Like A Butterfly

Photo Copyright: Maggie May

My posts seem to yo yo from happiness and good things happening to the very worst. I jump from one situation to another, just like a butterfly flitting from flower to flower, drifting on the wind.

In my last post I was writing about always expecting the unexpected and I was really happy then. Suddenly my life has been turned upside down again by something unexpected and its not good this time.  I have been suddenly afflicted by really bad pain in my lower back and hip.

Before the days of cancer, I would have accepted it as sciatica because I have always been prone to that and used to go to the Chiropractor to put it right. Ever since being treated for cancer, I haven't been able to have any chiropractic treatment because it is far too risky and might break a bone, made fragile by cancer and radiation treatment. 

I wish I hadn't experienced a burst of enthusiasm last week, when I climbed the portable step ladder and painted two walls. I felt so good when I saw the transformation and had planned to paint two more. Its not as if I was doing a thorough job, like moving everything out and doing the ceiling and all the wooden paintwork. No, I was doing a cosmetic job and just lightening the walls and it was really looking better and made me feel good.

Now I have this awful pain and can hardly walk and I am obviously thinking it might be the cancer returning faster than I thought.

So, I have panicked and have brought my Oncology appointment forward by weeks and I am going today to be seen after the afternoon clinic finishes and to be prepared to wait a very long time, bring a book and plenty of Paracetamol because that is all I was advised to take for now. 

I will not find out anything today, only a scan can really tell me what is going on and believe me, the amount of scans I have had over the last two years is enough to give me cancer.  However, at least I will be in the system again and will get a physical examination and be put on a waiting list for a scan if the hospital think thats what I need. I will get advice on painkillers and such like. I have been down that road before and don't want to be doped up, but it is surprising how pain will change one's mind and in the end there is no choice. 

This post isn't meant to whinge but to be a source of therapy by writing and to be an account of what is happening to me for future reference. I regard my blog as a journal so I'm sorry if it is taken as a grumble. Its all part of the journey when I flit from one state of mind to another.

Zooming In!

Photos are copyright of Maggie May

No, I'm not collecting chains for the garden! They are so huge and these large pieces of ironmongery could not possibly be lifted without the use of a crane.

I was visiting the Black Country Living Museum recently, in Birmingham and these objects seemed to be crying out to be snapped.

This was a Skipper butterfly that I snapped sitting on the side of the house, (The butterfly, not me!) This photo could definitely not have been taken so closely with my old digital camera, so I am very pleased with this one.

At the moment my garden is full of skippers.

I am very fond of the tiles in this reproduction fireplace in our lounge! As the house is more than a hundred years old, it does fit the personality of the place very well.

Why would I want to zoom in on a blackboard, you might well ask? Well, while out walking a few weeks ago, this blackboard was propped against a house with this message on it. I thought, "If it is still there when I walk back again (from where I was going), then I would definitely pick it up for the grandchildren."

After about half an hour, it was still in exactly the same place as where it was first spotted and I picked it up and took it home. Things often get left outside a garden with a little note asking people to help themselves. Its a good way of recycling and means one less trip to the city tip.

No doubt about it, the girls really enjoyed playing with the blackboard and recently when the older grandsons came to stay, all four children used it for their art work! There were some quarrels mind you, along the way!

Maybe the strangest thing that I have zoomed in on is this pot containing another egg! I didn't take photos of the first two eggs that were left mysteriously in our garden but this one has been recently placed in this pot and I thought I would leave it and see if Mr Fox comes back for it.

If you are not sure what I am talking about click here and here.

Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed zooming in with my new camera.

Butterfly

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

I have messed about all summer trying to get a photo of a butterfly! They are so fast.

Some days I haven't got a camera handy and by the time I run in and get it, the pesky thing has flown away.

Other times I have the camera handy and there doesn't seem to be one anywhere in sight.

This time I managed to get a snap of one, but it is not very good. The butterfly is a skipper that seems to thrive for a while around my garden and surrounding neighbour's gardens. It landed on a bamboo plant.

I am not at all happy with the contrast on this photo but as I set out to photograph a butterfly on a plant, earlier this year, I don't think I will have many more visitors of this kind as the weather is on the turn, so it will have to do! Surely no self respecting butterfly is going to venture out in the cold!

Next year there will be a great picture of one!

This is my story and my photo for Photostory Friday, hosted by Cicely and MamaGeek

Half Hour Before Work!

I was busy cooking earlier when I saw butterflies through the kitchen window and I couldn't leave what I was doing.

Earlier, when the grand daughters needed me, I saw a wood pigeon having a bath in the bird bath. Two collared doves were sitting ridiculously  on the bird feeder stand, trying without success to find a way onto the sunflower seed container and the fat ball. That would have made the perfect snap.

Yesterday a squirrel ran along the back fence. However, if I were to open the back door, all wild life would panic and disappear.

I had half an hour to spare before work. I could have spent it blogging or I could have read the new book I was about to begin.

I decided to get my camera and to lie low in the garden. As usual, not a creature in sight. Just then, a butterfly fluttered over the hedge. Why didn't I have my camera open? It went further down the garden and landed on a flower! My perfect snap! This was further down the garden and I would need to scramble down the rockery and would probably risk breaking my neck as well as the camera. I went the long way round. It was sitting perfectly still on a flower. I took aim ........ Blast! It knew I wanted a picture and I'm sure it was laughing at me as it flittered back over the hedge. The birds were around as they were chattering in the trees but did not come into the garden.

I heard the dreaded clock chime the hour. I had to leave for work and marveled at just how quickly half an hour goes by.

I reluctantly left, and noticed there were bluebottles in the house because I had left the back door open!

I did take one picture while waiting for wild life in the garden though, as I got bored! I hope you don't mind a photo of my washing while you are waiting for my perfect photo of a butterfly on a flower!