Galicia Is The Best

I have been back here for nearly a month now and I have to say Galicia rocks! Cancer makes you appreciate the good things in life. After fearing that it was all going to be taken away there are so many good things here. My Galician friends are fabulous, always asking after my health and just saying I am fine is not good enough, they ask again "How are you really?" They care and that is very special. There are so many friends who have helped Tim and I, from running us around to taking Tim into town, lending us freezers and looking after the place. Thanks guys, you know who you are.
Cancer wise I am still in remission, I am being monitored every three months for signs of it's return. The reversal surgery went well so I now produce waste the same way as the majority of people do. It was very rough and painful at first but now I am getting into a sort of routine and although it will never be the same as it was before, I can live happily like this. Hello onions and salads, how I have missed you. Lentils will be phased in at a later stage but now I can eat almost anything.

Petas is looking awful or stunning depending on your point of view out of this small window. The grass, wild flowers and brambles have completely taken over but the green lushness is amazing. We haven't fought our way into the forest garden as it is blocked by head high growth but trees appear to be thriving. Veggie patch? What veggie patch? Shrubs are blooming, fruiting trees and kiwis have been full of blossom. The poly tunnel has a small cultivated area but the rest is bracken fronds and weeds but we dutifully water the cultivated bit. The lime, mandarin and nectarine look good in there. We have more chicks, eleven of them the darlings of their mother's eye. She is in heaven with her little ones orbiting her feet as she clucks reassuringly. For this year we have mostly given up trying to tame the wilderness. We know a man who will brushcut and strim for us and so we will be hoping he will rescue the worst of it. I still can't lift anything heavy and I have developed an incisional hernia so probably another op needed to fix it. Tim continues to work hard during the week and we are indulging ourselves at weekends because we more than anyone know that life is short and you have to enjoy yourself when you can.
There is always next year.......

Countdown has started for Operation Re-Connect

I have a date for my last (I hope) surgery. On the 15th of May I will be under the knife again unless they run out of beds or something. This will all happen in the UK so I shall be missing Galicia again like a Norwegian blue parrot pining for the fjords. I expect to remain there recovering and healing until early July which is the soonest possible date for my return. Tim will be here bravely soldiering on, on his lonesome keeping the creatures in check and disciplining our newest two chicks born on the 1st May. Their mother is a psychotic silkie bantam who is mild mannered when alone but turns in to a ravening lunatic when her chickies need protecting. He needs a chair and whip just to replenish the bowl of feed. Luckily he still has both eyes intact.

Waiting for treatment is always the worst bit of having cancer and once this is over I feel as though I can get back to something resembling a normal life. I will of course have a new best friend afterwards.

Back In Galicia

Well I have made it back here but only temporarily. I am awaiting my third and final op (I hope) to remove my ileostomy and reconnect my plumbing to the outside. I am on the list and could be called back any time so Tim and I are enjoying life as much as we can, eating fabulous meals and sitting by the log burner reading and sipping decent wine. It has been a horrendous winter by all accounts and we are still waiting for Spring to arrive. Bitterly cold days, endless rain and a lack of firewood is trying to dampen our spirits but we have bought pretend sawdust logs from a DIY store and the celebration of life continues. Tim will stay on here when I am called back and I will do my best to return as soon as possible but complications are expected with the rerouted plumbing (see Lower Anterior Resection Syndrome). At least the cancer is gone (for now fingers crossed).

Despite all of the above I am still planting seeds for the summer, squashes today and we have a selection of seedlings coming on in the polytunnel waiting for the warm weather to return. No new pics today, everything is so dreadfully overgrown and the only tree in blossom is the hardy blackthorn. I shall therefore attach something cheering from the past.

Here are our faithful boys Sam and Toby who have had a difficult time with a variety of sitters but who continue to give us love and cuddles when we need them most, especially when we have left-over meat from our menu del dias.