News

The chemotherapy gets more difficult to bear. Side effects continued even to the morning of my current and penultimate course which began yesterday. Last night, because of the dexamethasone pre-med, I got only 2 hours sleep. My birthday on Saturday was not very enjoyable because I felt so unwell and quite depressed. Still, thanks for all the e-cards and well wishes from such a large number of people. They, at least, were appreciated.

At last Spring has sprung which is a cue for a song:

Spring is sprung the grass is rizz
Oi wonder where them boidies is?
They say the boids is on the wing but that's absoid
From what I hoid, the wing is always on the boid.

We have the cherry blossom out at last and fat wood pigeons eating it. Forsythia is full out, bright yellow in the front of the house with several patches of daffodils echoing the color. At the back the first of the camellias shines bright scarlet in the sunshine; the others are in heavy bud as are the magnolias. I counted 30 hyacinths in bloom; these are pot plants that we have placed outside in the flower bed. Violets and periwinkle are also flowering and the first of the grape hyacinths. A laurel has been flowering with dark brown blooms for most of the winter and so has the viburnum, though white/pink, not brown. A few cyclamen remain but most have finished flowering. Quite a rarity is the Dorset snowflake which resembles a snowdrop but is much taller with stems about 14 inches high.

Nice to see Manchester United reaching the last eight of the Champions League, though two more players were lost to injury. At least they had Nani and Valencia back. Afer fielding a side against Arsenal with 5 full backs last week they are in danger of having to play with only three defenders next game. They join Spurs and possibly Chelsea who carry a two-goal lead into tonight's match against FC Copenhagen.

We watched East of Eden last night. Well acted by Raymond Massey, but the Oscar nominations went to Elia Kazan, James Dean, and the adaptor of John Steinbeck's novel, Paul Osborn. The Oscar for best supporting actress went to Jo Van Fleet playing the estranged wife and mother. She was better known as a stage actress but she did appear in The Rose Tattoo, I'll Cry Tomorrow (both 1955), The King and Four Queens (1956), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), and Cool Hand Luke (1967).

I have finished reading the last but one of the Robert Jordan series The Wheel of Time. The last volume will be published in November. That gives me something to aim for.

We have decided to defer selling our house. With summer coming we intend to take an extended holiday. The stress of moving is the last thing I want. We have had very few family holidays, my work has always been so all-consuming. This year will be different.