"I wonder what the inner brotherhood recommends for cramp"

(It's a quote from Gilbert & Sullivan)

The cramp hit sudden and hard and I couldn't get past it. We were standing by the water's edge at Trigg Beach, having walked down from the parking lot, when suddenly I got this horrendous Charleyhorse--not in my calf, where I'm used to having them, but in the back of my thigh. No matter what I did I couldn't reduce it and everyone had to stand there while I bent over trying to move the leg into some sort of comfortable position.
We had come to the Trigg Beach Cafe with Monty and Carolynn for lunch. I'm not sure what I was expecting...something similar to where we stopped for coffee a couple of weeks ago, I guess. I was not prepared for the absolutely gorgeous setting of this beachside cafe.
Earlier in the morning, the glass man finally came and fixed the shower door. While he was working, I was outside digging weeds out of the front lawn. By the time the glass man left, I had put in my weed digging stint. It seems to have been good exercise for my arm, as by the time I'd finished, I was feeling a little more strength in the muscle, though it still hurts like hell to use much pressure on that arm.
It's also difficult to weed when you can't kneel and have difficulty getting up and down. Gawd, it's hell to get old!!
Earlier in the day, I had finally managed to upload the web page for Settler's Run which I'd finished designing the previous day. (I was waiting for some additional information from the server so I could FTP it to the web). I'm pleased with how it came out and I hope everyone checks it out so you can see where we spent last week.
But Monty and Carolynn came around. Monty was going to install a new CD burner in Peggy's computer, but first we were going to lunch. My god, what a meal. Carolynn and I had Thai prawns while Peggy and Monty had a surf 'n' turf platter of ribs and calamari. Portions were huge and all was delicious. I tasted a bit of the wine Monty ordered, just to say I'd had a bit of Australian wine in Australia, but mostly I stuck with my newly discovered drink: lemon lime with bitters. We splurged on dessert, an enormous meringue with ice cream, whipped cream and strawberries. (I offered to split one with Peggy, but she insisted on her own, so, gracious guest that I am, I agreed to have a whole one myself--the sacrifices one makes to keep your hostess happy. But I suffer in silence.)
Then it was time to walk off at least one or two of the calories.
We were going to walk down the path near the beach, but Monty felt I needed to be able to say I actually walked on a beach in Australia, so we headed down to the sand. That's when the cramp struck. Fortunately, Monty is a paramedic, so I figured if I needed medical attention, I was in good hands, but the cramp eventually worked itself out without my having to dive into the ocean to get cold water on the muscle.
We all took photos of each other to prove I was actually there.
Trigg Beach is a popular surfing beach and we watched a lot of guys riding the waves. I had earlier marveled at how these guys hop on their bikes, still dressed in wet suits, bare footed, with surfboards attached to the back of the bikes, and pedal on home.
After walking on the beach for awhile, we moved back up to the path, which doubles as a walking/jogging path and bike path (Marn, please take note). Monty and Carolynn have bikes and made a passing suggestion that we go for a ride together, since Peggy has a bike she hasn't used in a very long time. So I may actually get out on a bike next week. Peggy has offered to drive me to a starting point and pick me up at an ending point. I suspect my arm (and knee) are recovered enough that I can actually ride again, but I'm going to ride around the block here first just to get the lay of the land and see how really rusty I am after not riding since June.
Back to the house, eventually, and Monty put in the new drive. Chris stopped by and she and I sat outside chatting while all the computer work was going on inside. Finally all the visitors left, and the little girl from next door stopped by. She had caught me earlier in the day and I thought Peggy had caught on--the new camera she "won" at the Perth Show is a water camera and she got me good when she asked if she could take my picture. I never mentioned that to Peggy, figuring she'd actually looked at the camera, but she ended up getting splashed too, so we made a child's day very happy today (even if the two of us got wet doing it).
We are both too full from our huge lunch to even think of eating again, so the evening will probably be spent with Peggy trying to explain the rules of cricket to me, or as much as she can explain before she falls asleep. I figure that should take about 3 minutes, the way her eyes are already drooping. As for me, I expect to be awake all night, thinking about returning home to Governor Schwarzenegger. The very idea is enough to give one nightmares.