Monday Mural -Kindy fun

Can't remember when I first saw this mural painted on the walls of this shed belonging to the McDougall Park kindergarten, in the suburb of Como.
I drive past it daily on my way to and from work, and last week decided to stop there on the way home and take some photos.
Couldn't find any details about the artist.

For other murals from around the world follow this link:

6th Blogging Anniversary

Can't believe it's been that long...
On the 18th June 2011 my first post went live, and I was so excited when I noticed my first reader coming through from Germany.
Well from that first reader I've now had 1,336,690 views, 102 followers, visitors from 158 countries and this is my 498th post!

Looking back, my first post was mainly about my craft interests, and you can read it by following this link. 

Some of my art and crafts

Unfortunately and sadly for me as I enjoyed it, the lack of a craft group that kept me focused, my job, writing, house renovations, etc, means I haven't done much painting or crafts.
I have instead done a few makeovers to clothes and furniture, and that fuels my artist vein.

Bloggers: One of the bloggers that first commented on my blog was dear Mariette from "Back to Basics" and you will be pleased to know she still comments on my blog and I on hers.

Another of my first followers who helped divulge my blog was Carole from "Piglet in Portugal". Carole and I met up in 2012 in the Algarve on one of my visits to Portugal.
She wrote about our meeting here and I wrote about the Algarve and our meeting here.

I've met a few other bloggers, such as Grace from Perth Daily , Wendy from Wendy Barret's Paintings and Writings, and Iris, who lives in Braunschweig, the German town where we lived for 6 years and where my kids were born, and she blogs at Double-half or One Ten without Ham.

My world has become a lot richer through friendships across the world, getting to know how other people live, their likes and dislikes, and virtually travelling to other countries through the various blogs I visit.

Most popular posts: In 2012 I participated in a A-Z meme with posts about Australia, and two of my most read posts were: 
A-Z of Australia - Q is for Queens Garden  with over 202,286  hits, and the second one was  A-Z of Australia - I is for Islands (part III) with 178,600 hits.

The United States readers are ahead in the readership with over 671 thousand of you making up 32% of my readers, France is second with just over 200 thousand readers and Australia comes third with close to 51 thousand readers making up 28,2% of my total readers, followed closely by Germany with 48 thousand readers. (A while back all my Australian readers stats disappeared, and then a few days later, they started from 0 again, no wonder they come 2nd).

I've mainly blogged about my travels in Australia and overseas, decor and renovations, and on Mondays I now team up with Oakland Daily Blog and other worldwide bloggers to post a photo of a mural. These are quite popular posts and my mural posts now stand at 109!
And of course I often post about Perth my adopted  hometown where I love to live.

Perth

Travel: Lisbon, Portugal and Amsterdam, Holland

Murals in Perth and Portugal

I hope to be here in another 6 years and to be able to still enjoy blogging about what I blog about and to still have all of you dear readers interested in reading my posts.

Cheers!

Monday Mural - Giraffe

This mural on the rooftop walls of the Many 6160 building in Fremantle (a former Department store now housing a mix of retail and creative spaces and a rooftop event space).

The giraffe was painted by James Giddy, a young artist who was born in  Johannesburg, South Africa, but moved to Perth at a young age.

For other murals from around the world please follow this link.

WA Day Long Weekend

We just had a long weekend to commemorate WA (Western Australia) Day (5th of June) which celebrates the founding of the Swan River colony in 1829.

This year I didn't join any of the festivities in some of Perth's suburbs and the main one in Elizabeth Quay, but still had a very busy weekend.

On Friday evening we had dinner at the Portuguese club in the suburb of Fremantle - the usual Grilled Cod-fish that they serve on the 1st Friday of every month. We hadn't been in a while, so it was great to meet up with friends.

Cod fish, potatoes and chick peas - just delicious!

On Saturday, the day was slightly wet and I spent the day putting the house in order... not my favourite task, but has to be done sometime!

Sunday we had a fabulous sunny and warm day (23C), so in the morning I sat in the garden in old shorts and t-shirt and started a new painting project.
Most of our furniture is solid cherry wood, which is a crime to paint (according to my husband), but we've had it for over 20 years and I think it's time for an update, so I managed to convince him I would only paint the dining room chairs...for now...so that the dining room will at least look a bit brighter and modern.
When it's all done I'll show you the before and after so you can judge if I was right or wrong!

Painting was started on the dining room chairs

Later in the afternoon we joined friends celebrating their 2 year old's birthday at the Scented Garden on the South Perth foreshore. Again we met up with friends we hadn't seen in a while and it was great to catch up.
Before returning home I took some photos of the city of Perth on the other side of the Swan river.

South Perth park and Perth city across the Swan River

 

Sun-setting reflections on Perth buildings and after dark city lights

Monday was warm again with the temperature going up to 25,6C (remember Winter actually started on the 1st of June).
We had planned to visit an orchard in the Perth hills in the suburb of Roleystone, and decided to go have lunch in the area too. The restaurant we originally planned to go to was closed due to the public holiday and we were recommended Avocados Restaurant.

The restaurant was located next to a water stream with views to the hills. It was packed and the food obviously took a while to be delivered, but when we got it, it was quite tasty and the presentation was great too. 
They also have accommodation and function rooms that are rented for weddings, etc.

On the way to the Hills - a horse box, hills and flowers, houses on the hills and crash cars piled up on a truck

Avocados restaurant, outdoor eating area and stream, accommodation, our food

The stream by the restaurant

After lunch we drove just a few kms to visit Raeburn Orchard, and were aghast when we saw the hundreds of cars parked near the Orchard and the huge crowds lining up to get in!
Really?? Yes, and the reason I was going to visit was because on Thursday the Orchard was mentioned on a TV program regarding their fields covered in Autumn foliage, being the ideal location for beautiful photos.
You see in Perth there aren't that many deciduous trees that turn golden or red and then shed their leaves in Autumn....in fact most parks in Perth still look very green.
So all those people had seen the same program I had and were there to take photos and to buy farm fruit too I assume.

An entry fee of $3,50 per person was even charged to enter the orchard, such was the demand!
There were 3 parking attendants directing traffic into an empty lot next door, and the poor neighbouring houses had even cordoned off their lawns with "no parking signs".

One of the attendants said that on Saturday they had 5000 visitors!!  They certainly must have done well with entry fees, extra fruit and other produce sold...

Anyway, we paid the fee, and it was actually an enjoyable afternoon wandering around, taking photos, we even came across a few people sitting around their picnic baskets enjoying the views and the warm weather.
Before leaving we went into their store and bought apples and pears, a bottle of pear juice and and ice-cream for each. I must say the fruit is very tasty, so it was a good buy.

Horses, rows and rows of fruit trees, persimmons and avocados

Green and Gold

I even felt like a kid playing with the dry leaves

Inside the orchard store - jams and sauces, fruit and juices

Sour Cherry and Salted Caramel ice-cream

And so ended a very enjoyable long weekend. 

Hope you are having a great week.

Monday Mural - Under the Sea II

This mural at Deep Water Point, is painted on the other side  of the toilet blocks of the mural I showed in last week's post.
The theme is the same, might have been painted by the same artist too and I love the vibrant colours of the mural.
For other murals from around the world click on this link.

If you are in Western Australia, enjoy the WA Day holiday.

Fluffy gets detained!

Yesterday afternoon when I got home from work, I picked a couple of letters from the postbox and one of them was a $100 speed fine for exceeding the speed limit by 8km! Brrr, I was mad at myself for doing it, and for the waste of money too. Luckily I won't be losing any demerit points.😡

At home I noticed Fluffy wasn't around - as the days are getting cooler, all the cats can usually be found sleeping in our bed or otherwise catching a few rays of sun outside on the backyard deck. The other two cats - Twiggy and Shelley were on the bed.

I called for him outside, but he didn't come and I thought nothing of it as sometimes he wonders about but always comes home before their 6pm dinner time.



It was about 5,30 when the Ranger knocked on our door asking for our son. My husband told him our son no longer lived at home and the Ranger said ok and was about to return to his van, when my husband asked what it was about. 
He replied that a cat registered under my son's name, and identifiable via his microchip, had been picked up by the Ranger at the call of one of the street's residents and was being detained in the Como animal care facility.

I presume Fluffy ventured outside the garden, obviously went into someone else's garden, and since he doesn't wear a collar (he destroys them pretty quickly so I gave up) they must have thought that he might have been lost and called the Ranger.
I can't really figure out why though, because he looks well cared for, and I would have waited a day or two to see if the cat stuck around or just went. There are quite a few cats in the street and I often get visits from other cats in my garden but I never called the Ranger, I just thought they came to socialize with my cats and I know cats love to investigate their surroundings.

So poor Fluffy spent the night in kennels. The pound only opens from 12 to 3pm daily, which is certainly not a convenient time for working people. Luckily today I was starting work at 1pm, so I quickly dashed to the suburb of Como and was at their door just before 12. 

Had to fill in some paperwork, show his registration and pay the fine of $100!!!. 
I was then shown to the kennels where poor Fluffy was. He didn't even move when I called his name and I had to pull the towel where he was lying and put him in the pet carrier.
He didn't even peep in the car either, even though he hates car trips, and at home, once I opened the carrier he quickly dashed to the food bowls in the kitchen.
I had forgotten to ask if he had been fed, so I just gave him some food.
Then I got in the car and dashed to work in Como (again) and was there at 1pm on the dot.

Strangely enough Fluffy is always so scared when we have visitors, hides away for a few days before he socializes with them, or if anyone knocks on our door he usually hides behind our bedroom curtains, so I can't figure out how he let himself be picked up, unless he was enticed with food...

Fluffy hiding behind the curtains in my bedroom after someone rang the bell

                       
Tonight he seems very subdued, just wants to be close to me or my husband, sleeping on our laps.
Hopefully he has learnt his lesson and doesn't leave our property again.
In the meantime we have closed the cat door and the cats will stay indoors for a few days, and I'll be getting them collars and tags again and see how long they will last...

Fluffy tonight sleeping on the couch next to my husband

Fluffy is also my computer companion

  Anyway, all back to normal, minus $200!! 😉