A tragic fire .... an annual squeeze and a knight!

I've been squished and squeezed .. it's an annual event!!

I go yearly for a mammogram and have been for years now as I have fibroadenosis. It doesn't usually lead to anything "sinister" as my GP says but I need to go for the mammo every year. OMW it's always stressful and this time was no exception. Deep yoga breathing helps when I had one boob xrayed twice 'because there was a shadow' and then I had to wait for ages until the xrays were checked! Nerve racking!! The radiologist said I had 'good boobies for mammograms'! 'Why' I asked 'is there something wrong' and of course she wouldn't say .. which makes me do more deep yoga breathing! Seems to be OK although the wording in the report is different so will take them when I next see my GP - but I didn't need 'the scan' so to me that's a good sign!

Long slow breath out !!

Elaine's having her braces on this afternoon - she is not looking forward to it but it has to be done. As the orthodontist said when she first started her treatment "once you're on the train you can't get off " ... so she's on that train and chugging along! She's not worried so much anymore about 'the look' ... it's the pressure and pain of the movement of the teeth. I do all I can to ease it with pain killers, when she needs, and soft foods etc. We tend to eat lots of mash and mushy foods to keep her company!! (She had braces when she was at Primary School so we've been though all this before!)

But yesterday was not a good day for her either. Her boss had a tragic fire at their house on Sunday night and burnt most of the house ... absolutely awful .. and Elaine and others went yesterday afternoon to give some comfort and support. She came home very upset having now seen what damage has been done. Major damage! Nothing has been spared. They're not allowed in because everything that may be saved has to be detoxed first before it can be touched apparently. (Nicole, our DIL who is a trained firefighter as well as a paramedic, would be able to tell us more about that)

A miracle that the family (and pets) managed to escape unhurt because apparently the fire spread extremely fast.

Elaine told us in detail about the state of the house. OMW what a tragedy. We always see tragic fires sweeping through housing estates etc on TV and we witnessed the aftermath of a fire in Hermanus a year or so ago when thatched roofed houses were left as burnt out shells but it's never anyone we've known. We don't know them (E's boss) personally but my heart goes out to them as they pick up the pieces of their lives again.

Some things have left a deep impression in her mind like the description of the paint peeling off the walls right before the boss' eyes when she ran upstairs to fetch the sleeping child ... their beautiful furniture and possessions in a heap under rubble, blackened and burnt ... the little girl's room with blackened and burnt bed, toys, dolls and a dolly's pram ... and more.

Very very sad, but with all tragedies and war, families pick up the pieces of their lives and carry on. I pray they do.

On a happier note and .... wow - how proud are we (!) - my son has been knighted! He has put it on his blog so I don't think it's a 'secret' - he has been knighted into the Knights Templar (with sword and all !!) of the United Religious, Military and Masonic Orders of the Temple and of St John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes and Malta of England and Wales.