casting off

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Fat Tuesday

Happy Mardi Gras everyone! Particular hello to B in Sydney who is doing the communications for Sydney's 2007 Mardi Gras season, and to dear W in Uruguay who missed Brazil's Rio de Janeiro carnival and then missed a lot of the Montevidean carnival because of the bad weather! Awwww!

Anyway, get those pancakes cooking!

Music to have chemo by

Went in to the Sussex Cancer Centre for my next dose of Oxaliplatin the other week. Part of the ritual is to have a cup of tea and a packet of cheese and onion crinkly mini cheddars from the WRVS teabar. This happily reminds me of tea breaks at work and prepares me nutritionally for my drug. Yes, it does.
PP and I had a good crack at the Guardian quick (or not so quick) crossword (an idea poached from M who did the same thing with her partner when she had chemo). I have also discovered that there is some music which is particularly suitable for listening to whilst my arm slowly starts to hurt more and I slip into nausea and fuzzyheadedness. Here is a list of 'Music to have chemo by'. If you ever have to have chemo, I recommend:

Babe you turn me on (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds)
I heard you looking (Yo La Tengo)
Jackson (Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood)
No scrubs (TLC)
My mistake (Chimp)
Movies of Myself and Crumb by Crumb (Rufus Wainwright)
Neighbourhood # 1 (Arcade Fire)
Girlfriend in a coma (The Smiths) (a bit dark...)
You should know (Assistant)
Don't steal our sun (The Thrills)
Messiah ward (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) (also dark)
Sunshowers (M.I.A.)
By the end of the infusion I feel sick and woosy, so gingerbreadmen, mint humbugs and hot chocolate does the trick.

cold treats

Starting my next chemo cycle tomorrow... I have decided to make the most of my better days by eating ice cream or sorbet every day before I have to avoid all things cold. Yesterday was Cookies and Cream, the day before was mango sorbet, and today will be caramel. Not a bad life, eh?

Snow all over the UK today, though not on the south coast. No snowmen for us, then.

Cuckfield

This week PP and I drove up to Cuckfield - it's about 15 miles from home. PP was born there, so it was nice to have a look round and also to visit my friends' craft shop. Felt like a kid in a candy store - they have a lot of interesting stuff there, and they also run stained glass workshops and card making and knitting clubs. Have already nearly finished a little scarf out of some lovely yarn.

By the way, did you know it's Woolly Hat Week this week?!

One ring...

It's finished! I'm very chuffed with my first silver ring.
M said, 'Remember the process - cut, hammer, shape, then set in fires of Mordor'.


Blogger/Picasa are playing up - apologies for the absent photos in earlier posts - I'll try and fix them sometime.