Catkin

Warm thanks to everyone who has sent their love to my mother and I. After eight harrowing weeks a surgeon at one of our top hospitals cleared her esophagus of a major reflux and found nothing...

Recent weeks have been harrowing as I have watched my mother slip by increments. It all came to a head on Wednesday when she went in for day surgery. When the surgeon came to do the endoscopy he...

This week I am able to say I have made progress and I have not only filled up more units of time but I am establishing new relationships. Volunteering at St Vinnies has resulted in me joining a...

It seems I am back, belted back into the roller coaster, ready for another ride. You would think I like theme parks and roller coaster rides. I seem to be riding the old roller coaster often enough....

This is really just a message to let people who I care about here know that I am a bit preoccupied at the moment.My mother's health seems to be spiralling down hill and I am very concerned. She has...

Yesterday I got the phone call confirming that I had been accepted as a volunteer at a Charity Store in the town. I begin tomorrow. I have never done this sort of work before. My work, over the past...

 Given everything that I have been through over the past twenty years it is not surprising that I have bottomed and feel like the man with the ten swords plunged into his back. The Ten of Swords...

Today I drove over to the kennels and picked my precious dogs up after leaving them for three nights.  It was my elderly Cavalier that I was most worried about but as I approached I could see he was...

When I joined DS one of the goals that I set was to break the umbilical cord and seperate from my animals for at least short periods. My elderly King Charles Cavalier has been one constant over the...

Over recent weeks I have spent dark days Lethargically slumped over my writing desk I have been feeling dispirited and dull My concentration has gone and I am now prone To frequent, unpredictable...

This past week, despite my best efforts  I have been experiencing a very dark night of the soul.  At this moment in time everything seems utterly pointless.  I am approaching Midnight, journeying...

 Legend hath it that Cerridwen had two children. Creiwy was the most beautiful girl in all the world. Afagddu, her son, was the ugliest boy. They lived on an island in the middle of Lake Tegid. To...

Pythons are large and muscular, boas who kill their prey by squeezing, or constricting, until it suffocates. At the risk of sounding melodramatic, right now it feels like my mother's grief is...

The mosquito-borne parasite Plasmodium falciparum A veiled ladyDances slow measured tango stepsOn a ballroom of red blood cellsDisguising herselfShe skilfullyPlays, A genetic game Of hide-and-seekThe...

 It seems I was born with a mark emblazoned on my forehead to mark me as 'the one' who would have to be there to bear witness to loss and grief, to be there when loved ones draw their final...