Back to Gloucester

due to a stroke of good luck (and Jayne's diplomatic inquiry at th Qantas service desk) we were able to leave Brisbane an hour early on a different flight. Odd airline is Qantas; they only fly back and forth to Newcastle two days a week, yet they have several flights on those days. Were I the king of the world, I would have spread out the flights over more days, but obviously that is not in the Qantas rule book. As it is, I have not received a "give us feedback on your recent flight" email from the corporation, which is very good. Like my mama used to preach, "If you can't say anything nice..."

Our last full day with our gracious hosts has been nothing short of a complete delight. Although I have some pretty severe cold symptoms (two Covid tests have proven negative) I was able to participate in several hotly contested dart games, one or two bean bag tossing sessions during a

game with the somewhat unappetitizing name of Cornhole, and simply enjoying a bright, sunshiny day with temperatures in the upper seventies. As sundown approached, I was given the responsibility of building a fire in the outdoor fireplace while Ronald prepared a delicious meal of grilled pork chops, and Jane prepared a pan of scalloped potatoes. And if all this were not enough, shortly after sundown some sort of celebration commenced at a showground just over the hill from the house with a fireworks show that rivaled the last one we witnessed in Tucson on July fourth. It was a great way to cap off our lengthy visit with our gracious hosts, and we are so grateful they were willing to put up with us for all this time and travel. Now we are preparing to leave Gloucester on the train to retun to Sydney for a three night's stay with Blanca and Philip, friends we have met through Blanca's repeated research visits to the Montana State University archives where once I held sway. Their home is quite close to the airport where we will fly back to the USA on Wednesday morning. As much as we have enjoyed this trip I think we are both eager to return to the oven which is Tucson in August and resume our daily routines.