Narnia

Well....not quite but the Lime Walk again!!

I watched the Chronicles of Narnia over the holidays - loved it!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to my big sis Clare (Dordogne Quilter bloggy woman!)

Have a lovely birthday and hope you get spoilt rotten!!!

Lots of love,

xxxx

Green Tuesday

Wow, everyone's getting this winter vomitting bug 'Norovirus'. People are literally dropping like flies. Poor Floyd had it especially bad before, during and after Christmas. I have somehow managed to not get it so far (have probably just jinxed myself! whoops!).

Love Skype by the way! Have been having videocalls with my sister in LA and it's been great! We put mum infront of one the other day! Love the way older people shout in to mobiles or computers!! "CAN. YOU. HEAR. ME. REPEAT. CAN. YOU. HEAR. ME?" hee hee!!

I finally managed to get my dad on to his Skype last night - so we had a webchat and I was giving him a guided tour and showing him how his webcame worked! It was hilarious!! We couldn't hear each other at first so were using the telephones to talk - but were waving at each other on camera!!!! But then the phone got cut off and I couldn't get him back - so had to resort to writing notes like "PUT THE PHONE DOWN" and holding that up infront of my camera!!!! He was writing back "THE TELEPHONE?" etc....arrgggh!!!! hilarious! but then he realise his speakers were turned off and all was fine!!! Still....great fun!!!!

Very busy today preparing for the World Economic Forum in a couple of weeks. So here is a random picture of a tree!!!

Lovely mossy tree in Galway!

New Year, New Resolutions....

Remember me? I'm the one that started this blog and then didn't post for months! Ahem! Well it all turned hectic and so many things were happening at the same time, I didn't know what to write and didn't feel all that creative to be honest!

A summary of the past 4 months or so....

My family thought my father had cancer of the upper esophagus. Dad is much against doctors unfortunately and for the past 3 years has had a swallowing condition which has steadily been getting worse. We have struggled to watch him try to eat and have been gently nagging him to see a specialist. He has been flatly refusing our pleas for years and it's been tough for all of us to watch his condition get steadily worse.

Dad's views is that why be told the devastating news 'Mr Denny, we're afraid you only have 6 months left - when you can just keep going and then one day drop dead' (those of us who have been through cancer or have seen it first hand know this just isn't how the story goes).

Because the symtoms were getting so serious last Summer, we finally got through (well done Tam!) and got him to a doctor. He was sent for further tests and upper esophagus cancer was indicated. We had weeks of extremely sad discussions and it was just awful.

However, after something called a Barium Swallow (which highlights every nook and cranny of the esophagus), the consultant advised this is NOT cancer - but something called esophageal diverticula. Not at all anything like cancer of the esophagus but will be bad news if left untreated. It is in his throat and by his stomach. Anway - the relief was so huge that we didn't care what it was to be honest, it wasn't CANCER. Oh my! I cried non-stop for about a day after dad told me the outcome. I just could not take any more, nursing my husband through leukaemia, losing Davo....I couldn't have coped with anyone else I love having the dreaded C. Really.

So that was that....what else has been happening? Well, Floyd's band The Almighty are out on the road again for a few weeks later this month. I am going to stop doing The Almighty website shortly. I have been the webmaster for 6 1/2 years now and simply cannot afford to keep running it year after year. I have met all the of the costs out of my own pocket and have been running it in my spare time. So I can't do it any more. The band will now have a Myspace page instead of taking over the site and buying it off me.

It will be sad to say goodbye. I have been very passionate about keeping it running for the fans all these years and creating a great little community on the forum. The band's fans are amongst the most loyal, devoted, salt of the earth type of people I have ever met. They have stood by the band through everything, through the years - even whent he band split up TWICE!!!! Floyd and I were humbled and left stunned and forever grateful from the support we both received from fans throughout his illness and treatment. We were pulled through the whole ordeal by this sort of love and kindness. You never forget that sort of commitment. If I ever had a tough experience ahead of me again, I wouldn't want for anything if I had the support from people like the Almighty's fans.

I haven't taken so many photos - as I said, not been feeling creative but I'll start to post what I have taken over the next few weeks. My camera needs it's sensor cleaned. Sigh. Another £150 to Canon for the priviledge! Here's an old pic of mine for the time being:

Galway Roadside, 2006

My sister Tamzin just moved to LA last week, to the Hollywood Hills no less!!! Wishing Tam and Tom every success in their new life out there! As long as neither come back with any implants!!! ;-)

We had a small family Christmas in Kent last week which was lovely. Floyd and I spent New Year in Dublin with our friends there. It was FANTASTIC as always!!! Had such a good time! My friends have a new kitten which had just discovered it's needle sharp claws and teeth! So glad my arm was of use for the sharpening and target practise!

Floyd had a check up with the oncologist back in December. All was well blood count wise (and he is now 3 years in remission!!!! flippin brilliant eh!!!!). But we had a sad talk about the future and the risks of a secondary cancer later down the line. Heart breaking. But what can you do? There is no choice other than to absorb that bit of information and keep on keeping on.

We went to the Led Zeppelin gig in London last month! Oh my god that was amazing!!!! Our very wonderful friends got us tickets and passes. The show was just incredible. They played for over 2 hours and it felt like 10 minutes. The sensation of the legendary event we were at, mixed with the brilliant video and graphics behind the stage, the atmosphere from the crowd and the great, great sound of the band made it simply SPECTACULAR!!!!!! I will never forget it as long as I live and we are so grateful for our friends for even considering us for the much sought after, last minute tickets and passes.

We all went to the show in style and got to meet/chat/oggle at from across the room some pretty flippin' cool people! Liam Gallagher, Chad from RHCP, Dave Grohl, Charlie Boorman, Jeremey Clarkson, Bob Geldof, Kate Moss, Lulu, Noel Gallagher, Michael J. Fox etc etc and at the very end of the night, we kidnapped Richard Hammond and dragged him back to our hotel for a nightcap and to be oggled at by Floyd! What a dude....he really is. A perfectly decent chap who has had so many incredible experiences, as well as being a presenter of Top Gear, the guy came through a horrifying high speed crash, brain damage and lived to tell the tale.


I am looking forward to a great year in 2008 and will be updating my blog lots more in the coming weeks! I might even start telling people about it! ;-) Thanks for the nag MHC!!!!

Lots of love Soph xxxxx