Spring has sprung!



Professor Brian Cox is currently talking about cosmic collisions on the TV, I'm full of beef rendang and once I have finished here, I will be filling in my Census form to do my civic duty. All is good.  I am a little achey as the fab weather this weekend has enabled us to do yet more work in our garden which is all very exciting!  It really doesn't take much with me.

Those of you who have been kind enough to visit us will know about the epic saga that was our house renovation and now our garden.  We haven't and don't really do anything simple! I blame Mat - he is very good at having a 'vision' of something and once he gets an idea in his head... More often than not, he likes to do things himself too, so there's always a project around the place.

Those of you who saw the building site that was our gardens (front and back) will be pleased to know that you no longer need to literally walk the plank to get to our front door and we have started the fun and long journey of 'prettifying' it all.  

As you may know we have a Japanese theme going on in our back garden and this weekend we started painting our 'torii' themed pergola.  It's taken the whole weekend to do and there is still a couple of struts to finish off but the dark grey undercoat has now been painted on.  Not quite sure when we will be painting on the actual colours of the torii what with skiing next weekend but it's a start.  Anyways, some photos below.  As Anita (Mat's mum) was here with us for the weekend Mat got her in overalls, paint brush in hand, paint pot at the ready and let her loose on the torii pergola. Many hands make light work and all that!  Mat got a load of paint on his arms whilst I ended up with a load on my face.  Don't ask.  I also planted a 'Lonicera Japonica mint crisp' (Japanese honeysuckle) out front so looking forward to that blooming in the summer. Piccy of one above. Just call me Alan Titchmarsh!

Anyway, 'The Only Way Is Essex' beckons and I have got to fill in my Census form so "Ohmigod! Babes, gotta go. Shuut Up!". Absolutely love it.  I can't believe people take it seriously. 



This is just the undercoat!



Many hands make light work



Manly paint arm. Phwoar!!

Elizabeth Taylor - a moment's silence please

"I don't entirely approve of some of the things I have done, or am, or have been. But I'm me. God knows, I'm me,"   Elizabeth Taylor

When I was very young, I use to read about Elizabeth Taylor and her antics and dreamed of the glamourous lifestyle she led. I was in awe of her beauty and talent on-screen. I was mesmerised by some of her film performances and lapped up all the gossip and scandal surrounding her colourful love life. Her love affair with Richard Burton was the stuff of legends. Her friendship with Michael Jackson strange yet touching. She was inspirational as the only major celebrity to first speak out and campaign about AIDS in the 80's.  My mother bought her perfume in litres ('White Diamonds' I believe) when she was the first famous person I remember to ever bring one out. 

So many try to copy Elizabeth Taylor but no one will ever match her. What an absolute legend and what an absolute star.  The world is definitely a duller place without her.

All photos courtesy of Google Images

A hair-raising experience

Since my last blog post I have completed another week at work; started more treatment but this time for my head (cancer is obviously not just a physical thing); planted a 10m strip of lavender in our front garden which looks fab; ate at an unfortunately named restaurant especially-at-this-time called 'Tsunami' and went to an engagement party which had to be evacuated because the ceiling at the venue nearly fell through with water from a pipe leak above!  You should have seen it - it was like someone had got a gigantic jar of water and just poured it all out! Poor Matt and Andrea (the happy couple) having to endure a washout of an event. Still, it was good fun and great to catch up with old friends and I socially went 'head commando' for the first time. 'Head commando' in this case, being bald with no covering!

Because I lost my hair rather 'patchily' and I want my hair to grow back at an even length all over (yes, I hold my hand up, I'm vain!) I have been asking Mat to shave my head as and when needed. 

I didn't want long strands at the top and short ones at the back and end up with a backwards mullet so the hair clippers have been well used since I left hospital.  Venturing outside our house I have either worn scarves or hats to cover my head and although I did consider a wig have decided not to bother with one other than to wear 'fun' ones in the future. 

I didn't want the hassle of having to look after an expensive wig (good ones cost a lot of money) and have to go through constant head itch when wearing it so have not bothered.  Although it sounds silly, the more I thought about a wig the more I felt that by wearing one, I was 'hiding' myself in some way when I didn't want to.

Anyway, I thought I would share with you below some latest photos of me looking ready to cause some vandalism and trouble.  It's ever so cold this going bald business. I may have said it before and I will say it again but I don't know how you blokes go through with this going bald lark! It's freezing!

A blurry girly shot - trying to look feminine with a skin-head is very hard!

Mat thought it would be funny to give me a mohawk mid-shave without me realising.

Being bald, I have discovered that I have a heart shaped crown! Looksy!

Me now - March 2011

Insignificant

“Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.” Mahatma Gandhhi

I was going to write about my first week back at work tonight. About how much I have enjoyed this "phased return" back to some kind of normality.  About how good it is to be around much liked work colleagues. About how tired I have felt after each day but it is a 'good' tired of effort rather than the 'bad' tired of chemo.  About the importance of this being another step for me in 'getting better.'

But it all seems so insignificant after watching the horrific scenes from today's Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Nothing really matters other than survival when you are faced with that and yet so many didn't survive. And it makes me so sad. So sad I'm frikkin angry! I can only imagine the terror, the noise and even the smell of it all. 

Without sounding too up my own backside about it, we are definitely all part of something bigger and when our time is up, our time is up.  The world doesn't wait for anyone or anything.


"Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people.” Dr. Carl Sagan

I'm thinking too much.  Again.  Time to go.

Kylie Minogue - a class act

I admit it. I like a good gossip website and I love to read all the salaciousness from planet celebrity but I take it all with a pinch of salt. It's all a bit of a laugh. I know there are a ton of people gainfully employed by all these so called celebrities to release PR guff on their behalf. So and so's 'spokesperson' said this. Thingy-me-jig's 'publicist' said that. Whatshisname's 'media spokesman' has confirmed.  It's not exactly real life is it?!

Wouldn't you just love a 'spokesperson'? I could fanny about doing what I wanted assured in the knowledge that my 'spokesperson' will spin whatever they needed to spin. Fan-bloody-tastic!

However, I thought I would share the above video clip with you as in my opinion rising above all this ridiculousness is Kylie Minogue. What a class act and what a performer. I'm not some fan-girl mooning over her every five minutes dancing to 'Can't Get You Outta My Head' while watching repeats of 'Neighbours'. I'm just an admirer of how she has used her celebrity to highlight cancer awareness following her own illness. 

Yes there is an element of PR and spin but who cares when she comes across as being so nice and so positive.  I was lucky enough to watch her Wembley New Year's Eve Showgirl Concert back in Dec 2006 which was a few months after her treatment for breast cancer.  She wasn't dancing as much, there were a lot of breaks and it was clear that the show had been tailored to accomodate her recovery from treatment but it was still such a great show. I found it incredibly moving watching her perform, getting on with it, dancing away, smiling and giving the audience what they wanted that night.

Yes, yes, yes I know there are people out there worse off. With her money she has access to the best treatments etc etc but given the flotsam and jetsam that bob about on the dross that is planet celebrity, she rises above a lot of them. It's not just a cancer thing, it's a humanity thing too. And you have to admire the girl for that.

Good news

I saw my consultant today. And she told me that at the half way point of my post transplant treatment, I am what can be classed and staged as in complete remission from my cancer.

Mat and I are just home from celebrating and so I am a little tired but I couldn't be happier. It's still sinking in and I have a myriad of tests and procedures to go through till the important six-month mark but it's a start and I'll take it.

Good things happen to those who wait.