Category Archives: friends

the return of sara & steve

08 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by in cancer, friends, restaurants, sevilla, tapas

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And this time they brought Sheila and Greg (Sara’s parents)!

Last time I saw Sara & Steve was three years ago, though they’ve both been coming to Sevilla for ages and I’m the one who got them started doing that. You may remember when Sara and Sheila (both cancer survivors) did a London Race For Life and Sara wore this fabulous sign during the race. Just to give you an idea of how fabulous they both are.

Anyhow, the gang got in this evening around 9.30 and I was at their holiday apartment to meet them, which turned out to be in the same building of my first home in Sevilla! Talk about a walk down memory lane (actually it was up three flights of stairs). And then we went out for tapas (it was a treat not to be working while out for tapas – I actually got to just eat, drink and relax). So it was a lovely evening and we’ll be seeing each other during the week as they are here until Saturday. Now I must hit the hay… a busy busy week. But it’s nice thinking of my friends just a few minutes away in my old house.

20 years in spain party!

01 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by in 20th anniversary, friends

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Yesterday was Party Day, celebrating my 20th anniversary of moving to Spain.

The festivities started off with a fabulous lunch at the Vineria San Telmo with friends who had come into town specially for the party. After that there was a short break to freshen up and then Peter and I went off to Bar Chinkoa to help set up. You may recall that my first plan had been to have the party on my rooftop terrace but then thought it would be more appropriate (being the Queen of Tapas and all), not to mention way less hassle, to have it at a tapas bar. Happily Manuel and Ana at Chinkoa said they would open up that evening (they’re normally closed on Sunday) so I could celebrate there with my friends. Of course I was a nervous wreck by the time we got there because I never throw parties. I worried that hardly anyone would show up and also had a last-minute extra worry when it occurred to me that people might think the party was “on me” (Spanish style) when my idea had simply been to simply shift the venue from my roof to a bar. But despite my concerns it turned out to be a lovely time.

The best part was that many of the friends who came met other friends for the first time, though they had heard of each other, either from me or via Twitter. And the general concensus was that I have some pretty wonderful friends.

Many many thanks to the gang at Chinkoa who looked after us so well, and also to all you wonderful friends who came to celebrate this very special occasion with me.

Party pics below…

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thursday in málaga

20 Thursday Sep 2012

Posted by in 20th anniversary, friends, Malaga, tapas, travel, trips, twitter

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The original plan had been to stay in Málaga two nights and return on Thursday. But then I found out that long time Twitter friends Fred @fredshively and Arpi @Andalucinda were actually going to be moving to town that day, so I made arrangements to stay one more night in order to finally meet them in person. But Peter still had to get back to teach a class and then take out a tapas tour, so we spent his last morning here going out to the Automotive Museum. Seriously. I wasn’t sure what to expect, and I’m not exactly an old car buff, but it had come highly recommended by several people so off we went. And what fun it was! I especially liked the hat collection. After that we picked up his bag at the apartment and went out for a last drink together before he caught the train back to Sevilla.

By then it was lunchtime and I wasn’t sure what to do as I don’t especially enjoy eating on my own, and I wasn’t sure where to go. So I took a wander around the centre and, after spotting a couple of likely candidates, I finally settled on one called Souvi Tapería because it just had a nice feel to it. And what a good choice that turned out to be. The food was amazing (that tapa in the collage is warm potato & truffle coulante filled with foie, served with boletus icecream) and it turned out that my waiter was not only from Sevilla but also from my barrio! When he found out about my tapas blog he said he’d introduce me to the chef & owner. I also ended up meeting the chef’s mother who was sitting at the bar and we had a great chat about Málaga, and swapped contact info. So it wasn’t a lonley lunch after all.

Then I came home to catch up on emails and do a bit of work and before long it was time to meet up with Fred and Arpi (Arpi is a writer and Fred takes fabulous photos). I really appreciated them coming out at all after spending the whole day moving here from the Alpujarras. And I really really appreciated that, when our first restaurant choice turned out to be a dud, Arpi let us drag her down the street to a cool little tapas bar “for one more” as that ended up being another delightful “discovery” for me. Anyhow, it was great meeting them after knowing them on Twitter for so long, and now I have two more lovely reasons to visit Málaga.

So it ended up being quite a wonderful Thursday. How was yours?

strong thoughts

10 Monday Sep 2012

Posted by in cancer, friends, health & happiness, hope, hospitals

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That’s what Pat would say to me… she’d say “strong thoughts”. And I would feel comforted. One of Pat’s avatars – the black-eyed susan.

The black-eyed susans in my avatar represent two things: every-day beauty in spite of adversity, and sheer persistence. At home I have a 4×12 foot border of black-eyed susans around my front patio. Those flowers are the offshoots of a single 4-inch pot I found wilting on the reduced-for-clearance rack at the garden center in 1998. Now even the daylilies have to argue with them for water, sun and space. The black-eyed susans never lose and never quit; they are a simple, beautiful symbol of what my life with cancer survivorship has become: life out loud, no matter what the circumstances or adversities.

This morning I’m going for my umpteenth PET scan (I can’t be bothered counting them right now). But basically I’ve been having them every six months since May 2008. Since September 2009 I have been NED (no evidence of disease). But everytime I go for a PET scan I am terrified. I mean, this time last year Pat never thought it was going to be her last September. With stage IV cancer you just never know what’s going to happen next.

So in a few hours I’m going to find out whether I get yet another “stay of execution” or if I have to start thinking about chemo and other awful possibilities. Been having quite a lot of abdominal pain of late, so of course I’m scared this means the cancer has come back. Scared out of my wits, actually.

Wish me luck!

between cancer and cats…

05 Wednesday Sep 2012

Posted by in animals & pets, cancer, cats, friends, home, hope, hospitals

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. . . and cats with cancer, it’s been quite an exhausting week.

Since Azar’s tumour explosion last Friday he seems to be slowly on the mend, though he gets “moments” when I can see he is in distress and probably in serious pain, and I don’t know what to do other than stroke him and talk a mile a minute in my softest lovey-dovey voice… he really does like to hear me talk. Anyhow, he and I are just taking things one day at a time (as if there were any other way).

You may recall that last Friday was, along with the exploding tumour incident, also the day for my monthly chemo port cleaning, which I almost put off until today (when I had an oncology appointment) so I didn’t have to make two hospital taxi trips in one week. But I decided not to leave things to chance (would be ironic for me to die of a blood clot after all this) and did a record there-and-back-again in less than an hour, basically taking taxis from door-to-door, so I wouldn’t have to leave Azar for long. I usually walk up to the main road and save myself a couple of euros in each direction. But I digress…

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