Happy Samhain Everyone

Sam who? Yes, we know 31st October is traditionally celebrated as Hallowe'en these days. Particularly in the USA. This is turning into a hugely commercial event where everyone buys sweets for handing out at doorsteps as "Trick or Treat" gifts.

Well this just isn't right. In my dads youth they celebrated Hallowe'en, but not as a some commercial festival for corporate gain. It was about simpler things.

I think the old Celtic festival of Samhain should erase this capitalist "Trick or Treat" cash cow.

Samhain (pronounced saowen) marks one of the two great doorways of the Celtic year, for the Celts divided the year into two seasons: the light and the dark, at Beltane on May 1st and Samhain on November 1st. Some believe that Samhain was the more important festival, marking the beginning of a whole new cycle, just as the Celtic day began at night. For it was understood that in dark silence comes whisperings of new beginnings, the stirring of the seed below the ground. Whereas Beltane welcomes in the summer with joyous celebrations at dawn, the most magically potent time of this festival is November Eve, the night of October 31st.

So say to all, a Happy Samhain. Let us celebrate the beginning of the darker half of the year, a celebration of autumn and winter and the end of the harvest.

I Predict a ...

Well not wanting to tempt fate, but so far things are going pretty well. No sign of that nasty of seizure monster and no Tabasco's or chompies. Things have just been going really well!

50 Days without event is something to be really pleased about. We can't say why we have the good fortune, but simply welcome it with open arms.

There's not so much to say really. We're well into autumn and it's getting cold. That doesn't bother me at all. I prefer it when it's cold and when we go out for walks it means I can run about a bit more. When mum puts the heating on and the radiators get warm I have to move away from them and find somewhere cold to lie down.

You Know What Comes Next...

I would say it's obvious really, as it's been a while and posting something is bound to be the kiss of death. But so far so good. It's been a while since the last episode, but we're expecting a visit anytime soon.

We were thinking "Today's the day" a couple of times this week. I haven't had a full seizure, but I've had a couple of new small episodes of "falling". By that I mean episodes that resemble the moment when you're asleep and for no reason you suddenly jump awake trying to grab onto something as if you're falling. Well there's been a few times when I've startled dad with similar sort of actions.

After some "falling" I've been a little off. Not quite right and one day just seemed to forget about how to go down stairs! It was like I just thought you walked straight out over them, not focussing on the fact they go down as well as forwards, yikes! I ended up in a heap at the bottom after sliding down quite a few of the steps. So mum and dad are extra vigilant when I'm not looking quite right.

Unfortunatley it's not as easy as stopping me going upstairs. I'm pretty strong willed and when I want to go upstairs I will. Mum's even put stuff on the bottom of the stairs in my way to stop me going up, but that proved just as dangerous as just letting me go up anyway.

One good thing though. We went to the vets for a blood test, to update the prescription... again. Thankfully the results show the epiphen and KBr are within the range required. Money's real tight at the minute, so adding more tablets is always hard. September saw a £60 vet bill for the blood test, £253 for the drugs (epiphen and KBr for 3 months) and another £30 for Glucosamine and Milk Thistle (for a year thankfully).

My diet's taking too long. I got weighed whilst at the vets. It came in at 56kg, so mum and dad have cut my food down quite a bit. From the 2 meals a day I'd get out of 1200g of food they've now made that equal to 3 meals, so I'm down to 800g per day. Now I don't get chance to eat half my breakfast and save the rest for later in the day whilst they're out at work. Now I eat my breakfast and dinner in one go and eagerly want more. Totally different when a few years ago I didn't want food at all.