Countdown 7

This time next week, we will know the outcome of Steve's next hospital assessment, so we will either be celebrating or gearing ourselves up for more treatment.  To take our minds off things today, we tried a bit of retail therapy. Well, the weekly food shop to be precise and an unsuccessful present shopping trip, so more stress than therapy as it turned out.  


However, we did manage to print Christmas cards and letters this afternoon.  Maybe by the end of tomorrow we will have written and posted all the cards to our friends in the UK and moved a step further forward on festive preparations...

Countdown 8

The continuing story of the kitchen sink drama has provided today's distraction from Steve's impending hospital assessment in eight days time.  But I pleased to report that after a hiccup this morning, it's all up and running smoothly now.  Just the aftermath to clear up.


We've even managed to fit in printing some more Christmas cards, so...progress on the festive front!


What will we do tomorrow to avoid getting stressed about Steve's assessment on 15 December?  

Countdown 9

To distract himself from getting stressed about his next hospital assessment in nine days time, Steve spent most of the day in the kitchen.  Not cooking you understand, but with the upper half of his body inside the cupboard under the sink and the lower half spread eagled over the floor, with tools spread out all round him. It's not a new version of hide and seek. He's been busy replacing the old kitchen tap with a snazzy new one, so we can play with the spray attachment!  


It has taken most of the day to install the new tap, with a break part way through to go and buy a new tool to help him tighten up the fittings under the sink which are otherwise almost inaccessible.  But he's just about home (and dry, I think) at last.  We now have water again in the kitchen, but re-fitting the waste pipes will have to wait until tomorrow, so nothing must go down the sink in the meantime.  I wonder which will be the first of us to forget......


Apart from playing the role of plumber's mate (which can be quite stressful!) I distracted myself by catching up with photo processing, looking at the photography websites I try to visit regularly and going through my e-mails.  With the benefit of hindsight, what I really should have done is print and write Christmas cards and come up with brilliant ideas for presents.  Ah well, that will have to wait for tomorrow I think (always assuming re-fitting the kitchen waste pipes doesn't take over our time!)  At least we are making more progress on the home front....

Countdown - 10

It's 10 days to go until Steve's next hospital assessment. We are in countdown mode, trying to keep ourselves busy and not get too stressed about what we might hear on 15 December.  So far, it seems to be working....


After a bit of discussion, arrangements are in place for the Wride family festive gathering before Christmas.  Today we posted our Christmas cards and letters to friends living abroad and bought the stamps ready to post the UK cards (yet to be printed, let alone written).  Steve has made a wreath for the front door and more cards have arrived for us, so the house is beginning to look festive.  


The Christmas decorations have been retrieved from their storage space under the loft eaves (an operation which involves crawling into a very tight space with a torch, so not something I look forward to!).  There is a fir tree sitting in the back garden, waiting for when the time feels right to bring it inside and dress it up for the festive season, which we usually do a week or so before Christmas.


The big clear out continues, with yet another trip to the recycling centre - will it never end?  Still bit by bit, we are creating more space and getting a bit better organized in the process. 

OPS studio session

In all this turmoil, photography has taken a back seat these last few weeks. However, I enjoyed trying my hand at studio work for a few hours on Sunday with a lighting and background rig set up in a local hall by one of Oxford Photographic Society members, who was on hand to initiate studio novices into the world of triggers, soft boxes, ring flash, reflectors, diffusers, gels...


And there have been more images accepted in international salons in the UK and France, so I'm a happy bunny.

OPS studio session

How shall we distract ourselves tomorrow, I wonder?  

Recipes for an unsilent night and a chatty day

Recipe for an Unsilent Night

Ingredients: 

• 100 + strangers with ghetto blasters, i-pads, laptops, mobile phones, MP3 players and such like, each device loaded with one of four randomly assigned threads which bind together to form one unique piece of music

Instructions:

• Assemble together on a specified night in a dark corner of Radcliffe Square and countdown to a synchronized press of the "Play" button
• As the music develops, lead the group out of the darkness into the light and wind them through the heart of Oxford, under the Bridge of Sighs, between the high walls of Queens Lane, along the cobblestones of Merton Street and back to Radcliffe Square, stopping the traffic on the High to let them cross safely, the tunes weaving in and out of each other as people pass by or move around within the group
• Contrast the quiet Brasenose Lane with the hustle and bustle of Cornmarket and Queen Streets, where people with no idea what's going on, watch and listen in amazement as the beautiful sounds pass by
• Let everyone gather together for a brief moment in the subway so that the music echoes amplified, then lead them on out into Castle Street, past the Christmas market and into the Castle courtyard
• Simmer gently for the last few minutes as the music reaches a crescendo with everyone gathered together around the Christmas tree, then 
• Strain your ears to hear the last audible note as, one by one, the sounds die away to nothing and the night is silent once more

Cooking time and Temperature:

• About 45 minutes, in the cold

Results:

• enchanting, spell-binding, spine-chilling magic music (and a bit of exercise by night!)

Notes:

• Unsilent Night started about 20 years ago in New York
• The first public performance of Unsilent Night II in the UK took place in Oxford on Friday 2 December and it will visit other UK venues over the next year or so
• if you get the chance to take part DO IT!

Recipe for a chatty day

Ingredients: 

• Four generations of one family
• Christmas shoppers at Ikea

Instructions:

• Place Steve and myself in a car and send us on our way to Bristol, chatting about what we hope to do during the day
• After about an hour, add one son into the mix, start talking and stir gently while the rest of the ingredients are prepared
• Fill one Ikea store with thousands of noisy Christmas shoppers
• Add Steve and myself plus shopping list and heat for an hour or so until wilting gently, chatting all the time about whether this will fit in the workroom, whether to buy white or red candles, which of the seemingly endless queues to join when all the items on the shopping list are ticked off
• Return to son to rest for a short while
• When refreshed, set off for aging parent
• Simmer gently for a few hours, occasionally turning up the volume when the hearing aid fails to do its job
• Lubricate with cups of tea and add cake as necessary
• After a few hours, bid fond farewell to aging parent and dip into the home of nephew, partner and toddler daughter
• Sprinkle the lively conversation with delightful giggles until ready to spoon back into car and head back in the direction of Oxford, radio on to keep stimulated until thoroughly cooked
• Remove carefully from car once back at home, unpack the shopping and collapse on the sofa with a bottle of wine until ready to consume evening meal

Results:

• A very chatty day, with lots to discuss and ideas to follow up

Cooking time and temperature:

• About nine hours over a slow heat, with occasional grilling

Notes

• Not enough hours in the day to say/do everything
• Pick up again in two weeks time when we all meet for the Wride family Christmas get-together

Progress and a retrospective

At last - progress on our festive preparations!


Steve has designed this year's Christmas card and we have printed the first batch, ready to send overseas just in time for next week's postal deadlines.


I have written the annual news letter to send to friends we don't see that often.  Looking back at the blog, we seem to have crammed in an amazing amount this year especially since I finished work at the end of March - new places; new experiences; favourite haunts revisited; old friends reunited; new friends made - especially in the cyber world; enjoying life to the full together, while we can.


Looking back at the blog also brought home to me how fortunate we have been.  Too many have succumbed to mesothelioma this last year after putting up brave battles over a prolonged period; others fight on with determination in the face of disease progression.  Not forgetting that behind every meso warrior are families and friends whose lives are also affected by this disease.... We have also lost a close friend this year, unrelated to mesothelioma.  No one can take life for granted.  Perhaps that's the underlying reason we have been cramming it all in!


The festive season is now in full swing.  In Oxford where we live, this evening is  "Christmas Light Night".  A lantern procession will wind its way through town; there is live music and entertainment on stage in St Giles to celebrate the Christmas lights being switched on, and a big screen will be set up outdoors at Gloucester Green showing locally made films.  Many of the City's venues and institutions are opening late with special events and activities, many by candle light.  One of the Light Night highlights will be "Unsilent Night" - a promenade through the City streets, with people carrying ghetto blasters, CD, cassette and MP3 players, all playing in unison the same "sound sculpture" of shimmering bells, chimes and grand chorales - the composer's words, not mine.  Sounds amazing!

We thought we would miss the event this year, but plans have changed at the last minute and, who knows, we might make it after all.  It looks like it could be quite an evening, one way or another!

And so it begins.....

The Advent Christmas tree is on the mantlepiece in the front room, with a chocolate tucked away in every little drawer (apart from No 1 which has already been consumed).


The first Christmas card sits next to it, sent from Meso Warrior Mavis who will be having chemo over the festive season.


And so it begins, the season of festivities...We really do need to get ourselves sorted out!  


The first good news of December is that over £2,496 has been donated in memory of Ronny (Veronica White).  She would have been delighted!