Hi girls, another glorious sunny day so we drive to Eggleston Gardens, drink coffee and eat sandwiches whilst looking across the valley.  Back in the car and across the moors that look like a patchwork quilt of chocolate brown, fawn and burnt green dotted with scruffy Hill sheep, a hawk flies above us with a wing span that sweeps the sky enjoying its freedom.  We keep going putting our old Rolling Stones CD on and singing away to Can't get No satisfaction whilst we head to Northumberland.  Luke calls me on my mobile, he's been to Cornwall, Friday to Monday and is off to Aberdeen tomorrow, one end of the country to the other in four days, he's thanking us for the Easter eggs.  Back into County Durham and we call at our old village pub and sit in the sunshine admiring the village green.  We're home now, fed and watered and have had a wonderful Easter, one of our best hubby states.   This time two years ago we were just starting chemo, everything was on hold and our stage 4 diagnosis was not good, but we've persevered, kept our faith and my wonderful man is still with me enjoying a peaceful life.  We don't know what the future holds but from day one we've lived cancer one day at a time, so we don't look to the future.  A happy loving Easter to all my friends.  Love Carol xx

Back to normal today and my dance class whilst hubby goes for a blood test, I forced him to drink two glasses of water and two cups of de caf, still has no idea that its not normal tea!  He's very tired and is wheezy and coughing but it's been a ten busy days for him,, its obviously catching up with him, we seem to forget he's got stage 4 cancer because we live as normal a life as possible.  My lovely Sarah has been so the bedding is blowing nicely in the wind, hubby is asleep and I think will be there for some time!  Sue, I hope you enjoyed your holiday, its sounded busy!  It will be bitter sweet next weekend when you all meet at Neil's favourite spot, lots of food, drink, fun and remembering a special man.  Love to you all.  Carol xx

Dear Carol,
Another busy day, watched Eli this afternoon, than came home ironed what I was wearing tonight then Rotary meeting, where I was inducted as a rotary member.  It was a good night.
Tomorrow I'll have Eli again, then back to just my normal Tuesday.  Tomorrow nigh aqua balance.
I made myself some lemon sago last night, felt like some, I hadn't made it since cookery when I was at school, turned out well, just as I remembered it.
Not sure I'm looking forward to Sunday yet, it will be bittersweet. 
Greg (my brother) and Tina and her two children (both adult) visited on Monday.  It was lovely, we decided we'd have fish and chips for tea down by the lake but prior to that we went for a drive to Red Rock, so they could see the view.  It's a dormant volcanic area.  There are forty separate eruption points, and a lot of the craters fill with water.  Very pretty to see.  There is a winery not far from the lookout and farmland.  Your description of the moors sound just like the land we were looking at some beautiful greens but others brown, a little like a patchwork.  It was a wonderful day and really nice to catch up with Greg and Tina and meet two of her children who have come from the Phillipines.

Best head to bed...Hope you've had a good day, and that Norman recovers quickly.

Take care, love to all.  Sue xx

How things change in 24 hours on this cancer treadmill.  Hubby spent all evening screaming in pain as he had severe phantom pain, he felt that his heel was being sawn in half, although he has no heel on that leg, in the end I insisted he take tramadol to help as he looked drained and ill.  It settled down but he's still wheezy, perhaps it's the arthritis medication he says, grasping at straws, I look at him and say, it's probably the cancer, he looks crestfallen but agrees with me.  So I've just had a phone call from our GP, yesterday's blood results are not good, low platelet count on the full blood test, I've now got to tell him that when he gets home.  These knocks are hard to take, we sail along then a rip tide washes over us bringing us back down to earth.  Anyway, Sue, well done on becoming a rotary member, I'm very proud of you!  Where you live sounds beautiful, especially the winery, I love a good glass of wine, all those volcanic eruptions sound marvellous, I think the most we have here are hot springs, a little downmarket to yours!  I can understand your trepidation over the upcoming weekend, I would be the same.  A lot done today, ironing, hoovering and a good beef stew simmering in the oven.  I'm going to pop some rose' in the fridge, I definitely need a drink tonight. Love Carol x 

Deat Carol,
I have heard that after losing limbs you can experience phantom pain, never realised the pain could be so severe.  Glad at least that is feeling better.  The low platelets doesn't sound good, I've heard of it happening but we didn't have that with Neil so don't know much about it.  Hopefully they can correct that issue without too much trouble, or discomfit for Norman.  Things can change so quickly, and it sure does bring to back to earth.
I forgot to mention also at Rotary lat night I won a game (first one they have played while I've been there).  We all put in a dollar to play, and two stood at the front, basically tossed the coin and said whether it was heads or tails, prior to them doing that we had to place our hands on either our heads or tails, or one on each.  They kept going till only one was left, which happened to be me, so I won $20.  Small meeting lat night because of the holiday weekend (yesterday was still a public holiday). It was fun.
When I think about it, it is beautiful here, and we get quite a lot of tourists to the area.  There are 3 wineries each within 10 mins of home, numerous waterfalls, 3 are really pretty.  Lots of boutique foods, cheesemakers, ice-cream, berry farms.  We have a blues and blueberry festival in February..  One day when you have nothing to do, search the Otways Victoria and Great Ocean Road.
We are hoping the weather doesn't get too miserable on Sunday, they have predicted cold and wet.  We are still going though regardless, Deana has told me to rug up as there is no shelter.  My umbrella might be used finally.
I don't feel like I've done much today, I looked after Eli at Deana's then tonight went to aqua balance.  I did get Nick to come and get the bird out of the chimney.  Every couple of months almost I get a bird stuck in the chimney, I think they sit on the edge of it and if there is a gust of wind they fall in, then they can't get out.  The cats go silly as they can hear it scratching to get out.  There is a plate nick can remove to get it out.  We just open the door nice and wide, I have a triple sliding door at the back onto the porch, and they usually just fly straight out..
I'm home tomorrow, what will I do to fill the day.  There's lots actually, ironing, I've got a nice big pile of that.  Other things I'd rather do.  Time will tell.

Take care and I hope Norman improves.  Love to all.  Sue xx

Dear Sue, I will have a look as it sounds so beautiful.  Norman has not had a good week, his immune system is attacking his joints again and he was in a lot of qpain last night, but better today.  My gardener came and chopped back the laburnum and centre tree that wa sabout 30 foot high, it looks neater but I don't mind it looking a little wild, it'll soon grow back.  We have had a really heavy rain storm but we needed it, its been so dry the fields couldn't take it so the roads were flooded.  Off to town to meet Mary for coffee in the morning, not much else to report   Take care, love Carol x

Dear Carol,
I've just got home from a Melbourne trip  with Deana to get flowers.  It's cold so I've put the heating on today.  It was warmer in Melbourne and the closer we got to home the colder it got and the showers got heavier.  My garden isn't all that old yet and the only plant that could do with a prune is one of the yucca's.  I'm not game enough to do it though, although everything I read say it's not difficult.  I have a rock garden at the front, and I suspect it's nothing like your gardens in England.
Hopefully Norman will improve shortly.  I hope he has something for the pain he is in.
Talking about where we live, I think we become quite blasé when we see the sights often or everyday. 
Going to search through some recipes, thinking I will make a zucchini slice as part of our lunch for Sunday.

Take care, love to all.  Sue xx

Hi girls, I've had a busy few days, hubby is looking better and is back on folic acid, this should help, the phantom pain has subsided and he's rested more.  The weather is very wet but I braved Tesco and bumped into Carole who Ii worked with at Court then Fred walked past he was an Usher I trained up but he got bowel cancer.  He'd been a Marine in Northern Ireland and had been blown up by the IRA, they couldn't remove the shrapnel and as time went by it irritated his inner bowel.  Such a brave man and he now has prostate cancer, life is so cruel at times.  So catch up over and in store I bump into Christine who has a wrist strap on, what have you done I ask, she'd had to have a 24 hour heat monitor on, got up in the night, missed the toilet seat and ended up going sideways whist trying to grab the equipment on her and ended up in A & E!!  Lisa is now coming home for May Bank Holiday with Harry which is lovely as I will see them twice in one month, a rarity for us both, she'd had a roofer in and it turned out her gable end was on the verge of collapse, the original house is 1950 build, then a new extension, so an expensive job.  We've had a home made pork rogan josh for tea, I'm absolutely stuffed, I'm not even sure if I have room for wine!!  Xx

Dear Carol,
It's good to hear that Normal is both looking and feeling better.  Going shopping seems to be a social outing for you running into so many you know.  Will be lovely for you to have another visit from Lisa and Harry.  Your pork rogan josh sounds lovely, I can't complain though we had a really delicous pasta that Bree cooked when we got home from fishing... mind you I was left with a terrible mess and dishes for 9, which I'll start shortly.  Can't expect much more from 4 kids all under 6.
The day fish was actually quite enjoyable, although cold and it did rain quite heavily.  I had a waterproof jacket on but the rain ran down my back and pooled on the seat, didn't notice while I stayed sitting but when I got up it was most uncomfortable with a wet bottom.  Deana and I both managed to catch 2 fish each, mine were both undersize, but 1 of Deana's we could have brought home but it got a reprieve and it was thrown back in to fight another day.  Too much like hard work to clean and gut it.  Had a yummy picnic lunch with zucchini slice and fresh rolls with salad and chicken, ham or salami.  We were all so full we didn't even both with the snacks.  Stopped at Apollo Bay at the ice-creamery for beautiful ice-cream, they have so many flavours.  Quite a good day overall.  They have all gone home now, so will get my house back into some sort of order.  Can't remember my kids being quite that messy.  Neilo would have been 60 today.  Deana said she was thinking just the other day that we should have been planning a 60th for him instead of a picnic lunch for us to remember.  (Deana used to help a lot when we had bigger parties or BBQ's, from memory for my 60th we had about 60 here for BBQ/spit roast.  Neil's would have been bigger.)
Tomorrow Deana and I are off to Geelong for Eli's 2nd hearing test.  With Bree's kids hearing loss, they check Eli very thoroughly just to make sure his hearing is fine.  His last test was fine, he seems to hear well, so we aren't expecting anything from it.  Then he has another when is over 2.
Last night I went with a girlfriend to the Piano Bar, had a really good night.  We all request what gets played so it depends a lot on who is there on any given night.  It gets quite lively as the night progresses.  I'll be looking for some quiet days by Wednesday.  Tuesday I'll have Eli as usual.

Will close now and start tidying up, and the pile of dishes.  Get the wet clothes washed as well.

Take care, love to all.  Sue xxx