Friday, October 29, 2010

RCV price increase?


Frankie is 83. We have been neighbors for almost 30 years. You have heard me speak of him often. The reason being simple. I admire the guy. We share the uncanny and rare circumstantial trait of being able to make each other laugh. I laugh with him about the state of the state and he laughs with me about the state of me. The poorness of the material and richness of spirit. He is undergoing yet another round of radiation for a cancer that the doctors can't quite figure out. Frankie grins his way through the treatment, sitting in his cozy kitchen nook doing the NYT crossword (in pen) watching the hummingbirds, stellar jays and raccoons frolic outside. When I travel he collects my mail.

Yesterday afternoon, I visited our local sustainable food co-op to purchase, and share some organics. We had a nice chat as I dropped off the suitable-for-framing swiss chard, bagged spinach, juicy red tomatoes, long stem beets and range free eggs from happy island hens. Frankie was ho-humming the day's radiation treatment with the same nonchalance that, say, Yo Yo Ma might after a particularly perfect performance.

I went back to the cabin to check on the progress of the four RCVs currently in production (simultaneously): Branson (mastering), Oceanside (rendering), Timberman (log & capturing) and Lake Stevens (cueing).

As I looked out the window I saw Frankie heading my way between the giant cedar trees as the northwest sunset glowed orange and yellow behind. I smiled and met him at the door.

In his hand he had a section of the New York Times. The article was on triathlon. He had, like many others, taken special note of the average income of the long course triathlete (Ironman) at $175,000 annually, and edited the page with red felt pen to read: "Kevin-You don't make enough money for this."

Smiling, I push the play button on the finished Branson 70.3 RCV and think to myself, "very true, but I know people who do."

Picture is from the Oct 20 NYT. Mr. Goodman, in the middle picture sure looks like he might be training with the NewYork City Triathlon RCV, doesn't he? (RCV available here, but you better hurry, looks like we need to make a price adjustment).

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Your blog entry today brought a tear to me eye. Great friend, great piece.

KML5 said...

I would gladly trade every penny I have ever made for another 30 years with my pals. Thanks.