Mrs Bounce-Back has bounced back.

After my little blip on Friday, I think I am back to my usual positive self. Thank you for the comments left here and on Facebook (also texts and emails). It means a lot and it does help when friends take the trouble to reflect on what I've said and to respond. I know that these blips will happen and I know that I can deal with them, but initially the blip feels a bit like being on a train that has derailed and there's a sense in which I wonder whether I can get back onto the right track. However, I think I am back on the right track now!

It helps that I have found out that Adam Yauch's cancer was of a different type from mine. I got a very helpful text from our next door neighbour's daughter (the anaesthetist married to a surgeon, who I sometimes view as my own personal physician :-)), telling me that, off the top of her head, she knew there were 11 different types of cancer which occur in the parotid gland, plus others which can be secondary cancers, so that made me view the odds a bit more sensibly. I am resisting the temptation to use the services of Dr Google and start investigating details, including prognosis, for my particular type of cancer. I take the view that until the professionals advise me to put my affairs in order, I should carry on as normal. That means keeping myself healthy, staying busy, looking for work and caring for my family. I think I am achieving a fair degree of success in three out of four of these - the work one isn't going so well! As you can imagine, finding project work in local government is a bit like searching for the Holy Grail.

I could really have done with some sunny weather over the bank holiday weekend, to lift my mood and make it more pleasant to be outside! Sadly, this was not to be, except for one or two brief spells of no rain and a glimmer of sunshine. I did a five mile fundraising walk on Saturday afternoon for the Orpheus Centre, which was followed by entertainment from one of their former students, a very talented singer. I enjoyed that, getting some fresh air and exercise, even if I was a bit muddy by the end of it! Neil and I managed to get out for a longish walk on Monday, in the bluebell woods, with a very tasty pub lunch as our reward.

Since then, it's back to the usual routine of home, domestic goddess impersonation and exercise. Yesterday Neil and I met up with an old friend and had a good catch-up over dinner. One of today's tasks is making my Hermann cake - anyone else done this? It's basically a chain cake, where you receive a portion of cake mix, fermenting away as it has a yeast base, and you "feed" it for ten days, then split it into four, give away three portions along with the instructions and cook the fourth. I did it earlier this year and really liked the result.

Later still, I think I might be forced to do a Sun Dance, just to get some better weather!