The trips giveth and the trips taketh away

Rico says the post title is an old adage by his friend Kelley, but it certainly applied to Rico's birthday. The day ended with a splendid dinner, courtesy of the ladyfriend, at Harry's Savoy Grill:

Earlier in the day, however, Rico got an email from his stepson, Scott, explaining that Rico's ex-wife, Rhoda (photo), had died of cancer. (Seems that everyone but Rico knew she was sick, too, and were keeping it from him, lest he do something ill-advised on his blog, as if...)