It's been quite a year for my family.
I've still been photographing lots of lovely families but the extra things that go with running a business, the social media updates, the blog posts, and all the boring paperwork have very much been neglected.
At the beginning of this year my father-in-law, Adrian, was diagnosed with cancer. Bile duct cancer to be precise, one of the rarest and most aggressive forms of cancer out there. And so began a relentless cycle of doctors appointments, hospital visits, scans and tests in the hopes of delaying the spread of this hideous disease.
Adrian was a private man who suddenly found himself surrounded by doctors prodding, poking, examining and telling him all kinds of medical things that left us all feeling scared and confused. But he always managed to remain positive and often talked about how much he was looking forward to feeling better again so he could tuck into one of my mum's Sunday roasts.
But sadly on the 24th September, a few short months after his diagnosis, Adrian passed away peacefully at Cransley Hospice in Kettering.
Adrian lived in a beautiful house in Northamptonshire surrounded by a stunning garden full of apple trees. Every year Adrian wanted us to take bags full of apples home with us (usually the slightly dodgy looking windfalls - he was a war baby after all) and I have so many lovely memories of playing in that garden with my son Lucas and husband Chris, and picking those apples together.
During this October half term, Lucas and I spent the morning picking apples in the garden and made lots of jars of apple chutney in his grandad's kitchen. For the last few years my mum and I have run a Christmas craft market stall, and this year we're going to give the chutney away in return for donations to Cransley Hospice, which is full of the most caring and understanding staff you could possibly wish for.
Adrian Smith, 1939 - 2015
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