casa az

pink

azahar — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:03:40 +0000

Today’s Photohunter theme is “pink”.

Am bending the rules a bit as this photo was taken for me not by me (I also posted it here last month, but what the heck). My friend Sara and her mum – both cancer survivors – took part in the central London Race For Life at the end of May. Sara’s husband Steve took this photo and sent it to me. It made me cry happy tears and feel very loved indeed.

I’m Shawn.

high spirits

azahar — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:36:50 +0000

Last night I couldn’t sleep. At 4.00 in the morning it was 32º in my bedroom and the electric fan was just blowing hot air around. I decided that what I needed was a good book and, after rummaging around the bookshelves for awhile, picked up this wonderful collection of amusing ghost stories told by the inimitable Robertson Davies. They were just what I needed.

I also realised how my reading habits have changed. Last year was typical in that I read roughly a book a week. But this year! I think I’ve barely managed a book a month and I really don’t know why because I love reading. Okay, in part I blame the iPhone I got for Christmas. A lot of my reading is done in bed, either before I fall asleep or when I invariably wake up in the wee hours, and I started using some of that time to check my email and read blogs on the iPhone. Also, due to financial constraints, I haven’t been able to buy many new books and I’d pretty much reread most of what I felt was rereadable in my library last year. But it was also as if reading had somehow become less important and, as I say, I have not found any good reasons to explain that.

I feel quite ready to do some really big time summer reading now though, and may even splash out on a couple of new books. Any suggestions? Meanwhile, I highly recommend any of Robertson Davies’ books to you all. I’d quite forgotten that I had the ghost stories and it was a real treat last night to immerse myself in the superb talent of one of the most delightful story tellers I know.

What are you reading this summer?

UK heat wave?

azahar — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:43:45 +0000

Temperature at 9 o’clock this morning plus four-day forecast.

Buncha wimps.

How’s the weather where you are?

summer holidays

azahar — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:14:28 +0000

I proclaim today as the beginning of my summer holidays!

Back when I mentioned my need to take some Time Out there were still several matters to attend to and get organised before I felt I could really relax and focus on taking some quality healing time. So most of June was spent “taking care of business” and getting through some pretty rough chemo. To wit, I have also decided that I’m done with the infusions and won’t be taking the sixth one. If they let me I’ll still do the sixth round of chemo mid-July, but only taking the dreaded Xeloda, which has a slightly less toxic effect on me. After the last infusion I got a very clear message from my body that it was DONE with that shit and really couldn’t take any more. And since my last PET scan was clear, I think I can take my body’s advice on that.

So for the next two months it’s going to be all about healing, yoga, long walks, healthy diet, cats, friends and – most importantly – taking time to breathe. I also have a few projects to work on, but just poco á poco when I feel up to it. And Nog & I want to get casa az de-cluttered and set up so we can both work here in comfort come September.

What will you be doing this summer?

the clean up

azahar — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:20:50 +0000

As I mentioned yesterday, Pepe my landlord has agreed to let me keep on renting rooms in the apartment next door (where I used to live) for another year. So before I can spend any more time making casa az look less like an Ikea bomb hit it, I’ll have to get next door looking spruce for the new tenants. I’ll be able to do some of the lighter cleaning but I know I’ll get tired out quickly, so Nog has offered to do most of the work if I go over and keep him company (bless his little cotton socks). We’re going to take a couple of extra electric fans over, the iPod deck and plenty of mineral water, and hope to be done by the end of the week (working mornings only when it’s coolest).

At the moment I’ve only got one new tenant for the summer, who will be arriving this afternoon. I don’t actually make any money from this set up unless there is a full house (3 people) but as Pepe isn’t making me pay rent next door for July & August it’s a fair trade off. He’ll get some income for the summer and I’ll get a new contract in September.

After having spent June tying up some loose ends and organising stuff I’m quite looking forward to now taking the rest of the summer off to really focus on my well-being. I’m glad I’ve decided not to have another chemo infusion and only take the dreaded Xeloda for the sixth round. That should make July much easier to bear.

Okay, time to finish my coffee and get to work!

ikea meets guernica (with cats!)

azahar — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:29:50 +0000

This photo doesn’t even begin to show the recent upheaval and mayhem at casa az due to the departure of Susan (aka Pipocas) and the disbursal of her belongings – although I am not one of nature’s little housekeepers, the livingroom does usually look a wee bit tidier than this. In fact things were looking quite a bit worse about an hour before I took this pic, and Nog’s teaching room is still jam-packed with large plastic bags filled with I can’t quite remember what. But things are slowly coming together, oh, and I also have some news …

Here you see Nog reattaching legs to a little table that is going to end up in the apartment next door. Yes! I have it back again. I swear I will never understand how Pepe’s Brain™ works. But to cut out those two very long paragraphs I just wrote trying to explain what happened, after much hemming & hawing (not to mention making my head spin!) Pepe is going to write me a new contract Sept-July and won’t charge me full rent during the summer if I don’t find enough tenants to cover the whole amount. What a guy.

Luckily I found out in time to score some good stuff I could use next door (sheets, towels, table & chair for smaller bedroom, dishes, cutlery) so I should be able to rent it out for another year without having to invest much on small improvements.

Over at casa az, I’ll be setting up a small flat screen tv on my bedroom wall (with dvd player) which feels like the height of decadence to me. In the photo above you can see my new wheelie chair and, of course, I got the famous headboard a couple of weeks ago. Besides those major items there are simply bags & bags of very useful stuff too numerous to mention. Or seemingly to put away. But that will be this week’s project, in between naps.

Susan and I had our last tapa lunch on Wednesday, over at Vineria San Telmo. Fabulous food, as usual. Then I had chemo on Thursday, was out for the count Friday due to the allergic reaction, but managed to get over to her place for awhile on Saturday afternoon. Said our goodbyes outside my house when she dropped me off at home. And very early Sunday morning Pip left for Florida and her new life.

Instead of food photos (you can see what we had if you scroll down on VST’s page on Sevilla Tapas) I shall leave you with a couple of sayings that Juan the owner has had stencilled on the ceiling of his restaurant. Susan & I both took photos of them.

napping for spain…

azahar — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:02:09 +0000

Came across this gorgeous image over at Zeus’s and knew I had to use it for my next nap post. It’s that time of the chemo cycle when I turn into a cat and don’t do much other than eat and sleep for a few days. Of course that should be Azar fanning me with asparagus while Sunny hides somewhere under the blanky.

My favourite naps theses days are the ones when I awake feeling totally refreshed and having no idea what day – let alone what time of day – it is. Those make me smile.

flags

azahar — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:02:26 +0000

Today’s Photohunter theme is “flags”.

This photo shows banners from a recent public holiday (Corpus Christi) that have the flags of Andalucía, Spain and Sevilla in front of them. Oh, and that’s my street.

t-shirt friday 27~06~09

azahar — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:15:40 +0000

From the fabulous xkcd Comics. This t-shirt was a gift to me & Nog. He mostly wears it but I sometimes swipe it for yoga class. And here’s a pic of Nog wearing it out tapearing.

Wow! My first t-shirt Friday. Thanks for reminding me, Silverstar.

Other participants (so far) are:
Sledpress
Nursemyra
Mudhooks

pan pipes from hell

azahar — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:02:57 +0000

As usual I raced into yoga class yesterday just as it was starting, with everyone lying on their backs and doing a little deep breathing and relaxing. It wasn’t until I’d lain down and got comfortable that I noticed a rather drastic change in the usual music. I thought to myself … could this really be Unchained Melody being played on pan pipes? It was. And it got worse. Next up was Feelings and I almost sat up and asked our instructor Ana if this was some sort of joke or what. By the time the third song started we were well into the “sun greeting” and as a group we all groaned. I mean, it was ABBA fer crying out loud. On pan pipes! At which point Ana fessed up that she’d left her music at home and had borrowed a couple of “easy listening” CDs from the gym. And as the pan pipes crescendoed into the chorus of Chiquitita (aiiyayaiiyaiiii) we all burst out laughing and sniggered our way through the rest of the our first routine.

After which Ana put on the second CD, which was more typical easy listening stuff … Pachelbel’s Canon, Enya, etc.

But for awhile it had been like doing yoga in the world’s largest elevator.