goode beach

more photos here 

it was stunning today!  we went garage sale shopping...pretty ho hum if you ask me.  down here people sell stuff i'd throw in the trash instead of decent items. anyway also bought an amazing, super comfy couch and rug for the new house and then took the dog out to goode beach, a dog beach at the end of frenchman bay. i could not believe it when we got there - nobody else there and it was absolutely stunning.  the water was crystal clear, clean, blue and green. The sky was a beautiful blue with perfect clouds and the sand was again the blazingly white, incredibly powdery and soft, squeaky clean variety we see down here. in fact, whenever miski would run it literally squeaked beneath her feet.  incredible. she had a blast ripping around in the sand and the water.  she was naughty and bothered a few people who walked by but...if you walk on a dog beach you should probably make sure you like dogs.  anyway jose tried fishing with no luck. we had a beautiful picnic with yummy snacks, hot tea, and later some great italian wine.  a lovely day!

great sunday - garage sales, 3D movie, soccer, and sushi!

can't get a whole lot better than today. true, it was absolutely frigid this morning but it turned out to be a beautiful, warm, golden day by mid morning. a lovely sunday all round.  started it off by getting some pretty cool stuff at garage sales. then we took miskers to the oval for a play in the grass, which she absolutely loved. we had the whole place to ourselves.  then we went to the fish markets and grabbed some beautiful fresh fish, fresh turkish bread (yum), oh and some chocolate croissants and fresh smoothie for good measure. we relaxed at home for a little bit and then went to the local movie theater to see Brave...in 3D.  talk about awesome - the theater was super comfy with big, cushy seats with drink holders.  jose bought the biggest drink and pop corn they had and we chomped throughout what turned out to be a hilarious film. and now we have 3d glasses! bonus!  Miski and i watched jose play soccer with this afternoon with some other old fogeys and then came home to make beautiful fresh sushi for dinner and grilled chicken sandwiches on turkish bread for tomorrow's lunch.  phone is still broken...very annoying. so no pics yet.

peacharine, fig, and kaffir lime trees!

no pics today because my iphone bit the dust after i requested it be unlocked by my old provider in the US. surprise surprise they weren't even able to get that right.  irritating.  so, phone less, sleep less and cold we went out shopping today. i found this amazing nursery that MJ and mom would LOVE and we bought a fig tree, a kaffir lime tree, and a peacharine tree.  yes that's right - a peacharine!  super excited!  now we just need to move in...can't come soon enough.  miss everyone back home very much!

What a dork

No idea what got into Miski last night. Either she was too tired to jump in the chair or she wanted attention. Or both. She likes clean linen, pillows, being hand fed and pampered. Princess. I don't do those things though...always. Just most of the time and until jose gets fed up and then laughs at both of us. It was cold last night but today was very pretty and hopefully the weekend will be nice. I'm ready for it after this week. Hope all of you are well! Miss everyone back in the states tons and tons. Or as they say here...heaps and heaps xo

It snowed! Just kidding, but it hailed a lot!

We had a pretty big storm yesterday and last night. Didn't clear up today either and rained on and off all day. When I got home today there was all this white stuff near the porch. My first thought was that the laundry overflowed...but that's not where the laundry is. Apparently it hailed so much that shady areas stayed frozen. Unreal. Miski wasn't too excited and she's very happy to wear her little fleece jacket.

How lucky am I?!

Made fajitas couple nights ago and they were awesome! Then asian noodle and veggie stir fry the next...yum.  Today was a difficult day and when i got home quite late, jose had baked me the most beautiful coconut-lime cake! He always knows what will cheer me up...cake! it was delicious!

Lazy Sunday's are awesome

Yesterday, after exhausting shopping :) we grabbed a ready made roast meal at this amazing gourmet shop near our place. Thy have all the esoteric ingredients I could ever want. Heaven! We relaxed all afternoon with our hot meal and a movie. It was great. See jose cuddling with Miski above. So cute! Today we slept in until 10am. Totally unheard of for me. Then jose made us omellettes and toast. Yum! I plan on doing nothing today and loving it.

Giant kangaroos and shopping

Happily the weather has cleared up for the weekend which is great. Hit some great garage sales and the farmers market today. On the way to one a bit out of town, we passed a property with tons of HUGE grey kangaroos! I thought the wallabies up north were cool but that's nothing compared to these massive guys. One almost ran in front of our car and they live and roam right by a popular walk path. I will never ever get used to seeing kangaroos in the wild. So weird. I attached a photo but it's with my iphone so you can't really see. Bummer. I'll have to go back another time and get proper shots. Went to some huge store sales too and we bought ourselves a tv and surround sound system. Kind of painful but exciting!

TGIF and double rainbows!

This week was a really really busy one. Interesting busy but I'm glad it's Friday because I am exhausted! Finishing up the last bits of home buying paperwork and little errands here and there. Crazy storms have continued but hopefully will end soon so we can enjoy a sunny weekend. This was a wonderful way to end my Friday workday - with a gorgeous double rainbow!

San Choy Bao and it's freeeeeeezing

Dude it has been COLD here. And I mean really cold. Been down to 11/51 and 8/45 with this freak, cyclonic like storm we've had. Kind of fun but soooo cold. Anyway made san choy bao in endive leaves last night which was super yum. Made me think of you mom Miss you all.

Eggs...yum

Loved the long weekend...wish it was longer. Got up today and was surprised with an amazing omelette breakfast! Jose rocks! Also our financing went through so we're homeowners now!!! Can't wait to move in :)

bald head hike and whales!!!

today we were both tired after nursing sick miski all evening and then listening to her pad around all night. poor thing. she's fine now but we woke up tired. somehow i still talked jose into going for a hike because the day was so incredibly beautiful.  we drove to torndirrup national park to do the bald head hike (16 kms round trip).  well we only intended to do part of it and ended up doing about half which was fun.  it starts as you walk up some sandy paths through bushland with pretty banksia and other native trees around.  then as you reach the first peak you come to a huge granite rock face to scramble up where you get stunning views of salmon hole beach and back to albany over the bay.  we kept going up a few more peaks and got beautiful views of both sides of the peninsula.  at one point we kept hearing this splat like sound and i figured it was a boat hitting the waves but when we got up to the top again it was whales breaching!  so we stopped for a rest, a snack, and whale-watching.  it was pretty spectacular even from so far away.  they put on a great show.  the beaches and water scenes are absolutely stunning.  i love being able to hike again finally!  see more photos here

sunrises and car shows!

After such a great day yesterday it was hard to imagine having another great day this weekend. slept in today and when i peeked outside i saw an amazing sunrise. ran outside, hair sticking up, in my socks and pj's and got a few shots but unfortunately missed the pinkest colors.  it is so weird that the sun rises so late here - that picture was taken at 7:15. anyway then we played with the dogs and headed to the annual (and very long running) albany classic motor car show.  it used to be an actual full throttle race but now with safety concerns these days (pshaw) they have made it more dainty.  anyway it was a gorgeous day and the cars were shiny and colorful.  We wandered around the booths selling wares and food and took snaps of the cars and watched a couple of races. they went SO fast!  especially the older, littler ones. amazing.  one car was from 1927...that blows my mind.  headed home and talked about all our house renovation plans (pipe dreams) and played with the dogs outside and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine. jose made us amazing chicken, quinoa, kale soup that even miski loved. still trying to talk mom and ray into visiting us at christmas - help me out guys! all albany photos

A beautiful day after massive storm

It rained all day thursday and friday here, kind of a downer but at least it wasn't too cold. We had a massive storm last night with thunder, lightning, hail, and crazy winds. It was pretty fun! And today was really wonderful! Went to the markets, garage sales, some shops, and then went on a lovely walk on the coastal trail Ellen cove. Miski wore her new backpack and carried her jacket and snacks. She was all worn out after our 7km hike. It was stunning out! Had a great fish and veggie lunch care of jose and watched movies all afternoon.