Monday Mural - Pangako (the promise)

In Bonifacio Global City (BGC), Manila, this mural entitled "Pangako" (The promise) is located on Bonifacio High street, Lane P, painted by Filipino artist Anjo Bolarda.

If you like murals or have a mural you'd like to post, this meme is for you; 

Just follow the Linky steps below.   Be sure to link back to this blog and visit your fellow mural bloggers.  Looking forward to your mural finds this week. Thanks, Sami. 

Around the Canning River

On Thursday 25th April - Anzac Day - we were invited to lunch at our friends W and L's house, whose backyard borders the Canning River in the suburb of Beckenham, Perth.

We had coffee by the jetty, and as soon as my friend L approached the jetty a lot of ducks and two swans swam close. They are used to being fed by him, so when they see him they know food is coming...



After lunch we all climbed into his round boat for a cruise around the river, lasting about 1 1/2 hours enjoying the scenery, the birds, and the most wonderfully warm Autumn day with a temperature of 26C (78.8F).

(too) T, L, K, me and Karina (bottom) Karina, W and Jose

We came across a couple on kayaks with their elderly dog enjoying a ride too. Very cute.

 Along the river we saw ducks, Darters, willy wagtails, Ibis, kookaburras...

Darters (left photo atop a nest), Ibis (bottom right)

The sun was setting and it was getting cooler by the time we turned around to go back home.

A pedestrian bridge

                     

It was close to 6pm when we arrived back at the house, the time when my friend usually feeds the ducks, and we could see they were already waiting by the jetty.

As soon as he started throwing their pellets around it was a frenzy, with ducks, swans and other birds trying to eat as much as they could.

The ducks are used to people, so they just climbed on the jetty, and I counted close to 50 ducks at one stage!!

Ducks already waiting by the jetty for the evening meal

Dozens of ducks feeding on the deck

Participating in Weekend Reflections and Saturday Critters:  

Visit James to see more Weekend Reflections from around the world..
and 
visit Eileen at https://viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.com/

Signs - Porto Cruz

From our visit to the city of Porto,  in the north of Portugal in August 2017.

We visited one of the Port wine houses - Porto Cruz -  where people can learn about the production of Port wine and taste a variety of Ports.

In their rooftop terrace you can enjoy views of the town centre across the Douro River.

More signs at Signs, signs.

Port wine tasting and the Porto Cruz building with rooftop terrace

Monday Mural - Anzac tribute & Easter weekend

On Thursday 25th April Australians celebrate "Anzac Day", and since I'm also Portuguese,  the "Carnation Revolution" has also been celebrated on the 25th of April since 1974.

A couple of months ago I spotted a mural honouring the Anzacs that had been painted on the wall of a building that houses the local RSL (The Returned and Services League, Australia is a support organisation for men and women who have served or are serving in the Defence Force) on High Road in Riverton, and I thought it would be appropriate to post it now.

If you like murals or have a mural you'd like to post, this meme is for you;
just follow the Linky steps below.   Be sure to link back to this blog and visit your fellow posters.  Looking forward to your mural finds this week.  

Thanks, Sami. 

The RSL club offices and the mural

Hope you all  had a wonderful Easter and enjoyed the mini break if you were lucky enough to enjoy a public holiday on Friday and Monday like I did.

Jose arrived from Sydney on Thursday evening (18th) and will leave on Sunday (28th).

On Saturday 20th we joined friends in Fremantle (port city of Perth) for a late afternoon session of a French movie - "The trouble with you" (En Liberté) - one of the films from the 2019 Alliance French Film Festival,  and afterwards we went for coffee and cake.

                          

I'm no night owl, and was surprised to see Fremantle's Cappuccino Strip was abuzz with people walking around, restaurants were packed, a lot of street entertainment...

On the way to the Coffee shop we stopped to watch a couple performing fire dancing and then dancing with some sort of light sticks. Very entertaining and exciting.

 

It was about 10,30 when we arrived home and I had to tell Jose a secret I've been keeping for a couple of weeks...

Our daughter Karina was flying from the Philippines to come and spend 10 days with us and would be arriving at 1am (Easter Sunday). 

Had she arrived during the day I could have told him I was going shopping and arrive home with her, but at 1am my only excuse would be to tell him I was going to the disco our the Casino...which I don't go to 😄😄. 

Karina had suggested she could take a taxi, but I preferred to fetch her, and the airport is only a 20 min drive away

He was very happy that his Princess was coming to spend a few days in Perth, and managed to stay awake.

I had invited 2 couples for Easter Sunday lunch at 1,30pm so it would give us time to sleep in after such a late night.

My son, daughter in law and babies came later at 3 pm to allow for kids sleep, and we ended the afternoon with coffee and cake.

All in all a wonderful weekend!

   Trailer of the French movie "The trouble with you"

Signs - Boat names I

A couple of boats with interesting names 😉

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

"Overdraft" seen at Matilda Bay in Perth

"Moet Ice" seen at from the Royal Perth Yacht Club


"Jumping Jack Flash" seen at Royal Perth Yacht Club

"Martigues" seen in the port of Martigues in the South of France

And this one is probably one of the Mediterranean's most expensive yacht, the Grace E, which was sold in March 2018. Asking price €78,500,000!!!

It was docked in the Marseille harbour when we visited in September 2017.

And this one, not a boat but goes well with the boats ...

The Boat House is actually a beach restaurant in Balmoral, Sydney

Monday Mural - The Music Room

Photos taken in September 2017 when we visited my daughter's French in-laws in Marseille.

The trompe-l'œil was painted by local artist Richard Campana in a building in  Boulevard Longchamp, just across the road from the Palais Longchamp, a monument which houses the Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Fine Arts, as well as a beautiful garden and fountains.

If you like murals or have a mural you'd like to post, this meme is for you;
just follow the Linky steps below.   Be sure to link back to this blog and visit your fellow posters.  Looking forward to your mural finds this week.  

Thanks, Sami. 

All about Fluffy

Today it's all about my ginger cat Fluffy. 
Because he's the only male with two sisters - Shelley and Twiggy, he has nominated himself "the boss" and can be quite a bully with the others.
At the same time, he'a a scary cat who will hide behind the bedroom curtains or rush out the cat door in the laundry if he hears the doorbell ring!
He's lovable and sociable enjoying human company and joining us while we watch tv, or sit with me in my study by the computer or will even join us when we're doing some gardening.
And as you can see by the photos, like all cats he loves to sleep 😉.

Linking to Feline Friday and Saturday Critters.

In front of the computer screen and on top of the keyboard

Hiding behind the curtains in my bedroom

Daddy I love you :)

In the garden

Next to my legs while I'm stretched out on the couch

On top of my hands while I'm at the computer

Signs - Giethoorn

Going through photos from earlier travels I came across these fabulous signs taken in a restaurant in Giethoorn, during our trip in February 2015, when we visited our daughter who lived in Amsterdam then.

This "Venice of the Netherlands" is a mostly car-free village about 120km north east of Amsterdam, known for their boat waterways, foot and bicycle paths and old thatched roof houses, with a population of about 2600 people.

For more signs from around the world follow this link.

Monday Mural - Triple Tangle

Flanking the staircase, on the foyer of the Museum of Contemporary Art at Circular Quay in Sydney - is the 15 x 7 metre mural entitled "Triple Tangle" by Sydney artist Gemma Smith, painted in 2018.

Every year since 2012, the Museum commissions an artist to paint the foyer wall, but even though the works are temporary, they give the artists a high visibility, as over a million people visit pass though the Museum doors annually.

If you like murals or have a mural you'd like to post, this meme is for you;
just follow the Linky steps below.   Be sure to link back to this blog and visit your fellow posters.  Looking forward to your mural finds this week.  

Thanks, Sami. 

On my last visit to Sydney in October 2018, another brighter mural was in the same spot.

Painted in 2017 by Pakistani born, Sydney resident artist Khadim Ali, it's called "The arrival of Demons".

Which one do you prefer?

Quilting, Soap making and fruits from our garden

A few weeks before my new granddaughter was born, I started making her a little quilt for her cot, so she could have something a personal gift from Granny.

I bought quilting squares with pink colours and a pink backing material, watched a couple of "Youtube" step by step videos on how to make a simple quilt and away I went. 
It's not perfect and I don't think I'll be taking up quilting as it's far too fiddly for my liking.
I hope little Elli will treasure her baby quilt 😊

The pink backing

The finished quilt

Usually once a year I make home-made soaps to use at home and to give as Christmas presents, using the Cold process method with involves combining oils with sodium hydroxide lye which causes a chemical reaction called saponification. These soaps should then only be used about 6 weeks later.

Recently I've been working with the Melt and Pour method where the soap ingredients that I purchase have already gone through the saponification process.

I'm loving this method as I find it is more compatible with my artistic vein and I can use soap dyes and fragrances and my imagination to make all sorts of different soaps.

Coconut and honey soap (left), Gelato (top),  Oats and Brown sugar (right)

Summer berry lollies, tiny butterflies to be used in glycerin soaps (left), a cupcake soap and Seascape soap

The soaps on the second photo were from my second soap session and I've got lots of ideas and more soaps to come with transparent glycerine where the tiny butterflies above will  be inserted.
Right now I've been giving a couple of soaps away as gifts, but eventually I would like to sell them at Christmas time or as party favours for weddings, christenings, etc.
What do you think, do you like them?

                                                               * * * * * * * * * *

In our garden some of the fruit trees are fruiting, others have just finished and others are just starting...
The fig tree in our front garden is still going, and I think I can still pick enough fruit for my third batch of fig jam.  Recipe here.

Fig Tree which I had to cover to prevent birds from eating the figs

Fig Jam

The passion fruit vine is flowering and fruiting (yellow ones). I have a purple one too, but that one is still just starting to flower.

Passionfruit vines

The mango tree, that only gave us 4 mangoes last year, has this year given about 30 mangoes! 

A few were picked on by birds which made me very angry, so I covered the remaining with newspaper to hide them. Eventually they started falling onto the grass and I would quickly bring them indoors.

I've just picked the last one on Tuesday this week and I've still got 4 in the fridge (slightly green) hoping they will last until Jose comes home on the 18th so he can taste what he planted. They are delicious and the aroma is amazing.

 And the 2 Papaya (paw-paw) trees are bearing plenty of fruit, but since we are in Autumn already I'm not sure the fruit will ripen.

Papaya trees