When you share your home with a Welsh speaker

 

(The dog is being groomed today)

Day Off Week 37

Lots of traditional elements in the latest day off - reading (read most of a book on Welsh wonders that I bought in the summer - fascinating), looking at an art book (Alfred Sisley this time; interesting but how many landscapes can you do?), bought some Manchego cheese as I explore that world (turns out it is made with sheep's milk), a coffee in Costa, a bit of TV in the evening (Inheritance on Channel 5). However, my first tasks of the day were letting of a mini-fumigator in our bedroom (we have a dog) and getting some keys cut as I have lost the ones I had. There is a completley automated key cutter nearby. I just thought I'm sure it was on the same day that I read the obituary of Mike Yarwood in The Times (two impressionists then, with Sisley!).

Day Off Week 20 2023

Formal days off have been swallowed up with bank hoildays and so on recently but this last Tuesday was a more regular job. I did have to go to the hospital for a brief eye test in the morning and did actually fill the car with stuff for the dump. In the afternoon I got fown to Oxford Street and the Wallace Collection, where they had an interesting special exhibition featuring paintings of dogs, mostly Landseers but with several others including some nice David Hockney stuff. Enjoyed a coffee after that in Joe and the Juice on Baker Street. Through the day I was reading Affinity's new book Challenging Leaders and another on Who can take the Lord's Supper?

Alffi

I've never written an eclogue

But if I did, I know,

I would write it about our dog -

In Autumn fog, in snow,

In Summer sun or Spring time rain,

When it's dark or frosty,

Alffi asleep or awake again,

Dull or Pentecosty,

In heat, in cold, when skies are blue,

Our ball of white and brown.

Good dog Alffi - cocking your head,

And bad dog Alffi - Down!

Three Films

To go with my three disparate books, three films seen recently.

1. Parasite. Went to see this with my film student son, down in London for a few days. I can't recommend it due to language and themes touched on but it was interesting to find out what the fuss has been about. (It won the Palme d'Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, the first Korean film to ever do so). Based in Korea, it follows the fortunes of a poor family (the Kims) as they work themselves in with a wealthy family (the Parks) in the suburbs. It then takes a surprising turn but manages to stay convincing. Quite Hitchcockian, I understand, it had a beginning, a middle and an end and one can forgive a lot when that is so. Apparently the director likes to explore the theme of class differences. Scholar stones are a Korean thing and I didn't really follow that element of the film. BTW ramdon is a made up name for jjapaguri.

2. Aeronauts. On Friday night my wife and I watched this on Netflix. It is not at all accurate historically and I didn't find it very interesting to be honest but watched to the end.

3. Call of the wild. This is about a dog and my youngest son was keen to see this. We got there slightly late (due to the rugby) but I don't think we missed much. It was an enjoyable film, although I have mixed feelings about cgi which doesn't look realistic. I have tried to read Jack London's book and I am not sure how faithful this latest version is but it really is pretty far fetched from what I know of dogs. Anyway my son was pleased.

Day Off Week 20

I decided to spend the day trying to complete a history of the local church here that I am trying to write. Still not sure if that is enough of a break. I did get out with the dog, of course, and had a coffee. I also watched some back to back to TV with Eleri until quite late.

Day off Week 11 2019

So it was back to the day off this Tuesday. I got up early and dressed in jeans and trainers eager to make the most of the day. It was the usual mix of dog walking, coffee, newspaper quiizzes, reading adn TV. I managed to read Peter J Williams Can we trust the Gospels? picked up at kast week's conference. It is is not only an excellent apologetics book but is full fo all sorts of others good things too. I enjoyed, for example the brief chapter on contradictions, where he lists any number from John. His quotation from sceptic Bart Ehrman make the latter look pretty shallow in the light of what is said in the rest of the chapter. Not that this is a points scoring exercise. Williams simply wants us to see that there is every good reason to trust the Gospels. In the evening I enjoyed the last episode of Shetland with my wife who had been out working. Yes, it is not ideal for her to be out when I'm having my day off but it hard to see a way round it. No-one else is at home at the moment. The rest of the day I was busy catching up on the blogging front.

Day off Week 7 2019

This week's day off came around rather quickly this time. I woke in an unhelpful mood and could not settle to anything at first. I had arranged a mid-morning coffee time and prayer meeting around 11 (we are having a week of prayer meetings). The wives of our two deacons came, one with her three home schooled children. We were joined for good or ill by two ladies from the area we know. Like others from the area, they are very exercised about a plan to remove over 90 trees from the immediate area this month and that issue threatened to dominate rather but we got through somehow. After that I took Alffi for a walk and made a big dent in this Costa prize winning book The cut out girl which is very good. In the evening after Eleri returned home we watched the latest Shetland on BBC. We love Shetland. It not only gives you a detective mystery to ponder that being in an isolated community has that Agatha Christie Country House quality that these things need but there is a sort of stillness that you get that is very attractive. I'm always planning to visit while watching but probably never will.

Young dog Old trick

Alffi the dog caps things off by making a spectacle of himself

Dog with bark

Another day off

This week's day off began with a shower and some porridge before eight. I should have had devotions before going out but I left it until later.* I like to write something each day and truth is I had gotten behind so I knew it would take a while. Thankfully, we're all up to date now which is not an achievement in itself but it makes me feel better.

The main things the rest of the day were first taking Alffi for a long walk to Highgate. We'd soon clocked 10,000 steps. A coffee and crossword there were enjoyable. Much of the rest of the time went on working on a local church history I am trying to finish. By the end of the day I was pretty much there. I now have the bones of a 6 chapter 85 page book covering the story from the 1860s to today.

I also watched the football (Nigeria Argentina) ordered some Cds and books and got some emails out of the way. I also dipped into the current Private Eye. Very little reading or blogging and no DIY this time. There is a plumbing job needs doing and we need new blinds for our bedroom. Later.

* M'Cheyne says somewhere

"I ought to pray before seeing any one. Often when I sleep long, or meet with others early, it is eleven or twelve o'clock before I begin secret prayer. This is a wretched system. It is unscriptural. Christ arose before day and went into a solitary place. David says: 'Early will I seek thee'; 'Thou shalt early hear my voice.' Family prayer loses much of its power and sweetness, and I can do no good to those who come to seek from me. The conscience feels guilty, the soul unfed, the lamp not trimmed. Then when in secret prayer the soul is often out of tune, I feel it is far better to begin with God - to see his face first, to get my soul near him before it is near another."

Ecclesiastes 9:4

Yn Y Bala

10 Herding Dogs

1. Belgian Shepherd
2. Border Collie
3. Cardigan Corgi
4. English Shepherd
5. German Shepherd
6. Rough Collie
7. Old English Sheepdog
8. Pembrokeshire Corgi
9. Rottweiler
10. Samoyed

10 Retrievers

Retrievers are dogs bred as gun dogs to retrieve shot waterfowl such as ducks and upland game birds during hunting and shooting parties, and were named 'retriever' because of their ability to retrieve shot game undamaged.

1. Cocker spaniel

2. Dutch partridge dog

3. Golden retriever

4. Irish or red setter

5. Gordon setter

6. Labrador

7. Poodle

8. Portuguese water dog

9. Springer spaniel

10. Weimaraner

10 Terriers

A terrier is a small dog of a breed originally used for turning out foxes and other burrowing animals from their earths.

1. Airedale

2. Bull terrrier

3. Border terrier

4. Cairn terrier

5. Fox terrier

6. Jack Russell

7. Schnauzer

8. Scots terrier

9. West Highland terrier

10. Yorkshire

10 Hounds

Wikipedia defines a hound as a type of dog used by hunters to track or chase prey

1. Afghan hound
2. Basset hound
3. Beagle
4. Bloodhound
5. (Scottish) Deerhound
6. Foxhound
7. Greyhound
8. Irish wolf hound
9. Welshhound
10. Whippet

Ein Ffrind Newydd Alffi

Here are one of my sons and grandsons with our new 11 week old dog Alffi. He's a Cavachon.

Dr Olivia Doll

I spotted a fascinating story in the paper yesterday. The basic story is how a sceptical scientist got his dog onto the editorial board of various science journals. Eschewing use of the dog's picture he provided this snap of Kylie Minogue in glasses for this one above. Full story here.

Dog in the water with a ball

This one of Owain's latest creations

Things Seen - Fletcher

I was in a park in Aberystwyth when I saw two dog owners chatting. They looked quite different (young/old, black/white, etc). It was the dogs (Labradors black and chocolate) that they had in common. I heard the one man ask the name of the other's dog and was told it was Fletcher. He repeated the name several times, rolling it around his tongue. He seemed to be looking for a meaning in it beyond the mere sounds. It was an interesting question as I guess he will have little reason to use it. Nevertheless, there is something in us that wants to name things. If I come into contact with a dog, I want to know its name. It's natural.