Mammograms!

Let me get straight to the point!.......When you reach a certain age here in the UK you receive an invitation to go for a mammogram, which is brilliant.

However, when I received my invitation I wasn't sure whether or not it was something I wanted to accept. Why not?

Well, let me tell you why...

Last week I read an article in a book about alternatives to HRT. The book is written by a UK doctor. It said having mammograms increases the risk of cancer because the 'powerful X-ray' can trigger/cause breast cancer. This is one hell of a statement. So it was a dilemma for me to make a decision as to whether or not to have a mammogram as my mother and cousin both died from breast cancer. What was I to do?

My GP was totally understanding. She rang me last Friday, and we had a long discussion during which she urged me to go and have the mammogram.

After due consideration...I went - this morning.

But I did not go empty handed. I actually took my book along with me and showed it to the radiographers who just about hit the roof when they read the piece. They too were understanding and took the time to explain that a mammogram involves only a tiny dose of radiation - they are not regarded as powerful as stated in the book - so the risk to your health is, in fact, small.
Following an interesting, and enlightening conversation, I went ahead with the mammogram.

The book is very negative about mammograms (but I think it's nutrition advice is good) and it would have been very easy for me to cancel the appointment. So the moral of this story is...if you have any doubts talk to your GP before you rush out and cancel your appointment.

For obvious reasons there are no pics or video of this procedure ;-)
But it didn't hurt a bit.

Saturday Night Fever!

Saturday night's alright for dancing!

Johnny7 and Chad Valli - who just happen to be friends of ours - put on fabulous fun 70's disco's.

Last Saturday night they invited us to join them at The Station Hotel in Northallerton for a party night. So we did!

Fancy dress was optional - but as most of you know already I always like to join in the spirit of things ;-)

We had a great night! Good music, good company, great dancing and the proprietor of The Station Hotel was charming. He said he'd never seen anything like it! On reflection I'm not quite sure how to take that remark - but he was smiling and invited us back ;-)

Sounds too good to be true? Well take a look at the pics, and see for yourself.

No prizes for guessing who I went as 😀

Norman the Gnome goes Gnoming - we think!

The weather has been kind to us in the past few days in the UK, so you can understand that we’ve spent some time in the garden...not actually doing anything practical, of course, but making lots of plans for the coming summer.

Our favourite place to stand and plan is beside the pond, next to Norman, one of our gnomes.

We love Norman and always tell him what’s going to be happening in the garden over the summer. Yesterday was no exception. We told him about the apple tree that’s going to be planted for Katie our horse, and the additional lavender plants that are coming.

So....can you imagine our horror when, this morning, we looked out and saw that Norman was missing!!!!

At first we thought he had toppled into the pond. But no! In his usual place something white glinted in the early sunshine. I rushed outside to check things out and there it was....a brief message scrawled on an envelope...it was so simple...he’s always been a gnome of few words, always preferring to listen. 

Well... the little blighter was certainly listening to us yesterday, because as well as discussing the garden we talked about the weather, especially the awful wintry forecast that we’d heard on ITV for the coming weekend.

So...as we see it....It’s all down to Bob Johnson’s wintry weather forecast! (He’s the local ITV weather man) he’s our fave forecaster. Obviously Norman’s taken Bob’s forecast to heart and gone to find some sunshine!

We are so worried. Our Norman’s gone off somewhere - BUT WHERE???

Gone Gnoming - that was all his note said. BUT his little gnome passport that he keeps under the gooseberry bush is missing! So he could be heading anywhere in the world.........


If you think that you might have seen Norman, then do please let us know. Take a good look at his photograph - we don’t want any mistakes!

His friends are worried sick, and it looks like they might set out to find him.
Oh dear, then what will we do?