Okeefe: Fill & Download for Free

A few years ago, I volunteered for two months as a teacher in El Salvador. A group of teachers invited me to the beach for lunch one day. The invitation was really an honor.We arrived at a beach club. It was my first time ordering seafood in Spanish. I saw “pescado frito” on the menu, which to me literally translated to “fried fish”. I thought it was perfect, just like fish and chips back home. We went for a swim while the cook prepared the food.When the meal arrived, it was not a fillet but a whole fish looking up at me on the plate. Like many Americans, my dining experience is pretty far removed from the animal from which the meat was taken. I’d never eaten an entire fish. But this was not a situation where I could send it back.I told one of the teachers who also had pescado frito that this was my first time eating a whole fish. She kindly showed me how to eat it and avoid the bones. It turned out to be one of the best seafood meals of my life. Cheers

This strangest medical thing did not happen to me directly but affects me greatly….4 months ago my mother advised me my father was not well, at first they thought he had pneumonia or a cracked rib so my mother being the very intelligent women she is rushed him to hospital. It turned out he had a huge clot in his heart that would have given him a fatal heart attack within 48 hours, however after a barrage of tests it comes to light that yes the heart attack could kill him any day but the stage 4 cancer we were unaware of will kill him in months… my brave beautiful mother has given us the chance to love and appreciate my father more than I did when I thought he was in perfect health… my children an I rushed over to Queensland (I live in Perth) to say our goodbyes… I was shocked at what I saw and asked my mother gently didnt she realise from his appearance he was really sick, she smiled and gently advised me that in 6 weeks he had gone downhill dramatically but because of her quick thinking she was able to have these precious days/weeks/months with him without losing him suddenly and not know why. My only advice is to love and appreciate those loved ones close to you every day… currently to date my father is still holding on I think and believe it is my mothers love and the fact he has seen myself and his grandchildren and spent quality time with us that is keeping him going, I call my mother every few days and we go on speaker phone and chat about our daily lives so dad can hear us hopefully it will keep him with us a little bit longer. Medically there is obviously more to the story but I have stopped asking those questions and just accept it.

On a recent trip to London, I took the Eurostar to Paris to spend a night getting some long exposure shots. Shooting around the Louvre, I notice the reflecting pool off to one side of the pyramid and an almost perfect reflection in it. The older section of the museum to the left and the small light to the right helped to frame it.Canon EOS Rebel T3i, EF-S18-55mm f3.5-5.6 IS II @ 18mm, 13.secs, f/16, ISO 100