COLOURFULWORLD

Thursday 27 February 2020

February Wrap - Up

Saturday 1st - the Gala dinner of the Portuguese Australian Women's Association (PAWA) commemorating the formation of the Association, was held at Fremantle Football club.
Belinda and I were in charge of receiving guests, ticking them off our lists and allocating tables.


Top to bottom - Belinda and I waiting for the guests to arrive, Jose and I and the Committee members on stage during Silvia's speech



The President of the Victorian branch of the PAWA - Silvia Renda, introduced the President of the Western Australian branch - Manuela Marques, and the rest of the committee.  Then followed short speeches by the invited mayors of the of Fremantle, Wanneroo and Cockburn. 

Dinner proceeded with background music by Brazilian Juliana Areias (who resides in Perth), with her Jazz/Bossa Nova music. 

Before desserts another fabulous musical group took over with dancing music - Chantal Basilio and the Carbon Taxi band.  

The three course meal was provided by Benny's Bar & Cafe from Fremantle. 
A dessert table was set up with cakes baked by some in the Committee and offered by members.
































I made up 7 baskets with beauty products that were given to me, plus we had things donated by other entities, and mid-dinner a couple of ladies went around selling raffles. 

A necklace and three picture frames were auctioned, and all funds are going towards Zonta House Women's Refuge - a total of $1382, which will be handed over next week.
Not a lot, but not bad for a first event when we still didn't have many members and there were a lot of start-up expenses.

Guests were also invited to bring food items to be donated to Foodbank WA, and we heard later that 53kg of goods was donated.

The gift baskets I packed for the raffles, the table with the goodies for the raffles and auction and the food bank collection
Table setting, guests at our table and partial view of the dining room

  





























All in all the Gala dinner was a success, we had many people congratulation the organization. 

 Saturday 8th - we joined a couple of our Drs from the clinic where I work to go and watch a movie at the Luna SX in Fremantle -  "H is for Happiness", with a mostly Australian cast, with the exception of Miriam Margolyes. It started at a slow pace, but ended with a bang! Such a fun and happy movie tinged with a bit of sadness in-between.
The young actors, Wesley Patten and Perth teen Daisy Axon are destined for great things.
The movie is based on the Barry Jonsberg’s popular young adult novel My Life as an Alphabet.
                        

The you-tube trailer of H is for Happiness


Sunday 9th - Our friend Idalia who is almost 87, and lives in my suburb had called a few days earlier to find out if we wanted to go to the Portuguese club to celebrate Madeira Day, and we accepted. 
She was the first Portuguese woman to come to Perth in 1959 (from Madeira), and her husband was among the first Portuguese to arrive in Perth in 1952, on a fishing boat - the North Cape - via Cape Town, South Africa, with about 20 other Portuguese people.
These men and their families were the starters of the Portuguese community in Western Australia.

I discovered that the island of Madeira actually only celebrates their day on the 1st of July, but maybe because it's winter here that the club celebrates it in February?
Lunch was, cod-fish and then there was music and dance.

The party was held outside the club premises, Idalia dancing (top right)

































Somehow that night, or early morning, I got quite sick with gastro and at about 5am I was messaging a colleague to arrange for her to work for me on Monday.

On Friday 14th, I met up with Grace for lunch at Ikea, and as always she cheers me up 
(no photos).
Being Valentine's day, I received a bunch of roses from Jose. 
He also cooked a delicious dinner - with a starter of fried prawns with beer and garlic sauce, and then garlic prawns in the oven. Dessert was chocolate mousse which I made.































Sunday 16th - It was a hot day, and we waited until 4pm to go to Bather's Beach in Fremantle to see the "Sculptures at Bathers".
In it's 4th year, the exhibition started on the 15th February and ends on the 2nd March, and includes about 80 artworks all done by Western Australian artists. 
All artworks are for sale, and suitable to various budgets.


The tiny Bather's Beach in Fremantle




















































































































After walking around we sat down right next to this beautiful lacy umbrella to catch a bit of sun, read our books and we left the beach just after the sun-set.

Unapologetic decoration - my favourite sculpture, a huge lacy umbrella, by Tania Spencer, which retails for $25000.


A pretty lacy umbrella - Unapologetic Decoration













 Saturday 22 - We took the train into the city to go to Michael Bubble's concert at the RAC Arena.  

The tickets were a Christmas gift from our children Karina and Michael. The concert hall was packed with 15,000 people, and Michael was not only a fantastic entertainer, but very funny too.  He mentioned this was his 112th concert, and Perth was the last stop on his New Zealand and Australian 2020 tour.
He dazzled the audience with his 36 piece orchestra behind him, singing crowd favourites like Home, Always on my mind, Cry me a river, Feeling good (soundtrack to Casino Royale, original by Nina Simone), When I fall in love, Just haven't met you yet, and my favourite Sway, which I love dancing to (a James Dean original).

He brought all his family along - parents, wife and kids, and at least 2 of the kids were at the concert, he would wave to them once in a while and he got them to "sing" a few words on a couple of songs. Very cute.

























































Tuesday 25th -  Last week in French class we talked about birth dates, days of the week, mobile numbers and spelled our names. The teacher and 2 colleagues realized I would be celebrating a big birthday next week. 
On this day, before we started our lesson, surprise, surprise, Suzanne brought out some delicate cupcakes and a small bottle of Spanish bubbly for my birthday.
At the end of the lesson the teacher gave me a postcard and pen she had bought at the Louvre in Paris. And after class when we got to our cars Suzanne had another surprise bag with more gifts. So sweet of both of them, and I specially loved the cat themed mug, coaster and shopping bag. 



Cupcakes and early birthday gifts




On the home front, our grapevine is full of fruit, which the Honeyeater birds are enjoying, the fig tree had to be covered because the Rainbow lorikeets wouldn't leave the fruit alone.
Somehow they seem to go under the net as we still find figs with beak marks on them 🤣.
I've also made quite a few jars of fig jam too.

Fig jam, the covered fig tree, vine full of grapes, and figs

































The small Spotted doves are still coming to eat the seeds I put in the bird feeder hanging from the lemon tree, and the dancing birds, the Willie Wagtails have returned to our backyard.
Top left to bottom left - The Brown honeyeater bird, Spotted doves, (?), Willie wagtail




Fluffy and Twiggy having a nap



The house next door is almost ready, paving around the house done, side gate done, garage door done. Now just needs the driveway to be finished and a front lawn.
The owners said there's a few bits to be finished indoors and once the driveway is done they will move in, which should be in a couple of weeks.

Next door house - already has side gate, but I haven't taken photos of it in a while



30 comments:

  1. Foi um mês em cheio!!
    Gostei imenso de ler e de ver as fotos.
    O concerto devia ter sido excecional. O mundo inteiro adora o Michael! ; )

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    1. Obrigada Catarina, foi certamente um bom mês. Eu sei que o Michael Bubble é muito popular e adorado.

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  2. What a lovely month you've had. I did get stuck on all the food though. Yummy.

    Have a fabulous day. ♥

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  3. You are one busy lady! I am exhausted following all that you do - and not a tad envious of some of that food!

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    1. Thanks David, you probably have just as busy a life with the bird watching :)

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  4. ...Sami, you sure fit a lot into your days enjoy!

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  5. You really pack your months with fun and activities. I enjoyed seeing the banquet, the trip to the beach (OH those sculptures), Madeira Day, Michael Buble, and your French class with gifts. Hope you have a super birthday. Looks like you already got some incredible gifts.

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    1. Thanks Elizabeth. Birthday will be on the 2nd, but only celebrating on the 14th when my daughter arrives.

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  6. Dearest Sami,
    That was a lot of action in February with lots of celebrations that included food and dance.
    So the Gala dinner of the Portuguese Australian Women's Association also did include the husbands it looks like from your photos.
    Had to take a 2nd look at your photos with the women and the men sign but noticed that the 'wo' part got hidden behind the flowers...
    Your 87 year old friend sure is a trooper and has been active, along with some others for getting all this established over the decades. For sure they shifted the season for the Madeira Day celebration and for good reason.
    The sculptures on the beach looked all special in their own way.
    Valentine meal and concert time sound all fun and also that movie about Happiness.
    Haha, harvesting anything fruity from the garden is not easy where the wildlife kind of over populates the humans and they rise early too!
    Will be great when you have your new neighbors finally move in and settle and establish a garden.
    Hugs,
    Mariette

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    1. Thanks Mariette. The Gala dinner was for men and women. The sign was "women" :)
      My friend is very active and amazing for her age.
      In my garden we certainly have to compete with birds, snails, etc, etc, but it's part of life, they have to eat too, lol.

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  7. The beach sculptures are fascinating, but those cats are my favourites!

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  8. What a great week on your blog, Sammi!

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  9. So, has the big birthday happened yet? Fifty years old hey. You are getting on a bit. Another busy enough month for Sami the Social Butterfly. Btw, Miriam became an Australian citizen in 2013 (dual UK citizen). Do you think you will get along with your new neighbours?

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    1. Big birthday is on Monday 2nd Andrew. 10 more!! I had no idea about Miriam being Australian too, I know she has an Australian partner. I have yet to meet them, but Jose has seen and talked to them a couple of times, a younger Indian couple. Our street is very quiet, with about 10 houses only, and we only know about 3 or 4 of the neighbours.

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  10. Um mês cheio daqueles momentos que fazem bem à alma.
    Bfds

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  11. Replies
    1. Obrigada Francisco. Bom fim de semana :)

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  12. Around the corner we have a Greek community. Maybe they´re as fun and elegant as you?
    Are you homesick often?

    Wow, great items, you all did a great job! Though, I googled, it´s a sad cause. We have the "White Ring" for women in that sort of need, but I saw a docu that also many a man has the same problem...

    OH! That trailer. I once worked in a food factory and the main worker had an eye like that! I never knew how to NOT look! (She was nice, certainly!)
    Guess I´ll look for that movie (if it´s new... haaaa... wait here in Germany for a couple of years!).

    I bet your Idalia has a lot to share!
    My Mum once visited Madeira , I think I still have a table-"plastic-cloth" she brought as pressie.

    :-) Brunch with T at IKEA (sometimes).
    Lovely roses!

    OH! How did we miss "Sculptures at Bathers" last time? Perth list!!
    Thank you for sharing, this is beautiful!!

    Great pressie from your kids, too.
    Uuhaha. French numbers, uhaha... I still can say 99 in French, but I was totally lost in Paris on the train station!

    Hmmm, your figs! Have you tried wrapping bacon around and put that in the oven? Ingo did that once, was yummy.

    Do cats really nap so much?

    Beautiful (but too big) house. My Brother STILL has not moved ... Are your new neighbours nice? Will you bring salt and bread when they move in or is that a rather German tradition?

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    1. Iiss family, friends and food, but luckily it's easier to keep in touch nowadays. Idália is such a wonderful lady with so many interesting stories. Never tried figs with bacon, I have had them with cottage cheese in the oven. Nice :) New neighbours still not in, Jose has talked to th a couple of times, they seem nice. Don't know that tradition of salt and bread, but will probably bring them a cake, or maybe a home made sourdough loaf. Thanks Iris.

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    2. Just bring something nice, huh?
      When we moved in here we went to every door to say, "hi, new neighbours" - that was 2011.
      No one does that anymore. 14 parties in this house here and the ones across... You can barely breath when you come out. YUCK. It stinks (someone trying to cook - every darn day and not learning???).
      You are lucky, it´s so nice where and how you live :-)

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  13. What a fabulous week! First of all, belated Happy Birthday! With a week like that I can tell it was terrific. The Portuguese women's event looks like it was a big hit -- and a tasty one at that! And your husband's dinner? Oh, he's very good! Michael Buble is one of my favorites -- he's wonderful in concert and I loved the Madeira festival. All that and French class and a great surprise. I can't think of a nicer week!

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    1. Thanks Jeanie. Birthday is only on the 2nd. José is quite good in the kitchen, he loves to try out new recipes.

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  14. Wow another busy month Sami, I always enjoy our catch ups too. I like the look of the movie, we have so many talented actors in Australia and Miriam Margoyls is so much fun. How nice of your French group to remember your birthday. I missed the sculptures in Fremantle but looking forward to Cottesloe xox

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    1. Thanks Grace. Looking forward to Cottesloe sculpures too. Miriam Margolys is quite wacky and fun.

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