2 Peaks!

It is the annual check up with my Breast Care Team today ;-)

But that is not the 2 peaks I am referring to though... We have now completed the Yorkshire Dales 3 Peaks. Obviously in a much more civilized way by spreading it out over several months, but still.

Pen-y-ghent was achieved on a hot hot hot day mid june.




Phew.




Whernside was achieve this weekend. The weather was not so great (we almost aborted before we even began because of windy rainy conditions) but as it was cooler I was able to power up this hill



(total walked 8.9 miles)

.


Past some lovely scenery (excuse the hat hair!) and made it back to the car just as the weather was brightening up. Typical. Especially as we could now see little people on the top of the mountain - when we were there we could hardly see a little way in front of us for mist.




I really do need to get some new outdoor clothing because I might as well just superimpose myself in the same get up in all sort of outdoors locations. (I probably could have got away with claiming I did it all in one day if I had thought about it!)

Breast Cancer Care Pink Ribbonwalk 2010

What a fantastic day! I don't know about the walkers but I was shattered at the end of it.

I arrived at 7:30am just as the event was getting set up in the grounds of Harewood House. I met some fellow volunteers (being on my own I soon latched on to some friendly faces) and we put on our crew T-shirts and went to get a bacon butty and a cup of tea.


I was soon put to work on the Registration desk, signing in the excited walkers ready for the 20 mile walk to begin. After they were all signed in we went and joined in with the warm up








and at 9:30am the 20-milers were off!


all heading off into a very lovely June morning (I hope they all had suncream and sun hats because it was due to get much much hotter)














The glorious day was just getting warmed up, so there was a small lull where we were able to get out our sun hats, put on some sun cream and help out on a few jobs, like getting the medals ready for the walkers return and setting up the finish line.





I was then re-assigned to a team of marshals and was placed at a strategic point on the route to await the walkers and alert any traffic to their approach (I had about 5 cars through the 2 hours I was there).


Boy, what a lovely view point I had. So I got out my chair and my packed lunch to keep myself company and await the walkers (I was never really alone, all the time I was being circled by some majestic Red Kites - probably eying up my packed lunch).








But the walkers were soon to arrive and for 2 hours I was a smiley face at the top of a very steep, evil hill at 8.4 miles.



After 2 hours of watching tired, but smiley, faces walk past me I was thinking twice about the little spark of an emotional idea born while on the registration desk earlier that morning that I should do this 20 mile challenge. However, it hasn't gone away completely.

But for those 2 hours I smiled and encouraged. I hope I was appreciated. Some told me it was nice to see such a smiley face to greet them at the top of the horrible hill they had to tackle in such heat. Others may well have blamed me for the horrible hill they had to tackle in such heat and I am sure others were thinking "it's all very well for you, you haven't had to tackle this horrible hill in such heat". But I kept the smile and the encouraging and joking up for the 2 hours until the last walkers had passed my little checkpoint (one lady even recognised me later from being at the 8.4 mile check point - I hope that was a good sign).


It was then back to the site for 1:30, just in time to enjoy a Pimms and Lemonade (bursting with fruit) with some fellow volunteer friends (who had been on car park duty) in the sun while awaiting the first walkers to return and when I would be put onto cheering duty.

This is the life!





After seeing the first few walkers come in (20 miles - 5 hours), I was again re-assigned as a gate marshal on the homeward stretch.



At this point it is less than half a mile home and the point when the walkers pass by Harewood House itself and make their way across the final field to the finish point where they are greeted by cheerleaders (doing fantastic pyramid arrangements for such a hot day), Morris Dancers, yoga and massages (not to mention the BBQ).










And after some of the final (although not all) walkers were through I went back to grab my own burger of the barbie before heading home at 6:30.





Weary but very happy!



I think that myself and the other 100 volunteers made the event work for the 500 walkers who took part. I just hope they do it again next year (unfortunately numbers in Yorkshire have been lower than at the other Pink RibbonWalks and it is yet to be confirmed whether they will be coming back to Harewood House - although perhaps that is me off the spot for doing the actual walk next year). And I am also very glad that it was yesterday and not today because it might not have been such a glorious day to be a volunteer if it had been raining.

All in all I am so glad that I did it, Yay to volunteering.

Pink ribbon walk approaches...

I have received information through about my volunteering day at the Harewood House Pink Ribbon walk Sat 5th June....

I have been assigned to the Pink Ribbonwalk Registration Team :-) I am very excited about this role.

I have to arrive for 7:45 (gosh - it is 50 minutes drive away from me as well!) but I do get a breakfast roll and a hot drink.

Walkers set off at 9:30 (20-milers) and 12:30 (10-milers) and should expect to come back in between 3:30-5:30. So I expect I will be the smiley face signing them out and back in again.

After that it will be full on support at the finish line for the final arrivees and all finished off with a BBQ!

I should get to drag my weary body home around 7:30 :-)

OOooooohhh I am really looking forward to it.

An update in photo-form

I have mainly been up to the following.....

Having a new haricut (a graduated bob with a new hair tone) which I quite like.



Having a girlie get together in Birmingham....



Being the proper little scientist with a work trip to Slovenia where I had to give a talk (and enjoying post-conference talk celebrations with my boss)





Entertaining friends visiting from Japan and getting excited by planning our summer holiday to Tokyo!!! (and preparing by drinking Sake and eating Japanese-rice-cake-thingys)



enjoying the sun with a BBQ



and finding it amusing that we were not the only ones finding the hot weather very enjoyable....


Being green-fingered in the garden and enjoying finding new ingenious ways of using up excess rhubarb (rhubarb bellinis and rhubarb and custard souffles)

An enormous sense of well being...

I have decided to volunteer to help at the Breast Cancer Care 2010 Pink Ribbon Walk. This is a 10 or 20 mile walk held in June at Harewood House in Yorkshire to raise money for Breast Cancer Care. I saw an email link saying that it wasn't too late to enter to walk it. But having not long raise £4000 from lovely generous friends and family, I felt they had done their bit. Then I noticed a link asking for volunteers to help at the event. Perfect! So I have signed myself up.

I am really excited. I could be signing walkers in on the registration desk, cheering and greeting walkers at the finish post, manning the rest stops on the route, or even directing cars (I can't see myself directing the cars somehow, but I am sure it is a very important job and the event could not run without it)

So let's hope for nice weather for June and lot's of money for Breast Cancer Care.

Climbing One Peak.

On Easter Sunday, James and I decided to climb one of the Yorkshire 3 peaks. I had thought we might work our way up to this with several preparatory walks this year, however, we just up and climbed Ingleborough. It was great!

We were up there setting off at 11am... and steadily climbed up and up. It was quite daunting as the route we chose meant you could see exactly where you had to climb ahead and you could just make out the little red dots of walkers waterproof jackets climbing ahead. But it wasn't all that hard in the end. My thighs soon stopped hurting when I was at the top.




We just had time to grab a photo, a chicken sarnie and a bag of crisps before the clouds descended and it turned icy cold. We could only make out the way down when someones head popped up the track showing us where to go. So after a brief hail blizzard we were safely on our way down again.

There is a little map here from James' GPS showing just what we did. I think we took 1.5 hrs up and 1hr down...



Now, the weather forecast had said Sunny intervals which was why we chose Sunday... however they were all concentrated in the afternoon after we got home. How annoying, however, it's a greater sense of achievement when you have made it up in a hail blizzard.

I now want to do the next two; Whernside and Phen-y-ghent.

Spot the champagne!

Not happy with how my last wordle turned out.... (the lack of champagne featuring has called into question the validity of the whole wordle... )

I have simply decided that I WANT champagne to feature....
Therfore I have;

a) re-created the wordle increasing the words until champagne features and thereby creating a new game for all readers called "spot the champagne".



and

b) I have artificially created the wordle I wanted to have (i.e I wrote champagne over and over again till it finally had the prominance it deserved) and....

ta da....

3 YEARS, 3 MONTHS and 3 DAYS (well near enough)

So, I have passed the 3 Years, 3 Months and 3 days time point since I was diagnosed this week. So let's top that good news off with another nice little sentence;

"We are pleased to inform you that your recent mammogram showed no signs of abnormality, please continue to be breast aware."

So, how about a little look back over good times and bad.... I came across a wordle on someones blog the other day (wordle.net). It scans text for the prominent words used. So I entered in the text of my entire blog and here's what came out the other side. I think it's pretty cool actually. That's 3 years, 3 months and 3 days of words relating to cancer treatment and what lies beyond (I am please to see that cake features in mine, and relieved to find that James features more prominently than cake!).

It's that time of year again.

The annual mammogram check-up has come and gone again.

I went for the squeeeeeeeeeeeeze yesterday and now have 2-3 weeks to wait until I get the results.

Fingers crossed all is behaving itself.... yes, that means you evil boob (it's also pay back time to evil boob because it especially doesn't like these mammogramms as it's a sensitive little thing.. take that evil boob... feel that pain!).

How the other half live....

So, I'm back from that cruise that I mentioned. This one was a 16-day cruise around the Canary Islands over Christmas and New Year!

Lots of eating, relaxing, reading, eating, sunbathing, sipping coffee's on shore, eating, outdoor pool swimming/jacuzzi-ing and did I mention eating!

We set sail on 19th December to the sounds of a brass band playing us off and headed for several days along rocky seas down past Spain and Portugal (with quick hop-off visits to Lisbon and somewhere else I forget the name of). The weather was a bit choppy but picked up when we arrived in the Canary Islands.

So, how was Christmas on a cruise ship? Apart from missing being with family Christmas on a Cruise ship was a very fun time filled mainly with EATING and getting dressed up! We did get the Queens Speech piped in, Xmas dinner was an evening affair so we spent most of our Christmas day sipping sherry and having a pizza for lunch. Boxing day was spent catching a tan on sun loungers. Bliss.

We also had New Years Eve dropped anchor just off Madeira where we were able to watch a fantastic fireworks display, like nothing I have seen in my life before. Ten minutes of synchronised fireworks along the coast finished off with rather loud blasts from the ships horn. The Christmas Cruise Clientele are quite an elderly bunch.... "are you on your honeymoon dears?" with many a mobility scooter and walking stick to manouver around. But overall jolly good fun.

I've put some photos on Facebook untill I can upload some here.

It's Winter.

I think it was a bit cold and frosty outside this morning.
It's nice to catch a glimpse of a snowy winter :)

Hands up who hates me....

.... I am going to be going on a cruise again :-)

YAY to dresses, afternoon tea and martini cocktails here we come.

The Girls hit Manchester (and experience an ETAP hotel)

Here I am enjoying a night out in Manchester with my friends from University. We met up for a spot of shopping, an overnight stay in an ETAP hotel and a meal and drinks out. I had a full weekend of shopping through which I learned something new about myself. I think I may have been a magpie in a previous life as I seem to be attracted to shiny sequined things in the shops. But I certainly have an excuse (that deserves it's own little post!).

Our ETAP stay too was a very successful experience. We had a room for 3 with a double bed and bunk bed over the top. Small and basic but perfectly formed and allowed for many giggles. I will deffinately be visiting again, and all for £35 between all 3 of us. What a bargain :-)

Someone let me loose on the champagne :-)

I had a very nice 3-year-post-diagnosis Anniversary weekend. And, yes a couple of celebratory glasses were had.
As well as a bit of enjoying the great outdoors with a walk along the canal past the place where we got married. On this occasion I successfully managed to walk a significant distance alongside a canal without putting my life in danger and going for a dip.

Happy 3rd Anniversary to me!

So, I know... it's been a long time.

I guess I have just been living this little life that I am lucky to have. First thing to report I guess is that there isn't any current activity on the cancer front. Which is nice!

So I guess I will ease myself back in with details of some nice little pumpkin ginger cakes I made for Halloween. I took them into work and put them in the kitchen. It was nice to hear many a "ooohhh" as people walked into the kitchen and saw free cakes going. I say free..... I don't think people knew quite how to cope not putting a donation in a tin for Breast Cancer Care in return for my baking (I even had a couple of people come and ask if I was collecting - he he).

This Saturday marks my 3rd Anniversary since diagnosis. Haven't I done well. I don't think it's going to be a sad, melancholy occasion. It's quite a milestone actually and I might jolly well celebrate it..... as time goes on, the chance of it coming back for me decreases (which is why the counter of days since the end of my treatment is still up and running and still means a lot to me). I know it might not always be this good and quite often I get little reminders to that fact, be it someone I know starting out on this old road for a second time (which makes me very very sad) or someone I met going on 'How to Look Good Naked' and getting some post-mastectomy Gok treatment. So this Saturday perhaps I will have to revisit that Champagne habit, which I have let seriously drop off since the end of my treatment, and raise a glass to Good Health for myself and others.

"Cheers"

The Queen and I.

Look at me, all dressed up with somewhere to go. That somewhere was a Buckingham Palace garden party with the Queen.

Doesn't it look sunny, and it was...... then!

Oh boy, was that to change later. Anyway more on that to come. James got an invite as a council member of the Royal Astronomical Society for himself and 1 guest to go to the Bucking Palace garden party. He chose me as his plus one (woe betide him if he hadn't). So yesterday we went down to that London on the train in our Sunday Bests. Things did try and conspire against us to not get us there (no station parking, train delays and missed connections). But we got there. The sun even came out as we were walking trough the park approaching the palace.

It started to drizzle slightly while we were inside the gates standing in a que alongside the changing of the guards - lots of stamping. We walked in through 2 regal ground rooms of buck palace (they would regret that later - but more on that to come).

We then went out onto the lawn and it opened up into a park with lake and marquees for tea and bands playing music. We meandered around the gardens (each under our own umbrella, what a stroke of luck that would turn out to be) and finally made our way for a cup of tea and ooooh.... cucumber and mint sandwiches, smoked salmon and cream cheese bilinis, bit sized scones jam and cream (I had several they were yum), victoria sponge, ginger cakes (to name but a few).

After 2 cups of tea we noticed a thronged line forming between the palace and the Royal tea tent. We decided to hold back. Then Queeny came onto the raised steps and stood to the National Anthem (clear umbrella and turquoise outfit). The drizzle cleared up so she went from person to person along the line (pre-ordained people placed at regular intervals I expect). I was about 5 people back in the throng and SHORT. I caught a glimpse of her hat and James at one point did a quick lift of me so I could catch a glimpse (how common!). We moved along to another spot along the line and I got a good look at her 4 people back; blue outfit, gloves, pearls - I saw her! so then we went back to more meandering and sitting on deck chairs as my shoes were hurting and more cake and iced coffee.

However, this short summer spell was not to last. We then went through rain, heavy rain, torrential rain (this just can't get any heavier we thought -we were wrong), thunder, lightning, torrential torrential rain, hail (Owwwww), bigger hail, almighty hail. All of this while huddled with all the other guests under the nearest available tree and umberellas. It was quite hilarious. We stuck it out for a good while. moving when I was about to get swept away in a torrent forming alongside me. The only marquee was the tea tent which was not enough room for everyone and across the other side of the garden. James and I were drenched through and I cannot ever remember a time I have been wetter when not in a swimming costume or in the bath. We decided it was not to let up so dashed through the hail back into the palace with hundreds of others. I found a spot in one of the 2 regal rooms to pause and slip off one of my shoes - James however forbid me from tipping out the pool of water at the bottom of them onto the Queens royal red carpets.

So, wet and cold we called it a day and made our way out to go to the tube and our train home (thorough more floods in the park which I waded through up to my ankles).

That was about 5:30 and I think i finally stopped dripping from my dress around 8pm -various toilet hand driers on-route were inadequate against this rain soaked baby!

It was such great fun!!!! cold, wet but hilarious! One wont forget that in a while.

It even made the papers here. And a quick search of the fantastic thing that is the internet has come up with a photo where James and I (although mainly James and my hat) can be made out on the same photo as the queen!

My Holiday Best Bits

Here are just a handful of my holiday best bits (featuring food, iced coffee, the sea, a couple of friends to share it with, and my husband and some mythos - not in order of preference)

Where have I been....

So I haven't posted on the blog since the marathon. Lazy me!

I should have come on long ago and posted the grand total from the marathon fundraising event - A Whopping £3962.72! An amount James and I are very proud of thanks to some generous donations from friends, family and other people. That really is an amount that I hope should make it possible for someone else to benefit from the type of support that I got from Breast Cancer Care.

Apart from baking a birthday cake to take to work and share round I haven't stepped foot inside the kitchen to do any baking since then. Cake overload has now worn off and I might start reading the Nigella Domestic Goddess book again as my bedtime reading.

I have also been on a lurvely holiday to Skiathos. Quiet, relaxing, food and mythos filled Greek island holiday.