Have You Got a budgie?

 If living in Trelawnyd had a sound theme, then it would be of the chatter of sparrows.

The heavy bangs of honeysuckle which obscures most of the front door and the beech hedge and Buddleja that dominate the back garden are generally always filled with them , and boy do they chatter and bicker and chirp. Especially when the weather is warm and fine and on sunny, days when the doors are wide open and the windows let the breeze fill the cottage with the smells of the countryside.

Wood pigeons coo from their Yew tree in the Churchyard, and I can detect the songs of thrush and blackbird, the seesaw of the coal tits and the real chattering of the common chaffinch which feed from next doors’ bird table. 

From the large trees beyond the Manley’s ancient still house,come the rooks cackle and caw and they add to the din so much so that when I was on a zoom call earlier my caller asked me if I owned a budgie, so loud was the calls and whistles from the garden, land and field.

Seagulls yaw, from above the Gop and buzzards often cry out as they circle the hill, and sound like cats as they do so. 

It’s a bird village for sure

My part of Trelawnyd 

My cottage just left of centre

Look in the churchyard and you can see my laburnam’s shadow 

Run Run like the wind

 The German is on a roll and this last AI offering had me in stitches.

Hey ho……..I haven’t run like this since I Stepped on the frog with Winifred in tow. 

The promised warmer weather has finally arrived and I’ve flung open the cottage windows again to the elements. 

Mrs Trellis stopped by, I haven’t seen her in an age, and she’s looking a little frail but still retains her indomitable spirit.

“ you need a shave” she told me before saying that Weaver had a “ witches Cat look” 

We have a Trelawnyd Production Company meeting on Monday….Pippa is holding a tea party in the Rectory grounds and we need to think of some entertainment..

Oh errr….I’ve just listened to a most explosive episode of The Archers. Brian , Debbie and Adam, all very Shakespearian! 

He’s peaked aka def Deutsche 

The shirt has food stains on the front ! 

Nu

 It’s Nu’s 60th today ….she looks 40 ….I’d planned to go to Surrey for her party on Saturday  and had booked a hotel and rail ticket, but recent events have precluded the visit . 

I wish I was going , so much. Xx

AI

 I’m a limited edition apparently, complete with reading glasses, Welsh terrier and McDonald’s coffee….Ive been at home most of the afternoon, waiting to hear from Trendy Carol’s vets, so I could pick up her dog from having his teeth cleaned …..

But I’ve  been busy , both Welsh have had long hot showers with baby bubble bath, and the resulting wreck of the bathroom , spring cleaned afterwards

The German sent this later on , note the stains on the jumper lol 

My Girl

 

My girl was planted five years ago now. So that makes her at least seven years old. And even though I’m her dad, I’m mighty proud of how my girl looks. 

She’s magnificent and has just come into bloom. I sat with her for a while today. Roger on my knee and Bun by my side . Strange isn’t it but there’s something of a great significance for me in this small tree, a laburnum that hopefully will be blooming well after I’m dead and long forgotten .

In the future, when she is a mature, hardwood tree, towering alongside the old Church in this old village of mine,I hope that someone will sit in her shade and muse for a moment about the person who originally planted her with so much affection.

Nepotism

 This post is purely a big up for my great niece Elisha who has her own ceramic business after moving up to the north from London.

Her items are restfully natural . Classic and chic 

And can be seen here

https://www.elishaceramics.com/

Quite lovely 

If you have a minute , give her a visit xx

Monday Meeting

 The weather has been fine today, almost springlike in-fact.

I washed the bedding and hung it on bushes and the field gate to dry, then drank caramel coffee and talked to the German for an hour. At teatime when I collected the duvet and sheets and the eiderdown, they all smelled vaguely of grass, clematis - the Montana and in my imagination elderflower, which flourishes on the field borders. 

At twelve I went to the village hall to help brainstorm more activities needed by the village which hopefully get funding from the local authority. Lots of good ideas were put forward, including help to learn how to produce a stage production properly, the proper use of internet and mobile phones, help with internet scamming, mental health support, cookery and budget help, outdoor landscaping, lots of ideas were thrown into a pot which is a testament of how much good humour and mutual respect is present.

I covered the outline of my leg bag with a jumper when I walked in to the hall which village elder Ian gently joked that I looked like a Mason with his apron. Gentle joshing is healthy and saves me the energy of doing it myself. 

People have been very kind.

Bun now accompanies us on every walk down the lane now, and skips along in the lead rather than following the troops . For the first time she forgot herself and rubbed her head and neck under the chin of an astonished Roger on their way home which was something Albert used to do to Winnie regularly. 

My stand back and watch plan over the last 18 months seems to have worked wonders.

Tonight she was waiting for us by the front door and yowled when she spied me holding the dog leads

She seems easily pleased

The Sheep Detectives

The lisping choir in full Latin mode.

Loved it 

Today was a bit of escapism. The Sheep Detectives is an odd piece which does for sheep what Watership Down did for rabbits. In it, we join a flock of sheep living within their own rather complex and at times unfathomable rules with hero worshipped Shepherd ( Hugh Jackman) in charge. After his murder they have to come together in order to solve the mystery of whodidit, and the interaction of the characters voiced by the likes of Patrick Stewart, Bryan Cranston, Julia Lewis-Dreyfuss and Chris O Dowd proves to be much more entertaining that the activity of the more human cast, headed by Emma Thompson

Light, mostly frothy, but at times it’s very Disney emotional which bring the tears flowing when certain sheep are in trouble; it’s a kids film more enjoyed by adults , just as the novel watership Down was a children’s book for adults.