Monday's Air

[jaminkw]

Morning All! Ahhhhhhh--the sound of silence lol. What a great weekend. You'll have to excuse my exuberance over this Thanksgiving. We don't get to have the family together often. Many Thanksgivings even Stan was working and I'd go to neighbors and friends. Nice but not the same. It was awesome but my intestinal system is NOT used to all that fatty food--butter-laced stuffing, candied sweets cooked in butter, butter-ball turkey, gravy, and of course, pies and cakes and cookies. Oh my, it will take days to get used to the friuts and veggies again.

Stan's on his way to Ohio and I'm going to pace myself through the rest of the reorganizing of the house. He was such a help before he left so it won't be so bad. The younger guys dragged out the tree before they left so I get to fluff (hate that) and trim. I will miss Stan for that. He did a lot of the fluffing last year and put the balls on. I did all the awesome ornaments so he didn't break anymore lol.

Missed you all over the weekend. I'm looking forward to hearing about everyone's Thanksgiving weekend so hop in here, o.k. Have a great day everyone.

Judy in KW

[Alan]

Hi you guys, I know how you feel KW about the food. I don't remember Paula Deen in our kitchen but wow, A stick of butter used to go a long way. Why do sweet potatoes need any more sweet?. Plus, how are 3 people supposed to eat 2 pies and a cake? The others would have been here but lymphoma treatment started for brother in law. We were missing 3 of our usual revelers. Anyway, there were prayers for all cancer fighters at our table. The 3 of us are all survivors. We've lost too many of our family on both sides, 4 to lung cancer alone.. Then way too much football to endure. I hope all your teams won. It's unusual how warm it is here. Deer season starts today and I could hear a few shots out in the woods. I'm keeping the canine friends close. There are some nuts out there who occasionally mistake other things for deer. I don't know how. I hope more posts come in, it was empty over the weekend. Have safe and happy days all. You are all so special.

[Joppette]

Good morning.

Wow Alan, your deer season is very different from Michigan. Our bow season started in early October, and gun was November 15. Musket starts December 1. Why do I know so much about this? My husband LOL.

Now Thanksgiving was wonderful too. But I've had an umbilical hernia repaired 3 times and can not feel full because it's painful. So I didn't eat one piece of pie or cake. I had a moderate meal and was actually hungry at 6:00PM after eating at 2:00. I have to eat small and often. So that left over turkey was a blessing and so good on Sandwiches. Everyone played nice and it was fun.

Saturday was a great night too! The boys went Goose and Duck hunting that morning and had a successful hunt. I've never tried either of these birds before. So that night we had the other couple over and we had a game night. Our friend B brought trout and salmon, and we supplied the goose and duck. It was all so delicious! I didn't think I'd enjoy wild fowl game, but they grilled it, deep fried some of it, and it was very good and fun to do!

On Wednesday I meet with my Oncologist again. I've dismissed out of my mind what the ER doctor said, until now. Now that I am so close to hearing the "official" read, I have to admit to feeling somewhat anxious. The ER doc said there was growth, but I didn't ask how much. He said there were two nodules, and I didn't ask him where. I didn't want his details because he is not a professional in that area. I didn't want butterflies in my tummy for a month.

If I step outside of myself, and look back at me, I would tell myself that life is a journey. It has many twists and turns. How we handle those twists and turns determines everything. If we are fearful, then that is what we are. If we are anxious, we're anxious. If we look at it postively, no matter what, then that is what it will be. Life can only be lived one day at a time. If I stay in today, I don't have to worry about tomorrow, and that is what I'm going to do gosh darn it all

Have a great day!

MI Judy

[jaminkw]

Alan, I have to admit, I can only do small portions but I love all that stuff and did it three days in a row lol. Bad girl deserves a belly-ache.

Judy, the wild game night sounded great. I don't do duck though unless it it exquisitely prepared in a 5-star restaurant lol. It can be really bad if the person(s) preparing it (Stan and I once) don't know what they are doing. Breath deeply and stay calm til Wednesday. We'll be waiting with you. An ativan or that Z pill I can't spell wouldn't hurt either.

Judy in KW

[eric byrne]

Good Afternoon Everyone,

Gosh it seems ages since I posted,I have been keeping myself busy.I arrived at Manchester mid afternoon last Tuesday,checked in,its a lovely hotel,in the heart of the City.I relaxed at the bar with a bottle of Peroni,when my buddy Robert arrives,(18 year survivor of both SCLC and NSCLC)I put that in for Alan,since he might not have heard of me mentioning Robert before.Robert and I decided to go for a walk through the shopping centre of Manchester.It is just beautiful,all the streets and shops all decked up for Christmas,loads of shoppers scurrying about with their pressies,gosh am I the only person who insists on doing my shopping on Christmas Eve?,whats all the rush?.

Robert and I return to the hotel just in time for dinner,and meet up with other Roy Castle Advocates,I particularly liked a guy called Bill,(11year survivor)he is from Perth in Scotland,he worked at Stirling Uni as head of security until his retiral over 8 years ago,the Uni invited him back just after his retiral to join a research team as a layperson,he has been working with them two days a week.Bill was offered and accepted recently a Honourary Degree from Stirling Uni in recognition of his voluntary work for the Uni,Bill showed us pics of his graduation ceremony which was held in Inverness Cathedral,its such a lovely buiding.

The conference on Wednesday went really well,lots of infro on whats been happening in the world of LC and Roy Castle,I got involved in a work group to discuss a new newsletter publication,which will start up next year,they were looking for advice on its format and contents,I can tell you the ideas generated which if adopted,would mean the newsletter will have more pages in it than War and Peace.I don’t envy the editors task in whittling down our wish lists for contents.

I have since coming home wrote my speech for the service of remembrance “Light Up A Star” being held on the 11th of Dec,I have also been sent a reading to present to the audience,I hope I don’t end up blubbering as I read it,since it is quite an emotional piece,but really nice.Wonder if I post my speech,you could give me a crit of it,giving me your thoughts for additions or deletions?.

Well tomorrow is my clinic appointment,I should have had 4 completed now,its been over two years since I had one(I am supposed to attend every six months) last Dec the appointment was cancelled due to the heavy fall of snow.The new appointment I was given was in March,by the time March came and I dug out the appointment letter,it was for the day before.I phoned the clinic and apologised,I was told OK,just wait for a new appointment.None came,I discovered I was struck off for missing two previous appointments,one of them March 2010,I apparently phoned then to cancel without giving any reason?and this March? they tell me they had no record of me phoning in my apologies?.It says it all,having waited now for a month for word that I had been re-instated,Sally phoned the clinic,they told her about my appointment tomorrow,they were most surprised to hear,I had’nt received any notice of this.That would have been me up to my neck in it again,if Sally had’nt phoned.

Sorry about all this,I do go on when I get started.Anyway JudyKW,hope your chemo last Tuesday went well?.Your description of thanksgiving eats got my tummy rumbling,seems you enjoyed yourself.I had never heard of Black Friday before until both Randy and JudyMI mentioned it to me,then what do you know,it was all over our TV news at the weekend.Boy some people take their shopping seriously don’t they?what about that woman with the pepper spray in LA,methinks I would be giving Black Friday a wide berth.

Hi Alan,I got to agree with you about weekend posts here,its a bit of a shame,I do miss a daily read,well I suppose we are all to blame,must do better.I find the hunting of animals in the USA a bit strange,so many people seem to get involved.This does happen in Scotland,grouse shooting included,but it seems to be exclusively an upper class activity here.My older brother used to work on Lord Lovats estate,on a hydro electric dam,the job came with a house,in winter the deer came down to his garden and feed on vegetables my brother would put out,these deer were virtually tame,it seemed such a shame they were hunted.

Time to go, think I have bored you enough,Bye

[Joppette]

Eric, yeah that Black Friday stuff is crazy! I gave it a wide berth too. The pepper spray story was nuts, or maybe it was the woman who was nuts. She did this for DVD's. Really? Get a life.

As for hunting.....the upper class here may spend thousands of dollars for barbaric slaying of exotic animals in Afica to be stuffed and displayed in their homes. The middle class hunt to eat! LOL! Seriously. Our USA has so much undeveloped land, and animal control is an issue. In Michigan, we have so many deer that the car/deer accidents are out of control. So they encourage hunting to thin the herds.

We think baiting deer and then shooting them is cruel. We believe Mother Nature will allow what needs to happen, and we don't need to do this.

MI Judy

[eric byrne]

Hi JudyMI,

Thanks for your post,I can appreciate the vast land masses in the USA allow for hunting wildlife much easier than in the UK.I think every square inch of countryside here is owned by the titled aristocracy,who have "owned" the land for centuries.Its rediculous,some estates you cannot even walk through never mind hunt.These estates expect you to pay hugh sums of money to hunt on them,this they would argue is to offset the cost of maintaining the land.

[jaminkw]

Eric, how could we get bored with all your exploits. Methinks I sometimes live vicariously by you lol.

Judy, loved your class distinctions for hunting by Americans. When we were young it definitely was to eat. Our mainstay of meat was venison, rabbit, pheasant and quail. We would have been hard pressed to buy meat all winter. Now, however, Stan prefers venison to beef because the deer aren't injected with stuff that he thinks could kill us eventually. Me, I like venison but I would never turned down a good T-bone.

Stan's away and I'm online way too late. Night all.

Judy in KW