Our Unexpected Adventure's final Chapter.

This will be the final chapter in Our Unexpected Adventure.

There have still been silver linings, and the first came from Craig at Little Treasures.  In the week between Alex going and the Celebration of his Life, Marlene and Margaret accompanied me to brunch at Little Treasures.  As soon as Craig realised the situation, he lit a candle in Alex's memory and I was really touched.

He had come to know Alex after all our visits there, and as the girls and I were leaving, he gave me a book for 'us', and I knew he really had got to know the real Alex when I saw it was "The Ultimate Book of Rude and Politically Incorrect Jokes".

 

We held Alex's Celebration of his Life at Macquarie Chapel on Monday last week, 24th June 2013.  The chapel was full - family, friends from every aspect of Alex's life and everyone Alex deals with in his business all came.  People flew in from Perth, Melbourne and the far north of NSW.

What a tribute.

The service was a heartfelt and simple service.    The image I used on the Order of Service was taken a couple of years ago when we shipped our motorbikes to New Zealand and spent 8 weeks riding around both islands.

The entry song was Supertramp's 'Lover Boy'.  Tributes were given by his mother, his children and then his siblings.  I had produced a 10 minute photographic tribute, and the chapel had two large screens at the front and several smaller ones down each side, so everyone had a good view of any images shown.  I had produced a quick collage to show during the service:

This was a mix of a great shot of Alex taken when we were in Beauvois, France last year with a shot taken when we were on a weekend ride with the Worthington BMW Group - this was the road to Glen Davis in NSW, with Alex's bike in the immediate foreground.

I had produced a photographic tribute for Alex, and one of the final images was taken last year in Amersfoort when we visited Nell.

 The service ended with Queen's 'I Want to Break Free'.

Ik wil graag Alex's uitgebreide familie bedanken in Nederland voor het volgen van deze blog, en vooral voor te zorgen dat elk item werd doorgegeven aan tante Nell. Ik zou ook graag Nell bedanken voor het sturen zo veel brieven aan Alex over de afgelopen vele maanden.

Mijn fotografische eerbetoon eindigde met een citaat van Dr Seuss: "Niet huilen omdat het over - glimlach, omdat het gebeurde." Mijn lofrede ook begon en eindigde met dit citaat. Het is zo'n eenvoudige offerte, en toch bijna onmogelijk om te volgen.

Ik wil ook Fred & Maaike bedanken voor de prachtige kaart stuurden ze. De afbeelding die u hebt gemaakt voor de kaart en de offerte die u in de kaart was perfect:
Degenen die we liefhebben gaan niet weg
Ze lopen naast ons elke dag
Ongezien, ongehoord, maar altijd in de buurt
Nog steeds geliefd, nog steeds gemist en zeer dierbaar

Op de avond van de dienst, Little Treasures herdrukt hun brunch menu in het geheugen van Alex. Van nu af aan, de Belgische wafels zijn in het menu als "The Hage familie Waffle uitdaging" - dus voor iedereen die in Sydney, maak de reis naar Little Treasures om het te controleren, en voor familie van Alex in Nederland en vrienden over de hele wereld, heeft dit aan uw beste reden voor het kopen van een ticket naar Australië zeker.

I would like to thank Alex's extended family in The Netherlands for following this blog, and especially for making sure that each entry was relayed to Aunt Nell.  I would also like to thank Nell for sending so many letters to Alex over the past many months.

My photographic tribute ended with a quote from Dr. Seuss:  "Don't cry because it's over - smile because it happened."  My eulogy also started and ended with this quote.  It is such a simple quote, and yet almost impossible to follow.

I would also like to thank Fred & Maaike for the wonderful card they sent.  The motorbike image you made for the card and the quote you included in the card was perfect:

Those we love don't go away

They walk beside us every day

Unseen, unheard, but always near

Still loved, still missed and very dear

On the evening of the service, Little Treasures reprinted their brunch menu in Alex's memory.  From now on, the Belgian Waffles are in the menu as "The Hage family Waffle challenge" - so for anyone living in Sydney, please make the trip to Little Treasures to check it out, and for Alex's family in The Netherlands and friends around the world, this has to be your best reason for buying a ticket to Australia surely.

Thank you all for following Our Unexpected Adventure.  And back to Dr. Seuss and his quote 'Don't cry because it's over - smile because it happened' - I'm not sure if I have any tears left, but I know for sure that over the coming weeks, months and years I will be smiling a lot when I think of a myriad things relating to our journey over the past 9 years.

Rest in peace Alex, and thank you for the amazing journey we shared.  I will miss you forever.

Mixed blessings

Little Treasures - our favourite cafe in Petersham, again features prominently.  It seems like the last entry finished at Little Treasures with a busy week ahead.  Well, we had the busy week and here we are back again at Little Treasures.  This time with a different selection of the Hage Clan.

It was Eva's turn to experience "our" cafe, and just to make sure Craig was kept busy, we were joined by Simon & his #1 grandson Samuel as well as Erika.  After Alex deciding to continue the new tradition of the "Hage Belgian Waffle challenge" Craig gave the bad news that the waffles were the only item not available (due I hasten to add, to popular demand! - understandably ...)  As soon as Craig found out that Alex had decided finally to try the waffles, he announced that it was lucky that there was a half portion of waffles available.

So ...

One half serving of Belgian Waffles - but with extra fresh strawberries just to help make up for it.  And, one happy eater!!!

After Samuel had demolished some of everyone's breakfast and a whole strawberry milkshake, it was decided that we'd all head to the park next door.  Samuel was kept busy with the slippery dip and other attractions, and the "oldies" refined the skill of wheelchair racing ...

This is where I should mention that while it was a joint decision to see who could wheel Alex over the bridge and around the play area the fastest, it was up to Alex to appear to be out of practice to such speeds.  But you'll have to agree that he did look the part complete with lap handbag.

The rest of the day really was an anticlimax, and thankfully Alex could recuperate from the morning's excitement at home.

On Sunday it was a very busy day as we had a stream of his friends and family calling in and the kettle certainly was kept on a high boil.  Late Sunday afternoon was again a rest time.

So another week starts.  On Monday morning, like many many mornings over the past 10 months, Jon arrived to share breakfast with Alex.  Usually we'd hear the distinctive noise of his Lambretta as he putted into the driveway, or he'd arrive in his work van.  But either way, we'd hear someone singing on the front verandah just before the doorbell went.  He always arrives with a huge smile and loads of news/gossip. 

Having friends like this is priceless.  Alex always, without fail, was cheered up by Jon's visits and we saw Jon most mornings.

Alex always started the day with the newspaper, and so this just sums up so much.

Now for the difficult part.  On Tuesday morning, at 9:05, Alex died a very peaceful death.  As he wished - at home, and pain free.  We had a running "joke" that it would be good if the end came on a Tuesday or a Friday, preferably between 8am and 4pm.  This was because our favourite local doctor was only on duty those days. 

Donna, our wonderful palliative care nurse, was due to visit by 10am on Tuesday as well.  This was again perfect timing.  Alex spent the day at home and this allowed his immediate family to visit him.

I'm going to finish this entry now. 

There will be two more entries but for anyone reading this who would like to celebrate Alex's amazing life, please call or email me to confirm details.

What a week - VIVID, theatre and Little Treasures

We finished the last post at Vivid.  And that is where we are going to start this post.  Yep, I'm going to skip over Alex's visit to his dentist and having our forklift serviced at the office.  Alex had a few days where his pain became worse, and since Donna (our Community Nurse) was away for the week, Michelle made a couple of visits and in consultation with Dr. Corey Lau, his medications were again tweaked.

This year's VIVID really deserved another night out, and this time we went over towards North Sydney to watch the light display across the harbour bridge; firstly from street vantage point and then from Lavender Bay.

From the narrow footpath we had a great view of the bridge as well as Luna Park. 

Down at Lavender Bay, the reflections on the water were spectacular. 

This is our Rainbow Bridge

and here are a few more of the changing colours - you can also see the Opera House in the distance

We enjoyed the evening and were surprised at the number of people out and about on this side of the harbour.  We ended up at Harry's Cafe de Wheels at Woolloomoolloo for "pie, peas and mash - with Gravy" for dinner.  The rain held off until we were on our way back home after a great night out.

On Friday night we were out again - there's no stopping us!  We met up with Simon and Dolores for dinner in Chinatown and then walked around to the Sydney Entertainment Centre to see "Jesus Christ Superstar".  The musical was written around 1969 and has been on stage worldwide since 1971 and yet this was the first time either of us had seen it.  It was spectacular and it was interesting to see the way it included aspects of today's life such as ipads.

On Saturday morning, Alex's sister Barbara and her husband Phil flew up from Adelaide to spend the weekend with us.  We naturally headed to our favourite local cafe, Little Treasures, for brunch.  This was Phil's first time at Little Treasures.  Saturday's brunch was so enjoyable that we headed back on Sunday morning for brunch again.

Don't panic.  Barbara did NOT have two servings of breakfast.  Above was on Saturday, and on Sunday morning she took the "waffle challenge".

Craig is the co-owner of Little Treasures and he is a real gem.  He couldn't resist posing for the photo below.

Barbara and Phil flew back to Adelaide last night.  It's a long weekend here and today is a Public Holiday - for the Queen's birthday (which is really in April ...)  We had a quiet day at home as the rest of this week is busy.


all images Copyright Rafiki Photographics

A bumpy ride

A lot can happen in just two weeks. 

On Monday last week, we found ourselves guests of David & Elaine on their boat, "It's All Good".  What a day!  Bobbin Head was bathed in sunshine when we arrived and boarded and we were all looking forward to a beautifully relaxing day. Bobbin Head is on Cowan Creek, in the Ku-ring-gai National Park in the northern suburbs of Sydney.  Given time, you could spend weeks exploring the waterways and secluded bays. 

We spent time motoring north and then dropped anchor to enjoy a banquet lunch.

And what a lunch - a glass of bubbly just to celebrate the stunning surroundings and that was closely followed by entree.

 

The men were then in charge of the on-board BBQ

and we all enjoyed lunch - Jo, Kathy, Elaine, David and Alex

We had such a fantastic day that Alex needed to spend Tuesday recovering and on Wednesday we were back in the office. 

Thursday morning found us back at hospital for an appointment with Dr. Corey Lau.  Alex had lost more weight and a full scan was booked in for the following Monday.  Due to Alex's continuing breathing difficulties, we had a home oxygen unit delivered the following day.  This looks like a small air conditioning unit, and it is easy to move around because it is on wheels.  Just plug it in, insert the tube into the nose, switch it on and that's about it.  It makes a soft melodic noise and is an invaluable help.

As well as the oxygen, we now have a wheelchair for Alex.  We went back to hospital last Wednesday for the results of the scan.  Alex has continued to lose weight and the scan results were not what we had hoped.  The reason for Alex's weight loss is because the cancer cells have been quite active, and the tumours in his liver have grown.  The cancer has also eaten the neck of his right femur bone.  Because of other growths, it was decided to stop taking the chemo tablets because they were not helping.

After leaving hospital, we treated ourselves to brunch at Little Treasures Cafe.  That evening, Alex hosted Boys Night at our place and enjoyed the company of his mates, pizza was delivered and a few card games were well contested.

On Thursday night, we decided to try out the wheelchair and decided to visit "VIVID Sydney" together.  For the overseas readers, every year for two weeks around this time of year, Sydney is transformed into an amazing canvas of light, music, installations and crowds.  There are numerous exhibitions open at the galleries; a variety of talks as well as performances by local and international musicians.  But from 6pm til midnight for a fortnight, the Sydney harbour area is definitely "the" place to be.  There are huge good natured crowds, and it seems that cameras and tripods are de rigueur.

To finish this entry, I've included more than a few images taken at Vivid.  We spent more than 5 hours having a look at everything, and also enjoyed a meal out at a favourite restaurant in Darling Harbour.  We did joke about having an "L" plate on the back of Alex's wheelchair, but by the time we returned to our parked car, we figured we had the hang of wheelchair driving!

We started at Darling Harbour

then enjoyed a delicious salmon dinner

The Maritime Museum was lit up for the first time this year in Vivid

Our next stop was at Jeffrey St. Wharf, under the Bridge, also lit up for the first time for Vivid.  We looked out over to Luna Park and North Sydney

This installation was fun, located just under the bridge

We continued around to Campbells Cove, where even the Tall Ships were lit up

 and the moon rise just added to the view

 Once at Circular Quay, we could see the Cahill Expressway and some of the city buildings lit up

but in our opinion, the Opera House was the draw card.  Here are perhaps too many images of its many faces.  But really, can you have "too many" images when the Opera House looks like this?

The segment of the light show dedicated to the James Bond movies was great

Next stop was the Museum of Contemporary Art

And we finished the night at Customs House.  The light shows at both MCA and Customs House were certainly 'chalk and cheese'.  If you started at Customs House, you would find the MCA quite relaxing both with the music and the light show itself.  Walking the way we did, we warmed up with MCA before being jolted alive at Customs House.

Phew.  Then it was a push along George Street, over Pyrmont Bridge and Darling Harbour and then back to the car.  What a night!

ALL images Copyright Rafiki Photographics 2013