Tag: Friends

~ Postcard from Perth – 12-18 Feb 2024 ~

This February has been one of the hottest here in WA for decades, so I decided to get myself off to the beach most days. The sea is always chilly to start but you slowly get used to it, or maybe you just go a bit numb! Most days have been between 37 and 43! Everybody has the same idea so before 9am or earlier is the best time. The water has been like a mill pond and absolutely wonderful to swim, or water walk.

The Groyne, Cottesloe Beach

It’s also school swimming month and the sea fills up pretty quickly with small bodies. My own swimming lessons were a far cry from this, and if you are English and reading this you will know what I mean. Having to get on a bus for a 30 minute ride, changing in a communal room and those funny wooden pallets all over the floor. The overwhelming smell of chlorine still to this day brings back memories.

I met two of my friends on some of the days and after we treated ourselves to breakfast.

The famous stone elephants outside Indiana Tea Rooms
Anglers on the rocks

I’ve been lucky enough this week to have dinner out twice, once for a friend’s birthday and another night to our favourite restaurant.

Taken outside the restaurant

These three are my wonderful group of friends, I can always rely on one, two or three to join me in most outings. So very blessed to have them in my life.

La Pizza is like a Woman,
you have to look after her, tend to her, check on her…

I saw this in the restaurant the other night as I watched the chef lovingly shape and pat the pizza dough.

On Saturday Elena and the munchkins came for a sleepover which Anthony and I always love. After fun and games in the pool we came in and played more games. At 3 and 5 it’s great to be able to play a proper game like memory.

Today – Sunday – we went to the beach again. I think all of Perth had the same idea. We spent around 45 minutes driving along the coastline to look for a carpark. The rangers were out in force and I saw many cars already had tickets for parking illegally. Finally we spotted one at the “dog beach”. We parked and walked down to the beach. I don’t think I’ve seen so many dogs jumping in and out of the water.

The container port at Fremantle in the background
A long climb back up

I’m very fortunate that I live so close to some fabulous beaches and have changed my habits a little by getting up earlier to avoid the extreme heat later.

Well that’s my week over and done with, the next week is going to be much the same weather wise, hopefully I can get down to the beach on a few days.

Posted also for Natalie’s Weekend Coffee Share and Sue’s Weekend Traffic Jam

~ Postcard from Perth ~ November 2023

This last week has been another busy one for me, beginning with entertaining guests from the UK. I have been chatting a while now with Little Miss Traveller (aka Marion from Love Travelling Blog) and when she emailed and said she would be visiting Perth with her son Mark I immediately invited her to stay. They had a few days in the City before joining us for their last few days. We hit it off immediately and Anthony and I showed them around different parts of Perth.

Perth was in the grip of a heatwave and the temperatures were late thirties, but we still ventured to Kings Park the next day. We enjoyed a good walk around the park but I had to concede in the end and sit in a cafe while Marion and Mark carried on for a while.

We then drove into Claremont my local town to have lunch and a look around before heading back for a rest (for me anyway!). That night we had dinner in Fremantle at a beachside restaurant.

Bather’s Beach, Fremantle
Bather’s Beachhut Restaurant

On Sunday we drove to the Perth Hills to one of our favourite wineries, Plume. We always receive a lovely welcome here and the service is outstanding as are the views.

I had told the lovely owner that I would be bringing guests and she arranged a wonderful table for us overlooking the valley and vineyards. We enjoyed a delicious charcuterie board and a dish called Flammekueche a German style pizza.

We stopped off on the way home to take some of the views of the Perth Hills and the Perth Skyline in the distance.

Over the next two days Marion and Mark took themselves off and explored other parts of Perth, which I’m sure Marion will be posting soon.

On Marion and Mark’s last night we had an early dinner overlooking City Beach to watch the sunset. It was one of my favourite restaurant/pubs Clancy’s Fish Pub. Unfortunately for Anthony in my haste to take a photo of the sunset I knocked over a whole pint of beer into his lap and over his dinner! Luckily the manager replaced these free of charge, but poor Anthony had to sit through dinner very wet indeed. He was extremely gracious about it.

It was a pleasure to meet Marion and her son Mark and we did compare other bloggers who we follow and found we had quite a few in common. So many of you will recognise Marion. Meeting someone in person, especially when you have been communicating a while can be daunting, but we certainly had no worries on that score and got on like a house on fire.

~ 🦘 Postcard from Perth 🦘~

The week started with a trip to the cinema with friends to see the much acclaimed movie Barbie. It’s had fantastic reviews so off we went. After we walked over to an Indian restaurant, “Bollywood” for a few curries and a lively discussion. We were all in agreement that it was an enjoyable film. For me the best scenes were the ones with Ryan Gosling, who was brilliant. I’m not sure how he kept a straight face! The choreography with all the Kens dancing was wonderful to watch. We chatted about who had Barbies and our different memories of playing with dolls.



There were some very political messages they were trying to put across, and the Space Odyssey scene at the beginning was clever, a tad scary! When I go to the cinema I like to watch something that’s feel good and uplifting, I’m not one for true life films.

The rest of the week flew past as usual, before you know it the weekend has arrived. It was Bridge on Tuesday where my partner Donald and myself are in a two week competition, we came fourth out of 22, very happy with that.

Wednesday and Friday are Zumba mornings, where we are currently doing one dance to a Barbie song, lots of fun.

Thursday night we had dinner out with friends at a yacht club overlooking the Swan River, a lovely evening eating and drinking.

Saturday we had a birthday lunch at a winery in the Swan Valley. A gorgeous sunny afternoon outside looking out across the vineyards. We caught up with many old friends, some we hadn’t seen for a few months and even years!

All the vines had been pruned so did not look that picturesque.

This time next week I’ll be back in the UK again, a last minute decision to attend a wedding.

🦘 Have a fantastic week 🦘

💌 Post from Perth 💌 – Dinner Dates and Lunch Liaisons

Who receives post in the mail these days? We never get anything exciting just bills and junk mail. I remember when I first moved to Hong Kong and I wrote to my mum and dad and friends once a week, and my return address was “Poste Restante”, Hong Kong. I used to go often with my passport to the General Post Office and wait with excitement to see who had written .. or who had not! Poste Restante is a general mail service worldwide where letters are sent to the General Post Office awaiting collection by the recipient. Has anybody ever used this service?

A Glimpse of My Week

Starting with our dinner date last Saturday, I had booked a table at a restaurant that was also a music venue. When we arrived we were seated right at the back but on a high table. This turned out to be a good thing as the music was so loud. The menu was fairly limited so I treated myself to a dessert, Lime Cheesecake with a Gin and Lime syrup. There was a gluten free option so I went for this. The keyword being “option”! How hard would it be to use gluten free biscuits. It was a wonderful venue though and the band were great.

“Where’s the cake”
View of the outside
Artistic ceiling and chandelier
Play at low volume!

Monday and Friday were also dinner dates, Monday a girls’ night and Friday with friends.

A birthday celebration for Vivita!
Enjoying cocktails on the terrace of a newly renovated hotel in our local town of Claremont

On Friday there was a special dining night at the golf club (I don’t play golf, just a social member!) a Latin American themed menu with tables on the terrace. We enjoyed the temperature and the wonderful evening sky.

  • Pre-dinner drinks
  • Dusk

Also on Friday I finally caught up with a very good friend for lunch, and when we checked our diaries couldn’t believe that it had been five months since our last lunch. Where does the time go? We had more than enough to talk about in the short time we had.

Every other Wednesday I play bridge socially at the golf club which is followed by a lunch with the ladies who are playing. I’ve just joined this group so I’m gradually finding out about all these new friends.

Lunch with a view

Well not much else to report, Anthony’s passport finally turned up three months later! I did return to my “dancing in a line” on a Wednesday evening – a year later… I hope the steps come back to me eventually! They have learnt an awful lot of new dances, it was hard to keep up.

Have a fun filled weekend and thanks for reading!

Posted as part of Weekend Coffee Share hosted by Natalie the Explorer and Terri’s Sunday Stills for Sweet – my no cake cheese cake!

💃🏻 Dancing in Dunsborough on a Zumba Retreat 💃🏻 Days One and Two

I’m just back from a wonderful five nights in Dunsborough, Western Australia where I took part in a five night stay Zumba Retreat. It was organised by our three lovely Zumba instructors over four days. There were over 40 ladies in all who participated! I certainly didn’t know all of them but with all the events happening have come away with many new friends. My friend Lisa booked us a three bedroom house in a complex very close to many of the other ladies. It was within walking distance to the beach and the small local town, a winner on all fronts.

Outside
  • My room
  • Kitchen, Dining, Living Room

Geographe Bay, Dunsborough

And so it begins!

Day One

Of course it started with a Zumba class at 9.15 am for just over an hour, ready for a nap already. Back to the house for showers and then off to Clancys Fish Pub for lunch and a shopping session after.

Dunsborough is full of quirky shops selling all kinds of gifts, designer clothes and things you generally don’t need but just have to have. We ended up going home with multiple bags each.

In the afternoon there was a tango lesson, which I baled on, I wanted to preserve energy for the cocktail party later that evening. As you can imagine this was a noisy gathering, so many cocktails and wild dancing.

Day Two

Not too early a start today, a zumba class at 9.15 followed by a morning tea. More zumba at 10.30 – 11.30 am. I am definitely feeling it by now and ready for a rest. Lisa, Rose and I had a quick lunch at our house and decided to go for a drive to a winery and restaurant.

Meelup Farm

I spotted this big boy from the car as we were driving away, I love seeing kangaroos in the wild

Wine tasting at Wise Winery

More Zumba at 3 to 5.15 pm but also missed that! Opting instead for a walk along the beach.

Another big party tonight, well two actually! First a welcome party for the newcomers and a goodby party for the other ladies who were departing.

Our first party involved so many games designed to get to know one other. So much fun and plenty of food and wine and of course more dancing. Luckily the other party was within walking distance and was in full swing by the time we arrived, more dancing and drinking. Ready for my bed.

So far so good, I was actually hoping to lose a few kilos! I doubt that will be happening with all the morning teas, lunches, party food, wine and cocktails. I think it will be going the other way.

The Changing Seasons – June 2021

The month of June for me started with quarantine and is ending with lockdown! Plenty of time for blogging.

WEEK ONE

The first week was spent at home in quarantine as we had been in Melbourne and Sydney the previous week. It was only 11 days as the 3 days in Sydney were counted as part of that. My daughter’s partner very kindly brought our two boys back to us from their little vacay in The Big Paws Hotel.

What to do about their walks though? Dear Hubby (DH) opened up our two side gates and created a mini circuit around the house. He very diligently walked around and around for an hour every day. At first the boys followed and thought what new game is this, but just after a few days grew bored with this as I did! He also decided that our bougainvillea needed cutting back and as a verge collection was coming up, we tackled this head on.

Somebody is protesting against no walks!
A huge job

We relied on the kindness of friends and neighbours and some online shopping for our food and wine.

One day I had a surprise visit from a good friend and we sat outside, socially distanced and had a lovely chat. She brought some beautiful tulips and a small bag of exotic fruit, lucky me.

The beautiful tulips she brought as a gift.

WEEK TWO

The second week we were able to get out for dinner and celebrate our 30th Wedding Anniversary, definitely something worth celebrating. We had dinner with very dear friends at a restaurant called Dilly Dally.

Not too much change 😬

This week was also the first time I had seen my two adorable grandchildren for nearly a month.

It was good to catch up with these two precious bundles. I could also get back to my weekly activities of zumba, Bridge and Mahjong.

WEEK THREE

This week was much the same as before. I did venture out with a girlfriend one night to our line dancing class. Not the boot scooting kind but more dancing in lines. Such great fun and we get plenty of exercise doing this.

Our couches are getting ruined by our spoilt boys so I ordered a couch cover for one of the couches to see if this would improve things.

Not quite what I had in mind!

WEEK FOUR

It was Book Club this week and the book this month was The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Kranostein. This was not a book I could relate to even though it had some pretty good reviews. There are 11 of us in the club and I think most enjoyed it.

Our Girls Games Night was also this week and it was my turn to host. My son and his girlfriend bought me a Murder Mystery game for my birthday. Even though it’s meant for male and female, my friends were all okay about some of them dressing up as men. It was a brilliant evening and everyone made such a great effort with their costumes.

A Slice of Murder

Also during this last week was my Grandson, Lachie’s third birthday, what excitement that was. He sure did receive a lot of gifts.

  • My little lumberjack

Last of the month from today’s walk around the lake.

I hope everyone else had a good June also, look forward to hearing all about it over at The Changing Season hosted by Ju-Lynn this month. Next month Brian at Bushboys World will be hosting.

A Winter’s Day in Perth

On a Thursday I play Mahjong with the ladies from my games group. We play in a beautiful restaurant in City Beach overlooking the ocean. We meet for breakfast first and then get down to playing. I’m only just learning so I come away with a frazzled brain!

I thought this photo was perfect for Cee’s Choose a Topic from my Photo, which I took just this morning.

City Beach, Perth, WA

The blue of the ocean, waves, rocks, people, and coastline – nearly covered it!

More People!

🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊

Game Play!

Who doesn’t like a good game? Well my dear husband for one (DH), but I grew up playing them. Christmas and Boxing Day were the best days back then. Our whole extended family got together on Boxing Day and played all kinds of games. Escalado was an absolute favourite with everyone. We played the wind up version with all of us shouting and cheering, of course bets were taken.

Nowadays there are so many games out there and just over a year ago I got together with a group of likeminded ladies and we formed a monthly games night. There are seven of us and each month we take it in turns to host and we play several different games. We start around 6pm with cocktails and nibbles and a general catch up on our lives and then get started. It is absolutely the best fun and generally laugh till we cry.

The Games

I think our favourite so far is Telestrations. “Each player begins by sketching a TELESTRATIONS word dictated by the roll of a die. There is a sand timer to limit the time for drawing. When the time is up all players, all at the same time, pass their sketch to the next player, who must guess what’s been drawn. Players then simultaneously pass their guess — which hopefully matches the original word (or does it??) — to the next player who must try to draw the word they see — and so on.” This game has us in hysterics – at times we are just so stumped that only a wild guess is made. A pictorial Chinese Whispers!

Midnight Taboo

Not to be confused with just Taboo! This is a team game and they must guest the target word from your clues, but you must not say the forbidden words! An adjudicator with the buzzer is looking over your shoulder!

Qwirkle

Qwirkle a strategic matching tile game where you really have to have your thinking cap on! Where you find out who is the most competitive. We’ve played this on many occasions as the rules are easy.

Pictionary

Another drawing game, where you find out who the artists are! Also it depends what version you play, Australian, English or American. So many of the words and phrases have us baffled.

My adult children also love to play games and I try to find a new game every Christmas that is fun.

Watch Your Mouth is another game that is just so hilarious that we all end up with tears running down our face. A person has to say a phrase whilst wearing a mouth guard! The frustration that comes with repeating the same phrase but the same nonsense coming out is the funniest thing to watch. Highly recommended.

Tiny Hands is a team game and also great fun to play with likeminded souls who don’t mind looking silly. There are various stunts that have to be pulled off with your your tiny hands, catching a ball, tying a knot or serving someone a drink.

This month it is my turn to host our Girls Games Night and we will be having a Murder Mystery Evening. Everyone dressing up in the roles that they have been assigned. Hopefully a fun night.

Has anyone played any of these games, or have some that they love playing? Would love to hear.

Now and Then

This is a challenge hosted by Amy over at The World is a Book.

Now

Looking back over the last year, I can probably say that it’s been the same for many, travel plans cancelled, not being able to see loved ones and being in lockdown for months on end. It’s been a year of doing everything completely different. All new for everyone.

We didn’t have any big travel plans like we normally do, due to my daughter and her partner having a baby girl in September. Our second grandchild, a sister for their two year old son. We’ve very fortunate to be able to spend so much time with them all. They have been a such a joy. On the negative side I haven’t seen my son since March and my husband hasn’t seen him since last Christmas.

The last trip I had this year was to Melbourne to see Laurence and his girlfriend, Maddy. But now we are happily awaiting their visit over Christmas.

  • Sculptures by the Sea, Cottesloe
  • Last trip to Melbourne

So this year has been spent trying out different kinds of activities and exploring Western Australia more.

I had my parents, who are in their late 80’s, staying here for five months. Their flights were cancelled and we thought it best that they stay put with us. At least they could still get out and about a bit more here. My nephew was also visiting from the UK for a few months. There was a partial lockdown in WA, but only for a month. I’ve been trying to be more active in the garden, although that is hit and miss, hubby does so much more.

I am playing more bridge, although I don’t seem to be improving! I absolutely love this game and took lessons for the first time two years ago. I’ve gone from once a week to twice a week now and on Friday I will be playing with a 93 year Italian man as my partner. I’ve seen Mario play and I am woefully under experienced to be his partner, it should be fun!

It’s certainly not me!

My friends and I have started a games night once a month. There are 8 ladies in all, and I haven’t laughed so much in ages. I found I have a very competitive streak.

  • My lovely group of gaming ladies!

Also I have started dancing again once a week to something called “Dance Lines” not to be confused with line dancing. I love the fact that I can do a dance and not just stand and do the “two foot shuffle”. Once a month there is a dance with a band and disco, it’s mostly over 50’s and such fun and very tiring.

My blog has also kept me very busy with all the challenges I have been trying to do. It has been really inspirational and this year I’ve made so many new online friends.
Here are some of the blogs I’ve enjoyed and participated in
Travel with Intent, Cee’s photo challenges, Becky with her Squares, Xingfu Mama and her seats to name but a few!

Then

Last year was certainly very different travelling wise. I can’t believe we visited so many countries.

In January we travelled from Western Australia to Queensland crossing five states.
March saw me in Melbourne.
April back to the UK to see my family over there, plus a side trip to Fuerteventura.
May, hubby and I went to Da Nang, Vietnam
October, Scotland, the UK, Sweden and Denmark.
December was spent in Hong Kong and Bali. The only thing we were worried about then were the riots in Hong Kong! We did actually see one but kept well away.

  • The Great Australian Bight
  • Wine tasting
  • Brighton Beach
  • Waterloo Bridge
  • Lunch in Fuerteventura
  • Da Nang
  • On top of the world!
  • The fanciest toilets ever, Selfridges London
  • Gothenburg
  • Nyhavn
  • HSBC, Hong Kong
  • Melia, Bali



Next year I think will be spent travelling around Australia. Our international borders are going to remain closed until well into next year. Hopefully I will get back to the UK by October to celebrate my dad’s 90th.

In the meantime,
Keep calm and carry on blogging

Palmers Winery, Dunsborough – Review

This is one of the places we visited during our weekend away in Dunsborough. Below is the mediterranean style entrance to the restaurant. Lucky for us the weather was wonderfully sunny and warm.

I had only booked 15 minutes before we arrived due to a mixup with another place we thought we were going to! We had a choice of tables inside as outside was fully booked. We could see outside anyway, we were just happy to be able to get in somewhere.

There was so much choice on the menu that we decided to share a few dishes, always the best way to eat if you ask me. In our little group we had one GF, one pescatarian and one who doesn’t eat shellfish! We ordered something for everyone and the one who wasn’t fussy got to taste everything!

We started with Parmesan Crumbed Eggplant w/ Buffalo Mozzarella, local Asparagus, Tomato and Basil Sugo Entrée 

Just enough for a taster each but enough to settle down the hunger!

To drink we ordered a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc Semillion to share which went down far too easily and quickly as there was quite a wait for our mains. Anyway we were in no rush and had no set agenda.

Finally our mains arrived and I think I speak for all of us that it was well worth the wait.

Goldband snapper with preserved lemon & herb crushed potatoes, roasted red pepper & caper salsa, asparagus & citrus Beurre blanc 
Balinese roast duck, yellow curry, Pilaf Rice, Steamed Asian Greens & Sambal
Grilled Western Australian Banana Prawns cooked in a roasted Garlic & Parsley Butter

Added to this was also a Green Papaya & bean shoot salad w/ toasted cashews & peanut dressing which was deliciously blended.

I would say my favourite was the Balinese duck curry, but all the dishes were mouth-wateringly divine.

There were some stunning paintings displayed at Palmers, I took a few photos of the ones I liked best.

After lunch was over we had a wander over to the cellar door to have a quick tasting and for me to take a few photos of the beautiful surroundings.

The Courtyard

Relaxed Divas

Everything about this winery was close to perfection. Food was amazing, lovely service from the staff and the grounds outstanding. If you’re ever in this region don’t miss the opportunity to visit.