Katanning trip

Went to katanning (2 hrs north of albany) to have a meeting and though it was a very long driving day, it was so beautiful and the meeting was nice. It's spring now and the fields are golden. And I passed by a crazy pink lake too! Lots of happy cows out there today. Poor Miski was bored today but at least it was nice out.

looking for jose

miski has been very sad since jose left. she just sort of wanders around the house looking for him and i can tell she really  misses him. when i wear one of his sweatshirts she gets really excited and madly sniffs me and runs around barking. poor thing. i wish i could explain to her that he'll be back soon and not to worry. she even looked for him in the printer - just kidding - she was excited about the printer noises.  anyway as much as she misses him i miss him much much more.  it's amazing how short 3 months sounds until it begins and how easy it is to take someone for granted when you see them every day. i think we both have a renewed sense of appreciation for each other now that we're having to spend some time apart.  can't wait for december!

roses and gardening

well we have some very pretty roses popping up. i'm not a fan of rose bushes because they are ugly most of the year and briefly have pretty flowers but these sure are nice.  ripped up a lot of plants today because the garden was very choked, so it looks a lot better and the plants have room to breathe.  we're hoping to someday do away with this area all together and either level out the yard or put in a deck or both.  more photos here

beautiful sunset tonight

got to spend some time with jose today - he leaves tomorrow :( we did a lot of gardening and enjoyed a beautiful sunset...complete with pink rain! pretty awesome. miski made a new doggy friend from down the block and we all enjoyed patches of sunshine (weather today was very weird...rainy, sunny, rainy, sunny, both).  more photos here

jose's early birthday celebration

we celebrated jose's birthday a week early this year because he'll be away in derby on his actual bday next year. we had tacos and a great bottle of new zealand chard farm riesling wine we brought all the way back from nz last year.  then for dessert i got jose his very first ice cream cake ever! it was decadent chocolate ice cream with chocolate surrounding the cake and coconut candy pieces on top.  crazy good.  got him a few shirts and jackets for his bday which i think he liked :) spent most of the afternoon gardening because it was a nice day and we have a lot of overgrown garden going on...

gallavanting around ledge beach

more photos at the end of this album 

because i was laid up most of the weekend with a sore back we went out to a new beach after i got home from work today. it's a rather pristine, untouched part of albany - called ledge beach.  it was very very windy which made it kind of cold and not super pleasant but it was incredibly beautiful. nobody else was around so miski had run of the place. you can see in the pics how much fun miski was having, tearing around at breakneck speed. a beautiful afternoon!

de-jungling the yard and fruit trees!

well we've done so much work on the yard and still it's a semi-jungle and needs lots more work. at least we've made a start i suppose.  once we get that hideous pond feature out of the middle of the back patio we'll be able to pave the whole thing and it'll look so much better.  our fruit trees are doing so well.  the fig tree and peacharine trees are really thriving. in the two photo at the bottom you can see the tiny figs just starting to grow. our avocado (teeny tree) is just starting to bloom and our kaffir lime tree seems to be clinging to life ok so far.  planted our new chili plants today and generally have been enjoying the sunshine in the back today. i pulled my back yesterday and am moving rather slowly and ungracefully. bleh.  more photos here