One day to go

As you know I love posting pictures of my lovely teenager and this one makes me smile. I think it's a great shot. He wasn't expecting me to take it and they are usually the best shots aren't they?

Below is a shot of me with teenager and his Australian exchange partner at the Holker Hall Winter Fair ( see previous post). Notice both taller than me despite my heels. Sigh.

This is my last post before hospital tomorrow. One more night before the gall bladder is history. I am very excited and most of all relieved. The last few days have been very difficult to say the least and I will be happy to free myself and the family from all the uncertainty and anxiety.

Please send bloggy vibes of positivity for me tomorrow.I am really hoping for the keyhole operation and I am focussing all my energy onto that outcome. Will post later in the week and let you know how I got on.

A day in Hawkshead

I posted on Halloween that we had a day out at Hawkshead which is a lovely little village in the Lake District. Very popular place for tourists as the scenery is lovely, and the village is very quaint. There are loads of coffee shops, traditional pubs and gift shops. A good day was had by all. Picture of teenager, other half and our wonderful Australian exchange visitor.

If you look closely you will see teenager's sling- still suffering from his dislocation shoulder injury. No more rugby this season for him sadly.

Holker Hall Winter Fair

We went to the Holker Hall winter fair today. It is always a lovely day out. Real fires, lots of coffees cakes and hot chocolates. A food fair, lots of crafts, alpacas, a barbecue tent with lakeland local burgers and sausages. I always spend a fortune and today was no exception. My Christmas shopping has started folks.
We all went. Teen and his exchange partner, other half and mum. It was lovely. What a pity about the appalling freezing cold persistent rain. When will it ever end?
When we got back it was so cold in the house we now have a blazing real fire. It's lovely. Watching the rugby and drinking tea. A nice relaxing Saturday afternoon.

I hate bonfire night

I have never been a big fan of fireworks. In fact, I have never liked them. It's the noise. I don't like all the cracks and bangs. They can be really pretty to look at but if I never saw one again it wouldn't bother me. I worry about how dangerous they are, and I feel sorry for all the terrified animals. All in all.... I wouldn't be sorry November 5th was cancelled-permenantly.
Teenager and pals have just come in from a bonfire at the local rugby club. They went with their mates and had a good time. At least it stopped raining and they had a dry night. Apparently it was packed out. Clearly lots of people don't feel like me.
We are going to a bonfire party on Saturday night. I like bonfires a lot. There will be fireworks too but I will go inside by the fire while they are on. I will stay in and be nervous with the dog!

The blog slacker

My very good friend the travelling typhoon (see my blog list) once coined the phrase the 'blog-slacker'. I wouldn't think that many folk who know me would call me lazy ( I might be surprised....) but I think they may call me a blog slacker recently. I haven't been posting much, and I have done even less visiting.

And I know it's good to have little breaks- but I have missed you all. Promise.

So what has been going on? I blogged a couple of posts ago about teenager's dislocated shoulder. Turns out ( when he got his check up) that he has to stay in his sling for three weeks, then have physio for six to eight weeks, then three months 'off' sport. And then perhaps ( says the doctor) he will have to give up rugby altogether.
Very disappointing for him, but he is bearing up well and we have lots of ideas about how he can keep his fitness levels up in the meantime. I love this saying:

"It's not what happens to you, it's how you react to it that matters". Epictetus

Meanwhile, the exchange visit continues to go like a dream. Our visitor is a real delight and fits in so well with us. I will be quite desolate to see him go- I bet he can't wait now to see his family and friends, and the sun!! We have tried to do a bit of sight-seeing, some bowling and eating out, some visiting of friends. It has been lively, and busy.

Work has picked up dramatically. Just in time for me to go off work for a while so I can recover from my operation. I think they call it sod's law ( is it only in the UK that we have that saying?)It comes ever nearer,and I am so glad that it is nearly here. Hurray.

I have been getting up to speed on how to use Face book, Linked In, and Twitter. It is a steep learning curve but great for the business. Very consuming but gets easier with practise.

So with catching up with my friends, working, shopping and cooking, sight seeing, hospital appointments and Church activities: all in all a busy time, but very enjoyable.

I still haven't posted some recent photos-but I will get round to it.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween everybody. Hope you all have a spooky time. We are going out for dinner ( no fat and no wine for me- that's terrifying enough in my opinion but not long to go now I suppose............).

We have had a good day Lake District sight seeing with our lovely Australian exchange student. Fabulous autumn colours and spooky Halloween mist. Hope to show you some pictures tomorrow.

It's confirmed

The call came today. My operation to get rid of the evil gallbladder is in the diary. It is confirmed as November 11th. Two weeks time. I go in -have the operation- spend one night in hospital- and come home.

I never thought I would be excited about an operation- but I just can't wait. I pray it all works out ok.

Blood sports

My poor boy has been in the wars again. After scaring me recently with a potential broken rib incident, he decided to dislocate his shoulder on Sunday. X rays, laughing gas and a sling later and we are back on course to normality.

Is he particularly accident prone? I hear you all cry. Is he clumsy? Is he just unlucky?

No

He plays rugby. Enough said.

It is a true blood sport.

I think you have to be a little mad to play it frankly.

Daddy - how was I born?

A little boy goes to his father and asks "Daddy, how was I born?"

The father answers, Well, son, I guess one day you will need to find out anyway! Your Mum and I first got together in a chat room on Yahoo.

Then I set up a date via email with your Mum and we met at a cyber-cafe.

We sneaked into a secluded room, where your mother agreed to a download from my hard drive.

As soon as I was ready to upload, we discovered that neither one of us had used a firewall, and since it was too late to hit the delete button, nine months later a little 'Pop-Up' appeared that said................

YOU GOT MALE!

We went to the Trafford Centre yesterday in Manchester and a good time was had by all. Here is a lovely pic of teen and his exchange partner outside Selfridges. They went to the cinema, went shopping and had KFC. Teenager heaven?

Other half and I went to Yo Sushi, bought some birthday presents and pottered around. It was very busy, very hot and very wet outside. Reminds me not to venture back on a Saturday now til after Christmas.

Teenager is proudly wearing his Newcastle United top. After all, they are top of the Championship table

Wednesday update

First of all and before I forget. Why not hop across to Pond Parleys today to have a look. Co written by Expat Mum ( see blog list) and Mike Harling it's a great read, exploring the special relationship and differences between the UK and the US. Enjoy. The current host culture post is great fun.


All is going pretty well here. I couldn't say I would give it a ten out of ten, but it's a whole lot better than last week's 'tough week'. Teenager and exchange partner are still having a great time. On half term holiday, and enjoying the chill out. Sleep in late in the morning, late breakfast, late lunch etc, hang out with mates when they get back from school ( teenager gets two weeks off at this time of year for some obscure reason- other local schools are still working this week). They have had a few outings too. Yesterday to Kendal, the other day to the cinema, and tomorrow ( cue large sigh from me) a trip to Blackpool. At least we will get to see the famous Blackpool illuminations.


The weather is hugely disappointing this week. Damp and cold. It has been pretty well behaved recently so I hope it is just a pre- Blackpool blip.

Digestively things seem to be pretty calm I am delighted to report. I seem to have got the diet cracked and have found things that seem to suit the gall bladder well. It's very boring but better than pain. No confirmation on the operation yet...it seems to be creeping ever further towards Christmas. Speaking of the latter ....it has hit bigtime over here now. Cards, wrapping, three for two gift sets and baubles galore ( and it's still only October-sigh).

what on earth?

Apparently, this is a bridge of teenagers. A competition to see how long they could stay up. Just after this the bridge collapsed.
My teenager is in the middle! Taken on the recent Duke of Edinburgh trip.
Our lovely Australian visitor ( on the right) must think we are all quite mad

a tough week

Folks- it's been a tough week. I am sure you have all had them. Sometimes we have a month of them. Sometimes even a year of them. Had that experience?

But it's been interesting and I have learnt a lot. It hasn't been wasted. That's one thing I have learnt over the last forty odd years: life can be damned difficult, and painful, but there's always something to learn if you are prepared to look for it.

To encapsulate. First of all, after my lovely day on Monday on which I felt great, I started to feel poorly and tired. Learning? I just went with it and rested when I could. I am waiting surgery, and I just need to be patient and manage on a day to day basis as best I can.

Secondly, I found out my operation has been put back a week, so it's now mid November rather than at the beginning. And it's not confirmed yet. Learning? Patience. There are folk in a lot worse of situation who need the slot. I will manage. It will pass.

Thirdly, I have had really tough news on a few friends of mine and their health. You know who you are. I am praying for you and sending positive energy. Learning? I am reminded how important my friends are to me and how much I love them. And that life is really painful sometimes and how we need to support each other through hard times. I have also learnt just how important my faith is to me, and how much strength I get from it.

And finally, we got disappointing news about a piece of work that we hoped to get and didn't. We will find out why on Tuesday. It has been a tough week in the business generally: waiting for answers, waiting for decisions, lots of hope and interest but not the action we had hoped for yet. We are opening our own training room soon, and it is a big step and a marvellous opportunity, but with any big step its a challenge. Exciting and scarey at the same time.

Learning? Where do I start? How much my attitude has changed in the last few years. I think bigger, I think more creatively, I am more bullish, I have real confidence in what I can do, what other half can do, what our wonderful team can do, what the business can do. And I have learnt from the past that playing it small often brings you what you are trying to avoid. Trying to stay safe can be dangerous. Keeping it small can keep it vulnerable. And also that it's ok to fail, as long as you are trying and learning and doing your very best.

I am re-visiting my old favourite book of business and personal effectiveness: 'The seven habits of highly effective people'. For me, it's still the best and it is incredibly inspirational. If you don't know it, I highly recommend it.

Pea's birthday party

What a great post- if you need cheering up visit Pea. If you like sweeties and cakes all the better.

All the best people have their birthdays in October -discuss.

Happy Birthday to me!

I was 45yrs old yesterday and to celebrate ( remembering I can't drink or eat delicious goodies) I decided that I would like to go out for a walk in the autumn sunshine. We went to one of my favourite places in the world: Lake Ullswater. Check out the pictures below- what a delight and a privilege to live so near such wonderful scenery.

We walked about 4 miles altogether which I was pretty proud of considering my rather shakey state of health. It felt really good being nearly five stone lighter. Just call me a mountain goat. I climbed up a stile to take this picture of my other half: no wonder he is smiling so much seeing me up there!
If I could live anywhere it would be Ullswater because of the scenery, but it's pretty remote for a family with an extroverted teenage boy who loves to see friends and play sport.

Perhaps it would be a little remote for me too if I am honest, but you have to admit, its beautiful isn't it?

When I was having my cancer treatment and feeling very low, I used to shut my eyes and imagine myself looking out on this view and breathing in the fresh air.

It was a wonderful feeling to actually be there after all that imagining. The weather was perfect for walking. Sunny and warm at times, but with a chilly wind to keep me cool ( check out the pink fleece- bought this year in San Fran Cisco- it is freezing there!).

Next time I would like to do the whole of the Ullswater shore walk- about seven/ eight miles with some rugged terrain. Will have to work towards that as a goal.

Had a lovely birthday and had a very happy time. Lots of flowers, cards and wonderful gifts. I feel very blessed and happy. Thanks to all of you who made a fuss of me.