one more trip to cable beach and 12 mile cafe for lunch

woke up early again today and took miski back to cable beach for another romp. she was so tired from her big day yesterday that she didn't play that much. she still had a blast though. walked along the beach for an hour and then hit the markets again...this time getting amazing smoothies for breakfast. wish derby had markets like these. anyway, headed out of town and grabbed some lunch at 12 mile cafe.  talk about amazing!  we had lemongrass noodles with organic veggie stirfy, chili chicken satay, and kafir lime and lemon polenta torte.  wow!  drove back to derby with full bellies and a puppy snoring in the back.  now we've just got to get ready to head to bali in a week! yay!  more photos here

sunset and drinks on cable beach

joined claire and her family for drinks on cable beach (later at zanders) to celebrate her 30th!  we had a great time and her family is awesome.  the sunset was beautiful and the sky after sunset even better. jose and i shared one of our favorite beers (little creatures bright ale) and tried a mule at zanders later. then we went and had dinner at azuki where i got to indulge in my obsession with japanese food and jose got to experience it for the second time. and he loved it! what a relief he likes it...might have had some serious problems if he didn't :)

miski's first trip to the beach!

woke up super early saturday morning, packed some things up, shuffled a sleepy puppy into the car and drove to cable beach in broome. miski has not really enjoyed water so i was surprised how much she loved the ocean.  she played in the water and chased the waves for over an hour. after that we took her to the markets, grabbed a breaky wrap and then went to a friend's house to clean up and have a much needed nap while miski played with her favorite doggy friend.

Derby sunset taken with the new camera

as soon as the camera arrived i made good use of it.  still figuring out what to do with it for each situation but even without knowing what to do the pictures are clearly incredibly superior.  we've had bush fires recently, now firmly in the dry season, and the sun was blood red.  just stunning.

frolicking with hawks and garage sale finds

we had a great weekend! took miski to the park morning and evening where she has an absolute blast chasing birds and rolling in the grass.  this morning we came early enough to see several hawks on the prowl there. they really liked miski's ball so when we threw it they would dive for it.  got a great video of it (see above).  then i made a good, healthy dinner and we camped out with our new garage sale table and watched dr. who.  it was awesome.

moroccan salad and fitzroy visit

completely unrelated but i'm trying to cook healthier food these days...Moroccan salad was one of my first attempts. With salmon on the side. talk about yum!  anyway also had a quick and incredibly busy trip to fitzroy last week.  got to see lots of kids, which was great, but it was absolutely exhausting.  had a lazy, relaxing weekend where we hit garage sales, read books, enjoyed wine on our porch (finally the weather is nice) and went for a romantic dinner saturday. yay!

camp breakfast

next morning we woke up when we felt like it and it was drizzling ever so slightly. miski was still sleeping soundly which was unusual. enjoyed the cool morning breeze and lounged around a bit. eventually we got up and took puppy for a stroll and broke down the tent. then we made traditional australian breakfast: jaffles!  they are amazing! i had baked beans, egg and tomato. jose had salami, cheese and beans and tomatoes. yum.  the boys also had some cherrabun to top it all off. we had tea and chatted and watched the dogs run around and play.  we eventually cleaned up and went to the stream again to wander in the water. headed out early to get home for nanna naps and laundry. it was so great to finally get to go camping again after all this time!  jose and i had such a good time. can't wait for the next outback camping.  more photos here

Camballin camping

went on a short camping trip this weekend with our friends sam and ayesha! poor miski got car sick on the way... we went out to a spot near Looma community and Liveringa station. couldn't cross the "stream" because it was far too squishy to get to the other side. it was a beautiful, breezy, cloudy day so we set up shop for a bit in the afternoon and tried to get some cherrabun (prawn like critters) without success. jose fished a bit and miski and cora bonded by the cars.  after a while we drove around looking for an alternative place to camp. found a good spot by the side of a small hill and set up our tents and gear.  miski LOVES camping!  she drove poor cora to distraction and wreaked havoc for a while but it got her wiggles out. she even learned to swim with cora in a nearby watering hole.  the boys went off to catch our dinner and ayesha and i stayed back to chat and have tea and watch the fort.  they came back with the biggest creatures i've ever seen!  we had cherrabun, steak, and stir-fried noodles/veggies for dinner. yum! add a bit of red wine and some good tunes and we had a lovely, relaxing, beautiful evening out bush.  went to bed and miski slept all night at the foot of my mattress. so cute.  see more photos in the camballin camping trip album

miski wins the prize for best dressed!

 

woke up bright and early, well not as early as jose poor thing, and went to the derby dog walk this morning at our town oval.  signed miski up, helped her burn off some energy on the field, and then we all went walking for about 30 minutes to raise money for our animal welfare group.  had a sausage sizzle and snow-cones (yes!) and other treats. even some home baked doggie treats that miski was all over!  then they set up an agility course and people competed for prizes.  miski is far too ill behaved for such activities.  but we did come prepared for the fancy dress part.  i put her little raincoat on and her fire chief hat i made for her yesterday and she took first prize! so what if only 4 dogs entered.  and i know this classifies me as a crazy dog lady and yet i don't care. these pics show our town oval with participants, me with miski, miski with her spoils for winning first prize, and miski with her outfit on.  more pics under the Derby 2011 album.  then after a bunch of friends/co-workers came over and we all made a couple of dishes to share and to teach other's the recipes. it was good fun and the food was amazing. i made salteñas :)  now for a nap.