Monday Mural - Mexican Fiesta

Another mural in the suburb of Mount Lawley, painted by Canadian born, Perth resident artist Mel McVee aka Melski on the side wall of Salsa's Mexican Restaurant, at 568/570 Beaufort Street.

Remember the Old Tram mural I showed a few weeks ago, it was also one of her works.

Taking part in Monday Murals, click HERE to see more murals from around the world. 

The show must go on II

As promised on yesterday's post, I said I would post some photos of my favourite things seen at this year's Perth Royal Show, so here they are!

The Cake decorating Pavilion was amazing and I could hardly believe there are people who craft these masterpieces out of icing sugar and marzipan.

I must apologize for the terrible photos - I took a camera with 2 lenses, and didn't realize until I put the small lens on that I had taken a lens that had a problem instead of taking the lens that I bought to replace it....so the close-up pictures had to be taken with my mobile, while holding my bag, jacket, other camera...so they are all a bit wobbly.

First prize was the top left - a pink vase with orchids (all in sugar)

A tribute to the 100th Anzac anniversary, a couple of wedding cakes and a  Pelican cake

A purple and black wedding cake

Can't you believe this "Lilly Garden" of Monet was reproduced in 16 tiles made with sugar mediums (all edible) and even the frame is made out of sugar!

It won first prize in August at the Australian National Cake Decorator's Association seminar.

Monet's Lilly garden

Milking station - showing kids how where milk comes from

In the "Walk Through WA (Western Australia) Pavilion" , the various regions of our state was portrayed showing their different characteristics and climates and their specific products ranging from fruit and vegetables, dairy products, wines, cattle and mining.

Interesting way to get to know the state without leaving Perth!

I learned that 36% of WA is covered by "Cattle Stations", most of them bigger than many European countries. The world's largest is actually in the State of South Australia - Anna Creek Station.  A Station is a large piece of land used for livestock production - the reason why these stations need to be big is because the continent is so dry and vegetation sparse, that a large amount of land is required for the cattle to graze.

Another interesting tidbit is that the Great Northern Highway, which stretches 3,200km is the longest highway in Australia and links Perth with Wyndham, which is WA's northernmost port city.

Walk through Western Australia - a showcase of the various areas - agriculture, mining, cattle...

A huge sow with 10 piglets fighting over each other for her milk

The Cat Pavilion was of course another favourite - a lot of these show cats had won prizes.

Some were just adorable, some slept unaware of all the fuss over them, other hid behind curtains in their cage probably wary of all the strange people and noise...

All the adorable cats

Our last visit was to the "City Farmers" (pet food warehouse) Animal Nursery  and I'm glad I visited it as it was my favourite!

Some of the animals roamed free like goats and sheep, a calf... others were in enclosures such as horses, donkeys, a dog with a litter of puppies, chickens, rabbits... various doves were flying around as well.

A farmer said he had a farm with 400 animals and some of those were there on the show with him - he had 2 pretty grey cats who just lay there looking at the birds and chickens without any fuss.

He had a huge white cat that would jump on his chest when he called the cat by patting his chest.  All the animals seemed to get on with each other, which was amazing to see.

The fluffiest rabbit, a horse (can you see the white cat on the bottom shelf?) and birds, one of the grey cats on his post and tiny chicks.

Goats and sheep, a dog with his puppies, me standing by a calf, donkey and horse

It was a great day, a bit tiring with many hours walking around, but certainly enjoyable!
But I think I'll have to return next year to get better pictures of all this cuteness don't you think?

The Show must go on!

For the first time since I've been in Perth we visited the Perth Royal Show today.
It's one of Western Australia's longest standing community event attracting over 400,000 people. It first started as an Annual fair and cattle show in 1834 in Guildford and then moved to the Claremont showgrounds in 1904.

It started today and runs until the 3rd of October and is open from 9am to 9pm every day and all major attractions are free. 
With about 300 performances and 100 hours of entertainment a day, it's good value. 
Entry costs $29 per adult with various other prices for families, children, etc, but you can get a reduced fee ticket if you buy them at the IGA supermarkets, the biggest sponsor of the event, where they cost $25.

From flower arranging, cake decorating, horse shows, pig-diving, dog and cat shows, petting farms, sheep-shearing, crafts, sheep-dog challenge, etc., you can find it all at this show.

Side-show alley - Amusement rides and games are the only things you have to pay for. 

And food of course - there's plenty of food choices from the tasty to the plain blahhh.

We enjoyed our 5 hours of walking around, saw many things and didn't see many others of course, but overall the impression was good.

I had been to similar fairs in Portugal but on a much smaller scale, so after 5 hours it was time to leave, and I was sorry not to stay until the end when they have a fireworks display.

My favourites were the Cake Decorating Pavilion - wow there's a lot of very talented people, and then the City Farmer's Pavilion (a pet and garden supplies warehouse) where I got to pet some lovely animals. Goats and sheep were walking around freely, and there was an enclosure where a farmer who has 400 animals had a few of them all together and they all got along with each other - from cats to dogs, to pigeons and chickens, rabbits and hamsters. Loved it!!  I'll leave photos of my favourites for tomorrow... For now hope you enjoy this small sample of my visit (and over 200 photos).

We're enjoying a long weekend (Queen's Birthday on Monday) so Sunday and Monday will be spent doing our jobs around the house...

Flowers on show

Colourful cows on parade

dog training, horse show, rock climbing and vintage car

Pig running and diving (first photo, the tiny presenter and singer)

Evening views of the Amusement rides

Spring Festival at Kings Park II

Following from my first post about the Kings Park Spring Festival that started on the 1st of September, here are some more photos taken on my first visit to this year's festival.

Kings Park has been voted the 6th best park in the world according to Trip Advisor with 
5,8 million visitors a year,  650,000 of these visiting during the Spring Festival in September. Amazing isn't it?

 This lovely kookaburra was on top of a tree while a honeyeater taunted it and he just turned one way or another but stayed in the same branch. Very strange, I thought being twice the size would mean he would give the honeyeater a hard time and not the other way around.

Kookaburra on a tree branch

Ducks in one of Kings's park ponds

The clock surrounded by wildflowers

Lots of wildflowers

Hope you enjoyed the beautiful wild blooms, some of these unique to Western Australia.

Hopefully I'll get some time to visit again before the end of the month for more Spring photos.

Flying Squirrel on the wall - Monday Mural

This mural entitled "Flying Squirrel" or "Sugar Glider" (I've seen it described by both names)  was painted by the Dutch artist/Fremantle resident Amok Island. 

It was painted for the 2015 FORM and was painted on the side wall of a building in Nick's Lane in Northbridge, just across from the Perth's city centre.

Taking part in Monday Murals, click HERE to see more murals from around the world. 

Weekend Projects II and Bird's Nests

Another lovely weekend and a few more projects ticked off the long list!
Saturday 
I started by cutting some ground cover I have in the back garden to plant in the front garden on a side strip next to a neighbour's grass weeds.
I don't really know the name of the plant but the botanical name is "Aptenia Cordifolia", a fast growing succulent used as ground cover, with tiny pink flowers. 
It can be a bit invasive and grows very quickly, but I needed some softening of the edges next to the dark gravel. We still need to put a border between the gardens so the grass/weeds don't cross over.

The pavers at the end near the road are for the rubbish bins

Next, an indoor job - I took the plastic vents for the evaporative air-con from the ceiling. 
Plastic usually turns this drab dirty cream...
I washed them with soapy water to remove the dust, dried them and then spray painted them using "Rust-Oleum Paint + Primer"in Flat white. 
These vents always stood out in the white ceiling, even though the ceilings still need painting too.

From cream to white 

While painting outdoors I spotted a Willie wagtail  flying from the fence to under our former clothes dryer, now used with a shade cloth over to protect the veggie patch.
When I looked I spotted a beautiful round nest. Later I approached the nest to take a photo and the wagtail came flying to the fence shrieking and suddenly another one came flying to the fence too - the partner - they pair for life you know!  I love the Wagtails, they are so playful and friendly. I later saw it picking up some twigs from the garden for the nest. They apparently use spider webs to weave their nests together, how clever is that?

The lovely round nest - babies should come along by December

The Wagtail couple sitting on the fence close to the nest

This dove's nest on the lemon tree is so untidy and flimsy compared to the Wagtail's nest

After all this workout we decided to go out to dinner at Crown Casino where I hadn't been in ages.
Our choice of Chinese wasn't a great one, I think it's the use of MSG that makes me sick and soon after dinner I was bloated and nauseous and after a short walk around the machines we came home.

Sunday 

My husband cut the bush just outside our lounge window that was blocking our view of the park across the road. Now we have a view again!

We have a view of the park again!

I put together an Ikea Besta unit, so that my husband could hang it on the wall later on.
We had an old fashioned telephone table that was a bit too wide for our narrow entry-hall, so after searching for something suitable I settled on the 40cm wide Besta.
After trying to work out how the rail system worked, the unit was finally attached.
The mirror above was now offside, and I might actually put it vertically instead of horizontally. Still thinking about it... 
The doors are also not in yet, and I'm considering if I should rather put 4 drawers instead of 2 shelves and doors or even leave it open just as it is now.  
It also needs a glass to protect it, sold at Ikea, but my cart was too full already and I feared the glass would break, so another visit to Ikea is on the cards.
Then styling the table...a new rug...
Decisions, decisions...

Our old telephone table had a fold down flap where I kept small blankets to wrap up in winter when we sit in the lounge

Looking in from the front door

A floating unit will give a sense of a bigger area hopefully

Did you like my projects?
Hope you've had a lovely weekend too. Have a wonderful week.

Monday Mural - Smile and the whole world will smile with you

These photos were taken a few weeks ago when I had lunch with a friend in the suburb of Mount Lawley. This long mural of different faces depicting the many races and nationalities living in Perth, was painted by Perth artist Jerome Davenport.

It is found on one of the walls of a car park at Beaufort Street - which also has an interesting sign (last photo). And of course I love all the smiling faces of the mural.

Taking part in Monday Murals, you can click HERE to see more murals from around the world. 
Have a wonderful week!

 

The Beaufort street car park sign is also intersting

Weekend Projects and Spring blooming in our garden

With a long list of things to still fix-up or update in our house before Christmas arrives, and don't laugh, but when September comes time just seems to fly!

On Saturday it rained most of the day, so it was ideal to do an indoor project.

I wanted to get a small bedside table for the guest room and then after yet again rearranging a few things in our living room I had this table that I could re-use.
It was previously one of those under-desk tables that hold the paper and computer tower, so one more use for it now!

Because it was dark wood, I first primed  it with 3 coats of white primer, then painted with 2 coats of white paint.
After that I painted some stripes in blue and gray to make it more interesting.
It's a pity I no longer had the turquoise colour I had used on the stripes on the bedroom wall and the chest of drawers. I might still add a darker gray stripe matching one of the drawers though...

It started like this...

Before - sorry didn't take the photo of the raw product when it was dark wood...

The sidetable in place in the spare bedroom. 

Stripes in blue and gray

Because it's a deep table it could also be put sideways with access from the bed

Finally the picture above the Ombre chest of drawers was also hung on the wall!

In our small en-suite, the washstand was always crowded with the electric toothbrush machine, so I bought a small square shelf from Ikea, and my husband put it up above the power point. Now it looks so much better!

The electric toothbrush machine crowded the washstand

Much better and easier to clean now!

The end product - I have now painted the screws in white so they blend in.

Sunday's weather was sunny and warmer and it was time to paint the clothes line on the side of the house. Even though it's probably only about 3 years old it was getting rusty.

I used a special paint that inhibits rust so hopefully it will last a few more years now!

The rusty cream clothes line

Painted in silver rust-proof paint

Around the garden, it's all happily blooming - two more poppies have bloomed and a few more buds can be seen (the previous one from last week flew away with the wind), the Hibiscus tree got the first yellow bloom too.

The Loquot tree (Eriobotrya japonica) is full of fruit, but my husband is the only one that eats it, and the birds like it too. I have previously made liqueur with the fruit.

It attracts too many fruit flies though...

The fig tree is suddenly covered in new leaves and a few tiny figs too, probably due to all the rain of the last couple of days. It's such a good tree and we get loads of figs - come on January!

A few tiny figs are coming up

 Hope you had a productive or fun weekend too. Have a lovely week!