There was a 'tap, tap' at the window....

Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat, 

so please put a penny in the old man's hat.

If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do.

If you haven't got a ha'penny, then God bless you!

Christmas is a coming, the lights are on the tree.

How about a turkey leg for dear old me?

If you haven't got a turkey leg, a turkey wing will do.

If you haven't got a turkey wing may God bless you!

No, I'm not wanting to speed the approach of Christmas up but these lines are in my head quite often at the moment, although I didn't know the second stanza shown here until very recently!

A few weeks ago, FR went out to buy a couple of young cockerels. Our hens are not laying many eggs at the moment - mainly since the days got shorter and there's less light for them. They are out every day and never stop eating, but I've had to resort to buying a couple of dozen eggs in town as we simply don't have enough! Oh, the shame! FR thinks that the cockerels might help solve the problem...

When he returned, it was clear the problem isn't going to be solved anytime soon as the cockerels were teeny, tiny little things! He did have an extra creature with him though, which he announced was our Christmas dinner...a white turkey. Poor thing, he looked very scraggy and unattractive and the hens bullied, chased and pecked at him dreadfully to begin with. 

However, as the weeks have gone by and he's eaten well (I am sure he's a 'he') and grown in size and confidence, he's also developed a lovely personality. He wakes us in the morning, 'pew, pewing' outside the house, encouraging FR to get up and feed him. His call is so 'pewy' that I have named him Barney McGrew. Anyone who saw Trumpton in the 1960s and 70s can't fail to remember the Fire Brigade and the roll call. Barney McGrew comes after 'Pugh, Pugh'.....OK it's a slightly tenuous link but Barney walks a bit like the characters in Trumpton too....Here's a little reminder or taster (if you're completely in the dark here!)

And as always, I digress...a little.

As we sat in a postprandial slumber the other afternoon, there was a 'tap, tap' at the window. I went to investigate...

And had to look a little closer ...

And there was Barney, a little damp in the rain, tapping on the window. Maybe just to say 'Hi', maybe to say, 'Did you know it was raining?', maybe to say, 'Any food left?'.....So sweet.

I am currently reading up on vegetarian Christmas dinner options......

Finding Dory...

11 years ago this month a lovely Pixar film came out called 'Finding Nemo'. Ostensibly for children, but I remember going to the cinema to see it with my boys and a friend and her two girls and both she and I were utterly enchanted from the very first moment and confessed afterwards to shedding a few tears towards the end....

But I won't bore you with the details, other than to say it's an emotional roller coaster of a story, set underwater and starring a variety of fish,sharks, turtles and birds. There's also an Australian dentist and his rather scary young niece. It's fantastic. Watch it.

And for me, the star of the film was a cheerful, helpful and friendly blue fish called Dory. She captured my heart from the very beginning and although the voice sounded really familiar, I couldn't place the actor who voiced the part. And even when I discovered it was Ellen Degeneres, I wasn't familiar enough with her to be able to work out why Dory seemed so very well-known to me.

We bought the video and my children watched it over and over, and so did I. And had to admit that I identified with Dory. Not just because she has a short-term memory problem....though that was a part of it....but because she's an eternal optimist and utterly trusting, generous and good natured. Is this a self-portrait? No, I definitely not saying I am like this all the time but I have days where I definitely feel 'Doryish'. And there's also the occasional panic when my memory does let me down....and then I forget all about it and am happy again!

So, Dory was a favourite of mine from the beginning and then one day at work, in the office of the Education Service, a couple of teachers from one of the Special Schools came in with some art work done by the children. It was a set of characters from 'Finding Nemo' made from papier mache - and it included the lovely Dory. At the end of the period of the exhibition, I put in a request and a donation to be able to keep Dory and she stood in a corner of my office until the day I left. And then I had to bequeath her care to a willing friend, Helen, And Helen has been taking care of her ever since.

UNTIL!!! Last weekend, Denise and Jim paid us a special visit - special because despite Jim's illness, the two of them are on a great adventure around France and Spain. They have their home in Orkney and had travelled down from there, stopping off in Huddersfield where Helen had the wonderful idea of asking them to bring Dory back to me! So Dory has travelled in the back of the car through Belgium, France, over the Pyrenees, all the way through Spain and right to Alcala la Real.

I was delighted - and here we are - happily reunited. Daft as it seems, it has really moved me to have her back. Thank you Helen, thank you Denise - and good on you Dory,  you keep on swimming, just keep swimming.



And I'm quite surprised and pleased to discover that my title for this blog is also rather prophetic as Pixar are making a film of the same title to be released in 2016. Think I will definitely be seeing that one! If I remember, that is....