Sorrow on a beautiful day

Patrick Betty at a dinner party 

(I have a lovely picture of Patrick and

Carolee, but can't find it at the moment.

When I do I'll post it here.)

It is a simply gorgeous day today and Steven and I went for a walk in 

our nearby park. I'd heard that it's easier to get your 10,000 steps if you
break it up into smaller walks.  So I headed out to meet Steven and our
dog, Sally.

I was drinking my coffee and settling in at home on our back bench, watching
the morning glories that have just come into gorgeous, blue bloom,
and the birds taking showers under the sprinkler when there was a knock
on the front door.

A friend and neighbour — my friend Carolee's Crook's beautiful daughter, Etana,
stood on our front porch. Looking at her face I realized that the news was not good.
She told us that Carolee’s wonderful partner, Patrick, died on Thursday. He had
had cancer for a few years.

Patrick was a darling person, funny, witty, kind, and a delight to be around.
He was an amazing musician, and he made us think we were right to buy the
piano that we rarely use because he played for us sometimes on New Year’s Eve
at our parties, and it was such a joy to hear him. COVID meant that we couldn’t
visit him in his last days, but we would have so loved to tell him in person how
much we cared.

We will always miss you Patrick.