Audrey’s Blog on living well with disability and breast cancer

Morning has broken Morning has broken Clear clear skies after the storm Birds are forming   Their morning chorus Heard only by us it seems The cockerel heralds the village to work The mountains raise out their arms As if to say..this is ours Tree wooded mountains   With snow still clinging on To the ragged peaks Late spring means poppies Wild roses in every hedgerow The fields still green before The heat burns them brown The fruits of autumn only a promise still The sun still soft warms our skins We shift our rhythms to this ancient pace A new dog says a shy hello Perhaps he will return? Let our time here unfold... The grand plan in this visit is for me to be working on my book. In my head I'm working mornings and holidaying in the afternoon. So the news our house had been burgled in our absence wasn't welcome. The cooker, fridge, boi

The power of stories and other symbols to enable us to connect to our deeper wisdoms,to help us access other perspectives has been a theme for me of late. I loved   Brene Brown's description of stories as data with a soul. And this week I have also reflected on the power of images and poetry to do that too. The perfect image or poem is able to bring insights just outside of our awareness; to be open enough for us to paint on our own landscapes of discovery. It's left me with a commitment to use imagery and poetry more in my work. I would love to hear about the poems that move you in some way. And it was this poetic flow that led me to write the simple poem below. It's a tribute to an ancient tree in the grounds of Hawkwood, it's thought to be the oldest sycamore in the UK. Recently it lost a major branch and some of it sits nestled beside its roots. Some work will be done now by registered experts to prevent any further damage to the tree, it will b

I moved back to Edinburgh almost four years ago now and I still marvel at what a   wonderful place it is   to live, the history, the beauty, the Botanic gardens, the international buzz, the trams (almost)- oh yes and a Waitrose on the doorstep too!. The Facebook page " overheard in Waitrose " is a gentle mockery of the type of clientele, with quotes like “ Darling, do we need parmesan for both houses?” and reflections on its lower price essential range; “you know it’s Waitrose when the brioche are essential”. And an article in the cruelly ironic Daily Mash a few years ago following a fairly damning public health report decried what Scotland really needed was a few more Waitrose. You had to laugh … .but actually what I really love about Waitrose is the experience. Yes the quality of the food is excellent ( and ok maybe just a bit on the luxury side) but so are the staff excellent. The same is true of the sister company John Lewis , my favourite department store

Bamburgh beach and one very happy dog! We can reminisce fondly about times portrayed by Call the Midwife, when nursing and medicine appeared at least to be more family centred but lets be honest with ourselves, these were not times to be ill. Even when I first started nursing if you were unfortunate enough to have significant arthritis, your life was defined by disability and pain and on many occasions you would be housebound and largely immobile. Asthma over a lifetime lead to chronic obstructive airways disease and permanent wheeze. Heart failure too kept people housebound and immobile. And we never spoke   of cancer survivors, only one outcome was anticipated. Even Type 1 diabetes was a terminal disease until the 1930's. Modern treatments have made a huge difference. I have the privilege to be working temporarily with Arthritis Care Scotland as Interim Director just now and am inspired by young people with rheumatoid arthritis achieving so much in their lives and