So I read there was going to be a celebration of Buddha’s birthday in Perth and expressed an interest in going to John. You see, they were going to have a whole day’s celebration of Buddha’s birthday, and it ended with fireworks, which was my real motivation for wanting to...
Perhaps making “friends” is a term being used loosely here, but, hey, it’s my blog and my day out, I am going with it. 🙂 I haven’t been to a lot of zoos, but I must say that I consider Perth Zoo to be friendly, intimate, and charming. Often I...
Saturday March 25, 2017 marked the date of the first annual Toodyay Music Fest. With stages in Duidgee and Stirling Parks for bands and various other performers, St Stephens Church opened its doors for those who prefer to be entertained by classical and easy listening music. The streets of Toodyay...
Sculptures by the Sea, Cottesloe is staged on the beautiful Cottesloe Beach, Western Australia. Loved this sculptures event in the past and was very excited for it this year. The exhibition is featured from the sea wall all the way along the sand towards North Cottesloe and on the surrounding...
On this weekend outing, I asked John if we couldn’t go to Margaret River, the spot where it connects with the Indian Ocean. We had been there in 2010, but had never returned. It seemed a real special place when we went in spring that year, but I was curious...
We decided to spend our anniversary doing many of the things we enjoyed on our wedding day. Five years anniversary and we followed the sand, although perhaps a bit too close on one occasion. So many flavors to choose from! John learned, on this outing, that wearing your reading glasses...
“You never really leave a place or person you love, part of them you take with you, leaving a part of yourself behind.” ~ unknown It was getting time to leave for Australia. I was rather worried as I thought I was getting better, and then a few days before...
What sounds do dinosaurs make anyway? Ezra received dinosaurs for Christmas, but for his birthday, John and I couldn’t resist to get some more. Then came the time to open presents. In my defense, I saw that if you touched it, it would do something, but I didn’t pay attention...
So the dishwasher broke and the house got a few fleas. A few fleas was enough to call the exterminator. Which apparently they need everyone to be out of the house at the same time. Nearly a logistical impossibility, but Miranda went ahead and set up the appointment anyway. What...
I am hosting Christmas Day and the dishwasher decided to break. No time to bring out the Canon on Christmas, so I only got a few photos from my cell phone. And seriously? The dishwasher had to break then and leak water to Laura’s room below? As if hosting...
I love our family Christmas Eve – charged with Christmas spirit, love for one another, and anticipation for the surprises that are ahead. Christmas Eve at our house are sweet, and intimate (not that we haven’t opened our door to others on a few occasions), and one of our big...
You hear about the shave stories, it’s not every day you get to witness one. It has been a while now I admired Naomi’s long hair, not sure I was prepared to hear she was going to shave it off. Then she informed us that each day, 35 Australians will be...
I don’t know what happened this year with Rubí, but she turned into this Christmas details monster as soon as the season hit. It was a very precious kind of “monster” no doubt, but each day she seemed to hit me with some new details on her invisible list that...
The Christmas village in our household took on a few forms but nothing like this year…with Yowies??? Forgetting the yowies for a second, I should tell the history of our Christmas Village. As far back as I can remember, my dad was the main person behind the village, putting the...
“Our home, our family is a circle of strength of love with every birth and every union the circle grows.” As always-tragic to be away from John, always good to be in the home of my childhood and with my children, and their children. On this return, I didn’t even...
Our first attempt to the Berry Farm was rained out, so we decided on this pretty day to have another try. The Berry Farm is a very special and almost magical place and I love it there.
Driving in Western Australia’s Southwest one day, and we spot a sign that advertised something that looked like “G-Spot Ice Cream, the sexiest ice cream in the South West” definitely caught my attention. Over the years in the SouthWest, we had tried Simmo’s Ice Cream (once on our honeymoon), Miller’s...
“It’s true that shopping is cheaper than therapy” So it’s the start of November and Georgie and I decided for a girls day out shopping and lunch. Life kept getting in the way of some time out together, so I was so grateful for this chance before I had to...
Spring in Western Australia brings back the spectacular bird, the Rainbow Bee Eater. The rainbow bee eaters go north in the cold months, but return when it warms to our Perth region in Western Australia. From Birdlife: Rainbow Bee-eaters gather in small flocks before returning to summer breeding areas after...
Rain was most certainly the word to describe 2016 Perth spring. This day, we had planned to go to Margaret River to the Berry Farm, got there, but had to move on because of rain. Also called Rosenberg’s monitor, I learned something interesting. It lays its eggs in termite mounds...
When we first decided to go to Kojonup, it was to see the Everlastings at Lucinda’s. When we contacted Lucinda’s we found out that it was too late to see the flowers, but we decided to go to Kojonup anyway. For one thing, we had never been there together, and...
Normally when we go to the Zoo, we go on a Sunday after church. That usually makes our time at Perth Zoo rushed and we don’t get to see everything we want. This time, we went on a Saturday. They weren’t calling for the greatest of weather, and frankly, I...
With everything in bloom, I decided to get out my macro lens and take some photos of the flowers in the garden. It’s a very sweet lens, I should do macro more. John likes his yard to have native plants in it. So I didn’t have to twist his...
As I write this, I just heard on the news that this spring has recorded the most rainiest weekends ever in Perth. With John only off work on the weekends, and our time limited to be together, we just can’t stress over it, we have to make plans and contingency...
Usually when we want to photograph a sunset, we make a rush to the coast. That coast isn’t called the ‘Sunset Coast’ for nothing, it’s a perfect sunset location. This time however, we decided on a different location: Perry’s Paddock at Yellagonga Regional Park. Perry’s Paddock is named after John...
And so the weather turns, another rainy weekend. Only it wasn’t just going to be rainy. The Australian Weather Bureau were predicting possible storms, hail, and near hurricane force winds. We packed up the truck and went anyway.
The last time we went to Katrine, it was summer, I thought it might be fun to see it in spring. The colors of Katrine in summer were browns and dry. I truly wanted to see the area with the lush green colors of spring.
When we stopped at Cervantes, we picked up a brochure for Lesueur National Park and decided to go there. Lesueur National Park covers 26,987 hectares and is recognised for its outstanding conservation, landscape and recreational importance. It is home to over 900 plant species – 10 per cent of Western...
After finishing a short while at the Beekeeper’s Reserve, we went back on the road again. The road was taking us more north and to the east. Now we would be on our way to Mount Lesueur.
Southern Beekeepers Nature Reserve is a nature reserve in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, approximately 240 kilometres (149 mi) north of Perth. From 1889 until it was officially closed in 1971, a stock route between Dongara and Perth ran through what is now Southern Beekeeper’s Nature Reserve and Nambung National...
For our next outing, we were going North, to Cervantes and beyond. The year Laura came with me to Australia, we had only driven through Cervantes, and we didn’t see much. I was happy to get another look at it, this town with a very Spanish sounding name. Our decision...
in Perth, the start of spring 2016 has been declared the most cold and wet in decades. This kind of spring weather has made our outings hard to plan, and has us watching radar maps a lot as we travel. One of our first stops today was Lake Ninan near...
After hunting for orchids on Johnston Road, it was time to go home. In spring, our weekends are a lot about Orchid hunting, and it often means we have a long way to go to find them. But you know what? Sometimes we don’t make it all the way that...
We learned from the Orchid Group that there were rabbit orchids in the burned area in Johnston Rd. Last summer when I was here, Johnston Road and the area of Yarloop made the news. There was a devastating fire that damaged the bush, homes, everything. It was a huge tragedy,...
As if getting our very own Pink Fairy Orchid at the plant sale this morning wasn’t enough, we followed that up with a visit to Bibra Lake where we found the biggest patch of pink fairies all in one place that I have ever seen! My personal feelings are that...
John and I got up early on Saturday, on a brisk Western Australia morning and headed for the King’s Park plant sale in hopes of getting a pink fairy orchid of our very own. We were early as the area hadn’t opened its gates yet, we waited in a growing...
Last time we went to Manea Park, it was in October. This time we would try Manea Park in September, hoping to get a glimpse of different orchids, and most of all the prize of Western Australian orchids, the Queen of Sheba. Someone in the orchid group had spotted one....
The Canola fields of Western Australia, lead to wonderful and amazing orchids
You’d think that we might have had enough of a wildflower or two the day before, but not so. We chose Father’s Day (it’s in September in Australia) to go to King’s Park for the Wildflower festival that Perth has every year. Find yourself in a carpet of wildflowers in...
