Wordless Wednesday: Sweetheart Child

A Sunday Stroll

 Yesterday was a glorious day.  After lunch, when chores were finished, we walked to our local beach in Poole harbour.  Silly me didn't take my camera.  These pictures were taken in September 2009, but nothing has changed much.  The lake in the second picture is on the common behind the beach.  If you take a car, you can walk to it from the car park, then further on take some steps down to the beach and come back that way.

Parents' Worries Don't Stop With Age

It's hard for me to concentrate today. I'm worried about my 46 year old son. Before going to work this morning, he went to see a consultant at the hospital to hear the results of recent scans.  He was going straight to work afterwards, but I made him promise to call and let me know what happened.  It turns out he has a small, slow-growing tumour at the back of his head, not life threatening as it hasn't metastasised, but it needs to be checked as it can affect the brain.

Last July was when the symptoms first became obvious, and it has taken all this time to get the diagnosis.  I really feel it was an unnecessarily long process.  He first went to his GP and reported numbness in his left hand (and of course he is left handed).  The doc said to come back in a month if it's not better.  Then he was sent for nerve route tests.  A month later there were blood tests. Meanwhile the numbness crept up his arm and down the left side of his torso and into his left foot.

In October, he was referrred to a neurologist, but the first available appointment was not until January.  I went with him to that and the consultant gave us lots of info, and sent him for an MRI scan.  It was another three weeks before he was called for that to an evening appointment.  After the scan, he was told he probably needed another one and would be contacted.  Another three weeks passed before he had to go again, this time during the day when a doctor was available so that he could have a liquid injected.  That was ten days ago, and a week after that the consultant phoned him and asked to see him this morning.

The tumour needs to be analysed, and for some reason a biopsy is not recommended.  Now we have to wait for a call from a specialist unit in Southampton to hear what they have decided to do and when he has to go there.

My mind keeps switching between fury at the excruciatingly slow turning of the NHS wheels, and terror about the future prospects for my boy.

Wordless Wednesday: Kingston Lacey's Japanese Garden

That King's Speech Film Again

The background of this movie is the period of British history leading up to the time that Albert, the second son of King George V, had to take over the monarchy unexpectedly in December 1936. His older brother had decided to abdicate in order to marry the love of his life, American divorcee, Wallis Simpson. Bertie, as he was known to his family, was to become George VI and lead his country in the second world war against Hitler.

 Photo credit: allmoviephoto.com

The film, however, dwells not so much on these sensational episodes of history, as on the serious personal challenge that Bertie had to overcome – his stammer. 

You can read the rest of my review of this film here.

As is my practice, I first submitted it to Constant Content, offering all rights, which meant I couldn't post it here or anywhere else.  However, only non-exclusive rights were purchased. The bad news is I earn less this time round. The good news is that it is still for sale, so I could earn the same amount again, as often as someone wants to buy it.  

It also means I retain the copyright and can do as I like with it. So I've posted it at Helium. If you have time, please go and take a look by clicking the link above, and get my passive income from it started.

You can also view a King's Speech trailer video in this blog.  I posted that when I'd seen the film and was planning to write the review.

Celebrations and Jubilations

I woke up at 5.30 this morning, writing in my head.  This happens sometimes when I have had an idea the day before that I'm about to work on.  In some ways it's good, in others pretty dire.  I'm not particularly good on only five hours asleep, and there's no way I can drop off again.  On the other hand, it's great to get an early start and not have to carry on working long into the evening if I want to get something finished.

The reason for it today, I think, was because of something that happened yesterday.  I didn't have any commissioned work, so I wrote an article for a customer's public request at Constant Content.  The pay offered was pretty good so I knew the competition would be hot.  Anyway, I got it written and submitted, and it was snapped up straight away.  That was the first good news, and then I got a message from the customer asking for more in the same vein.  By the time I went to bed I had the idea for the next one going round and round in my head.

This also is not too uncommon, and my strategy for pushing the thoughts away so I can sleep is alwasy to read a book that I'm enjoying for a while before I turn out the light.

Well, that second article has also been submitted now and I have high hopes for another good sale to boost my CC income this month.  Wish I could celebrate in ome warm place like Lanzarote, where I am in this pic.

Wordless Wednesday: Thinking of Japan