Hasn’t the weather been lovely? Maybe a tad too hot for me but it’s still nice to see sunshine and blue skies! I’ve had a really good few days

On Friday I met up with K, an old friend from school. We went out for lunch and had a good catch up on all thats happened since the last time we saw eachother! Thanks for a nice afternoon K, we must do it again sometime soon…lunch is on me this time!!

Then Friday evening MBF arrived for the weekend We had an early night as we needed to be up at 7am to head down to Somerset for a trackday meet.

We got in the car just after 8am and the temperature was already 18 degrees, definitely roof down weather! So suncream and hat on and we were off! I was surprised how warm I managed to stay on the motorway and we made good time till we hit traffic a few miles before Stonehenge. We picked a bad weekend really as it seemed every caravan in the country was on the road to Cornwall at the same time as us! After an hour in traffic we finally started moving and arrived at the track about 11.30am.

MBF and I were attending the event to discuss a fundraising project with some friends which went very well! After that we all headed over to watch the rest of the trackday. MBF had lent me the 100-400 so I could get in some practice before October when we’ll be photographing a rally event. I love the lens (now I know how to use it!) and took a few pictures of the cars. Here’s a few of them…

SDG keeping the lap times!

MBF taking a photo of me taking a photo of him

I love going to these meets as all the people I have met so far have been really nice. It’s great to attend an event where you can come away with new friends and great memories

On Sunday MBF and I were meeting another friend from DPC for a stroll around a National Trust house near me. We arrived around 10 am and it was already boiling!! Being my usual stubborn self I refused a mobility scooter thing and opted to walk (hobble), in hindsight that wasn’t be best decision I have ever made!!

Despite the heat and struggling with walking I really enjoyed meeting M and we had a great couple of hours taking photos Below are some of my shots from the morning…

MBF Photographing some ducks!

So all in all I have had a really, really good few days and I’m in reasonably good spirits today Thanks to MBF for driving us all over the country this weekend and for getting me out to do some photography Now it’s back to ‘work’ for me, hope you all have a good week {{HUGS}}

Well, he’s still here which is great! We’ve had a good week together, he is settling down ok and only caused a fuss the first night after that he has been reasonably well behaved I havent had chance to take many photos of him as I’ve been a bit under the weather for most of this week, so the ones in this thread are just snaps from my camera phone (apologies for the poor quality)

He is still enjoying the view from the window…

He’s been helping me work…

And later in the week decided he’d had enough of helping and getting in the way was much more fun…

I think the funniest part of the week has been watching the positions he gets in whilst sleeping…

I’m glad I’ve got him as he is great company and I’m looking forward to getting my big camera out and taking some decent photos of him in the future

Today I went up to St Thomas’ for another MRI. I was prepared this time and confident that if I closed my eyes I wouldn’t panic! All went well in the first ’session’. The head brace thing had a mirror on it which allowed you to look out of the tunnel, sounds like something and nothing but when you are in such a confined space this little mirror is wonderful! I also got to put on some headphones and listen to a bit of music Then I had a 20 minute wait before my second ’session’, this time I went into a different scanner…this one didnt have a mirror on the head brace but still had the music…I kept my eyes closed in this one and thankfully it was the shorter of the 2 sessions so I was out pretty quickly…an hour and a half in total.

The reason I am posting is because I couldn’t help but chuckle at the following and needed to share! You are asked to remove all metal ‘bits’ from your person and place in a locker before going into the MRI room. I did that and was asked if I could leave my walking sticks behind as they could not go in the room…I said no as walking would be difficult…I didnt really understand the need to take them off me BEFORE I got onto the bed, surely they could let me walk there and then remove the sticks from the room? Apprently not! No metal allowed. This is the best bit now….

I handed over my walking sticks and was asked to sit in a METAL wheelchair whilst they wheeled me into the room where the scanner was!!!!

So, a metal wheelchair is fine but metal walking sticks aren’t? What a load of rubbish!

1980 – 2008

After an afternoon of calling him Archie I’ve decided thats going to be his name, he even looked around briefly when I said it a moment ago so hopefully he catching on!

I entered the Free Study over at DPC at the end of June with a shot I took at the zoo earlier in the month and now that votings over (I came 30th out of 470 ) I thought I’d share the shot I entered and the outtakes So, the shot I entered…

The outtakes…

Which do you guys prefer?

…all my health troubles started.

I broke my foot, or maybe I should say I had my foot broken, in the afternoon of the 9th July 2005.

Since then it’s been one problem after another and I am still waiting for the surgery I need on my foot. I called the hospital a few days ago to be told that I may not get surgery before Christmas, not what I wanted to hear. So, I decided it’s time to get other people involved. I will be meeting my MP on 24th July to discuss the situation and hopefully get the help I need to get my surgery sooner rather than later.

The operation has a 60-70% chance of working and all I want is to get it done, have the 6 weeks off my feet and then know whether it has worked or not!

So, here I am again asking you all for thoughts and prayers. I know many of you continue to pray for me after my diagnosis and I am thankful to all of you for this, I couldnt get through without the support many of you continue to give me {{{HUGS}}}

Wasn’t the weather glorious on Saturday?! After bacon sarnies MBF and I headed out to the Seven Sisters Country Park to take some photos for this weeks open challenges on DPC. We are in the UK team for the DPC Olympics (Season 2) so we have to enter 1 challenge a week for the next 8 weeks. Luckily the sun was shining and there was a slight breeze so it didn’t feel too hot!

We had a lovely drive around the country lanes to the park and then set off to the beach. I remember walking there when I was younger but these days it takes me a lot longer to get to places! The walk was nice though, lots of butterflies and wildlife, blue skies and sunshine An hour and a half later we were here…

The water was a lovely colour (for England!) and although there were other people there it was surprisingly peaceful! I find walking on the pebbles very difficult so we soon decided on a spot and started setting up our gear. MBF trotted off to ‘his spot’…

Whilst I sat and admired the scenery, which included a helicopter…

And this rather odd looking ‘thing’…

I did manage to take a shot myself for the challenge but I’ll keep that a secret for now. Instead I’ll show you what happened about 30 seconds after I had taken my first shot…

A couple strolled passed, saying hello to me, and then just sat down right in the middle of my picture The clever ones amongst you should be able to spot another little nuisance somewhere in that picture

Anyway, a few hours later we managed to get back to the car and headed up to the pub at Beachy Head for a drink and some lunch followed by a leisurely drive back home Hopefully MBF had a nice birthday and I really enjoyed the weather, company and getting out with my camera There was only one problem…can anyone guess what the days trip left me with…

Hope you have a lovely day XxX

Well, I am all moved! It’s surprising how much stuff I squeezed into one room (and the loft/garage/lounge) at my Mum’s! I’m fairly happy with most of my new flat now. The kitchen is waiting for a washing machine and at some point in the future I will get some new flooring in there. The bathroom…well…that’s the only part I am not happy with but that is going to be sorted out in the next couple of weeks with new flooring and shower area better suited for me. The bedroom is done, but, needs another coat of paint on the wall I have painted…a job for sometime in the future! The lounge is my favourite room, which is lucky really as I spend most of my time in here!

I have only taken a few snaps, most of which were on my camera phone, but here’s the before, during and after photos of my new lounge…

Before

During

After

Inbetween unpacking Mum and I did a bit of babysitting for my sisters friends 4 year old little boy, R. He’s a really lovely little boy but hard work! Mum and I had decided to go to Ikea to get a few bits that I needed for the flat and as it’s a long way round there I tend to use one of the electric scooters (dont laugh!). R sat on my knee for a little while but he kept pushing the power button right down causing us to speed up which was a bit of a nightmare! So, as we reached the bedroom section he got down…and ran to one of the beds, got in and just sat there! It took us AGES to coax him out of the first bed only to see him then go to the next one! It would seem he has a thing for beds so we tried to find the quickest way out of there! Apart from the Ikea nightmare R was great, full of more energy than Mum and I put together but so sweet! I think the best moment of the day for me was when I was trying to get off the sofa and I asked him if he’d hold one of my walking sticks…he instantly said “of course my love”…no matter how worn out he had made me it was worth it just for that little bit!

This is a shot of him watching the TV at my flat (excuse the box the TV is on, I hadn’t unpacked everything by then!!)…

It’s been a busy week even though I didn’t make it up to Liverpool. I have rearranged my meetings for a couple of weeks time which allowed me to chill out a little after the move and try and get things straight here.

I did go out to lunch with a friend a couple of days ago and managed to take a couple of snaps on my camera phone again…

My shandy!

Ploughmans

Now it’s time for me to tidy around the house a little before MBF arrives tonight

MBF

It’s his birthday tomorrow so we’ll be going out for the day to take some photos (fingers crossed the weather is ok!) and then I am going to cook dinner in the evening. I’ll try and post a few photos here for you all sometime next week!

Right, I think that’s about it from me for now! Thanks again to all of you who have been thinking and praying for me, I am sure you are helping me to keep going! Have a good weekend