Random Thursday Pics

There is nothing particularly special about this and I have much better sunset photos somewhere, but I always liked it because the 2 trees in the middle remind me of a couple with their heads together, watching the sun go down. Aaaaah....


The 'Lime Walk' at my parent's house in Kent. I could never work out how to crop this photo to do it justice, so I never did. I am sure I could make it look a little better though.



Scottish frost!

Not telling you what this picture is.....you have to guess!

Photos

I had a thought that I might make this more a photo-blog. I am a faffer. Through and through. Can't decide. I love photo blogs though and then I wouldn't have to write very much! Hurrah!

Here are some animals....grrr!!!

Still don't know if this little guy is a stoat or a weasel. Floyd had just finished his 7 months worth of chemo treatment and we were at last allowed to be more than an hour's drive from the hospital. Freedom! So we stayed at my aunt and uncle's remote and charming holiday home near the border of Wales. Floyd was still quite weak but we had a little walk down the lane to the river. I was carrying my camera and long lens around my neck and just happened to have my finger on the shutter button. I heard a rustle in the hedge and Floyd said "LOOK!!!" I spun round clicking as I went and got this. He's so sweet (the stoaty thing, not Floyd...although he is kinda nice!)

This one I called 'Floyd's eyebrow going for a walk...for obvious reasons...

Some people love this picture of a horse standing alone on top of a cliff in Galway. Actually it was having a wee. Sorry to shatter the illusion!


My mum has lots of sweet little bantams as pets. Meet the Speckles (above....)



....and the teapots (they have very fluffy feet and can't walk properly because their 'knickers' are too fluffy. They waddle!

Yeah. She looks cute now but while she was pretending to be sweet and innocent, her babies were eyeing up my camera case!



Does my bum look big in this?



Zzzz....(they'd probably just eaten a small tourist)



"Floyd can you just STOP revving the engine and find reverse...NOW!!!"

Summer? Hahaha...are you mad?

Bah. What Summer? Had a lovely hot week last week and now it's flash flooding again?! Boo... I don't think we are going to get a proper Summer this year which is really depressing.

Last Christmas, I bought my mother a huge energy light which simulates natural daylight and sunshine and...well...does what it says on the box, makes you feel energised. People use these to get over jetlag too. My mother gets awful Seasonal Autumnal Depression once the days get shorter in the winter and we lose our daylight.

Anyway, my dad confiscated it (men are like magpies when they see a gadget!) and it now sits in his office unused. I think I need a few sessions with it!!!

I haven't got much news to be honest. I have had my head down and have been working hard recently. Long hours as always. Floyd and I have working on our own little projects. I have years and years of my photographs to go through and archive. I am sorting through which ones I could use for calendars or nature postcards, that kind of thing. But as anyone who loves photography knows, you become your own worst critic and end up binning everything!

I have been adding a few new things to Davo's blog, beautiful poems that he wrote and left me to post after his passing. He had such a wonderful talent of putting his thoughts in to words. Lots of cancer patients or relatives of seriously ill people can instantly relate to them. His blog has so many hits each day now, from all around the world. I wish people would comment more though. It's that natural awkwardness when faced with a cancer patient or in this instant, someone who has passed.

I haven't told many people about my own blog here! Not sure why I haven't really! Maybe I am still just flexing my writing muscles a bit! Heh! Looch and Clare, I think I'll be back on MSN soon!

Floyd's band The Almighty are celebrating their 20th anniversary next year (twenty years!!!) and are likely going to be touring again. Cool!

There was some terrible news all across the British news stations and papers this week. According to the media a Hells Angel was assasinated as he left the Bulldog Bash on Sunday and had just got on to the motorway. He was riding his Harley along with 2 other bikers and and car had been following them (unknown to the bikers). Once the bikers were on the motorway, a passenger from the car shot one of them in the back of the head. He came off his bike and was dead instantly. The whole stretch of motorway had to be closed off. The car got away. Police have launced a manhunt. They are indicating that it was a pre-meditated assassination.

The Bulldog Bash is Europe's biggest biker festival and takes place annually near Stratford Upon Avon. The Almighty have headlined it a few times (last year was the last time they played there). The Hells Angels have been very, very good friends to the band over the years. I know nothing personally about the bad press they get. The guys I met last year and have met in the past through Floyd and the boys have been absolute diamonds. A great, very friendly bunch of bikers. Some of them helped me arrange a very special present for Floyd last year. I hope they get the murderer who did this and also hope that the biker who lost his life is resting in peace.

Talking of Harleys, Floyd and I are thinking of hiring one and touring Route 66 in the US. I'd love to go round the Grand Canyon too! We'll see if that happens!! Would be great I think!

Anyway, if we can't have a real Summer, here are some photos to remind us of what it's like....sniff!!

Soph xx

Lavender, lavender, lavender....sigh







(No-one I know likes this pic of grass! :-) I love it! Early morning dew and the warm sun on your face....lovely!)

And these are from last year's Bulldog Bash!

More wedding pics

Oops, I was meant to share/add some more photos from my sister's wedding. The camera gets more and more shaky the more wine I've had during the meal! Here are a few of them:

Yawn, yawn, yawn!

Is anyone else fed up to the 'partially erupting' back teeth (!) with stories about Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Lindsey Lohan, Amy Winehouse and all the rest who are in the press for pathetically embarrassing behaviour?

We have had Paris Hilton in and out of jail and then stating her love for God and wanting to be a good role model, we have Britney Spears running around town with and without knickers, jumping in and out of the sea, shaving her head and then and reports this week that she was loony tunes at an OK magazine photo shoot (vomiting down her Gucci dress and eyes rolling around in her head), Lindsey Lohan being arrested again and being sent to rehab, Amy Winehouse looking dangerously thin and rambling away on stage before spitting on fans and being made to leave the stage....

Pathetic. What are they in the news for again? Why do they command helicopters hovering over their houses and paparazzi following their every move? Or relatives speaking on or to CNN/Oprah/Jay Leno etc etc. Is this what defines a celebrity status these days? And people seem to gobble it all up and enjoy reading about the latest popstar behaving badly.

Do we enjoy watching them fall from their pedestals or do we actually want to know all the details so we can shout "Paris! We love you!" or "Britney forever!" from the sidelines!

I caught a bit of the MTV show called 'Cribs' yesterday where 'celebs' let the camera crews in to their mansions or deluxe houses. There were teenagers I had never heard of walking around their $8 million mansions, showing off their fleet of luxury cars and home cinemas etc.

It's sad. There are so many talentless idiots that are embraced as celebrities/supermodels/society girls/pop stars etc. I hope the 'bubble' bursts sooner or later and people get wise. If this is what is happening now, what will all the teenagers who worship these losers grow up to be like?

'Ee by gum! 'taint like t' old days!

Where is the wisdom in that?

Owwwwww.....

Over the weekend my lower right wisdom tooth decided it was missing out on this thing we call daylight and wanted to come and join us! Except there was a the small matter of my gums and other teeth being the way... ouch.

I have been on painkillers all weekend and am off to see the dentist for an emergency appointment any minute now. There is a small chance that it is infected because my face is swollen (no sniggering!!). Pants!!! It's so expensive and painful to get a wisdom tooth extracted these days! I was quoted £450-500 to get them taken out a few years ago! Outrageous.

I really hate going to the dentist. Ever since my dental surgeon accidentally injected anaesthetic into my bloodstream instead of my nerve! Gah!

Anyway, what is the point of wisdom teeth?

Almighty DVD in aid of Leukaemia Research

So for anyone new reading this blog, if you don't already know the background, my husband Floyd was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia in September 2004. He was 3 weeks away from popping his clogs apparently and the docs gave him a 50/50 chance of surviving his 4 aggressive courses of chemo. He pulled through 7 months of hell where we declined a bone marrow transplant and also where I nearly lost him to a deadly fungal infection - but made it he did.

Floyd is the bass player in The Almighty. They were a very successful punk rock band hailing from Glasgow. They formed as school friends in 1988 and Floyd left the band for good in 2000. The band parted company 2 years later.

As Floyd's treatment was ending and our wedding was drawing nearer and after much nagging and a bit of double crossing each band member, I got them all talking about a reunion in aid of Leukaemia Research. I practised my new found nagging skills on newspaper editors, rock mag editors, photographers and old music biz acquaintances and the result was 2 huge sell out shows in January 2006. One in the band's hometown of Glasgow and one in London. We raised £25,000 for leukaemia research and launched the 'WELCOME TO DEFIANCE' red wristband for the charity. This is the name of one of the band's hits and it was also Floyd's motto during treatment. The band loved the shows so much and the reception and praise they received from the fans and the media have had them reform for more shows. Last Demcember was a tour of the UK and there is talk of a new tour in 2008. The shows were so great! We honoured Floyd and had the times of our lives! The buzz from the audience was just electric!

I got a film crew in for the Glasgow show but it has taken all this time to get the thing produced and edited. It's been a long time but the band are incredibly proud to release the offical live DVD, completely in in aid of Leukaemia Research!

More info on the release is here and it can be bought online from Leukaemia Research here.

We are so determined to keep fighting against leukaemia and to see it's demise in our lifetimes. Leukaemia Research is the only national charity in the UK dedicated to leukaemia and other blood cancers and they are NOT funded by the government, even though 25,000 people a year are disagnosed in the UK. They rely soley on charitable donations but still managed to invest millions each year in to vital research. I have met many of the scientists who have received grants for the LRF and am astounded at some of the research that has just come to light. Next year will see 2 human clinical trials funded by LRF. The future does indeed look bright!

So if you are keen to support The Almighty Fund at Leukaemia Research and add to our £25,000 (I believe this is closer to £28,000 after the first week of DVD sales, please buy a wristband or a live DVD).

Floyd's story is highlighted in a clip below. I hope it works, I am a bit shaky on embedding movies in Blogger.

Proud Little Sister

I am very proud to hear that my elder sister Clare has been given the 'Charity Blogger Award' from www.writersreviews.com.

My sister Clare lives in South West France with her husband Rex and daughter Alex (my beloved niece!). Clare has a passion for quilting and shares this with a great online community.

After my husband Floyd fought for his life by battling a rare and aggressive form of Acute Myeloid Leukaemia, Clare decided she wanted to do something to help. To help the charities, to help raise awareness but most importantly, to reach out to people also fighting this dreadful blood cancer - by quite literally wrapping them in love!

The Quilts 4 Leukaemia blogging community grew and grew and grew and quite unexpectedly, Clare was soon receiving the most beautiful, handmade blocks from all around the world - from kind, generous people who also wanted to help. The colours are always red and white as these are the colours of the Leukaemia Research Fund (which Floyd and I are ambassadors for).

Clare would receive the blocks from around the world and then make them in to quilts to send to people fighting leukaemia (mostly young adults and children). My darling friend Davo was the first recipient and he absolutely adored his quilt as it was filled with so much devotion and love.

These fabulous ladies are very hardworking, caring and are doing such a wonderful thing. I am so proud of them all!

Last weekend, Clare presented me with a very special block that I had seen at Christmas time. I had told Clare that I loved it so much and it was so pretty and I was envious of who might receive it! So Clare kindly gave it to me to have framed. It was made by Hideko in Japan and
I shall treasure it.

So a big thank you to everyone who has made a block for the Quilts For Leukaemia scheme!!! (massive applause!).

Love Sophie xxx

Mr Motorbike Man

We had a break from the norm this morning when Floyd had to leave the house before me. Usually I am up very early and out of the door just as he is stirring in bed but he needed to be in work early for one reason or another.

Anyway, I was keeping busy getting ready to leave when I noticed a sheet of paper has been slipped under the door. It was a prunish message to 'Mr Motorbike Man' and was complaining that he shouldn't slam the door but put the key in it and gently close it.

We live in an old converted hospital (www.royalherbert.co.uk) and we are in a building with about 6 other apartments. We have lived there 4 1/2 years and the neighbours are all really nice actually. There are some new people on our landing so I guess it must be them.

I think in the Summer, doors seem to grow slightly as the wood swells a bit. Our door is much stiffer now.

Everyone likes to think of themselves as the perfect neightbour and I seem to have had lots of feuds with neighbours way back in the past. Floyd and I used to live in a small flat below a very noisy girl who had the TV on at full volume at 4am and used to stamp around. We are usually very well behaved so it was a bit of an awakening to get this note!

It only annoyed me because it was 'anonymous' and was very sarcastic to poor Floyd! Floyd hasn't seen the note yet. But I wrote a reply on it saying to pop round and just talk, Mr Motorbike Man doesn't bite and neither do I! I pinned the note up in the communal area by the main front door where we all share a message board.

Hope we don't get a 'neighbours from hell' situation!!!!

Wedding Belles

Wow, it's been a while since my last post. It's been a bit chaotic because I have been in France and Italy on vacation for a little while and immediately before that I had my friend come to stay with me. Then I got back last week and it was my elder sister Tamzin's wedding!

What a great day that was. Really loved it. The wedding was in the same church Floyd and I married in. It is a very pretty tiny church up in the Kentish Downs, about 300 yards down the lane from mum and dad's house.

I read a Shakespeare sonnet (the same one my sister read at my wedding).

It's so picturesque up there. My parents have a very old cottage perched on the edge of the valley and have panoramic views all around. It's my favourite place in the world. No other houses around and no traffic or noise. You could be living in any century.

My parents roof was covered in splattered eggs as apparently if you put an egg on the bride's roof, you will have good weather on your wedding day. Hmmm... My mother gently rolled an egg out of the dormer window in the roof and it sat in the gutter. But Tamzin and Tom thought they would throw them at the roof instead! It worked! The weather was great. It really makes it or breaks it up there. The location is so high up (480 feet above sea level) with no protection from the winds. So when it is sunny, it is heaven on earth. When it is raining or windy, it's awful. You need to huddle around the woodstove and go to bed with all your clothes on!

But it was great. Quite a smart wedding. I had bought a nice Max Mara dress in Florence in a sale - 75 Euros. Amazing! And we were done.

My elder sister Clare, plus hubby Rex and my dear niece Alex came over from France. Alex was a bridesmaid and looked lovely, as always. She took charge very well of the other more wriggly and younger flower girls!! :-) I will add more pics as I finally download them all!

I hate being back at work in London though. Back to the tubes, the commuting, the broken down buses. The terror threats that are meant to have us in a state of panic. Yuk.

London Calling

Back to the grind stone, sob.

Floyd and I were in Kerry, SW Ireland for a holiday with our friends who own a spectacular house there. This is the 4th time we have been in the past year and we love it so much. They are great friends too so we had a fantastic time. The house is about 3 miles up it’s own private road. It is perched on the side of a mountain and overlooks a loch – all part of their property. The mountains constantly change colour depending on the time of day and whether it’s sunny or cloudy. It is just spectacular and so calming. We also took a boat trip (in their boat) across to Dingle. We had the resident dolphin Funghie (who lives around Dingle Bay) leaping about in the surf of the boat and whizzing along next to us. So amazing. Sigh!

We left for Ireland on Saturday, 26th May and I hated going then because my friend Davo was becoming so ill. By this time, Davo couldn’t MSN with me but we had already made plans about how we would communicate when that happened. We would continue sending our home made short movies for him. His best friend was sat with him and would do the typing. I would have my Blackberry and could send emails back. So this is what we were doing for a few days. On Sunday, while we were in Kerry, things were getting much worse. Davo hated people knowing too much detail about his illness so I won't give it here. Davo died just after midnight. I cannot really describe the devastating, crushing feeling – made so much worse because he did not want to go. He was scared and wanted to be saved. He would say that all he needed was a new body, his mind was just fine. I have a million emotions and I am sure I will talk about them again here but maybe later!

We talked a lot about what would happen after he passed. We talked about whether he would be able to send a sign or not. Well after I received the news of his passing, the storm we had in Ireland just stopped. I stood at the window looking over the moonlight loch crying for a bit. Only the moon was out in the sky. Floyd was still asleep. I tip-toed back to bed and lay there crying and praying for peace for Davo. After 5 minutes, for no reason I sat bolt upright and looked over to the window. Above the loch was a huge bright star, like the North Star but a bit brighter. I just knew that was Davo and his sign. I whispered a couple of things and it brightened. I said “oh now you’re just showing off” and then it just vanished. No other stars, just the moon. I went back to sleep smiling. Davo’s best friend in Germany was with Davo when he passed. He said they too had a storm which stopped as soon as Davo died.

I miss Davo so, so, so much. He was one of my best friends and where we were in constant contact for the best part of a year, it's left a huge gaping hole. I know that he had made me a special package with a homemade video that he asked would be sent to me after he had gone. This is so typical of his kindness and thoughtfulness. Though I am sure my heart will break all over again.

I am ok. I like to turn terrible situations over to create something positive from them. I am not scared of leukaemia but I respect it's power. If sat here weeping and mourning forever, then I go against everything I promised Davo I would do. I will carry on the fight against leukaemia by continuing to be an ambassador for Leukaemia Research, working on new projects I have coming up with them and helping fundraise.

I will see this nasty disease wither and die in my lifetime and I promised Davo it would all be for him and Floyd. You can count on it.

Soph

Mid-week blues

Is it really only Wednesday today? After 2 four-day weeks I think I am struggling! It is so grey and wet outside and I seem to notice all the police sirens in London more when it is like this. I scurry along the crowded, rain slicked pavements in the drizzle desperate to get to my final destination, even if it does mean sitting in the office for 10 hours!

I had a business dinner last night at a smart, top notch restaurant in Soho called Arbutus. I had been quite looking forward to the meal but my stomach was doing backflips and cartwheels when I saw the menu.

One starter was 'braised pigs head with potato puree and caramelised onions' and the main dishes included bit of a rabbit I would never consider eating or lamb's tripe with trotters. I used to play at my friend's house aged 8 years old and we would help her mum by feeding their greyhound dogs. We had to feed them tripe and it was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen.

WHY? Can someone tell me why this food makes it to the menu of a top London eatery? I thought tripe and trotters were a delicacy which only a handful of people would ever consider eating! Most of the menu was like this. I managed to get them to rustle me up some asparagus for a starter and I had a nice vegetable risotto for a main. Phew! Off the hook!

There was a balls up with my taxi home. I ordered one on my corporate account but the driver actually kicked me out about 400 yards up the street because he thought he was going to SW18 and not SE18 where I live. His employers gave him the wrong postcode but it didn't stop him throwing me out on the street. I refused to get out of his cab until a new one had been ordered for me. It meant I had to stand on the street for 35 minutes. I was pretty peeved to say the least as I had promised Davo I would get back by 9.30pm to be online with him!!

As it happens, Floyd did a marvellous job of entertaining Davo! I think it was a 'boy's night in' :-) Well done Floyd!! The banjo playing was great!!!!

Weekend

We had an exhausting but wonderful weekend.

It was my aunt Jean’s 80^th birthday and there was a huge family get together in Hereford where she lives with my uncle.

I am so blessed to have a very large, fun-loving, warm friendly family! Floyd and I were sucked in to the sea of cousins, aunts and uncles and distant relatives we haven’t seen for years. There simply wasn’t enough time to chat to everyone. Everybody loved Floyd and he seemed to have a wonderful time. There was a big lunch in a church hall and then back to Uncle John & Aunt Jean’s to continue! We had tea and sat around in their beautiful garden (all 61 of us!). Floyd was playing croquet with some of my cousins. All I could hear was “we gotta knock Floyd out” or “right, let’s get him this time”!!!

On Saturday night we stayed in a gorgeous converted barn B&B near the Welsh border with some of my cousins. Even though we’d been up since 5.30am that morning, we were still totally up for meeting up with everyone else that evening. We went to another farm cottage where the rest were staying and sat up eating and drinking until late. Lovely. Just what I needed!

What I haven’t mentioned yet is Floyd and I should have driven to the B&B to join everyone on Friday night, as was the plan, but we wanted to spend time with Davo, my dear friend who is terminally ill with leukaemia. Davo keeps being given weeks and then days to live. This past week has seen him get weaker and weaker and his blood counts, heart rate and blood pressure are all faltering. I spend all day, every day on MSN Messenger with Davo and have done since October. Even though he has been in so much pain recently and struggling with his breathing, it hasn’t stopped our daily marathon chats.

I promised him on Friday that I would just go home and carry on messaging him from home. We would not go to Hereford until Saturday. That’s exactly what happened. We recorded some hilarious home movies on Friday and emailed them to Davo as each one was recorded. We were all laughing our arses off!! Floyd gave a ‘guide to the Scottish language’ which was great!

I had helped Davo arrange a special mother’s day present for him to give to his mum on Sunday. It was a top secret, military style operation which required sleuth like detective work from both my end and in Davo’s house. Even from Hereford, we were emailing on Saturday with ‘has the FedEx man been yet?’ ….. ‘the doorbell just rang! I think it’s him!’ etc. But it all worked out for the best possible result on Sunday!!

We rushed home yesterday and got in late afternoon. We had given a lift to my wonderful, amazing ancient relative Jock who is 92 years old. He usually drives himself everywhere but a his hip is playing up at the moment, he needed a lift home. But we still had time to hang out with Davo.

I was crushed to get news of Davo’s condition from his mum this morning. It’s not good and his breathing is much worse and he was unable to communicate this morning.

I cannot describe the anguish I feel at the thought of losing one of my best friends. But I refuse to give leukaemia any kind of victory. It tried to take Floyd from me and now it’s tugging away at Davo. It will never win because as Davo told me, it will die with him when he goes. So true. It will.

The plans we made just mock and make me sad. But the happiness, laughter, fun and love that we created always wins and that is something leukaemia will never get it’s hands on.

I love my friend dearly and send you arms of flowers and hugs Davo.

Meh.

xx

Need a Pick Me Up?

This is an article we did for Pick Me Up magazine. My goodness, what a piece! It was for Leukaemia Research and to highlight them and their work. The magazine were interested in our story and it's lovely happy ending.

It is a little cheesy and it sounds like leukaemia was a doddle! And at no time did we say Floyd's lips cracked and bled! And he couldn't eat or drink in Dublin, let alone enjoy the craic!

Anyway, it was sweet! My mother and I became a bit obsessed with buying Pick Me Up after the article came out and kept cutting things out and sending them to each other! Like the 'I Grew A New Vagina' story!!!!!!! I know.....we thought that too!!!

Anyway, here's the article.