Susan Turned 40 with American Friends

Susan had big plans to celebrate her 40th birthday. She wanted a party at our house then to spend the following 7 days in a big, beautiful house we rented in Byron Bay, as a thank-you to her friends who travelled so far to help celebrate -- Xavier, Kathleen, Cheryle, David and Jeff. With Susan's dad (Woody) passing on the day of the party, our plans shifted a bit, and her 40th essentially became Woody's wake. It was a great night nonetheless, with friends of ours and Woody's arriving to honor his passing. Thanks James for all the beautiful songs you sang that night! Woody made it known he was at the party in spirit.

We still all took off the next day for Byron Bay anyway. The local Aborigines consider Byron to be a power place of healing and we were just three blocks from the ocean. It was nice to get away and shift energy a bit. Susan had lots of down time away from her computer. So soon after losing her Dad, she said she felt best whenever she was on the beach.

The group of us spent the week fixing each other dinners, taking long walks to the lighthouse, swimming, boogie-boarding, surfing, suntanning, kite flying, drinking water, beer and wine, and getting a lot of rest.

Cheryle came prepared to bellydance at Susan's 40th, so when the party didn't happen, she was a great sport and gave us all the gift of her wonderful dancing one evening in Byron. Thank you, Cheryle! We love you!


On our last day, Susan, Gary and I drove to Ballina and listened to some great Aussie rock music outdoors. One of Gary's mates was the lead guitarist and man, he was really, really good! It was hard to come home and back to the reality we had left, but we forced ourselves to return. Once home, it was so great to sleep in my own bed. You know the feeling!

Here are some photos of our dear friends. We miss you all already!

Xavier and Kathleen

Susan and me

Gary and Susan at The Rails ("The Friendly Pub")

The gang flying kites

Jeff in his sexy new Aussie hat!

The gang (minus me, taking the photo)

David, Susan and Cheryle at the Beach Bar

Animal Life in the Bush

Morning in OZ

Most of the time when I get up in the morning at the Kunghur house, there are many wallabies hanging around outside our windows. I feel like I'm in a Dr Seuss book sometimes with the snakes, echidnas, birds, cows, calves and the wallies. Susan describes it as us being in the fishbowl and the animals peering in, wondering what we're doing, what we'll do next, etc. I feel truly privileged to be living in this spot and am enjoying true bush living.

Echidna curled up in backyard

Wally bouncing along. Bounce... bounce...

A family of cows, frequently around the house like a Gary Larsen cartoon! We do have a fence around our yard, so the cow pies stay just outside the gate and fence. Come to think of, it does smell like a barn out here.

One rough mama!

Cutie!

Woody Died October 24, 2009

Woody telling a joke in Chillingham...

Woody happy at our gathering of friends for a BBQ at Woodstock

As most of you know, Susan moved back to Australia in 2007 to care for her father, Woody. He had a terminal cancer diagnosis and died early in the morning at the Murwillumbah Hospital on October 24. Both Susan and I lived out at his property, "Woodstock", to care for him at home.

As we reflect on our time with Susan's Dad and the fact that our care allowed him to stay home until the very end, we are blessed with a little more peace knowing his wishes were honored and that we made a huge difference in the quality and quantity of his life. We all learned a lot from each other over those many months. It was all a big gift for Susan, Woody and myself. Susan set up a blog for Woody at woodydavid.blogspot.com Please take a visit there.

Where Did October Go?

October came and went like a cloud on a hot day. Speaking of hot days, we had a lot of them and NO rain until the very end of the month- it is so good to be able to flush the toilet when you want to! Our month was filled with packing, moving and trying to readjust our lives away from Woodstock. Major tasks like gathering furniture from friends, markets and the "OP Shop" (like goodwill) were top of the list. Our house is very spacious and we now have furniture in most rooms. Most of my month was spent outside trying to survive the killer magpie attacks, and heal my scalp from the laceration he gave me fc#%x@! while I redid the back patio. Susan wanted to have a BIG 40th birthday party and the back patio which was a disaster when we moved in. I don't think anyone had ever addressed the water runoff issues, sealed the concrete or cleaned the mud off in ages.... so this became my task. I bought self leveling floor filler, concrete, etc and tried to patch as many holes as possible. It took me two weeks to get it a bit improved... it still could use a ton more filler, but I lost interest in getting it to look all even and settled for filling the holes that you could sprain your ankle on. After all of that, I painted it a Terra Cotta color in hopes of distracting any critical vision away from the many irregularities still in the concrete. The next improvement was to put up some bamboo arches over the top of the patio. There are some very established grape plants at the top of the retaining wall and the bamboo will give them a great place to attach to. All in all, I enjoy sitting out back now on the patio. Oh by the way the orange walls in the bedroom, living room and kitchen are now neutralized! We did have to sign an agreement with the landlord, that we would repaint the walls orange when we leave! What is up with that???

We are hooked up to public power, no solar out here, but I must admit it is great to have a full size refrig and a small chest freezer.

Before and After Photos of the Patio....