Things Are Getting Better Now

I am feeling much better now and feel that the shingles has finally gone!! 

Good things have been happening with my photography and I have started a new page on my G+ account. You may have seen this on the widget on the right hand column of the blog.

Many people are starting a business page to promote their photography or company but I felt that I would like to share information from all over the world about transplantation, developments and up to date research.
The other function of the page is to offer somewhere for people to publicly state their support for transplantation and Join a group for transplant advocates at
Group As a listing of people on G+ who have signed the register.

You can visit my new page Transplant News and I would love it if you +1ed it share it and add the page to your circles so that you will be able to get the news that is shared.


Other things to report is that I am about to start my pulmonary rehabilitation  course again on Friday with a assessment of my fitness then I will start the six week course on the Wednesday and Friday the following weeks this is happening at the local gym and although I started the course once before I had to stop because of the case of shingles that I got :-(   I am looking forward to it and will be on it till early in January when I hope to continue with my fitness improvements with the extra impetus of new year resolutions to fire my enthusiasm.I have yet to brave a swimming pool although I have been told I could as the extra weight I have put on is a bit of an embarrassment.

I am also hoping to go fishing again after getting the okay from Harefields team at my last appointment might be that i try a bit of pike fishing first with spinners and plugs.I realised that the last time i when fishing was back in 2007 when I caught this pike with my son

  I am hoping now I can breath a bit better I will be able to catch a bigger one!   

My photography is coming along well and in the first competition of the season I scored two 17s with my first two entries I thought I would include them for your comments 

dragonfly

This was taken at the Oxford University arboretum local to us, when I was taking pictures of the fall

Steller's Sea Eagle

This massive eagle was flown at a local event near us in the town as part of the attractions and stood three feet tall it had talons the size a child's hand a very impressive bird can be seen flying at Warwick Castle which is were the hawk show is based

One final bit of good new is that one of the pictures that I took on my holiday before the transplant is being used in the local camera club regional competition "The Rose Bowl" run by

CHILTERNS ASSOCIATION of CAMERA CLUBS in the first round our club won the round!!!  

I have been told that my picture scored highly at 19/20 I have included a copy of the picture for you to see it was called "winging it "

  let me know what you think?

If you like these pictures I have been including these and others in my G+ photo blog along with other inspiring pictures that I have found around the internet. 

You can see them at  Marks Photo Blog

The last bit of nice news is that one of my photos is being published in a calender being arranged by a couple of the club for sale to members if you want to see the photo it is on the club website 

Wallingford Photographic Club 

Eastbourne pier & Memories of Whitebait

Eastbourne from Beachy head

Our holiday is going well the weather is still being kind and we have enjoyed the time with relatives catching up with the news.Our most recent foray was to Eastbourne again.This time to the pier.we spent the afternoon having a walk up the pier took tea and coffee in one of the cafes and I played some pool with my son in an games room in the arcades.
Playing pool brought back so many memories as I spent many hours during my time in Nursing training playing pool with a good friend in my training group.I was playing pool the night I met my wife in the social club of the hospital I trained in.Although the hospital  is now long gone, our memories are still strong, my wife even had a go at pool when we were playing, to show my son that she could play.
After we had finished we went to the town to find somewhere to eat and decided on a lovely little Italian restaurant where we had some lovely pasta and I found another memory booster on the menu.
Whitebait-small flour coated and deep fried whole fish. I have been looking for these for ages and was over the moon to be able to eat some again,I must explain why.
When I left Sussex and returned to Oxford I did so to be near my eldest daughter. The relationship with her mother had ended and she had returned to Oxford about the same time as I had got together with my wife.
I had made a commitment to continue a relationship with my daughter despite this.So when a new Regional Unit for Forensic Care opened in Oxfordshire I applied.
I had a great job in Sussex with good promotion prospects and my wife's family were local. But I felt that my daughter was more important and so I applied to Oxford.
I was offered the post and moved into the hospital.But before we opened there was a period of training this allowed us to work 9-5 for a few weeks while we sorted out the new clinic. A time for team building and sharing this was done in a local pub called the Waterloo (also now gone) just down the road from where I live.
We would spend our afternoons drinking and getting to know each other and having a great time.
Although I didn't particularly want to work in Oxford this was a good time in the Forensic Unit's history when we started out, as we had high hopes for the future.I remember fondly one of the specials served in the pub and a favourite of my ward manager Prem Calloo was fried whitebait served with chilli sauce washed down with lagers and dark rum, many a happy afternoon was spent there!
I was able to buy whitebait in the past, but have not seen it for sale for a long time, so I was so pleased to taste it again.My son tried it and he liked it as well.
Unfortunately Prem is also gone now, he died of a heart attack in front of me in the Clinic we started, just a few years later. One afternoon when we were working together he just dropped dead. He has a headstone in the local graveyard near Agatha Christie and is remembered fondly by me, when I eat whitebait, always with some hot sauce!

All in all this holiday has been steeped in memories for me and a realisation of the passing of time, it may be because I am getting near my birthday at the end of August, and birthdays of late tend to be reminders of the passage of time.But I do hope that there will be many more different memories yet to come after my transplant and maybe a few to revisit again, many of those will be in Sussex.

Whatever happens you cannot go back you must continue forward whatever that brings.

I thought that a couple of photos would be nice after that deep and rambling trip down memory lane so here goes;

Eastbourne pier

Beachy head

Sussex seagull

Badgers in the Night, Red Kites in the Sky

My son returned form his night out under canvas, tired out, with stories of badgers. It seems that he had little sleep, and had been out walking round with his mates and had seen one running around.It was great to hear that he had a good time and had got the excitement to be out in the countryside that is lacking in some children now.
I have only seen a badger up close once and was in awe when I did. I brought to mind my youth,out walking a weasel running across the path pausing briefly to look at me before disappearing so close I could have touched it. Going out and looking for Slow worms, Lizards and Grass snakes.
Pond dipping for Newts,Tadpoles and the strange things that live at the bottom of natural water, Like the native white claw crayfish a protected animal now. Hours spent fishing, watching the wildlife.Water voles that as a child I would see around me all the time are now rare. The kingfisher that I have seen a rods length away on more than one occasion ,seldom seen now.
Most children Have only one chance to see these animals dead on the side of the road.We seem to be too protective, and these aspects of the world take second place to computer games,shopping and television now. The chance to be out in the countryside on my own with nature,of all the things I cant do, I really miss that the most.
My daughter went out and got her supplies for her camping trip today and came back with first aid kit,dehydrated food and long life milk I hope that her trip goes well.I remember doing the same when I went to camp with the scouts.
One thing I did worry about when my son was away was getting called for a transplant.
Most of the time I have developed a need to shut out the fact that a call could come any time or i wouldn't be able to get on with life. Last night I had problems doing that as I imagined my son coming back to the fact that the lung transplant had gone ahead,how would he feel if it wasn't successful and he didn't say goodbye.I think this is a reaction to what happened to me when my father died as his death was sudden and unexpected.

On the subject of wildlife I have few contacts with it now but one thing I am still awed by are the red kites that fly over our house I have devoted a lot of time to getting photos of them so I thought I would include one of my better pictures 

Red Kite

I remember as a young teenager in the Forest of Dean walking into a clearing and seeing deer grazzing that was one of my most inspiring encounters. We are lucky where we are to occasionally see deer near the road and I have a video of one we saw while I was in the car with my son about two miles from our house last year I will post that for interest rather than quality of film making 

Oxfordshire Deer.
There are other deer in Oxford in the wild,such as Muntjac deer that I have seen on a few occasions.
Also in captivity a most notably in Magdalen College deer park called The Grove they are maintained for the fellows meals and were accessible to the public until recent years but I believe you can still get guided tours. Or if you have Quicktime plug in  there is a virtual tour of the college Here
 

Muntjac