Contents of a fried brain

Goodbye Sindie

noreply@blogger.com (Gary) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:01:00 +0000

Sindie passed away peacefully on Thursday 15th of October 2009.

If you would like to attend Sindie's funeral or give a gift to The Cavendish Centre in lieu of flowers, you can find details here.

We are all going to miss her.

Chris
[Sindie's brother]

Guessing Game And Broken Bones.

noreply@blogger.com (Gary) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 10:50:00 +0000

Babs (Beetle) got it right first, it's a smashing set of drink coasters! They're very cool indeed. :0)

Just heard from my oncologist last night that I have fractured my pelvis! I had an x-ray taken on Monday due to pain in my pubic bone and it turns out there's a crack. The good news is that there are already signs of new bone growth. He reckons it fractured due to me using my walking stick and walking oddly causing stress on that area. He says it's nothing to do with progression of disease and in fact the original tumour on my pelvis is repairing itself due to the bone strengthening treatment I have been having. So good news really.

I'm off now for a weekend away in the camper so hopefully I'll have some nice photos to show you on my return.

Hamburger.

noreply@blogger.com (Gary) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 09:58:00 +0000

Well, you've all had your guess and you're all wrong! This may not please you as much as it pleases me, but I love a bit of kitsch! Here's the hamburger seperated out:

I reckon this makes it obvious, but maybe not. It's a lifesize hamburger by the way.

Birthday Party.

noreply@blogger.com (Gary) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:02:00 +0000

It was Emily's 17th birthday party last night and we agreed to a house party. I was very nervous about letting it go ahead mostly because of my mum and dad and my aunties winding me up about everything that could go wrong! There could be drunken fighting....party crashers...orgies...damage to our house...in the end it all went very well with nothing more than tipsy high spirits. I told you all it would be ok! I reasoned that any friends that Emily chose would be as nice and sweet as her and couldn't possibly cause trouble, and I was right! :0P

Emily's party was neon themed and here's her make-up that I did for her:

And here's her smashing neon outfit. Please note her birthday present that she's wearing on her feet:

Here's a beautiful photo of my little princess Suzie, just because:

And lastly, here's a guessing game. I was tickled pink to buy this today. What do you think it's for? It's made of ceramic and each layer comes apart for a special purpose:

Guest Gallery Macro Shots 8.

noreply@blogger.com (Gary) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 14:11:00 +0000

And here, lastly but not leastly, is a pretty macro photo of some flowers in mum's (Sandie's) garden. :0)

Guest Gallery Macro Shots 7.

noreply@blogger.com (Gary) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:32:00 +0000

This fantastic photo is from mum (Sandie). Well done mum, this is perfick!

Guest Gallery Macro Shots 6.

noreply@blogger.com (Gary) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:01:00 +0000

Blimey, they're coming thick and fast now! Check this monster out from Paul:

Guest Gallery Macro Shots 5.

noreply@blogger.com (Gary) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:33:00 +0000

And the award for the yukkiest macro shot goes to.....Babs!:

What we need now is a macro of a spider. Anyone brave enough?

Guest Gallery Macro Shots 4.

noreply@blogger.com (Gary) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:21:00 +0000

Here's one from Tina. Poor little moth!:

Guest Gallery Macro Shots 3.

noreply@blogger.com (Gary) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 13:07:00 +0000

Here we have four more macro shots. Firstly Mum (Sandie) sent me this fantastic photo of a an orange. If you click you can see the dimples and moisture droplets on the skin:

This next one is of a cactus that I bought mum years ago and is now about three times the size. If you liked the spines on the feather Tina, try these for size!:

Here are some more offerings from Babs (I hadn't realised it was conker time yet. Sigh...the children are growing up and conker season suddenly seems unimportant):

And my favourite (because I think cabbage is most yummy!):

Guest Gallery Macro Shots 2.

noreply@blogger.com (Gary) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:06:00 +0000

These two beautiful and very professional shots were taken by Bry who likes wander round Lincolnshire very early in order to catch the early morning light. Click on them both for a bigger view. Look closely at the spines on the feather and the 'seedy bits' (what are they called?) in the anemone. Aren't they wonderful?:

More please!

Guest Gallery Macro Shots.

noreply@blogger.com (Gary) — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 16:43:00 +0000

Here are the first of my 'Guest Gallery' macro shots.

These first two are from Emily. She took them at college where she is delighted to be taking photography as one of her subjects:

These two are from Babs who has always been a bit of a whizz at photography. This first one is Sukie. Look at those beautiful eyes:

And this is Mitzi. I love this photo. Take a look at those marvelous fangs and if you click on the photo you can even see the spines on her tongue. Wonderful!:

Anyone else want to send some macro shots?

A Study of Arthur

noreply@blogger.com (Gary) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:09:00 +0000

Just for want of something to do, I decided to share Arthur with you today. He's my constant companion and is always by my side to look after me. He sleeps with me at night, sleeps with me during the day...in fact he probably sleeps through his dinner too!

Here's a macro shot of his paw which I have to kiss, even though it's jolly unhygienic!:

And here he is in his favourite position, belly up for luvvahs. I kiss that too:

Here he is being shy and demure:

And lastly, check out his 'airbrushed' nose:

All of these are clickable and the nose and paw were taken with macro.

London Trip.

noreply@blogger.com (Gary) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:48:00 +0000

Firstly, thank you for all the lovely comments from my last blog welcoming me back into Blog Land.

So many people have asked me to blog about London and I wasn't really in the mood to. But I've given in because Emily downloaded all the photos for me so I didn't really have an excuse! First of all, here are a few photos to cheer you up on this awful rainy day. Here is a vase of the orange Lillis that grow in so many of our gardens. They're often seen outside, but it never occurred to me to put some in a vase until now. It's like I brought a little bit of sunshine into the house:

And this is Emily's first day at college. She does make me laugh! What a get-up!:

Now for London. We had the most amazing time. This is the first hotel that Dawn got us cut-price:

We forgot to take photos of the hotel that The Willow Foundation got us, but they also set up £150 room service for us which we didn't manage to spend. Emily and Livvie did order an apple pie and ice cream and a fruit salad at about 11.45pm and then snitched all the chocolate out of the three mini bars! Here's all of us when we first arrived in London at the first hotel:

On the Saturday we spent the day at Camden Market. Livvie's head was swivelling and her eyes were on stalks! There were 12" mohicans, multiple facial piercings, 80's disco divas and every fashion trend from the past 60 or so years walking about. I thought it was quite hysterical that fully grown adults would dress in such ways!

On Saturday evening two chauffeur driven cars came to pick us up to take us to Planet Hollywood (a restaurant). Here we were given a £180 meal allowance. Here's me and Gary not looking too happy...but honest, we were!:

And here are my beautiful girlies acting like right plumbs:

Please notice Emily's new dress that she bought from Camden Market. Apparently she looks like a rock star here. After our meal we walked the short distance to the theatre to Hairspray. That was SUCH fun, even Gary loved it!

The next day we had an appointment to go on the London Eye. Again we were picked up by cars and this time driven to the South Bank. It was chucking down! The view wasn't so great. I think you can just about see Big Ben sprouting out the top of my head:

We had decided that we had so much fun at Camden that we'd go a second time instead of going to Covent Garden as planned. The trouble was it was still raining hard and I was feeling the cold sat in a wheelchair so I bought this rather fetching plastic poncho to cover me up. Isn't it smashing?:

We had such a fantastic time in London and The Willow Foundation were more than generous. It is definitely an experience that we wouldn't have otherwise been able to afford and I am so pleased that the girls in particular had such a fantastic time. :0)

Golly, It's Been a Long Time!

noreply@blogger.com (Gary) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:29:00 +0000

It's been so long since I last blogged! That's mainly because I don't want to bore people with illness related stuff. It would have been all about scooters, stair lifts and wheelchairs.

Today I have something mildly interesting to blog about. The builders have arrived and are finally building an end wall in Emily's garage bedroom. As usual it's chaos. All the packing up in boxes and trying to store everything somewhere.

Here's my lovely lounge, now turned into a bedsit:

Added to this were the horrible rows with Emily as she's SO lazy and had every excuse under the sun not to pack her bedroom up for the builders. This of course caused me no end of stress, but else can I expect from a teenager? Aren't all teenagers the same? :0)

Here's the progress in the garage so far:

Yesterday morning while I was having a little nappette, this appeared. Goodness knows how they didn't wake me delivering this lot!:

I shall of course keep you updated on the building work, but alas, there will be no beautifully decorated room at the end of it. Emily is such a slob that we are refusing to decorate the room for her! Until she can keep her bedroom reasonably tidy for six months, she's going to have to live with bare plaster! Oooh, I'm such a ruthless mother!!!

CRASH!

noreply@blogger.com (Gary) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:23:00 +0000

Firstly, here's a short video of me on my new scooter as promised:

Whilst out with dad and Pickles today I had the most spectacular crash on my scooter! Dad was egging me on to 'off road' down a steep, grassy path and I said no. Somehow though, I accelerated at full speed down the slope, tipped sideways and ended upside down with the scooter on top of me. I winded myself and had to lie there in thick thistles, upside down while dad pulled the scooter off me. I had to lay there a while to recover. I think all I did was bruised my knee and pull some muscles in my chest. I broke the brake lever off the scooter. I wonder how much that will cost to replace? Oh well, it could have been so much worst, think of Ozzy Osborne!

Oh and a little bit of good news; today they took the marks and tape off my upper back because they said they had done with that bit. That surely means that my throat and mouth can now start to recover? The doctor said it will still be a couple of weeks from now, but I wasn't expecting the radio' to stop on that bit till Friday so I'm quite pleased about that!

Fat Steroid Face and New Scooter.

noreply@blogger.com (Gary) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:10:00 +0000

Look at my face! To my eyes I am now unrecognisable to the Sindie I saw in the mirror only a month ago. Bloody steroids have puffed me up like Joan Simms! Look, here's a most recent photo from a few months ago where I was actually 10lbs heavier than I am now:

And here is my steroid induced fat face today:

Look at those cheeks and fat neck! AND I am 10lbs lighter in this photo may I remind you !(diet's going well.) Oh well, I should be coming off the steroids in a few weeks time and lets hope it all comes off quickly.

I am doing quite well walking around in the house at the minute. The numbness has all but gone and I can get around holding onto things and for longer distances with the walking frame. Radiotherapy is torturous for my throat and mouth. I have ulcers I could fit my fist in and my throat is keeping me awake at night. Oh well, Friday is my last day at radio' so after the weekend I should start to see great improvements in my mouth and throat.

Next Tuesday is Emily's prom so today she's coming round to mum's for a final dress fitting. She bought a spangly new red bra to go with her dress, so today I have to make some straps for her dress and maybe a little wrist bag for her phone and camera etc. I also have to sequin up her little top hat. :0)

I received my new super-duper three wheeled mobility trike a few days ago. It does what it says on the packet and it roars up those hills and ditches and across grassy hills and up and down kerbs. Absolutely brilliant it is! I shall pop a video on as soon as I can for your delectation and delight.

4th July is our outing to London care of The Willow Foundation. Not long to wait now! For those of you that don't know, me, Gary, Emily, Livvie, Dawn and Glen are all going to London, care of the foundation and staying in a swish hotel, seeing the stage show Hairspray, seeing all the sights and all travel, food and expenses are paid for! I phoned today to advise that I was now in a wheelchair and they said it shouldn't make any difference and that they'd try and swap the Hairspray tickets to suit. I am getting quite excited now!

That's all for now. I shall put a video on of my new scooter ASAP. :0)

Physiotherapy Band

noreply@blogger.com (Gary) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 07:07:00 +0000

Yesterday the nice physio lady came up to see me to sort me with some exercises. Although I have a nerve and not a muscle problem right now, my muscles will waste if I don't use them so I need to keep on top of it don't I? The exercises are quite small movements using a big resistant rubber band, but I can certainly feel them working. It's quite empowering doing something for myself! I am doing them three times a day and I am also adding some arm exercises as I'm having trouble sleeping on my bad side due to carpel tunnel type problems. I might actually ask the physio to furnish me with proper exercises for that when I next see her.

Even though I got zero sleep last night because they forgot to give me my sleeping tablets, i feel quite bright and breezy and hugely encouraged by improvements in my legs. I am still very unsteady and will need a wheelchair, but I'm rather hoping to ditch the Zimmer frame for home use.

Today I am going to force myself to do some preliminary sketching for a new quilt. Gary bought all my pens and paper etc last week and I haven't touched it. I just need to force myself. You know ow it is when you're bored. Boredom breeds more boredom and then you can't be bothered t do anything! I shall of course keep you updated with any progress.

I am most uncomfortable talking about myself like this, but I know I shall be in trouble f I don't keep everyone updated, so you can stop nagging!

Bright and cheerful in Sheffield on another beautifully sunny day. X X X X X

Stuck In Hospital!

noreply@blogger.com (Gary) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:58:00 +0000

Well, here I be, languishing in hospital again. This time I've been in for a week and will possibly be in for another couple yet. I had a creeping numbness in my legs and when it got to my waist I phoned my oncologist and he wanted me straight in. At first he thought it may be a drug reaction, but it soon became apparent that the cancer had spread into my spinal chord and was noshing on the nerves. By the next morning my right leg was dead and I couldn't walk so now I am confined to a wheelchair. Anyhoo...the upshot is pretty strong radiotherapy to my entire spine which is pretty tiring. It's hot and muggy and boring in here and did I mention BORING? I've been having lots of visitors and phone calls though. I have sewing and reading and laptop and TV, but I'm too tired to be bothered with it all really.

Today mum and dad and Gary came and we had coffee outside in the gorgeous sunshine before heading off to radiotherapy at another hospital. Not sure why dad's pulling that awful face!!!

I am having to stay in hospital until my house has been adapted for wheelchair, stairlift and ramps etc. I may ask my oncologist if I can at least go home to mum and dad's for the weekend as I don't have treatment then. I miss my family and little doggy so much!

I shall endeavour to keep you informed of anything interesting that happens. So far it has been dull, dull, DULL! In the meantime, I think that just possibly, maybe, there might be a slight improvement in my leg, so fingers crossed. :0)

Oh and of course now poor dad is having to decorate the bedroom and hall at break-neck speed in order to get me back home. I was SO determined to do most of it myself this time. I was even up a ladder stripping wallpaper only last Monday before all this happened. :0(

New Bedroom

noreply@blogger.com (Gary) — Sat, 24 May 2008 17:00:00 +0000

A couple of weekends ago I laid on the bed and watched hubbiest dismantle the horrendous dated swinging (yes swinging) wardrobes and also the built-in boiler cupboard. All the contents of the wardrobes are now in cardboard boxes in the lounge. After this was done it became apparent that the ceiling would need re-doing and the wall in the corner would need re-plastering. We got Eric in to do it as he's done work for both me and Babs and he does a very good job. He matched up the existing Artex on the ceiling which is obviously hundreds of £'s cheaper than re-plastering. He's done a great job and I don't think it will notice once it's all been painted. He also re-plastered the whole wall when he only quoted for doing the corner. :0) So here's where we're at:

Notice the rubble in the corner which I have yet to clear up!

This afternoon we went and spent over £1000 on new bedroom furniture. Ooooh, what a treat! It's all on a loan though, so we'll be paying it for the next five years. Ho hum. It's jolly nice though. Because our antique headboard is walnut we chose a walnut bedroom suite. Not that it will match at all though! Still, we made the effort. :0) Here's what we've bought:

http://tinyurl.com/5hkbs7

It's being delivered on 20th June so I have a month to get the bedroom decorated. That's more than enough time. We nipped into B&Q for some wallpaper samples while we were out. Here's what we came home with. My fave is currently No.2. I think it goes best with the bedspread. I don't think No.3 goes at all as it is too orangey. This loud paper is only for the bed wall, all the other walls will be in a much calmer colour!

Nothing else to report. Ta ta!

Drugs, Regrowth and Creativeness

noreply@blogger.com (Gary) — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:17:00 +0000

The bathroom is finished at last. The only things I need to do now are to varnish the boxing-in that hides all the pipes and to put my new towels in. I have bought the new towels but I am resisting using them until I get a second set. All the towels I have at the moment were ruined when we had the building work done. Everything was so filthy that they got stained with the constant hand washing. Anyway, here's a peek of the bath wall with a new art thing. It's a wall plaque that was plain black and I painted it to match everything:

Here's some more creativeness. We did this in craft class this week and I can't for the life of me figure out why?!!!

It's called napkin decor. You basically cut out a pretty picture from a paper napkin and then glue it on a candle or soap. Obviously there's more to it than that what with all the special stuff you have to paint on the candle first, but....well...I don't really get it. Once you've done it you're not supposed to burn the candles, they're for decoration only. Our teacher, bless her, loves it and has these things all over her house! Hmmmm. Still, I enjoyed doing it though and the companionship of the class is lovely. :0)

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Billy Bonsai is clawing his way back from the brink of death. Look at him now:

He has green shoots coming out from everywhere.

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Thought you might be interested to see how many tablets I take daily. At the moment I'm up to 40 a day! I used to be someone who didn't like to take paracetamol for a headache. Sigh.

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I'm going shopping with Emily this afternoon to try and get her some jewellery for her prom. Her red dress is in the shop getting taken up to a short length and she's now after white chunky plastic jewellery. Her shoes are white with red hearts and red bows at the back. She's hired a black Hummer limousine like this: http://tinyurl.com/6pr7at for her and all her friends. How cool is that?

MRI Results

noreply@blogger.com (Gary) — Sun, 11 May 2008 20:51:00 +0000

Dr Manifold said that the report showed 'nothing significant' and that the tumour was not compressing my spine. Therefore we can assume that it is my medication that is causing the numbness and tingling. I now have to cut down my medication again. Today is my first day and already I'm feeling lousy. It is yet to be seen if the numbness will go away. Still, at least the tumour hasn't got any bigger. :0)

Red Buttons, Bathroom Tiles and MRI

noreply@blogger.com (Gary) — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:33:00 +0000

Daddy has more or less finished decorating and tiling the bathroom. The thing is, he ran out of tile spacers. I had an idea and after shuffling around in the craft room for a few minutes managed to find enough matching red buttons to do the job! Doesn't it look nice? Far better than those nasty white plastic crosses that they use! :0) Also, look at my new tiles:

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Today I went for my monthly bone strengthening infusion at the hospital. While there I told Dr Manifold about my numb feet. He said it could be one of two things. Either my medication or the tumour on my spine is pressing on some nerves. To see one way or the other he sent me down for an MRI scan. I've never had one of those before. I laid down and was put into a big tube. I say big but it was only just big enough for my fat bum! Then I had to wear headphones as the machine is so noisy. The scan took about half an hour and I had a nice little snoozy-poozy as is was being done. There is one thing that I have been thinking of, up until now it has been assumed that the little shadow that was seen on my spine on the bone scan was a tumour. there has been no real proof. I suppose there is a slight chance that this scan would rule that out. Maybe I'm just dreaming, but by tonight I should get the phone-call to tell me one way or the other. I'll also get to know if there's anything else going on in there. Of course I shall let you know the results...

Bonsai, Chain Stitch and Decorative Art & Weight Loss

noreply@blogger.com (Gary) — Tue, 06 May 2008 19:19:00 +0000

A few days ago I noticed that Billy Bonsai was looking a bit thirsty, the trouble was I didn't know just how thirsty he was! When I took him off the shelf and placed him on the table, every single leaf fell just like they would in a cartoon. PLOP! Here's what he looks like now:

Then after watering him for a few days I noticed a tiny green sprig. Can you see it?:

Hopefully he'll recover fully. I'm so ashamed. :0(

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Last week in craft class we did decorative painting. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. When the tutor showed us what we were going to do, everyone said they couldn't do it, but once you get the hang of the technique it's actually quite easy! Here's what I did:

And this is my favourite:

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My new project isn't really getting anywhere. I think it's the wrong sort of project for me, too grown-up if you like. I much prefer doing character portraits. I think I might leave this one and start another. Here's what I've done so far. This is fused applique ready to stitch:

And here's the tiny chain stitch I have done so far:

I think I'll do my own version of this, but with me and Gary as the main subject:

http://tinyurl.com/6ecpdq

I think this is much more my thing don't you? :0)

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Last week I lost 4lbs and this week I lost 4lbs too. I am so thrilled. I really hope that this diet continues to work. I'm finding it ok and don't feel deprived at all. The trouble is, my shopping bill has literally doubled! It's because of all the extra fruit and vegetables. I'm not we can continue this way, but we'll see how it works out.

Craft Classes And Suzie's First Walk

noreply@blogger.com (Gary) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:42:00 +0000

Three weeks ago me and mum started some mixed art classes. Little did we know, until we arrived for our first class, that we would be working towards a qualification! There are two parts to the 20 week course. At the moment we are doing NCFE Paper Crafting level 1. We are now officially students of Rotherham College and are now entitled to Student Cards which gives us healthy discounts on all sorts of things. After doing this weeks subject 'Paper Quilling', Mum leaned in and asked me 'Do you think anyone ever fails this course?' That set me off giggling as I replied 'You'd have to be some kind of mega idiot to fail!' The course is...how can I put it.....easy on the old grey matter! We're enjoying it though and I guess that's the main thing. :0) Next week is 'Decorative Painting'. I expect that will impress us a bit more as the finished result looks quite good. I'll keep you informed of how we're doing.

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Although Suzie has been allowed to go out for a walk for a week or more, we haven't had much success so far. Livvie took her out a week ago and Suzie point blank refused to walk on the lead so Livvie ended up carrying her for over a mile! Since then however, due to my training schedule, she has been doing reasonable well on the lead so I took mum and dad up on their offer of a dog walk yesterday afternoon. Here's Suzie starting out. There are so many sniffs and smells on the ground, she loved it!:

She walked very well indeed and I was very proud of her. Here's a short video of her playing fetch with mum:

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Puppy Training - Day Four

Well......Suzie is managing to do most of her wee-wees and poops outside, but that's only because I take her out so often. The minute I let my guard down, she does it in the house! I reckon this is going to take far longer than one week. Oh well, I am dedicated to the cause and willing to do this routine for six months if I have to! At least summer is coming up. This morning I was standing in the garden at 6am with the dog on a lead and me in my dressing gown in the pouring rain. You'll also find me there at 11pm with dressing gown on and the addition of a torch. Other training is coming on well though. She's excellent at night, in the bath and when I groom her. She sits on the sink unit (I can't bend down) as good as gold while I tug all the knots out of her moustache and beard. Then she sits patiently while I brush her entire body and then comb her hair and put her top-knot in. She's also good at travelling and when I say 'in you go' she hops into her crate and sits like a good girl while I fasten the door shut.

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Diet -Day Four

I have been stunning, stupendous, incredible, wicked, wonderful and also jolly good so far. I am eating a tonne of fruit and veg and salad and only smattering of anything else. I have been going by the book. I must admit to being hungry most of the time, but that can't be a bad thing to feel after nearly four years of being stuffed! I have to stop feeling sorry for myself and making excuses. I need to lose weight for my own good. I can just imagine how much easier I would be able to get around if I dropped 3-4 stone.

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At the moment I am listening to Livvie and her band having band practice in her little bedroom. It sounds quite good actually. :0) It's very rocky, like every other teen band I've ever heard! :0)