Camera Club End of the Season

This week was the last meeting of the Camera club that I attend on Thursday night. the club starts again in September. This will leave me at a bit of a loose end as to how to fill my evening now.
I entered some pictures in the end of season Annual competition as I posted previously on the blog here .
Unfortunately I did not win the competition although feedback that I received from others was favourable the judge favoured a picture of a still life scene by a friend of mine who has been exhibiting in the Oxford Art weeks her winning picture can be seen on the club website

  Wallingford Photographic Club .

It  is called "White" by Pam Sandhu-Dickens it was entered into the competition for the letter W.
As I said it was the last night and it was decided by the club to discuss suitable images for the club to enter in the CACC inter- club competition "The Rose Bowl" as you will know my photo "Eagle Eye" was one of the 15 prints that was entered on behalf of the club this year and although we did not reach the final we faired better  this year than last.
When the images were being discussed I was happy to see a image that I had put into a competition was being considered I did not know how well the image was received because when I put it in I was admitted to hospital that week and missed the judging
Fingers crossed that this image will be considered for entry in September

Winging It

  I would love to know what you think?

Bree Cordick - Breath Easy Now

I received some very sad news yesterday about one of the people I had on my blog roll for a while she wrote the blog blog. Bree Cordick sadly lost her fight for life after a a viral neurological infection that took her sight ended her life she fought valiantly but was sadly unsuccessful in beating the serious problems that she developed

She was 25 years old and had her double lung transplant on 07.08.09. I had been following  her on the Transplant cafe and I was impressed by her honesty and wit, I felt immediately drawn to her style of writing and laughed out loud at the things she said in her blog!She had a wit and wisdom I have rarely seen.
I had just been listed around the time she got her transplant and she gave a great introduction to the transplant process with her blow by blow account of her recovery.She encouraged me and when I asked if I could add her to my blog roll
Bree said…
"Hey! I'm so glad my blog has inspired you!:) that's exactly waht it's there for:) I wish you well and hope you get your beautifyl lungs soon!"

She was a lady with attitude and I liked that! as did the many friends who followed her on Facebook, one of our mutual friends was Justine Laymond  Life with Lam and Double Lungs Justine had been following her for a long while.Justine  had a double lung transplant before Bree in July 2006 after suffering from LAM disease.
While I was in hospital receiving my transplant in October 2010 Justine had the privilege of meeting her when she went to Canada. I was glad to hear that she had a great time as this photo shows!

Bree was a lady who had been though a lot in her life. Had thought deeply about why she was here and how she fitted in the world. I have include a entry that she made in her blog on September 30th 2010 that I feel sums up some of what she was about

"Have you ever wondered what you are?
What your purpose is?
You know you are not insignificant, right? 
I hope so, because everyone has a purpose on this earth, whether they feel like they do or not. Otherwise, why would we be here?
I was wondering this exact sentiment the other day when I pulled up to one of my dog-clients house. What is my purpose? 
I asked myself. What AM I?

And it came to me as quickly as a thought: I am a healer. I am meant to be here on this earth to heal people. Whether it be with words, through touch, or food, whether it be people, especially the sick, or animals, I am meant to heal them. I am meant to mother them.

Not in the biologicial sense. I will never have kids of my own, and that's ok, but that doesn't mean that I can't be a mother to other things, like animals, and sick people, who can't get that material healing from their own, or if they need additional love through words and such, I can be the one to give it to them - to help them heal, and deal with whatever ails them.

Does that make sense? Maybe I am psychotic, I don't know. Maybe I think too much. But it makes me feel better to realize what my purpose on this earth is. Especially long term. I can't see myself sitting in an office for 30+ years. I like to move around too much, have small adventures. I like to tell my story and narrarate along the way.

I will not be pointless. I will be significant. I will make an impact.

That's my purpose."

I know that Bree  Cordick was significant
she did make an impact on everyone
she was not pointless,
she help me and many others through her example
I hear from one of her friends that when she went blind she said  
"It's okay, I get a free dog and a stick!" typical  of her wit!

Heaven has got another Angel tonight.
she is wearing ski pants and drinking tea

You will be greatly missed, breath easy now :)

Clinic day Party

I attended Harefield transplant Clinic today hoping that the improvement that I had seen since my last attendance had been maintained I got there early and had my bloods taken and the usual:
Temperature           -Normal,
Blood pressure      - Okay,
Oxygen saturation - Good
Lung function        -  Moderately better than my last visit
X ray                   -   Appeared good
Weight                 -   Not good, I had asked the nurse to convert my weight into Stones from Kg wish I hadn't     I have put on about 20kg that is nearly three Stones more than I should be.
What a fat git I have become!
I must record my weight in stones in future as it has more emotional impact on me.
Oh and eat less as well!

During the morning I met up with Russell Willis (@russwillis) and Dora, who I had met on the ward after my transplant. They had popped in for some blood tests,and  we had a chance to catch up.
Also I had met up with a fellow transplantee Richard Burbedge (@AwoogaBurbs)
who was there to have a gastric acid monitor fitted, a procedure that I have also had. I told him that although it was a pain to have done the benefits out weigh the discomfort.later that day I met up with him in the league of friends pavilion and was impressed by the way he was able to eat some food, a feat that I had trouble with until the evening.
Then I got a text from another double lung transplant lady who was also at Harefield for appointment
Justine Laymond (@LamLungArtist) who was accompanied by a friend of hers called Dawn Bostock and another man Steven Steel who had just received a lung transplant earlier this year and was on the ward waiting to go home  after a short admission.
We took over a large table and  sat around comparing notes on our transplant experiences and I felt for the first time that I was doing better than I had thought with my recovery.
I felt very privileged to be  part of a group of people who owed there lives to the skill of the surgeons in Harefields Hospital and the selflessness of those brave people who donated their organs so we could live!
Later that day when I went back to see the Doctor he conformed that he was happy with the improvement I had made  and suggested that if I could loss some weight it would help me with my progress,he also reduced by a small amount my anti rejection medication in the evening which was another positive move.
I left in a very positive frame of mind with another appointment for three weeks time to get my kidneys checked on the day of my next visit.
All in all I had a good day :-)  

Annual competition at Camera Club

Tonight I have my final competition of the year at my camera club our annual competition where the best pictures people have are shown. This year has gone by so fast and because of my stays in hospital I have only been able to enter a few of the competitions.
Because of this I have decided to use two pictures that I have not entered in any other competitions and hope that they are good enough. If they do not do well I will be happy to see what comments are made as the chance of a trained judge looking at my pictures and making suggestions is the reason I enter.
Last year I got commended with a photo of a Eagle Owl and this year I am using another bird picture of a Red Kite and have included a close up  picture of a Hover fly on a Passion flower.

I was able to get out with the camera this last weekend and get some pictures of a car rally that is held in the local town and I will try to post some pictures in the blog from this soon. I will also add some pictures I took of the local arboretum  where all the flowers are coming out early.  I shall post the pictures I am entering and let you decide what you think, I have included the commended picture from last year called “Eagle eye”

Finally my entry from last year Eagle eye that was included in the club entry into the 

CHILTERNS ASSOCIATION of CAMERA CLUBS  inter-club competition