A sunny walk

Sunshine Day

Sun shining...

Tomatoes growing...

New Frangipanis sprouting...

Flowers blooming...

And a new book I'm attempting not to read until we go on holiday in two weeks - I might need to hide it!

Around here...

This week.... I went to see one of my collages in the Mandjar 9x5 exhibition at Mandurah Performing Arts Centre - all the artworks will be up for auction on the 9th November.

We bought something quite huge and unexpected yesterday, but I haven't got any photos to show you yet so you'll have to wait until next weekend! Exciting!
After our impulse buy we went for a walk around Point Peron - the boys loved climbing all over the old gun emplacements.

And on Wednesday Mark came home from work with a bobtail goanna he rescued from a building site in the city - meet Joanna the Goanna who is now living in our garden...

I'm not a huge reptile fan but she's very sweet and amazingly tame.

A Walk in the Woods

Most places in WA seem to be named after explorers, ships, members of the Royal Family or 19th century British aristocracy, so it was nice to find a place that was named after.....a cow.

Yes, Kitty's Gorge is named after a runaway cow.

It's also quite a lovely place for a walk.

What I read in September

My favourite book this month was The Vale Girl by Nelika McDonald - small town prejudice with a twist.

I also enjoyed Colin McLaren's telling of his Grandfather's experience in Gallipoli and the trenches of First World War France

I picked up The Handmaid's Tale in the Salvos book section and it was as chilling as the first time I read it in high school.

Blow on a Dead Man's Embers was a story of a family in a small Welsh village struggling to carry on in spite of wartime betrayals and secrets.

What I read in August

My favourite read this month was...

Frankie and Stankie by Barbara Trapido - coming of age in 1960's South Africa

I also loved...

Thornwood House  Anna Romer - haunting family secrets...

The Railwayman's Wife  Ashley Hay - post-war traumas in a small Australian town

Valentine Grey  Sandi Toksvig - a feisty Victorian girl goes off to fight in the Boer War

The Long Earth and The Long War   Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter - I loved these two really believable tales of parallel Earths - and The Long War was the first book I read on my iPad!

Around here...

Spring is in the air and the mozzies are biting already...

Some bits and bobs at home -

Jubilee Madness

I feel a bit left out as my house is devoid of union jack bunting... might see if I can pick some up tomorrow (although it will probably be a lot cheaper next week..)

Some of the best Jubilee marketing ideas I've seen are:

'50's style Cadbury's Dairy Milk

Red , white and blue Mr Kipling's French  British Fancies (scoffed a few of these over the past couple of weeks!)

And I love Kellogg's vintage style cereal boxes

Happy Jubilee Weekend everyone!

Spring Designs

A few new spring-like designs for my portfolio.

Rainy Day Activity

The best auntie in the world - not only actively encourages you to draw on her walls....

But joins in too!
(Three left-handers!)

And then the drive home... ughh