pleading eyes fixed on my face in a needy request for an acknowledgement that she is still there and she is still loved.
Now Winnie's sanguine personality has helped tremendously in Dorothy's " rehabilitation." The two sleep together every night on the kitchen reading chair ( something I am very strict about) and puddles on the kitchen floor, although still common overnight, are staring to deminish in frequency and volume . Mary is another leveller when the two are out for a walk, as she just egnores Dorothy's constant lack of manners, but I am sure that the time will come that one barge too many will ignite a spat which will lead to a bitch fight of frightening proportions .
Dorothy still does not understand the rules of waiting for food
She is still quick to temper when Winnie joins her on " her part" of the couch
And she will react in the oddest of ways when suddenly she does not want to walk on this or that part of the road, an area she is fearful of moving towards.
Using a bowl she has not seen before will bring forth a sudden drop onto her belly that cannot be relieved by a kind word and a scratch on the head.
Boy is she hard work....
But it takes just one look at her desperate, needy brown eyes that makes all of the effort and the exasperation and the odd shouts of pain when sharp claws run down bare legs and the mopping of puddles worthwhile
Her fear and anxiety must be exhausting for her
She is a damaged dog who needs consistency and patience
I don't always provide both as I am only human
But I have chosen to take her on
and she is my Dorothy to care for
Bliss
Long Day over!!!
It's 9.30 pm
And I've just realeased oedematous feet out of tight work shoes
Bliss is .........
A bulldog licking every inch of each foot with a tongue reminiscent of warm tripe
as I sip a very large gin and tonic
And smell of tiredness
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