Fingerprinting our children!

I've just read a memo from the head of school in which she discusses the possibility of requiring a thumb print from our children in order to buy lunch. Have we gone mad? Is this not an over reaction to some children sharing their lunch cards with others. What do you think about this? Comments please!

Gardens up walls!

You must look at this site. It is unbelievable. I've just seen a programme about these walls on the Chelsea Flower Show television show. I must go to Paris this year and see his work...gardens...whatever you call them.

The end draws nigh, again.

I'm back to wondering if I am coming to the end of this blog. You have probably noticed that I haven't written much of late. Now that my energy is returning, I seem to be involved in all sorts (when I have the energy) and I don't seem to need to write the way I did when I first became ill. I will warn you when I completely pack it in. For the time being I'll write occasionally so that you can keep up with my .... whatever! Cliff and I are off on the Queen Mary 2 in 5 weeks so I imagine that I'll have a lot to write about that trip, especially the train trip through the US on July 4th.

Elderflowers

Mary Jane and I were talking about the book, 'Stalking the wild asparagus' yesterday and one of us mentioned elder flowers. Today on the way home from work I saw elders in bloom and just coming into bloom. I have always wanted to try elderflower fritters. I've found a recipe and may try on the weekend. Does anyone have recipes for anything else with the flowers. I know you can make cordial but it would require too many flowers. Email me or post here if you have any ideas.

More on my plants

As you can see, I did get some pictures and right from my garden. The plant in the flower box is a pelargonium and the one on my garden table is a yet to be planted geranium. It's pink but I do have two blue ones (Johnson's Blue).

Geraniums and Pelargoniums

Continuing on the plant theme, Mary Jane also asked if I could give the difference between geraniums and pelargoniums. All I could do was go to the bbc website and find examples in the gardening section. So if you are interested too, click here and input the name of the plant. I wonder if I can find pictures!

I'm back with pictures. Follow this link and you shall see.

The Colour of Pumpkin flowers? asks Mary Jane

I'm not sure what colour pumpkin flowers are. Not only are the buds on mine very small but the sudden cold weather has sent them scurrying in on themselves! We'll have to wait and see. They may even fall off. Heaven forbid! And do you eat them, as you can courgette (zucchini) flowers? I don't know that either! However, in early June (I think) the Elder flowers will be out and we do deep fry those in the UK. I've never had them but I hear that they are wonderful. I imagine that they probably do other things with them as well.

Goodbye Bagdad!

I don't know if any of you have been reading the 'Riverbend' blog, for which I have a link on mine. Today, the Guardian published an extract from a recent post in which the author talks about finally deciding to leave Iraq. How brave she has been to stay so long, how brave she is to make the decision to go from the 'safety' of the the known to the 'fearful' unknown of a future in another country, with an uncertain future. I'm reminded of how lucky I am and how many more choices I have had in my life and still have.

On a lighter note, my pumpkins have little flower buds on them. I'm so excited! Sad, isn't it!

Should we still put evil doers in the stocks?

I had intended to talk about how I felt that I was coming to the end of this blog, when I noticed an article in the Guardian newspaper open on the table next to me. It was called, 'Humiliation - the latest weapon in America's war on crime. If you'd like to read it in its entirety, click here. Otherwise, you can just read my rant.

Apparently, in some states (have we guessed the country yet?) sex offenders and drunk drivers have different coloured license plates to the rest of us, so we will know then immediately. If you have shop lifted, you may be made to carry a sign outside a store, proclaiming your guilt. And of course we, the public, are expected to be complicit in this punishment by berating the guilty. Why not just put them in stocks and then we could buy rotten tomatoes (or even shoplift them) and bombard them. I wonder if that would be considered assault or 'just desserts'! Branding! We could bring that back as well. Why set up a site listing and giving the pictures of convicted prostitutes! (Would that not be advertising?) We could just brand them instead! I'm warming to this topic! (I hope you realize that I'm being ironic!)

(Cliff has just suggested that we could use cream pies instead of tomatoes so that they really did get their 'just desserts'!)

Oh no, could Tony Blair be about to suggest the same in the UK? If he does, I'm moving to Norway!

I want to be angry about this but instead I feel somewhat depressed!

It's age, isn't it!

I've been focusing so hard on getting better and surviving the treatment that I've neglected the rest of my body. I went to the doctor today with a list of problems and concerns and we worked through it. My blood pressure is still high even on the pills. Now I have to buy a blood pressure taking machine (whatever that is called) and keep track of my blood pressure on a regular basis. I had my ears checked and oh no! I have ear wax build-up and have to have it sorted out but not for two weeks since one of the nurses is on holiday. Well, it's not life-threatening, is it! Finally, I may have two small patches of possible skin cancer. I'm to take some skin medication for two weeks and then go back and have it checked out. Why couldn't my body have given me a short vacation between problems. It's age, isn't it!

May already!

It's hard to believe that it's May already! The year seems to be slipping by so quickly.

I've been having some doubts about continuing this blog. It seems to me that it might be somewhat self-indulgent now and be cluttering up the internet. It served a purpose for me when I first started. I could communicate with friends at a time when I was sick and unable to contact people individually. It also allowed me to explore how I was feeling and thinking during my treatment. I could have done that through a journal. However, journals don't seem as immediate and I also wouldn't get feed back from others. Should I continue now that the treatment is over? I've been asking myself that question today. I've also had a very definite reminder this week that though the treatment is over, I'm still not well. I am so tired and still having various side-effects from the radiation therapy. Perhaps it's not yet time to stop but it will come soon enough.