Chicken and Flowers

Photo Copyright: Maggie May

Last week I went for the first two of my 30 sessions of radiotherapy.

I didn't really know what to expect but it seems that I just have to lie very still on my stomach, after being lined up by humans .... then the machine takes over. It moves over my head and turns round and sometimes it seems dark and sometimes not. I have no idea what is going on, and can only hear the different noises that the machine makes as it goes its own way. Nothing hurts and there is no feeling when this beam of radiation is being shot into precise parts of my body. As long as I keep still all is well. If I need them to stop, then I can raise my hand and then they will interrupt the cycle. There is someone watching me all the time and obviously someone must be in control of the machine, behind the glass screen.

Before the first session, I waited half an hour in the waiting room, but last time I was kept waiting a good deal longer than that, so it does take a chunk out of the day and its best to take a book.

The department is 2 stories down in the basement so there is no daylight coming in or fresh air and whatever they use instead of this, makes me very sleepy.

When I came home from the very first session, my husband told me that I'd had flowers delivered by hand while I was away.

I had no idea who they could have been from until I opened the little card. It was from Denise Nesbitt. Some time ago, before I knew about my tumour on the coccyx........ Denise told me that one of her chickens was leaving home and heading for Bristol and could she stay with me?

I had no idea why she'd want to leave the beautiful countryside where she'd been living........ but was very pleased to receive Chicken Nesbit into my home. You can catch up with her arrival, HERE.

Chicken Nesbitt has been looking out of my dining room window since then. Occasionally she falls down onto the netting on the rabbit run and I have to untangle her feet.

Anyway...... she seemed to sense that the flowers were from Denise and her other chickens and she had to go and have a look and sniff them!

They are beautiful flowers, Denise, and I was truly overwhelmed by your kindness.

Thank you so much.

Just proves that blogging friends, however virtual they may seem to be, can be really supportive and kind and break through the ether, occasionally.

I have had another visit from my daughter and grandsons over the weekend, which was really lovely. I don't usually see them as often as this because they live nearly 200 miles away. I must have really scared my daughter when she came two weeks ago and I was in such pain. However, she can see that things have really improved since she was last here and that must have been a relief.

As it was the Balloon Fiesta in Bristol and the weather was not that brilliant, we didn't think that we stood much chance of seeing many hot air balloons over this way. However, on several occasions we looked into the sky from our road and saw great clusters of them floating slowly in the distance and we could hear the burners as they boosted their height. Radio Bristol announced that 62 took off together.

It was naturally on our local television news and we were dismayed to see that one unfortunate lady who was sleeping in her bedroom at the time, heard a noise like an explosion and found that a balloon had crashed into the side of her house. No one was hurt and you can read about it and see the picture here.

I wonder what this week will bring?

Pecorama Gardens

Photos Copyright: Maggie May

Behind this wall is a secret place............

It is a small grotto with a fishy creature guarding it.

These are the steps that lead down to the grotto on the other side of that wall.

It is all part of the Pecorama gardens in Beer, where we satisfied our grandsons' passion for model trains together with the grown ups' passion for lovely gardens. The two things were combined. A building full of model trains for the boys to ooooohhh and aaaahhhhh over, and then a slow browse round the gardens followed by a long train ride on a bigger model train.

This mosaic was in the section of the garden labelled the Moon Garden.

Of course, this had to be the Sun Garden

All through these gardens are bridges...........

..............steps............

and little paths that seem to urge you on, making you want to turn the corner and see what other lovely display might be waiting to be discovered.

The Rainbow garden was very cleverly planted.

The froggy planter and the mosaic sword fish below were just two of the many things that we did stumble on and I really loved these gardens.

There was also a large aviary where I watched the budgerigars and lovebirds while the boys went back to the trains and there were also different play areas for them to run about and climb on.

I wonder if any of you have been there?

Spring Things

Photos copyright: Maggie May

I have been a bit set back by excessive tiredness caused by chemo and fighting off a cough/cold. However I think I definitely feel like blogging more today.

I have been trying to do other jobs though, rather than spend all my time on the computer because obviously my house now seems to be suffering from neglect.

I think that the thing that upsets me most about my recent struggle with illness is my lack of independence. I have to see a sick husband struggling to open a gift of flowers, struggling to find the right vase, not knowing about cutting the stems, removing leaves from the lower stems and putting in the plant food. My frustration in being too ill to do it myself. Feeling so helpless.

I have always done things without thinking. I have always had my health.

I have never given a thought that there is no one else to do it if I am laid low.

I looked round the garden the other day and noticed that the snowdrops are not quite as profuse as usual.

They too, have been set back by the hard winter and I have never felt so cold.

Today looks sunny and I hope that I can get out and about without knocking myself back.

Rest A While

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

These photos are copyright of Maggie May.

I often describe going to my local seaside resort and this is where we sometimes end up having a sandwich while we look out to sea. If we are lucky, the sea is right in, if not it looks miles away and leaves stretches of muddy sand.

We like being here anyway, wherever the sea is.

We quite enjoy sitting in this lovely place. On a good day, it is sunny, if not it is sheltered.

We can't really lose however the weather turns out to be. Except for rain.

Thats the one thing that would upset the apple cart.

Photostory Friday is hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek. I think it would be worthwhile to pay them a visit.

Easter Greetings

Happy Easter Everyone.

No matter what Easter means to you, whether it is just a time to relax on holiday, Easter bunnies, flowers and chocolate, or whether you are celebrating the fact that Jesus died for you and rose again ....... may you have a peaceful and happy time.

This post was scheduled to publish itself while I am away on holiday, visiting my daughter on the east coast. We shall be back on Tuesday 14th. She probably has no internet as she is switching her broadband company so will have a lot of catching up to do when I get back!

A Perfect Mother's Day Weekend

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

In England we celebrated Mothering Sunday (Mother's day) last Sunday. I am not sure if other countries celebrated it on that date or not.

I was fortunate to have my granddaughters come to spend Friday night and Saturday, along with their Dad and they returned home in time to be with their own mum/wife for the Sunday. My daughter also came over from the east coast with the grandsons and spent the whole weekend. We had a packed house and Harry and I were kept very busy.

On Saturday we decided to go and visit a lovely Garden Centre, where we browsed for much of the afternoon.

I helped the eldest grandson, Rick to buy a present for his mum. I had thought it was going to be hard for Deb this year as she didn't have her husband to organize present buying with the children, as he died the previous autumn. Rick is autistic so he really needed to have some help with present buying. Dean, the younger brother, had already managed to buy a small gift from a school sale and both the boys had made their own cards.

I managed to get Rick on his own and asked what he wanted to get for his Mum. He had no money so I knew I would have to buy a present! He spent quite a long time looking and then spotted a huge dragon ornament. It was breathing fire and had wings open. It was obviously too expensive and was getting on for a hundred pounds!

Rick understood that he couldn't buy it but was hankering after that dragon for a long time and couldn't take his eyes off it and talked about it for a while afterwards.

Eventually we saw some small garden ornaments that we could afford, as Rick was completely set on buying one of these and he eventually bought a small stone donkey pulling a basket with room for a little plant to go in the back. He was very pleased with that.

We all bought something at the Garden Centre. My son, Sam, concentrated on buying things to eat for planting in his garden and came home carrying assorted currant bushes as well as a small tub of pretty flowers for the girls to give their mum.

On our way out, we noticed these upside down plants in pots and I just couldn't resist taking a photo of them. I have never seen anything quite like them before. However I resisted the temptation to have one as there was nothing that I could have attached one to in my pocket sized garden.

It was lovely and warm over the weekend.... just like summer. This week the weather turned around and it is as cold as winter again. However I will remember that Mother's Day weekend as a really pleasant one, spent with my family, receiving presents and being taken to put some silk flowers on my parents' grave.

The love of a family for each other, is not to be taken for granted.

I feel I shall remember this particular one in years to come! Maybe I am just being sentimental.

Photostory Friday is hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek.

My Hundredth Post!

This is my hundredth post so I am awarding myself some flowers!

When my son persuaded me to start a blog in the new year, I was not at all enthusiastic and didn't even know what a blog was. I soon enjoyed reading other people's posts and left comments on their work. I was amazed when I received my first comment and was so excited.

I quickly got into the habit of writing posts. I wrote about real things close to my heart, family, friends, experiences, feelings, illness, pets, upsets as well as funny things and ordinary things.

When my new found friends started giving me awards, I thought I had it made!!!!!!

Of course my son had to set it all up because I am useless at technical stuff. Now that he has moved to his own home, I think he is really fed up with me for asking him to fix things that I can't do, when he drops the children off fleetingly, for me to take to school in the mornings, as he has to work full time. It was easy when he was a stay at home dad and living here, as I could ask him without causing a nuisance. 

I wish that I could do all the technical stuff myself and live in fear of the computer or router going wrong. I like to think that he is proud of the way I have reached this 100th post, but have a sneaky feeling that he wishes that he'd never started it!

I have really enjoyed the blogging and also taking photos to put on my posts. Adding photos was a major step forward and I have decided that I will not be using anything that I cannot photograph for my posts! I also never put pictures of  any of us on the blog. Not of our faces anyway. There's nothing wrong with any of our faces, its just a choice I have made!

Anyway, I have arrived at my hundredth post, and even if I never manage any more, it is an achievement! Thank you all for making it so!

Harry & I are going back to my daughters for 5 days. She is going through a tough time and wants us to return. As I have another week till I go back to school it is an opportunity for us to do that.

The hospice are keeping son in law in till next weekend and have suggested that they don't see each other or contact each other, so that Deb might have a bit of respite from him. It has all got a bit complicated and will not go into details about it. However, people can only take so much......

Back soon.

My Water Features!

Because my garden is so small, I don't really have space for a pond and I wanted to grow some miniature water lilies. I came across a little book explaining how to create a mini pond in a tub. There were all sorts of inspiring illustrations showing various kinds of garden tubs and containers planted up with lovely lilies, so last year I decided to plant one up and am quite pleased with the result. 

This little pool attracts damsel flies in bright red, blue or green.

It was on this lily pad that I thought I would capture a photo of a damsel. However it turned out to look like a stick and nobody would have known what it was. So maybe in the future I will be able to capture a picture of one! For now you will have to imagine it!

This is a little marshy tub containing reeds and has to be kept moist at all times. The two tubs stand side by side on the patio.

Further down the garden I sank a heavy duty bucket into the ground and put pebbles all around. It wasn't long before a frog set up home there. It is possible to attract wildlife into the garden with only the minimum of space.