End of Year Party

Our local librarian is unlike any other I have known and she is always willing to have a party.

The English classes I teach comprise a number of ladies who can think up many excuses for a drink and the end of the (school) year is as good a reason as any.

We invited the Italian group as well and the local priest came along as he teaches yoga once a month in the parish hall.

This year Isabel provided ‘soupe au champagne’. I’d never heard of it but after a couple of glasses I felt rather tipsy and then she admitted she couldn’t remember the actual recipe but she had used the best part of a bottle of Cointreau, some fresh lemons, sugar and, of course, several bottles of champagne. No wonder we were all very animated.

The priest surprised us all with some rather risqué jokes such as “We priests have to make up for our celibacy by listening to ladies confessions” and “nuns live in celibacy but die ‘en sainte‘(holy)which is pronounced the same as  enceinte (pregnant).

There was plenty to eat in the form of dainty morsels – mostly savoury – but then they produced little individual chocolate mousses and after that, mixed red fruits with custard.

The party took place in the yard behind the library. it was shady and there was a welcome breeze considering today’s temperatures.

We begin again in September. I hope there’ll be another party before Christmas!

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Animals and People

Kica has had her haircut and bath and is now ready for Summer.
Here she is showing an interest in the snacks accompanying our ‘apero’.

We don’t make a habit of drinking champagne but my sister and brother-in-law came for a few days.  It wasn’t a very exciting holiday for them as I couldn’t go out much because of the problems with Bear and Whale.

Someone has to be here to help the carers tackle Whale’s wash and change twice a day and Bear has been completely off his head this week so I didn’t feel I could go out and leave him.

At 4a.m. a few nights ago I woke to find him sitting on the edge of his bed talking earnestly to ‘a group of women’ who were apparently staring at him but refusing to speak. He was convinced he had been abandoned on King’s Cross station but he couldn’t remember who he was staying with or their address. When I put the light on he exclaimed, “Oh, here’s my wife. she’s come to collect me at last!”

He is still chiding me for leaving him alone during his “trip to London”. In fact, he really doesn’t like me at the moment and calls me all sorts of names. My brother-in-law overheard his verbal abuse and came into the bedroom to tell him off.Later I heard Bear on the phone telling someone that he had been threatened with physical violence!

There are more tales I could tell but that gives you an idea.

Returning to animals, we had to say goodbye to Holly ( one of the cats) on Monday. She has a tendency to hide in the house so it was unusual for her to jump on the chair beside CC and she cried out, “Mum, have you seen her face!”.

Poor Holly had a swelling on one cheek and her eye was oozing bloody mucous. Of course, it was off to the vet on Monday morning. After an x-ray to confirm their diagnosis,the vets said she had an inoperable; tumour and it was pushing against her eye.

We couldn’t let the poor cat suffer with that.  We have buried her in the garden and bought an elder bush in her memory.

To end on a happier note, I had been worried about the two young cockerels, Frick and Biscuit, who crow as soon as it’s light and make a heck of a din. The neighbours haven’t complained but it’s hardly fair to subject them to the noise.

Anyway, I’ve found a solution – anti-crow collars. It’s just a band, attached with velcro which stops them from expelling all the air when they crow: result, a reduction in volume (and a rather strange  sounding crow).

It took them a day to get used to wearing them but now they don’t seem to notice anything. Hopefully it won’t disturb the neighbours now.

Animal update

This is Kica on Thursday when she was just back from the ‘dentist’. She had to have her teeth cleaned as her breath was really bad and she was a bit reluctant to eat. However, since then she has woofed down fish, minced heart, some left overs from our trip to the local restaurant, two packets of catfood some yoghurt and her tablets crushed and mixed with egg. Today she’s back on dog biscuits and some pigs liver.

All we need now is her bath and haircut later this month and she’ll be a ‘new dog’.

 

The other news is that Bryony has hatched two chicks.  I was beginning to get worried as there was no sign or               sound from underneath her and the babies were overdue. Today I decided to risk lifting her up to see if the                    remaining eggs were broken or bad and, lo and behold, there was a little black chick.

 

It seemed more than a day old but as there was still an unhatched egg in the nest I suppose Bryony was still ‘sitting’ in the hope that it would hatch so I discarded it.

 

Then from underneath her there appeared a second chick:

      She had started with six eggs, bought online as her own eggs would                have been fathered by her sons!

She broke one and rejected two but I’m happy with just two babies as I don’t really want to increase the flock.

I just hope they are hens!