The last three months with photos - catching up again

Such wonderful weather for the first part of November, I had some clematis flowers blooming and the nasturtiums were growing madly across the fly screen at the door.  Now it has all changed, temperatures are getting back to normal for this time of year and the  rain has made the mud very slippery at the entrance to the hen/duck/goose fields.

My garden has never been so clear and tidy at this time of the year.  This is due to the brilliant Workaways who have stayed here and helped with everything, particularly, Cora and John from the States who have been here for the last six weeks, including the week I had to return to Cornwall for my tooth extraction.turtiums were still growing madly cross the door fly screen.  For the last week it hasn’t been like that though and the rain has produced very slippery and muddy entrances to the fields.

Back in August, while Libby and Charlie were staying we walked on the bottom of Lac de Guerledan while it was empty of water for maintenance purposes.  It was a bizarre sensation to be walking along the ground in an area where we swim in the summer.  The water is normally up to the level where the grass begins on the top of the banks.  I was amazed how quickly the bottom of the lake became covered in opportunist plants.

There were lots and lots of people walking there and it was a very steep climb up at the point we decided to get out.  I had to be encouraged with lots of pushing and pulling from Charlie and Libby.

They went off to Paris by train from Guingamp for a couple of days and had a very enjoyable time there.  Thank goodness they weren't there during the appalling November terrorist attacks.

In September, Oliver, Emma and Mia also came to stay.  They did the same journey to Paris and again, I am grateful it wasn't later in the year for the same reason.

Here they all are in the inflatable hot tub on the terrace in St André.

In October, Libby and Charlie drove up to London and stayed with my very good friend, June in Harefield.

They all went off to Legoland together with June's twin granddaughters, Sofia and Ella and had a great time.

The polytunnel continues to house lots of lovely produce, including at the moment, various salad leaves, lettuces and cress, herbs and chilli peppers.  This photo is of the harvest I brought back from the field on 3 October - I love the colours.

Not dressed for an occasion, as you can see, but I only popped in to sell some eggs, and I was surprised being presented with a truly lovely shrub for the garden, Loropetalum Chinense, by my Bowls Club members, because I have been away while I haven't been very well.   I was very touched and happy.

This is a pile of wood gathered from the top lane after a particularly windy night.  My Workaways kept hopping out of the Discovery and loading it up ready for sawing and stacking in the woodshed.  I can't resist a bargain!

Claude tried to worry me last week by being ill.  Unfortunately, although I knew there was something wrong he wouldn't come in and allow me to get him to the Vet until Monday this week.  The Vet discovered lots of ulcers in his mouth and throat and one on the end of his nose.  He apparently had calici virus which is fairly serious.  He got an injection and then a daily gel application for the ulcer on his nose.  He hadn't been eating or washing and smelt terrible, but is now eating well and trying to wash himself again, thank goodness.  This was a photo of him when it was starting, feeling sorry for himself and trying to fit himself into a very tiny box.

I'm glad to say he much more full of life now and a much happier boy.

Three things I like:

1.   Driving everywhere again after being off the road because of not being able to sit comfortably.

2.   Seeing my new hens settling in with the established residents without a problem.

3.   Eating Curly Wurly chocolate/toffee bars which friends have brought back from the UK for me - scrummy!  

Three months of catching up

Just realised that I haven't posted for ages and ages.  It has been a strange few months since I posted at the beginning of August, two days before I started radiotherapy.  The two months of treatment which followed were probably the worst of my life.  Initially the radiotherapy was not a problem apart from feeling tired from travelling for one and a half hours each day by taxi to the Clinic.  

Then I developed burns which, I later read in a letters from Dr Lamazec at the Clinic to my GP copies of which were given to me, were third degree burns.  At some point the burns were deemed too bad for me to continue the treatment and I had a break.  My morphine was increased weekly and my nausea increased at the same rate.  I was almost unable/unwilling to eat anything.  I lost ten kilos in those ten weeks.  I was tired, so tired but couldn't sleep properly.  Profuse bleeding was treated with tablets, but nothing stopped the lack of energy, the inability to do the simplest task without being exhausted and my emotional reaction to everything - a bit like being hormonal and pregnant.  

Eventually the radiotherapy was started again and with it came more third degree burns. These were so painful that no creams or lotions did the trick.  I had a nurse coming in daily to clean and dress my wounds.  The padded dressings were a huge relief, the smell of dead skin and healing was awful.  For about three weeks I was unable to sit, eventually I had a lying down ambulance to take me to the Clinic as I couldn't sit, even reclined, for long enough in the taxi.    

Looking back now, it's hard to imagine how bad it was.  I never want to go through that again.  I will see the referring Consultant on 5 January and then in April I will have a Petscan followed by an appointment with Dr Lamazec.  The reason for the delay is that apparently the treatment carries on working long after it stops and they want a precise result when they do the scan.   Dr Lamazec has physically examined me and says he feels very positive, so I'm hoping for a good news birthday present in April.  What I do know is that I will never go through radiotherapy again, it was far too traumatic, especially when living alone.

I have been extremely lucky this summer though.  I have had almost constant Workaways and/or Housesitters helping me out with only about three weeks when I have had to look after the animals and veggies on my own.  They have all been wonderful and kind and I am very grateful to them all.  I certainly couldn't have coped without them and all the work they've done for me.

Libby and Charlie came over in August and Oli, Emma and Mia stayed in September.  So all the children and grandchildren have been over this year which has been lovely.

I couldn't go back for my usual early October visit to the UK as I wasn't well enough. However on 30 October I had to return as I'd serious toothache and my dentist in Cornwall is the only person I trust to deal with me.  A friend's husband drove me there and back as I was too weak to be in control of the steering wheel for that long journey. I stayed with Matthew in his new house and he even gave up his ensuite room for me to be really comfortable. 

Since I've been back home in St André I've felt much better.  I did bring back a cold I caught from Matthew, but all the effects of the radiation have now disappeared thank goodness.  I did have trouble coming off the morphine and had to be given another drug to take the edge off, but finally have weaned myself off that medication too and feel back to normal again, thank goodness.

I had a brilliant first time back at bowls for ages and ages last week and was, unbelievably, runner up in the final of a club competition.  I've never played so well - perhaps it was all that radiation! - and will have a trophy to display and dust once I'm presented with it.

No photos this time, just catching up and getting back to normal.

Three things I like:

1.   Feeling like me again, with energy and colour in my cheeks, being able to eat, sit and drive, simple things that I have always taken for granted.

2.   The kindness and support I have had from so many different sources.

3.   I've written all my Christmas Cards!

Workaways, Bon Repos and family

I hadn’t realised that nearly a month has gone by since I wrote my last post.  July has been really busy with Workaways doing a sterling job of getting and keeping my garden, veggie patch and animal areas clean and tidy.  After Leyslie left I then got an Irishman and a Scotsman – sounds like the beginning of a joke, I know, but Declan and George worked really well and did many of the tasks that needed the strength of a man behind them.

They were closely followed by Billy from England who has continued the good work during the two weeks he has been here.

I have enjoyed having the company and getting all those little jobs done that seem to hang around forever now I don’t have a permanent worker.

The duck pond which was relined at the beginning of July is very gradually beginning to fill.  I think it will probably be the Autumn before it is deep enough for the ducks to take to swimming again.  The weather hasn’t been consistently as hot lately as it was in July but we have had the odd very hot day.

One of these was Sunday when I was entered into a Breton Boules competition as partner to my friend Maggi’s daughter, Grace.  We didn’t win, but didn’t entirely disgrace ourselves being knocked out with a score of 10-3 against us.  It could have been much worse!  There was a good atmosphere there, plenty of good Breton community spirit, and it was a really, really hot sunny afternoon with, thank goodness, a good breeze to make it bearable and cold beer being served from the bar which helped too.

Two days before my friends, Jac and Ken invited me to go with them to see the Son et Lumiere spectacular at Bon Repos.  I had managed to avoid this for the nine years I have been here but they guided me through the on-line process to purchase an 18 euro ticket and then I was committed.  It was a brilliant evening.  I was told to dress warmly, in spite of it being August, as the event didn’t start until 22.30hrs and I didn’t arrive home before 01.25hrs by which time the temperature had dropped substantially.  I wore two tops, a fleece, hat, scarf, gloves and ended up with a rug over my knees like a geriatric in a nursing home!  I thoroughly enjoyed it and wouldn’t mind going again another year.  There were over three hundred people entertaining us and I was very impressed with the whole production which included horses, goats, geese etc, jousting, burning buildings and brilliant light work on the ruined Abbey, transforming it into many different backdrops.

Tomorrow my daughter, Libby and grandson, Charlie arrive as footies at Roscoff where I will pick them up and bring them back to stay.  They haven’t been out here for two years so will see a few changes – I’m really looking forward to their visit.  Here they are, looking a bit windswept out on a walk with Phillipa - a good friend of us all.

Yesterday I made French Onion Soup.  I am selfish about this and never, never share it!  I love it so much that I always manage to eat the whole batch myself.  As you will never get to taste it I thought I would at least tantalise you with a photo of how beautiful it looks.

Mia, my granddaughter may yet follow in the family tradition - here she is, for the first time, holding a chicken.

Matthew and Brett seem to have settled into the new house in Par.  Here they are cropped from a photo of them and their friends in Plymouth.

I played Indoor Bowls this morning and that will be the last time for a while as I start my radiotherapy on Thursday this week.  While the sessions are in the morning I can't get to bowls, but hopefully they will shift to the afternoon soon and I may still be feeling well enough to have a game.

Three things I like: 

1.   Slow start - but bookings arriving now, for cottages on rainbowcottagesinfrance.com
2.   Swimming in the new, smaller pool on those seriously hot afternoons.
3.   Seeing the outside looking much tidier after the Workaways put the hours in.

Early summer in St André, 22480

Well, I had the MRI, on 1 July, which unfortunately showed that the tumour was deeper than had been thought from the echoendoscopie and that it had crept into the sphincter muscle.  When I went back to see the consultant he booked me in to see the man, on 20 July, who will sort out my radio therapy schedule.  When this is finished, I will then have surgery.  Although I won’t know exactly the extent of the surgery until Friday this week when I return to the consultant, I have an appointment Wednesday next week to see Dr le Chaux, who did my gastric bypass, tummy tuck and gall bladder removal.  He would do the operation if is the radical route of removal and poo bag.  In the event that at the meeting on Thursday this week it is decided to do a smaller operation, then that appointment will be cancelled and I will see a different surgeon experienced in doing selective surgery to remove tumours and save what he can, although this latter option seems unlikely.  I am experiencing pain now, although mostly paracetamol deals with it.  I have also had a few laundry moments and it is uncomfortable enough that I shall be happy to have it all sorted out whatever way they choose.  Enough of the medical stuff!

The weather has been absolutely amazing over the last few weeks and it was a surprise this morning to wake up to gentle rain after the blazing sunshine we have been experiencing.  The Tuesday before last the temperature showing at the local supermarket sign was 41°C!   Any rain is very welcome though for the veggies and the flower garden.

Self sown foxgloves in the garden stones.  It has been a terrific year for foxgloves and the lane verges are clothed with them.

















Gracie sitting on the table.

Red hot pokers - kniphofia - in the big flower bed.










Clematis on the house wall

I also enjoy the wild flowers in the lane and thought this umbellifer looked lovely against the dark tree foliage.

Ten days ago my first Workaway of the summer arrived, a French born, fluent French speaking, girl from Las Vegas - Leyslie.  She has worked like stick on the field tackling the nettles which were overtaking everything up there.  She has been lovely company and I shall miss her when she leaves on Friday.  I take her to Guingamp station  and then go on to my consultant appointment at the Polyclinic there.  When I get home my next Workaways should be arriving – two Irish men who will be here for ten days.  I shall be glad of this continued help on the field and with the animals.

At the weekend we were invited out to two events, lunch at St Nicodeme with friends, Jac and Ken (photo not mine I've just cropped it)

and then then to a BBQ in the evening with more friends.  The weather was blazing hot and it was so lovely to be able to sit outside all day and catch up with everyone.  

I have some family photos to share with you. Here we have Charlie, Oliver, Emma and Mia.

Here is Mia being a little Mummy - I love this one.

Mia and her Daddy, Oliver.

















This month the new smaller pool was delivered and my quiz partner, Phil and his visiting brother, Stephen, came round to puzzle out the instructions.   Leyslie, my Workaway, is pictured here too.

 

It is now filled and functioning and I have had my first swim.  Thanks, boys!










The ducks too have been missing a swimming area.  The pond started leaking after the geese managed to tear the liner with their claws as they came out of the water.  My first builder, Mark, came back at the weekend to reline and concrete the edges of the area and we are now just waiting for enough rain to refill it.

The extra piece going down the slope is to provide more thickness against the geese climbing out and we've had to anchor it down with the old pieces of aggregate from the pond sides.

Finally, some bookings are coming in for my holiday cottages which you can see on my website, www.rainbowcottagesinfrance.com   I currently have a German couple in Small Cottage and a few weeks ago had staying some of the owners of the horses which are at livery in the village - currently around 50 horses - some from as far away as Qatar.   I lost my friend and cleaner who did the cottages for me, at the beginning of the year when she returned to live in England, but I now have Maggi, who is very flexible about when she comes here to help me and we have a good laugh together too. 

I found this brilliant photo of a strawberry on the internet, with a little bit of leaf added for the beak of the chicken.Two of my favourite things combined - strawberry and chicken!

Three things I like:

1.   The Workaway system, letting me have lovely people to help me with lots of tasks including the veggie patch and the animals.
2.    The support and encouragement I have been receiving from so many people.
3.    The brilliant weather we've been experiencing here this summer - just my cup of tea!

Pain in the bum news, lots of visitors and beautiful weather

First the moany bit.  The last weeks weren't so good from a news point of view.  I was booked in for a colonoscopy and immediately afterwards received the verdict from the consultant, subject to biopsy results, that I had anal cancer.  I didn't need the results, I had felt that there was more to the very uncomfortable feeling I had than just a polyp.  I returned for the results with my oldest son who was visiting Brittany with friends.  The biospsies confirmed cancer of the anus.  I was told that depending on the depth of the tumour I would be treated by radiotherapy or by surgery, the latter almost certainly resulting in a permanent poo bag.  I had already been booked in for an echoendoscopie and an MRI.

On Thursday last I had the echoendoscopie (ultrasound up the bum) and afterwards the operator said that the tumour appeared to be only 5-6mm deep and that if the MRI confirmed this dimension then I might well get away with radiotherapy and not surgery. The MRI will be done this coming Wednesday, 1 July and the results will be told to me, with the suggested treatment, on 3 July when I return to Guingamp Polyclinic.  

Meantime I seem to have had a problem with my chest.  Initially I had thought I'd received an electric shock while lying on my ribcage fixing the pond pump.  Two days later the pain was bad in my last rib and I thought I may have cracked it.  Later my breathing became more difficult and I got radiating pain from the sternum area.  When I related all this to the consultant dealing with my cancer decided to send me to Guingamp hospital for a CT scan.  I had this on Friday last and it seems that there was nothing to untoward to see so that is good news.  Certainly my breathing is easier now and it only hurts when I lie on my front.

My oldest son, Matthew, and three friends have been to stay.   Their visit overlapped with a visit from my friend, June, and we were lucky to have incredibly good weather so we spent lots of time in the garden talking and drinking.

This was one evening at the Pizzeria in St Nicolas du Pélem.

This is our last lunch together in Roscoff before the boys caught the boat back to Plymouth.  

Here are Lesley, Fraser, Matthew and Brett on the long bridge at Roscoff - we had a lovely few days.

The garden has been lovely this month

This is a trough I bought from friends who were leaving Brittany.  I filled it with bedding plants from B&Q which I brought back with me in April, and some herbs at the far end.  It is huge and took 375 litres of compost!













Poppies outside my sitting room window

I've been collecting lots of seed heads for me to sow and for friends who always ask when they see how beautiful the poppies are here.

Roses on the pergola by the pond.  They aren't climbing so I have to tie them into the post.

On Thursday, June and I drove up to Dinard Airport stopping in the morning at Lamballe for the market and lunch.

Then we spent the afternoon on the promenade at Dinard, people watching, having a glass of wine and deliciously cool icecreams.  It was a gloriously hot, sunny day and a lovely way to make a journey day into something nice.

A tiny, tiny bird who I found on the ground outside the utility cottage.  It seemed unhurt but died about ten minutes later.  I'm not sure what type of bird it was.

My first Workaway of the summer, Leyslie from Las Vegas, but with French and US nationality, arrived at Guingamp station on Friday and is now working clearing nettles in the animal areas.  Hard work in this very hot weather - most days are now reaching almost 30°C and very little in the way of a cooling breeze.  Apparently next week will be heatwave weather so watering will become a priority.   When Leyslie leaves I have a couple of Irish Workaways arriving for ten days, so lots of help in the next few weeks.

Three things I like:

1.  The written and verbal support I have received from friends who know about my current health situation.

2.   The incredible wall to wall blue skies and very hot sunshine which I am enjoying while reading books.

3.   Having so many visits from friends and family this month.