Its been a weekend full of family as my youngest daughter brings her `family to stay so there is time out and a family party. On the Saturday we go off as a group to a local farm park and spend time feeding all sorts of farm animal and of course there is a petting area where there re Guinea pigs and Rabbits. I take lots of photos and videos of which these are two.

After lunch and and more play and we make our home to the tea that has been bubbling away while we were out. There is lots of chat over tea and then its the grandsons bedtime. He goes to sleep quickly after his exciting day and the adults then have pudding and continue to chat. There is a brief period of TV before people go off to bed. I take my meds and do a late night check on my emails and messages before I too go to bed looking for sleep.

Sunday and the visiting family have already breakfasted and gone off to a local soft play area with the youngest grandson by the time I get up. Yesterday tired me but today there is my partners mothers birthday party to do go to, she s 97 on Monday and the family are gathering on the Sunday to celebrate. I have breakfast and reorganise the array of toys that are around and then load Elsie (the new SUV) with all the goodies for the birthday celebration). At noon we drive over to my partners mothers house where we unload the feast and spend an afternoon eating and chatting. As I get older the family grows with more young people in it. It is as it should be and there is something energetic about and dynamic about that. One young niece starts school on Monday and another moves on to the ” twos room” at nursery. All signs of progression and young people thriving. There is also a new baby on the way, due at the end of the year or at the start of next, so the family grows. It is a healthy place to be, there are elders and young which make it strong. There is of course birthday cake and candles to blow out before people have to leave and make there way home. The wife of one of my nephews asks me to sign a copy of my last collection of poems, which I duly do, a nice personal moment.

Having packed all the remaining food back into Elsie I drive the family home for tea. My youngest daughter and family pack up their car and drive off home with a very sleepy little grandson in the back. my partner and I are tired and flop in front of the TV to watch the missed episode of The Great British Sewing Bee and more episodes of the Berlin Station having broken open a packet of forgotten chocolate finger biscuits. My partner goes to bed and I take my night medication and take a few minutes to put the dishwasher on and have a quiet moment to myself. I have run out of energy and log in my head the things that I need to catch up with. The 1st of September will bring some life admin to do, not least sorting out my sons birthday presents that will need to go to Sweden.

Monday and I wake up groggy, not sure why and take my vitals. My blood pressure is slightly higher than I would like so I need to train today. I sort out presents for my sons birthday and check all my start of the month accounts and run an eye over my finances. I finally get up, still not feeling as chipper as I might, and have breakfast. My partner has done a Beezer job of clearing up after our weekend of guests and there is already laundry on the go. By lunchtime she is ready to aqua aerobics (Bobbing bout in the water as I factiously call it), which means I have to move Elsie whilst still dressed in my Daddy Cool Pepper Pig loungers and an ice hockey top. With my partner on her way I settle down to catch up with the blog before training. Its as to be an hour to fight of the side effects of my chemo that I can feel slowing me down.

I eventually get into my training kit and make my way to the garage and the rowing machine. I am not feeling chipper at all and the last thing I want to do is train. I strap in and set up my Fitbit and away I go. Its hard to get going and as I monitor the distance and the calories burnt I know I am having a bad session. I expected a hard session after the active weekend but not this bad. by the half way point (30 minutes) I am well under 6 kilometres and it looks like I might not even make 11 kilometres in the hour. I start to make an effort and painfully begin to claw back some metres but it is hard work. I have very little left in way of energy by the time I hit 11 kilometres I have just about 4 minutes left. The choice is is cruise in or try and get 12 kilometres, which means a burst of hard pulling to get 250 metres every minute of rowing. I go for it and dredge up energy from somewhere, clicking over 12 kilometres a few seconds before the end of the hour session. I am sweating and gasping having put in an effort like I haven’t for at least two years out of fear that I would start to bleed when I piss again. This could be an important day.

At the end of the session I could not catch my breath for a while, I down a pint of lemon squash and sit for a while until I record the session in my journal. While I recover I snack on tomatoes and baby bells before taking a shower. I go for a piss and thankfully there is no blood so I am pleased and hopeful that this means I can once gain build some confidence in my body. By the time I am done my partner is home and I resume drafting the blog. The evening is a mystery so far as it is unclear if my partner will be having her Monday singing lesson. I am now spoon less, the effort of the row has drained me but I am hoping I will reap the benefits tomorrow, however there are still today tasks to do before I can collapse into a heap and watch TV or read. I am waiting anxiously for the final final draft of the anthology to arrive and preliminary book cover designs. Once that is done I can get on with exploring an audio book. Of course tonight also has to include finalising tomorrows Tesco delivery and taking my night meds before I can settle down for the night, I’m hoping the effort I put into today will be reflected in my vitals tomorrow morning. Here’s hoping.