We Had A Nice Day

We enjoyed Nathan's Birthday and so did he.  It is hard to believe he is already three, the time has gone so quickly.  In no time at all he will be starting school.  This September he starts nursery school on a daily basis instead of twice a week and little Daniel will also be joining.  Becky is going to wonder what happened when they are both at pre-school.  It will seem so quiet for her but, no doubt, she will be glad to get a break.

Nathan is a quite a shy little boy. I think he must have inherited that from me.  I was just like that as a child.  My mother used to get cross because when she stopped to talk to any friends in the street, I would hide behind her and not say a word.  Took me quite a few years to grow out of it and I am sure Nathan will.

He was given lots of Thomas things such as clothing and a mug.  His Mummy and Daddy gave him a wonderful Thomas train set that has lots of track and a "flyover" with a bus going across it.  We gave him a Thomas beanbag armchair with his name stencilled on it.  He loved it and spent nearly all the time he was here sitting in it.  We also gave him a selection of books, a couple were just story books, others educational. He looked so sweet sitting in the chair with a book in his hand going through the pictures.

He had a lovely cake (Thomas of course) and blew out all the candles himself.   Next year he will probably have his first real birthday party and have little friends around.  They appreciate it more when they are that bit older.

I have a short video to share with you.  Hope you enjoy it.

 

I watched the whole of the Concert For Diana yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I did think the BBC coverage was not up to their usual standard, cutting people off in the middle of a conversation, announcing the wrong acts and the endless shots from the helicopter above the stadium.  I think they would have been better off having a proper compere for the show.

Seeing again all those clips of Diana with Aids victims, the blind, sick children etc. made me realise what a special person she was.  No matter what her faults (and yes she did have them, we all do) she had a special quality about her, she was a genuine humanitarian, really cared about ordinary people in the street.  She remains a loss to this country.  It is a pity that the Royal family never knew what a treasure they had and treated her better. It is a very true saying that you never know what you have until it has gone.  What a wonderful queen she would have made.  I am happy though that her two boys (of whom she would have been so proud) seem to be following in her footsteps.

Well, I have heaps of mail to wade through and I cannot sit on the computer all day, so I will wish you all a very happy week.

Love

 

3!

Today, Friday the 29th June, a wonderful little man - our eldest Grandson,  celebrates his 3rd Birthday!  

        

                

                    

                                                                                            

You have brought so much joy and happiness into the lives of your Mummy and Daddy and into our lives as well. Nathan, we wish you a wonderful and very happy Birthday with lots of presents and lots of fun and we know that Daniel will enjoy joining in as well.

God bless you on your special day and throughout your life. We love you so very much.

With tons of hugs and kisses.

Love Nanjay and Grandy xxxxxxx

  

 

                            

 

My thanks to Becky and Dean for sending the lovely photo of Nathan to use and also to Donna for adding the sparkling blue border.

Well Done Julie!

I would like to publicly thank our journal friend, Jules.  She took part in the Race For Life today to raise money for cancer research.  This year she had asked if she could dedicate her run in my name.  I was touched and so happy to accept.

It was pouring with rain and I know that Jules has not been feeling good herself lately but she went ahead and took part regardless.

She raised £400!!

Julie e-mailed me some pictures and gave me permission to use them on my journal. 

Here is Jules herself

Here is what was on the back of her shirt

Jules, I am so proud of you!  I know you have battled and are still battling your own demons.  You are a star my friend and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.   It is because of  people like you that research is funded for new and better treatments. So many will benefit.  Hopefully, one day cancer will be a disease that is history.  Big hugs to you. I certainly  wish I could hug you in person.

Now, dear readers, can I ask you to pop over to Julie's journal and congratulate her?  Also there is a link on her journal where anyone wishing to donate can still give for the next seven days.

Here is the link

JULES

Go and give her some congratulatory and uplifting comments, she deserves them.  Thank you.

Love

All Change!

Long time readers will know that our bungalow has been painted green for quite a few years now.  I think we shocked the neighbours when we first did it and we got some peculiar looks.  There was nothing in the road similar as the majority of them  had opted for white or beige.  However, they came to like it.

Well, we decided to change it this year.  At first, with my cancer diagnosis, all thoughts of that went out of the window.  In fact we did not really care what the bungalow looked like as you can imagine.

However, when I was sitting in the garden last, a couple of weeks back now, I could not help but notice the peeling paintwork on the sunlounge and with the garden all planted up for summer it looked worse.   As you know him indoors tackled that and painted the sunlounge inside and out.  That led to all the guttering being done as well.

I then thought back to January when I first decided on a colour change to the outside walls.   I reminded Mike and he said he would not mind tackling it.  We decided to do it in a lighter colour, a more sunny colour.  In a way it was a kind of celebration, a celebration that my treatment was over (apart from the medication).  I know the time for celebration should be when I get the "all clear " so I hope I am not tempting fate.  However, that will be a long time from now so we decided to make it a celebration of my treatment being finished.

Mike brought home some colour charts and I chose the colour.

I asked Mike to take some photos as he went along so you could all have a look.  Here is the first one, you can see the contrast between the new colour which is called "Cornish Cream" and the old green.  You will also see that the new paint was only the first coat.  He has since done the second coat.

Here is another view

Now for two shots of the whole of the front with the first coat of paint in place.

 

Now the second coat has also been done, it looks even better.  Of course we are no longer unique, we are no longer the only green property anywhere in the area.  It was handy in a way as well.  If people needed directions on how to find us we only had to say "well, when you turn into the road you cannot miss us, we are the only green property!"  However, we are very happy with it.  It looks so fresh and bright and shows the plants off much better.  Also it still stands out from the others as the neighbour joined to us is beige and the neighbour on the other side is magnolia.  We have already been complimented on it.

There is still the long side wall to do, the back wall around the kitchen window and the garage at the bottom of the garden which we always paint to match the house.  However, "rain has stopped play" for the time being.  Mike did encounter a couple of showers whilst he was painting the front, but today they are much heavier and rain is forecast for at least the next four days.   So, you-know-who is a bit fed up.  He hates starting a job and then not being able to get on with it.  But a rest will not do him any harm.

It was handy for me as well as we could talk to each other through the open window whilst I was lying down and he was working.

At least we do not have to water the garden whilst we have these heavy showers and this year, sitting in the sun is not appropriate.  However, I will be happy when this breast totally clears (it is much better than it was) and I can go outside and sit in the shade instead of spending lots of time lying down.

I have just finished a fourteen disc talking book and it was great.  I do not know if any of you have heard of the author Christopher Fowler.  I know his work is available in America as well as over here.  He is writing six books about a couple of elderly male detectives named Bryant and May who are in charge of a bureau for mysterious crimes.  The one I listened to was "77 Clocks".  What an inventive mind this writer has.  Full of  unusual murders, twists and turns, always written around the city of London and always bringing history into the plot in some way but with some humour as well and the two detectives are such endearing characters.  I can thoroughly recommend this book either in written or spoken form.  I cannot wait to get the next one in the series which, I believe, is called The White Corridor.  Long time since I have enjoyed an author quite so much.

Wishing you all a happy weekend.

Quick Footnote

Thank you to all those who suggested talking books to help fill the time whilst I am lying down.

I should have put in my previous entry that I have had talking books for a very long time.  I get two or three from the library every month, I am given them as presents and also buy them myself now and again.  But even they get boring if you are just lying there listening to someone talking at you.  Not a lot different from the radio in the end and then I have to move to change the tape or the disc to continue with the story.  Ho hum.

Thanks anyway.

Love,

Jeannette

Windy Wednesday

We had a spectacular storm here last night lasting for over two hours, that was two hours of rain, thunder and lightning. The lightning, however, continued for around another three hours.

I knew a storm was coming because I had a headache and felt jumpy all day.  I have always reacted to approaching storms in this way.  I was just glad it arrived well after I had another visit to the surgery. I hate being out in storms, really hate it.  That stems from a school friend, way back  when I was about eight, who was killed by lightning. 

I had to stop the cream I was given last week because it seemed to make matters worse,  the split skin under my breast became much more inflamed.  So I started treating it with Aloe Vera which helped a great deal but did not stop the weeping.  I decided another visit to the surgery was in order.  I saw a lady doctor and she said it has been mostly caused by the radiation making the skin weaker, plus perspiration and generally all I have been through which has made me very run down.  The skin could not take anymore and has developed a bacterial infection.  So now I am on a different cream.  Let us hope it works although I have been told it will take a while due to the location.

After the storms has come the sun again but the wind is so strong, my hanging baskets are twisting and turning alarmingly.  If it gets any worse  I shall take them down until it abates. A couple of the smaller trees are almost bending double.

Him indoors is out buying paint.  He finished our sunlounge inside and out and it looks so much better and brighter.  Now all the guttering needs to be done.  Yesterday he rubbed it all down and cleaned the gutters out, now he wants to start painting.   Most of the neighbours around here have changed their old metal guttering to PVC but we simply cannot afford it.  We had a couple of quotes and nearly fell over with the price.  So we have to make do and mend.  I suppose we really should have thought about it when Mike was still working but it is easy in hindsight.  Oh well, tonight is lottery night.  You never know!  Although I think it is hardly likely that we will even win ten pounds.

Leo is definitely a house cat.  The back door is open all the time now but he only wanders out occasionally, never more than halfway down the garden and after about ten minutes he comes back in again.  At least I will not have to worry about him wandering.  We are having him neutered when he is six months old.  He might not be a wanderer now but when the old hormones kick in he would certainly go looking for any likely ladies.  Without "the necessary" he will not feel the inclination and it will also prevent him for "spraying" in the house.  Poor little thing, if only he knew what was coming.   Him indoors says it brings tears to his eyes just thinking about it.

Other than that, there is not much news at this end.  I have to go and lie flat on the bed for at least half an hour at a time at intervals during the day and the evening to get the air circulating around my poor boob.  So boring.  Cannot read flat on my back, cannot see the t.v. and there is only so much radio that I can take.  There is not a lot you can do lying flat on your back.......................well there is something you can do in that position as we all know -  but we won't go there!!!!

Well, it will all be worth it if this new cream and the airflow does the trick.  Hopefully when I can get more active again, it will also help my blood sugars.

What a good job we got the planting done before this happened. 

Think of me lying staring at the ceiling.

Love,

A Happy Day Then Some Sad News

We had a nice Father's Day yesterday.  Mike was pleased with his presents and it was so wonderful to be able to spend quality time with Nathan and Daniel after not being able to see them for so long.  I could not take the chance of catching any type of sniffles or bug from them whilst I was undergoing my treatment. 

We watched films of their holiday and Nathan strutting his stuff on the dance floor and playing on the arcade games.  Both boys enjoyed themselves on all the rides. Daniel is really coming on now and starting to say a lot more words.  They played with all the toys here and they both adore Leo.  So, all in all, a lovely time was had by all.

Then I logged on today to find an e-mail from Guido informing me of the passing of  journaller Jim Halliday.  Some of you will already know, some of you were readers of his journal.  He lost his original journal with all his memories somewhere in cyber space and was going to re-do it all for us. Jim was an older journaller and wrote experiences of his army life plus pieces about his family. He had a unique way with words and I know that his journal gave him so much pleasure.  His last entry was quite a sad one.  Like so many in J-Land and elsewhere, he was having a bad year.

The last time I heard from Jim was during the second or third week of my radiotherapy, he wrote to me telling me to keep my chin up, he was sure things would work out for me and giving me the support of both himself and his wife.  I am so sorry that I never answered that e-mail.   It was not that I did not care, it was simply with dragging to the hospital every day and feeling so damned tired, I was not using the computer so much, I was sleeping a lot of the time.  I will always regret that I did not answer him and I now wish so much that I had.  My heart goes out to his wife and his large family.  One of his sons is battling cancer.  I wish him the very best.

Jim was always thanking me for my help.  He said I was his "mentor".  Believe me, when it came to writing, he did not need any help from me.  But I did try to help him where I could with other problems.

If anyone would like to stop by his journal and leave their condolences, it would be a really nice gesture as I am sure his family will read the comments.  It does not matter whether you knew him or not, he was part of J-Land, he was one of us.   Here is the link:

There are no Sundays.

It is always sad to hear of  the  passing of a journaller because we are truly a community. Rest in peace Jim.

I will end on a lighter note.  Mike snapped this picture of Jack and Leo and it is so sweet.  The animals really do get on together and it is lovely to see.

Well, time to get off here.  Going to lay on the bed and try to get some air to the underneath of my breast.  I find it very boring just lying around but if it heals that is the main thing

Wishing you all a good week.

Love,