Friday, the day after the ride, we went into Perth for breakfast with the other riders and volunteers. That took the bulk of the morning, enjoying a nice location on the water and a sunny day. Back "home", I packed the bike and somewhere in there had a snooze. We had eaten at a local walk-to pizza place the night before and did that again. With Anne having left for the UK and Neil getting organized to go to South Korea, the house is a moving picture of dogs, cat, Charlie and Georgia in and out for work and play, Neil back and forth to the farm etc. We're comfortable, having been here last year. Circumstances have made it into mostly fending for ourselves, but that's quite alright.
Neil was home late and quickly off to bed; we also turned in soon after 9:30 pm. On Saturday a.m., Neil was up before me doing laundry; Sandy did another walk to the beach. Oh yes, on Friday I also, finally, got my hair cut. It kept me warm here in the Australian Spring but it will be hotter in Israel, at least during the day !
Saturday afternoon we drove out to the farm. It's about 1.5 hours away. We saw the cows and one of the pigs and the two beehives. About 20 meters or so from the hives it seems that a bee took a fancy to my new haircut and stung me on the top of my head. Of course with bees, that's the end of that worker. They only sting once. There was no swelling or pain beyond that first sting, so my swelled head didn't get any bigger :).
Now for the bad.
A riding friend, Don Gramling, passed away overnight in his sleep, could be a heart attack. He was in his mid 50's, 10 years younger than me. I first met Don when he did a Fleche with me; we roomed together in Jacksonville. He also rode the Granite Anvil in 2013. Don always wore this huge smile. He is a loss to the world.
We heard yesterday that Bruce Bell, husband of Sandy's cousin Bev, had fallen off a chair and banged his head. Prognosis was guarded but they hoped to stabilize him and deal with some blood clots. This morning I found another email that he'd passed away. That was too quick. Bev and Bruce are older than Sandy by a few years.
So there you go - the very fit athlete has a heart attack and the overweight older guy who was a heart attack candidate dies from hitting his head. You cannot predict the time or the circumstances unless you're already on that downward spiral due to some progressive disease and even that might not be your final exit door.
All this makes me happier than ever that we're doing all this traveling; do what you can, while you can. It was Sandy's birthday yesterday (yesterday in Oz; today at home). We're all getting older.
We had dinner last night with Georgia and Charlie at a Nepalese restaurant. It was excellent ! Neil is still at the farm, will return to Perth this morning. He has a business dinner/function downtown Perth tonight so we'll be fending for ourselves and then getting to the airport for our 11:55 pm (yeah, isn't that great) flight to Hong Kong.
Onward !
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