Talj’s Blog

It’s been a busy few weeks!

First of all a couple of ‘messages’…

Maggie, I am so sorry I didn’t get your message until I returned. We did make it over to Abersoch but at some terrible hour just before sunrise on Sunday morning! We intend to return to Wales again in the near future so this time I will make sure we make firm plans with you to catch up!! I’ll also be over in Liverpool in a couple of weeks time to attend a few meetings so once I know the full details I’ll let you know and see if we might be able to catch up over a cuppa!

To Trevor, my good samaritan! Thank you for all your help on Sunday evening, you went out of your way for me and I was extremely grateful. You really are a star!

Now on to my latest trip!

Thursday I had some meetings arranged with a researcher and some of the people I do a lot of fundraising for. Both MBF and I had a good day and learnt a lot of interesting information which we hope to be able to use in the future. One of the reasons for these meetings were because I recently became very interested in the work done by a not for profit organisation who are leading the way in fighting for better treatments for brain tumour patients in the UK. My next meetings will be with neurologists and neuro-oncologists in Liverpool where I hope to find out details about possible clinical trials in the near future here in the UK. When I have a little more time I will try to come back here and explain a bit more about my future!

The next day we took a leisurely drive over to Betws-y-Coed in Snowdonia where we expected to be greeted by rain, however, the sun was shining and we got to spend a few hours out with our cameras enjoying the wonderful snow covered mountains and the peaceful surroundings!

Once the sun disappeared we headed over to our accomodation for the next few days. Fairhaven B&B in Betws-y-Coed is run by a lovely couple called Sharon and Simon who were really helpful and cooked a mean fry up! Sadly, I hadn’t looked into things in my usual way so A) there was no parking and B) it was 2 flights of stairs to our room! Apart from that it was a great place to stay and only a short walk to the nearest pub!

The next 3 days were spent relaxing, enjoying the scenery, taking lots of photos, watching the world go by whilst whizzing around the little lanes in MBF’s ickle car, eating good food and drinking my new favourite tipple…alcohol free lager!!

Now, I’d like to be able to share all my images from our trip but I am thinking of entering one of my shots in the Free Study over at DPC this week so I can’t show my shots until I decide which one I will be using in that!

I definitely know I won’t be entering this one though so here’s one to keep you going till I post the rest…

This shot was taken when I was testing out my macro lens at Swallow Falls whilst we waited for some Canoeists to ‘take the plunge’!

A busy few days coming up now. I need to finish editing all my Wales images before packing for my next trip and heading over to MBF’s for an early start next Friday morning We’ll be stopping over to see an old friend on the Friday which we are both very excited about and then, after a very early morning shooting the sunrise with A it’s Scotland here we come!

Hopefully I’ll get chance to post here before we go For now, hope you all have a good weekend

After 6 wonderful days I am back from my travels…just for a little while!

MBF and I had a wonderful break and we can’t wait till our next holiday…in about 10 days I think! I usually see MBF about once a month for a few days but at the moment our diaries are pretty packed with exciting trips so I am feeling quite upbeat just now.

The only slight ‘hiccup’ whilst away was that I am suffering with severe pain in my right arm which meant for the last 2 days of our break I couldn’t do even simple tasks. Luckily MBF has seen the super stubborn side of me so asked for my dinner etc to be cut up for me before leaving the kitchen etc and he helped me wherever he could with carrying my camera stuff…hopefully the next few days will allow me to recover a bit before our next little trip!

I promise to post some photos of our Snowdonia trip over the next few days but for now it’s time to catch up on some much needed sleep!

Last weekend I had the pleasure of meeting a few photographers from DPC. On Saturday I met up with Melethia and SaraR for a day of sightseeing. We were really lucky with the weather and managed almost a whole day without any rain! I thought I’d share a few shots with you all so here are a few from Saturday…

To view a larger version of any shot just click on the image

British Museum…

Melethia…

Piccadilly Circus…

On Sunday we met up with a bigger group of DPC’ers for a wander around London. There was about 30 of us and unfortunately the weather wasn’t great! However, we all seemed to have a good time and it was great to meet some new faces as well as seeing some old friends Thanks to MBF, Jedusi, Melethia and Bruce_the_Robert for helping to push my wheelchair, I wouldn’t have been able to have half as much fun if I’d been struggling to walk! Here are a few shots from the Sunday GTG…

This last shot of me was taken by Bruce_the_Robert on Sunday…

This will be my last post for a week or so as I am heading to the Wirral and Snowdonia with MBF for a few days! I’ll hopefully have some photos to show you all when I get back Happy Easter everyone

Meet ‘it’…

Click image to view larger

‘It’ hitched a lift in the jaws of one of our cats sometime during the early hours of Sunday morning. The cat likes to bring a mouse into the house every now and then but usually just eats them, this time it looks like the mouse made a run for it!

I first noticed something wasn’t quite right in my bedroom about 10pm when I found all 3 cats sat together peering underneath a cabinet next to my desk! After ignoring it for as long as possible I realised there was a good chance there was a mouse under the cabinet (

So, I woke my poor Mum up and the next 2 and a half hours saw us turning my room upside down and trying everything we could think of to catch the little #^&% but no matter what we did he was just too quick for us.

4 and a half hours after we started trying to catch ‘It’ I finally made the perfect ‘trap’ out of a cereal box and a little bit of cheese ) Sure enough ‘It’ came rushing out straigh under the box which I quickly threw down and trapped him inside…WOOHOO!

I then slid a piece of plastic very carefully underneath, cellotaped the edges of the box on to the piece of plastic, slowly turned the box the other way up and then rushed outside , in the middle of a storm, and let the little fella go!! I just hope he appreciated all the trouble I went to…I could have just let the cats in to get him!

DPChallenge is an amazing website with a wonderful community feel. There are many knowledgeable photographers willing to help those just begining, the challenges can really inspire but the greatest thing of all is the willingness for members to help those in need.

Barbara is a member on DPC and a dear friend of mine. She suffers from MS and over the last weekend she had some devastating news. Here is the words she posted on DPC:

My daughter was in a car accident last night. She is in intensive care with broken bones and a punctured lung. The prognosis is good, and her unborn baby is fine. Her boyfriend was killed, along with another friend. Please send positive thoughts to her for the healing of her broken heart.

This daughter is my oldest daughter who lives in upstate New York with my former husband. Most people on this site are not familiar with Marianela, but she is a beautiful young lady from Ecuador. Paulina will be flying to New York next week to stay by her sisters side and to help her through this. Unfortunately I can not afford for both of us to fly, but these two sisters are very close and Paulina can carry my love with her.

On hearing this many of us felt we had to do something to help get Barbara to her daughter. A fund has been started to get the cost of a return plane ticket for her. I am posting this on my blog today just incase any of you reading feel you might be able to add to the donations. If you’d like to then you can click the link below and it will take you to the donation page…

In this sceptic world we find it hard to believe whether these stories are true sometimes but as well as being a virtual community, DPC is also a place where friends and families share their photography and many members have met in real life. We know that Barbara’s situation is real and we really want to get her to her daughter.

Thanks for reading

It has just gone 1.30 am here in the UK and for the past few hours my Mum and I have been fighting with an unwanted house guest!

Meet ‘it’…

Click image to view larger

‘It’ hitched a lift in the jaws of one of our cats sometime during the early hours of Sunday morning. The cat likes to bring a mouse into the house every now and then but usually just eats them, this time it looks like the mouse made a run for it!

I first noticed something wasn’t quite right in my bedroom about 10pm when I found all 3 cats sat together peering underneath a cabinet next to my desk! After ignoring it for as long as possible I realised there was a good chance there was a mouse under the cabinet (

So, I woke my poor Mum up and the next 2 and a half hours saw us turning my room upside down and trying everything we could think of to catch the little #^&% but no matter what we did he was just too quick for us. So, we’ve given up! Which means I’ll be spending the night hoping that ‘it’ doesn’t find a way through the barricade we made!

Anyone got any humane suggestions on how to catch ‘it’ tomorrow???

Somethings come up so my planned trip to visit the hospital tomorrow has had to be cancelled I wouldn’t be so gutted if there was another weekend I could go before my appointment, but there isn’t Plus, I was ready, or at least about as ready as I thought I ever could be to face this…

Don’t suppose my mumblings will make much sense now so think I’ll just slope off to bed

Hope you all have a good weekend {{HUGS}}

I decided to do something a little bit different today! I used to love cooking but since my appetite disappeared along with my energy and mobility I just gave up! I did do a little baking last year fairy cake and scone Queen me Anyway, an old friend used to bake the most amazing bread but, sadly, friends move on and with her went the greatest loaves of bread, until today! I found one of my favourite bread mixes in our local shop and decided to have a go at making it It actually turned out just as nice as I remember it and I felt great for actually being able to do something other than sleep!

The last few weeks I have been really struggling with extreme fatigue. Yesterday was one of the worst days I have had in ages. I woke up at 10am and by 10.30 I was falling asleep at my desk so decided to go back to bed I slept right through till 4.30pm and spent the next few hours feeling absolutely awful Burning up one minute then freezing cold the next, nausea,  head pain…I could go on

Thank goodness when I woke up this morning I was feeling a lot better and the fact that I had the energy to make the bread cheered me up even more

On a slightly more difficult subject, MBF and I will be making a trip to the hospital this Saturday where I lost Damian and where I am due to begin treatment towards the end of this month. It’s something I hoped I’d never have to do again and I have no doubt that it is going to be an emotional day  Incase I don’t post here again before then I would really appreciate any spare thoughts and prayers you may have during the day on Saturday, I am sure once I’ve pulled myself together I will be here to tell you how things went.

Anyway, enough from me for now Hope you are all having a good week

Last week I received a decision regarding my Disability Living Allowance claim. I had filled forms in about a change in my circumstances in November 2007 and it has taken them till 27 February 2008 to sort it all out (why? they couldn’t say!). In the letter I was advised that the new amount would be paid from 31/12/2007. I didn’t understand where that date came from seeing as I completed the forms in November so today I called them to find out. Having just got off the phone I am absolutely fuming!

I receive my benefit every fortnight. This payment is made up of Incapacity Benefit and Disability Living Allowance is in one ‘lump sum’. I have just been told that the backdated amount of benefit I am owed will not be paid to me yet as the way benefit is paid is changing.

I have received NOTHING in writing about this so was totally unaware of what I was told next.

From next Tuesday, 10th March, I will no longer receive one ‘lump sum’, the 2 benefits will now be paid separately. That’s fine, I can understand it may be easier that way. The next bit however is totally ridiculous.

Incapacity benefit will now be paid to me every fortnight as it has been since I began receiving it. Disability Living Allowance will no longer be paid fortnightly, it will be paid MONTHLY! And to make things even worse, they can not tell me when I will receive my first payment of Disability Living Allowance.

I am fairly lucky in that I no longer live alone and I don’t have the financial hardship that many other people suffer. If my circumstances were different changing when my benefit is paid would mean I wouldn’t be able to pay for things such as a carer, someone to help with my shopping etc etc until I found out when my money would next be paid. This USELESS system of ours here in the UK needs a bloody good kick up the arse. Sitting here now I can imagine many elderly and ill people suddenly waking up on the day there benefit is due and seeing a large chunk of it missing. It is WRONG to mess around with the little bit of money that many people rely on and it is ABSURD that no one has bothered to even write and let people know what is going to happen.

There are many days when I wish that the systems in place in this country which are meant to help so many people weren’t such a shambles and today is most definitely one of those days