This Winter

A few photos to show what I have been doing since my last post...none of me reading several books a week though!
The patio at the back of this house tends to flood during heavy rain...it had also gone very green so I borrowed Gordon's pressure cleaner yesterday and looks brand new again...

I stood this pot of nasturtiums on an upturned plant pot and love the cascade of green...Twitch eats the leaves too...

one of the many beautiful roses from our front garden...

Flooding on a main road near Fremantle...a near new Jag had broken down in the middle of this "puddle"..

I made new drawstring bags for Joe's chess group to keep the chess pieces clean and safe...

We both love polenta, either soft and creamy or firm and a little bit crusty...I baked these in the oven rather than frying them this time...

The mystery of the mess on my computer table each morning has been solved...why Twitch feels the need to climb up there when we go to bed he won't say but it makes us laugh as we hear his noisy progress...

I finished this throw rug knit from yarn given to me in Canada in 2009 by Priscilla and Will...knew it would come in handy one day...

Opposite my parent's home the golf course is looking very green and lush. This day Dad spotted a pet rabbit on their front garden, we followed it for ages but it just kept running away, sadly it didn't survive...Dad was late for golf and left his lunch on the table so I had to go and find him...

Spring flowers already...these narcissi  have the sweetest perfume imaginable...

Kwinana Hub on a wet Sunday morning...

A 3 kg tin of mixed beans for $6? Yep...I drained and rinsed them, split them into 5 portions, froze 4 and made bean patties with one lot...

Finally a mystery plant growing in our neighbour's garden...it is 8 ft tall, has soft stems and flowers almost non-stop...any idea what it could be?

Bunnies have the cutest bottoms...just saying

Bye bye for now,
Sue
xx

Some Family Photos

I promised to share these photos that my first husband's cousin sent to me last week...he came to Australia for 2 holidays when my children were very young and I hadn't even seen most of the photos...me, 1975 at Palm Beach Jetty...

The house at Corella Pl we had built in 1979...it has since been demolished and replaced! We lived here for 13years...

Here's cousin Dave with a puffer fish he picked up on Safety Bay Beach...

and his mum, Auntie Sheila waving a crayfish at us...

Paul and Gordon, aged 4 and 2years ...

Paul aged 2yrs getting a drink!

I hope that can was empty...Paul is 21 mos old here...

Paul again on Safety Bay Jetty(hand-made jumper please note!)

Gordie aged 4 years at Coral Bay or Exmouth...

1979 and the local shopping centre, The Hub which is now undergoing major improvements...I love the 'old' cars in this pic...

 and last but not least, Gordie, Elizabeth and I in 1983-4 at the Rockingham Aquatic Centre(posh title for swimming pools)

Seeing these photos made me rather nostalgic, hope they made you smile...
Love from Sue
xxx

January Round-Up

Hallo every-one and thank you for all your comments, especially about the bush-fires, Lynda hit the nail on the head. I don't think they've caught any-one yet who may have started the fires.

I stopped on the way to see Mum yesterday and took a few photos of the damage, it's a shame I can't share the awful smell of burned plants and probably animals too...it's really bad! The first photo shows how hot and dry the area is, all the grass is dead and tinder dry...

the fence is charred too

Once the rains come again new growth will spurt very quickly...

I've made another batch of soap using some calendula petals from a friend...this was a first time for me..the heat during saponification burns the petals but they are still very appealing, I used cinnamon oil for scent and some turmeric for colour...

The reason I went to Mum's yesterday was to collect a skinned whole duck her friend, Steve, had prepared for me. I jointed it when I got home and have it marinating in some lovely Chinese flavours as per this Jamie Oliver recipe...will let you know how it turns out. Steve also sent some duck eggs...

Finally finished a baby jacket for my gifting box and have almost finished another one...I love yellow and I've used this pattern many times....can you see the spotty buttons? I'm going to buy some modelling clay and have a go at making my own buttons...

 I bought the buttons at Spotlight on my home from giving blood...I also saw this child's chair for sale...I took a photo because it reminded of the blue suite we had in Morecambe, club armchairs and a real fifties style. This chair is darker in colour, probably very sweaty to sit in and must be leaching all sorts of toxins into the air but it still looks like fun!...

The girls are back at Tee-ball today...I haven't seen them for weeks so will go along and cheer! I also have that bracelet making kit I won from Spotlight to give them.

Can't finish a post with a photo of our cutie...Bunnies have the cutest derrieres (butts) and this one is very well camouflaged lol

Cousin Dave Stewart has posted lots of old pics from when my children were little...I'll do a post on them next week...some are very sweet!

Do enjoy your weekend, stay safe and give your loved ones an extra hug!
Sue
xxx

Kwinana Bush Fires

For the first time ever Mum and Dad had to evacuate their home of 46 years yesterday because of the threat from a bush fire burning a couple of kilometres away on the western side of the Golf Course. The Dept. of Fire and Emergency Services(DEFS) made automated phone calls to every-one in the affected area warning them they had roughly an hour to leave or to make ready to defend their property.

As this is such a rare event around here we don't even bother making evacuation plans or having a kit of essential items ready to grab and then run with. Around 3pm Elizabeth posted this photo from Rockingham Beach looking north to Kwinana, some 5 miles away...

Then fire warnings began to be posted on Facebook and they even mentioned Mum and Dad's road so I phoned to see if they knew of the danger. Mum was at home alone, not sure where to go or what to do really, Dad however had taken two friends/neighbours down to Rockingham for x-rays and treatment. I phoned the x-ray place to try to talk to him to warn him that the roads home were now blocked and that they had to evacuate. They'd already left so I phoned Mum again and she'd spoken to Steve-next-door who was going to stay and defend his house...he'd started the joint reticulation system on the front gardens to wet down as much as possible.

Mum then moved her golf car out of the carport to get her car out and bumped one of the carport supports causing some damage. We knew by now that she had to go to Council Offices where they'd set up an evacuation centre but Dad still wasn't home and wouldn't know of the danger or where she was.
Just by coincidence I'd cancelled an appt in Mandurah because of the heat so that meant I was at home when the fire became serious and I was able to help my parents, albeit long dostance!

This photo from the TEN news chopper shows the two fires, the denser one on the right is very close to Mum and Dad's home.

As Mum was finally driving up the road to safety along comes Dad with their friends so she put her car away and all four went to the council offices where they were very well cared for for the next 3-4 hours!

The fierce hot wind then changed direction slightly and sent the fire off towards the Dampier to Bunbury natural gas pipeline, the railway depot and many small industries and factories on Mandurah Road.
In all 17 helicopters were deployed to pick up and dump water on the fires...this one is picking up water at Kwinana Beach, photo by local resident, Anja Macvicar

Pic by the TEN new limited

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 this one was taken by local resident, David Ucyurek...

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 The Courier Newspaper

We have nothing but praise for the brave firefighters and the way the Kwinana Council handled the news reports and warnings and then caring for the evacuees...Mum said they were fed pizzas and Subway sandwiches as well as drinks.

It was 39C during the height of the blaze and now we hear that the fires were arson attacks...ABC News

Weekends...

... are funny things when you have retired, truly each day is a holiday but we do have to fit in with society and those around us who are still working.
Yesterday Joe and I attended a friendly BBQ at Thomas Oval held for members of a local Facebook group who had not met each other before. In the interests of building and promoting community spirit one Admin member, Wayne, bought sausages, bread rolls, sauces and soft drinks etc and the other Admin member, Liz, and her partner, Bevan, brought their huge BBQ and a million sliced onions. Around 25-30 members turned up despite the wintry weather and we enjoyed chatting while Bevan cooked our lunch. The mayor, Carol Adams, popped in for 30 minutes on her way to her birthday celebration lunch and I met Mary, the mum of Elizabeth's kindy boyfriend all those years ago.
I didn't take any photos out of respect for the privacy of the members but I do encourage you to get out into your community and meet your neighbours. At our next gtg we plan to take along un-needed books, plants, surplus fruit perhaps from our gardens and put them out on a table for others to help themselves to.

Two nights ago I took the big camera outside to catch this sunset...and vowed to stop using my little camera after I saw how much better these next 2 photos are!

and a bunny in the woods...

On Saturday I popped into the local shops and just where the koala had been last week was a little "Petting Farm"; an assortment of lambs, chooks and ducks, rabbits, guinea pigs, a mini pig, and an alpaca, all very tame and there for the children to stroke and get close to...the mini pig had a curly black and tan coat but my batteries went flat...
a bird's eye view of a shiny lop-eared rabbit...

ducklings, chickens and 3 baby bunnies ...

can you see the bunny on it's tippy toes to reach the carrots in the green basket?

and beautiful Albert the Alpaca...

awww!

The hospital was too busy to admit Priscilla last night so we're hoping tonight will be better...here she is yesterday at 34 weeks...she looks so very healthy despite the cancer doesn't she?

Now we're on stand-by again and sending all our love to Priss and her family, I hope you will do the same.

Hope to have some exciting news from her tomorrow,
Bye bye for now,
Love from Sue