Village Meet ups

Snowdrops in the Churchyard

Finally, after Gertrude desposited another flurry of bad weather on the already soaked and dejected citizens of the United  Kingdom, we have been left with a sunny day.
Like extras from a spaghetti Western , the population of Trelawnyd seems to have stirred itself from hiding away behind closed doors ( after the bandidios have struck ) and could been seen pottering around their houses, and enjoying the weak sun.
Some, like Gay Gordon and Big Mary , just waved weakly like the ageing Queen Mother , from a bedroom window whilst the more energetic , like Mrs Trellis ( yes I have returned her to her more formal title) marched around the country lane in a new bobble hat.
I promised Mrs Trellis that I would pick her up at the garage on Wednesday morning. Apparantly she had a bit of a bump the in car negiotiating a sticky parking space at Blue's dog obedience classes. I wasn't quite sure if the classes were working because Blue was bouncing around on his lead as if he had been slipped an LSD tablet, but I didn't say anything.
I saw and spoke to Jo who was out with her new Whippet Lilly. Lilly is the most technology advanced animal in Trelawnyd as she has a satellite tracking system attached to her collar. This was ever since she escaped for five long hours and covered most of Denbighshire and parts of Flintshire in her bid to find home.
I didn't see Auntie Gladys but I am sure I glimpsed her duster flicking away the non existent dust from her window ornaments but I did stop and talk to Terry and Anne who warned me off any more verbal battles with the guy with the staffies who lives in the bin bag windowed hourse.
" Your not as young as you think you are " Terry warned " at our age something can give during a fracas"
I wondered what he meant ? Knowing my luck it would be my bowels.......,
Anyhow moving on.
Farmer Basil was out as was Gentleman farmer Ralph and the Polish guy from Well Street, all received waves as did the lady with dementia off Hight Street, who was sat polishing and repolishing the glass at her kitchen window and only a minute later I spied Margaret from Erw Wen, who asked me if I can look after ten of her hens on the Ukrainian Village. They arrive tomorrow, it will be lovely to have more life breathed back into
Anatevka.
More waving this time to Sailor John, Maureen from the Friendship group, Dr Barnsley and old Muvvie who always over revs her engine at T junctions and I were almost home with Mary and William, then it was out with slow coaches George and Winnie......we didn't go far, just to the Churchyard, but we did catch up with old Stan ( who is 90 and looks 70) and Trendy Carol before returning home at 10 .30am.

The Prof had just retuned from a Breakfast meeting up with a colleague.
" see many people when you were out" he asked
" Just a few" I replied

Les Liaisons dangereuses

" bosoms" McTeer

Last night we took my Aunt Judy to see the live screening of the National Theatre's " Les Liaisons Dangereuses" 

It was bloody great. 

Now whilst Dominic West ( a favourite actor of mine) was excellent as the  Vicomte de Valmont the whole shebang was dominated by Janet McTeer's clever and scheming  performance as the Marquise.

Undeniably sexy and in her mid fifties McTeer underlined perfectly, the power and the attraction of a woman who "would never be ordered around by a man" in a man's world.....  She was magnificent 

Judy and The Prof loved it......

And even though I say it myself

The bosoms were magnificent !!!

Like Loreal " it's worth it"

Message to self
Don't put off dirty jobs just  because you are tired and want to go to bed
Dealing with the now hardened pile of cat puke behind the sofa ( and all down the bleeding radiator ) was the nastiest chore, I have had the misfortune to deal with since Meg rolled gleefully inside a dead badger.
It's just one of the never ending chain of jobs that pile up ( literally) in these dirty wet days of winter and the cottage became very VERY quiet after a lusty and frustrated bout of swearing,
WHEN I eventually  stormed back into the kitchen ( clutching a bin bag full of sick), I was greeted by a butter-wouldn't melt sight of the two bitches in my life sitting quietly together like well behaved school girls.

You've just gotta love em 

Cat Puke

Just after midnight , and I am off to bed soon.

George , like I said lost a tooth today, and feels sorry for himself,

 Winnie is just finishing her season and is still " spotting" on the carpets

Mary is still leaving the odd pee stain in the cottage

And William backed into the bookcase the other night , and left 

a stool on my copy of Halliwells film guide...

2 minutes ago

 Albert has walked right up to the tv

Coughed loudly

And threw up BIG STYLE over the back and down the side of the sofa

I noted a rodent tail and a back leg in the offering

Dogs from all over the house arrived to eat the spoils

And I was left thinking my usual thought

" these animals will be the death of me" 

Hey ho

Jupiter!

I wondered what the bright star was on the other side of the bright moon

when I was on the way home this evening

Thanks to village  night sky boffin Dave S 

Who shared this photo of the Moon AND JUPITER

How fantastic is that?

On a micro level, George lost his canine tooth today,

His attack on Mary seems to have had a disastrous effect on old teeth

Ps

 is what Blogger says :
Dear bloggers, 
As we mentioned some weeks ago, starting this week, we’ll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. To follow a blog via Google Friend Connect now, readers will need a Google Account (the same they use for Gmail or YouTube). There will be no need for readers to be signed in, or to have a Google+ profile. 
What does this mean for you and your blog? We’ll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count
What can you do now? You should encourage your users to re-follow your blog using a Google account. Another way to allow users to follow your blog is with the “Follow by Email” gadget, which requires you to set up Feedburner. By subscribing to your blog, readers will be notified via e-mail every time there is a new post.
We know how important followers are to all bloggers, but we believe this change will improve the experience for both you and your readers !!!!!!!

Turn Your Face To The Moonlight....let your memory lead you

The weather has been atrocious today, and even Winnie , who loves her morning hike around the village took one look at the driving rain and gave me one of her " you've got to be fucking kidding" looks.
The only person I spoke to when out was a mom who had previously shared with me the fact that her young daughter had been rocking herself to sleep at night.
" It's a sign of damaged childhood " she had ventured with a worried look.
I didn't tell her that  I had rocked myself to sleep for years when we were small children.
I wonder what a modern psychologist would have made of all that then.
I just can't remember the fact all too well.

My memory, or more importantly my lack of it , does trouble me somewhat for great swathes of my early childhood memories never seem to ever surface even though on many a dog walk, I try so very hard to recall days gone by.
Is this normal?
I hardly remember anything of my first decade on this planet. A vague recollection of model airplanes hanging from the ceiling of my brother's bedroom, a sense of me and my sister walking a small terrier on the pavement outside our house , being frightened of a low flying jet after a summer bedtime.
It's not much for ten years of life is it not?

This morning after retiring back to bed after a 6.00 am puppy walk, I dreamt of my grandparents' living room circa 1972.
I remembered it all, the teak effect electric fire surround. The cheap plastic clock on the mantle. Plastic flowers in a wartime wall holder .The pristine white net curtains. The heavy swirling carpet and the shepherd and lamb cushions of the hardwood upright armchairs. The small oblong child's stool with it's blue plastic padded seat.
Oh and standing either side of the clock were two deer figures. Both must have had accidents as their antlers were  short and filled down.

Squiffy On A Weekday

This afternoon I drove over to the Prof's university to help organise his new office. 

Of course  all I wanted to do was to personalise the academic feel of the place , which in fact, only took 10 minutes or so......

the Prof likes a somewhat ' austere" look.

Afterwards we went to Osborne House in Llandudno for tea ( we had our wedding supper there)......after a very passable starter of salt and pepper squid, calfs' liver for mains and three large glasses of white, Things seemed rather nice with the world. 

Me thinks I need an early night

Hic

The chandelier in the main Osborne house bar

Underdog

Sometimes an underdog lets rip.
Usually you can see such events on youtube.
Tonight, just before the start of the re run of The Walking Dead, underdog Scottish terrier, George
( the dog who has been last in the house pecking order all of his life ( and this includes the chickens, geese, sheep and pigs) finally asserted himself over the Mad- as- a- badger Mary during one of her " I'm going to rip your collar from around your neck" moments.
Mary had it coming.
For weeks she has ripped Winnie's cheeks without a murmur from the old bulldog and everyday William has put up with multiple nips and bites during some over the top horseplay, so tonight she pushed things too far and grabbed a mouthful of his Australian bandanna as he was minding his own business in the spare arm chair.
Nine year old George , with the lightening speed of a two year old, bounced off his chair and in a couple of seconds seriously kicked some Welsh Terrier puppy arse.
Mary wisely pretended to be dead as he effectively head butted her into the carpet.

Smiling I called him over to the sofa where he was ceremoniously lifted to top dog position, above Winnie, above William and above an astonished and now sulking Mary .........
He is there right now, smiling gently to himself as he sleeps the sleep of the just.
For once in his life George knows he's a hero

My favourite photo of George......a black dot flying above the beach