Flaming Nora

Woke up New Years Day without a hangover or even a hint of a bad head so have spent much of the morning in our garden, cutting back, pruning, tidying, sweeping.  And there in the pots of bulbs we'd planted months ago are the first signs of spring. I took this picture especially to send to my niece who, after months of chemotherapy is winning her battle with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. She kicks off her 2011 with a a month of intensive radiotherapy, but just as these bulbs shoot and grow, by the time they're in flower, she will be well once again.

This is my niece Claire and her boyfriend Matty in a picture taken earlier this year before Claire's cancer diagnosis. If you haven't already sponsored me for the walk I'm doing this coming weekend, please do so here .  And if you still need convincing to part with a small amount of cash to help raise funds for Cancer Research UK, read this and dig deep.   That article in The Sunderland Echo (Monday 22 November) also got its own comment column in the paper, below:

If I had a fairy godmother and I could make three wishes, all three wishes would be the very same. I want the girl in the poncho to be well again. Nothing else matters.