My best friend is pregnant

I’m sure I’ve blogged about this already, but I can’t be bothered to look! Tamsin is pregnant again, with twin girls this time!!!

It’s so exciting, and I’m looking forward to meeting them.

It’s really frustrating as I don’t seem to be able to log in to Tamsin and Eric’s website to comment on the posts and on the photos. So, I hope it’s ok, and there is a link on the right if you want to go and look yourself (if it works), but I had to nick a photo that is possibly the best ‘pregnant’ photo I’ve ever seen.

I don’t know who the photographer is (Tam, let me know), but they are indeed very talented – I certainly aspire to photos this good.

Emma & Gary’s wedding

Emma & Gary’s wedding
Originally uploaded by Ms. Moll.

I had to post a picture of these, Emma made the invitations, place settings and menus for the wedding – they were so beautiful.

A truly wonderful day

confetti
Originally uploaded by Ms. Moll.

Well, my little cousin beat me to it – but then I always thought she would!

Emma and Gary were married on Saturday (June 2nd) at the wonderful Great John Street Hotel in Manchester.

Very informal, there were only 26 of us for the ceremony up on the roof terrace. The meal was fantastic, steak and chips – and I couldn’t resist getting Heinz ketchup for Emma (she loves the stuff).

As you can see Emma’s dress was a beautiful, antique design just below the knee and beaded. I had bought a new dress (green and white), cardigan and shoes – all in the space of 20 minutes in the same shop in Northallerton two days before! The bridesmaids (Emma, Sophie & Lou) were all in emerald green and had had their dresses made.

Green goddesses
Originally uploaded by Ms. Moll.

Needless to say the alcohol was flowing, and with Richard there drinks kept appearing for Colin, Kim and myself. It was nice to see Richard and Kim, I had missed them and hope that we can start to build a better relationship – I think we just have to accept that Richard and I are very (VERY) different people.

Not long into the evening Emma had let her hair down – in more ways than one (I wish the photo was in focus – hurrmph)! and the party was in full swing.

thhhhhuuurrrrr!
Originally uploaded by Ms. Moll.

A drum band arrived – they were amazing, so amazing that four of the neighbours of the hotel complained about the noise – at only 10.30pm on a Saturday night – party poopers.

Colin and I gave in at about 12.30 as I’d had far too much to drink by then (we had a room booked in the hotel – WOW!). I understand that the party continued for some time – in fact the hardcore (including the bride and groom) were still in the hot tub on the terrace at 4am! They’d been given lots of champagne as wedding presents (they didn’t have a gift list – I got them John Lewis vouchers as they are moving soon) – most of this was consumed I think.

I understand (and I’m not at all surprised) that Emma and Gary only just made it for their flight – and that Emma was feeling very rough, Gary had fallen down the hot tub steps and injured his elbow – which needed medical attention at the airport.

They have gone to Morocco (in the mountains) for their honeymoon and I know they will have a wonderful time – what a great start to a life together – which I know will be very very happy.

My brother

Robert
Originally uploaded by Merrony’s Moll.

Today is ‘24 hours of Flickr’ day – everyone was invited to upload a single photo taken on the day. A collection of the resulting photos will be chosen to be put in a book.

This photo of my littlest brother is my entry.

We were in the garden and I wanted him to take a photo of my new hair (I’ve gone red again) and so took this to illustrate how I wanted him to frame the shot.

Since he’s got a few teenage pimples I fiddled with the contrast and colours so that his skin looked clearer.

Nigel

Fairy strike
Originally uploaded by Mckarash.

At the weekend I caught up with my old friend Nigel, it was lovely to see him (although he didnt tell me that he’d grown wings since I last saw him!).

He’s working down in Bristol as a sailor on The Matthew.

I’ve even managed to get him on Flickr.

I was sorry that I missed April, she was off doing a sailing exam – I hope everything went well?

This one’s for Christina….

MORNING!!!

I’m posting this picture for Christina to welcome her into the office this morning and give her something to look at whilst drinking her tea!! It’s taken at a Roman conference we took the bookshop to last Sunday, unfortunately it’s a bit dark.

To make things easier for her – her next port of call is here.

I think I’ve done very well…..

It’s coming towards the end of February (I’ve always had problems spelling that month – good job it’s a short one!), and I’ve had news to share with everyone that reads my blog – but since it’s not been ‘my’ news I didn’t feel able to (no, I’m not pregnant before you think it!).

You know how last year was really ’shit’ for me, what with Mum’s illness and then her dying in September – well, I got to the beginning of this year and wandered around telling everyone how I was so pleased to see the back of 2006. Time for a new year, and a good year where I could get back to normal (whatever the hell ‘normal’ is?).

But of course life dealt us another blow, and on January 2nd I found out that Dad has cancer too (he found out on New Years Day).

Sorry, if this is the first you’ve heard of this, it’s not the type of thing you phone friends to tell -

‘Hi, how are you? I’m fine, just phoning to tell you that Dad has cancer…..’

So, to give you the lowdown – Dad had had a really stiff neck for some time and his osteopath suggested that he get an MRI scan to see if there was anything there – and of course there was.

The long and short of it is, he has a couple of growths on his neck, and these have possibly come from one on his kidney (kidney cancer usually spreads to the spine). The immediate concern was for his neck, as it was very unstable. He went into hospital to have a couple of pins put in and a biopsy. This went very well and he has recovered well.

Today he had an appointment to discuss treatment for the cancer, and hence my feeling that it’s time I wrote about this.

Things are really different with Dad than they were with Mum. Obviously Dad’s support network is very different as he is lucky enough to have Lotty with him, and my uncle (Neil) has been involved from the beginning. So, Richard and I are less ‘hands on’, which given last year is probably a good thing.

Dad came to stay a couple of weekends ago, and we had a lovely time just doing very little around Sheffield. He’s not been up much before, so it was nice to wander around the city with him, and just eat nice food and chat. Hopefully he will be able to come up again soon.

So, treatment. As I understand it the plan is for him to have radiotherapy, and today the doctors have suggested the removal of one of his kidneys. It’s amazing, they plan to do keyhole surgery and he will only be in hospital for three or four days. I’m not sure when this is happening, but will keep you updated.

Dad is doing so well, he’s really positive and is using meditating to keep focused and calm – which can be bloody annoying as he turns the phone off and they don’t have an answering service!!!

New edition to the family

Kim and Richard have a new edition to their little family. As well as the two kittens (Barney and Bubble), they now have ‘the Dog’.

I don’t think Kim is too sure about him, but he seems very friendly to me – sitting quietly in the hall.

Richard and I are worried that ‘the Dog’ might mysteriously disappear – we’ll know where to point the finger – KIM!!

Buckets

Buckets
Originally uploaded by dziner.

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck.

One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.

At the end of the long walks from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water.

Of course , the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream “I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house.”

The old woman smiled, “Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side?”

“That’s because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you watered them.”

“For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house.”

Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it’s the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding.

You’ve just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.

SO, to all of my crackpot friends, have a great day and remember to smell the flowers on your side of the path!

Cats, Schools, Dogs and Injuries – just a normal weekend.

This weekend I travelled down south on the train. I had a very enjoyable evening at the Commonweal (the school Mum worked at) Christmas party.

Lovely to see everyone, especially Ali (and Duncan), Sherry (above) and Sue T. I stayed the night with Sue and then was given a lift to Sharon’s to have my hair coloured (red as usual).

It’s so lovely to chat up with Sharon and her family, even is she is thin and gorgeous! We got talking about photos and she asked me to take some of her dog, Oscar, who at that moment was in his favourite chair in the garden.

Sharon also looked over my photos (I now have an album with my best shots inside), and has asked if she can purchase this one -

on canvas as a present for her husband!!

Colin was due to follow me down on Saturday morning but had quite a nightmare; whilst plaining a door for the living room (so that the cat can be shut in the main section of the house without being able to make a dash for the front door), he managed to plane off the inside of his fingers, lots of lost blood, and he had to get Liz to patch him up (thanks Liz) and so subsequently he missed his train.

Anyway, I ended up driving Mum’s car (Bernard) up to Sheffield with a little black cat in his box on the passenger seat.

Tiggy doesn’t seem particularly phased by being uprooted, after exploring for a while he seems to enjoy sleep in in the spare room or sitting on the basement window sill.