Brailsford family updates

 This year we grew a pepper. We have previously had an allotment as well as growing a little in the front garden in veg beds. We had to give up the allotment as we found that we didn't have enough time to commit to it, especially as I became more unable. So we went down to just the veg beds. We had a great crop of strawberries and peas, not that Mark or I got to eat many of them, the small had most of them on the way to school or when he got back, turns out fruit and veg is more appealing when you've helped groww it and can eat it straight after you've picked it. So what does this have to do with a pepper. I'm led to believe by those who know about this stuff that peppers are tricky to grow, require the exact right conditions and lots of the right love and care. We did not plant any pepper seeds. Our tomato seeds came from one of those kits for children to encourage them into gardening that has a plastic tub to grow them in a compacted pad of compost that you add water ...

When I was little I had a comfort blanket. It was yellow and knitted to a lovely pattern. It had been knitted for my older brother when he was born two years earlier and was made as a pram blanket, in the days prams were prams. just to give you an idea of the size. When I came along I took a liking to this blankie, and one corner of it in particular that I used to 'blank' as my family called it. This means rubbing a particular piece of it with my left thumb and fore finger. It had to be my left as I sucked my right thumb. I wore this blankie around my neck. couldn't sleep without it. If I needed the loo in the night it came with me to keep me safe, not sure what I expected it to do!! I couldn't go to sleep without it, it went on play dates and sleepovers with me. I did not like it if had been through the wash as it smelt and felt wrong. Long before I met Mark I decided maybe it was daft for a grown woman to need a security blanket but i couldn't sleep without it, so...

 I get the feeling this might be another rambling one, I apologise now, it was going round my head in the night last night and has swimming there since. Thank you to those who engaged in the last post either by direct comment or by getting in touch with us personally. We understand that not everyone is interested in our faith stuff but hope it is an encouragement when mentioned to those interested. This one starts with thoughts about something to do with church. When I am well enough I have the privilege of helping with a top up shop that is run at ST john's church on Caudlwell Halll Road on a  afternoon. They are given a lot of food that is near it's use by or best before date. Anyone that wants to can come and pay £2 and fill a bag up from whatever is available. In the middle of the night this had me reflecting on use by and best before dates. we have to follow certain protocols around these to make sure people that come know if something is likely to be near it's date. I...

  We have asked our vicar, Mark Prentice, to write this one for us as we were struggling to make the words in the page make sense. I think he's done a good job of it though. If you want to hear more of his wisdom you can drop in on the 'Mie vicars blog' just search that bit in speech marks to find it. If you're local to us visit at Andrews church on Britannia road or st John's church, Caldwell hall road, both have services at 10:30 on a Sunday, or join the live stream on YouTube or the church website. Or you can catch up on the live stream in the week, I often do this when I've not been well enough or awake enough to get to church or watch live. What do we do when life is out of control?   Not just when it  seems  out of control…  there are days like that, when the problem lies in us.  The chaos is within, and it prevents us from meeting the circumstances of our lives in an ordered way.  But what about when the chaos is outside of us?  When life i...

 My dad was an avid reader as a child, he still is now. Probably some of where my child gets his love for books and reading from. If he's not watching TV he's got his head in a book. Anyway the first time my dad came across the word misled it was in a book so he didn't know exactly what it meant or how to pronounce it and thought it was mis-lll'd, rather that miss-led. Correct me if I'm wrong dad. Anyway it has been brought to our attention that we may have accidently misled you. Apparently it was not clear from the previous couple of blog posts what it going on for me health wise right now so I am going to try and clear that up now. We saw my consultant again on Friday. I say again, it's the first time in a while we've seen him as we keep getting bumped to his assistants' list. We  are told she is not far away from becoming a consultant herself and that if you are going to see anyone other than our consultant, she's the one you want to see. Anyway, ...

 I have to admit, I wrote this about five weeks ago, in a notebook I take to church to write down anything from the sermon or service that I want to think about more in the week. I've only now got round to typing it up. My ears were still listening even if my hands were busy. If anyone's interested it was an Easter Sunday sermon, with a title or theme of Jesus is Lord overall, based on John 21:15-25, when Jesus reinstates Peter, or breakfast on the beach as it is often titled in the Bible. I don't think I'll talk much about that, so look it up in a bible or bible app, if your interested.  Now, onto what I wrote during that sermon. If I'm not writing notes, I generally crochet or knit during church. So far, no ones told me they mind me doing it. I tend to find that if my hands are busy my ears work better. When you know you're going to be having chemotherapy, possible side effects is one of the things you naturally think about. I hadn't realised that there ar...

 looking at the stats of how many people have visited our blog (BECAUSE I am that egotistical!) it would appear that people are expecting an update (we can't see whose been for a look, just how many people) So at long last here it is. I'm trying to think of what we've done since either of us last wrote. We had a hospital appointment last week, and sadly found out that the remaining tumours have grown. Apparently this means there is no point carrying on with the treatment as if it hadn't started to work by now it's not going to and I was having the full whack I could for the kind of tumour. They were saying they want me to have the best quality life I can at the moment, and the treatment did make me fairly ill. On that note we are trying our best to have good family times. When there's time we enjoy a little game together between tea and bedtime. I try to save energy where I can for us to do things at the weekend. We love booking holidays! I am one of those peopl...