A baby and an anniversary!

What a week! Yes, we have a baby on the way! Not mine of course, since I don't have anything left inside for that sort of thing. Naomi is expecting a baby next April. However, it has been a bit of a roller coaster. Having been told that she was pregnant, Naomi was then told that she might be about to have a miscarriage. All seems well and we can now get excited about a new member of the family!

And then there's the anniversary. Just over a year ago I became very ill and then discovered that I had cancer. I keep flashing back to those days and remembering how I was. Three days after I returned to school was the day it started. I lost an incredible amount of blood and was admitted to hospital. I was so weak, I could barely move without help. How different things are this year! I seem to have boundless energy (though I must admit that I've overdone things a bit this weekend!). How grateful I am for the way I feel now. However, I am still aware that this may not be over.

Sheep's poo

I thought that title might get you interested. It was Cliff's birthday yesterday and he received a birthday card from Naomi which was made from sheep's poo by a company in Wales. If you are interested in learning more, their web address is: http://www.CreativePaperWales.co.uk. I was particularly interested in the post cards.

And a note for Mary Jane: I just found this quote from Homer Simpson: 'Kill my boss. Do I dare live out the American Dream?'

Some Pictures from our visit to Naomi and James

Cliff, Naomi and James on the Gower Penninsula just outside Swansea.

Naomi and James's new house in Swansea.

Back at School

I have just finished my first three days back at school. I've been feeling so good over the holidays that I thought working full time would be a breeze. Not so, I discovered and I suppose that's understandable. Over the summer, I have been able to have a rest, sleep even, whenever I overdid it a bit. This is not the case at school and so, by the second day, I had to go to my room and have a nap because I was worn out by 9:30. I paced myself better after that and felt better on Friday.

School is as mad as ever! The new teachers must be on melt down by now. I know I am. Every year the admin team overloads people, every year we complain, and every year they promise not to do it again. So much for learning from history!

I'm back to writing my novel after coming to the decision that I needed to move to 3rd person narrative. (Have I already mentioned this? If so, sorry.) I'm not sure where any of this will take me since the original idea was to write the blog of a character involved in a murder.

It's going to be wet, windy and horrible (words of the weather man just now) so I should be able to get some work done on 'Greatly Improved by Death' (working title) instead of being in the garden (where I really need to be as well).

I joined a health club with Emma this week. She wants to work in the gym on various painful looking machines. I am going to swim to start with, take some lessons to improve my front crawl, do a swim exercise class and a Pilates class. I have stomach muscle issues after last years operation. Later I may wander into the gym to investigate the machines. We've been twice this week since joining and have swum both times. There's a wonderful Jacuzzi in the pool area where we spent some time after our lengths. I did manage 20 lengths yesterday but I was exhausted at the end. Hopefully my endurance will increase. I'm hoping to go again today for a while.