October Wrap-up and Signs

With so many posts about my visit to Darwin and Kakadu National Park, I've been lagging behind on my October Wrap-up post. 

It was wettest month of October in the last 50 years, and probably one of the coolest too. Just didn't feel like Spring at all!!

Friday 1st - I met up with two now retired colleagues - Jan and Gill, and this time we went to Praline Cafe, a lovely French cafe. My hot chocolate was good, and the cakes we ordered were super pretty and delicious too.

Saturday 2nd - I joined the committee ladies from the Portuguese Australian Women's Association to set up the tables for a High tea event to be held the following day at the Scouts Centre, in the suburb of Salter Point.

The small event attended by just over 30 people was successful, and we had 2 guests who talked about women's issues in the workplace. As usual far too many sweets.

Friday 8th - I invited 3 ladies that I met through the "Buy Nothing" group to my house for morning coffee and cake, and we had a lovely time and also discussed our participation of our Harvest Group in the Canning Show to be held beginning of November.

Sunday 10th - We collected plants and fruit trees given to us by our friends Tony and Kei. They live in a retirement village with beautiful gardens, and Tony who has the best "green fingers in the world" takes care of the area in front of their unit - they have all sorts of vegetables and fruits there, all planted by him since they moved there about 6 or 7 years ago.  

Tony's garden

Flowers in Tony's garden

In the afternoon we had tea at the new house by the river of one of the Doctors of the clinic where I work.  I baked a Loquat cake, from a recipe I had recently seen, using the last loquats from our tree, and everybody loved it!

A view of the Swan River from Dr J's house

Loquat cake

Saturday 16th -  Finally a sunny clear day. We had breakfast with our friends pf 37 years, Wendy and Lido at the Kent Weir Cafe, with views of the Canning River, and right next to the Canning River Education Centre.

After coffee we walked a little bit in the park, and the mini library and a mobile charging station we found were new to me.

Charging station and mini library

Back home we spent the afternoon in the garden, repoting plants and planting the fruit trees and other plants that our friends Tony and Kei gave us. 

Tuesday 19th - Overnight the weather changed, with heavy rain and wind, and when I woke up we had no electricity. 

Sunday 24th - Went with our friends Wendy and Lido to the Castaway Sculpture exhibition in Rockingham (38km/23mi south). For lunch we bought fish and chips and sat down in front of the beach eating it. 

Castaways is an annual outdoor exhibition at the Rockingham foreshore, showcasing artworks created from repurposed materials. It started as a community project to raise awareness around discarded items washing up on local beaches. It now provides an opportunity for emerging and professional Western Australian artists, schools and local businesses to be a part of the regionally-recognised arts program that continues to promote sustainability values.

The no-vaxers had a little tent by the beach but not many adepts... and it's been years since I saw a Citroen CV, look at that number plate - Deux CV.

Some were simple, others more complex and imaginative like the "Banjaxed" by Peter James, but my favourite was The Sad Pair, by Tuinna Blackie, a New Zealand born artist, made with copper and aluminium.

The sad pair - just look at the curly hair, the slingshot in her pocket, the spider on the lamp post.

Next we drove on to Mandurah (32km/20mi) further south to attend the Caravan and Camping Show.

Friday 29th - joined Grace (from Perth Daily photo) for coffee and a chat at the inauguration of the newly renovated Karryinup shopping centre, (32km/20mi north), now the largest shopping in Perth. From the full underground parking I thought half of Perth had the same idea we had, but because it's a huge place it didn't look as full inside.

I had noticed a Lego store, the first in Perth when I entered, and before I left to return home I visited the store and bought a couple of boxes for Christmas gifts for the kids.

Saturday 30th - The month ended with a dinner & dance to celebrate the 52nd anniversary of the Portuguese Social Club. Members eat for free, and this year each table was given 2 bottles of wine too.

The birthday Cake, prawns for starters, and roast meat, chicken leg, rice, potato and green beans

Our almost 90 y old friend Idalia, Jose and I, our table and our Honorary Consul in front of the cake, the Club committee members on the right, and to the left the Mayors of Fremantle and Cockburn

This is the only painting project I finished in October, having started it in August.  It took quite a while, having dismantled the whole mini kitchen to paint it, then struggling to put it all together!

I added a new wooden top, a remnant from another project, which then involved a lot of adjusting of the stove burners, tap, washing bowl and the rod holding the shelves... anyway I found solutions for everything.

I also added a backing board with a look alike black and white tile with peel and stick paper.  I bought the mini appliances on Marketplace for $15 and they compliment the kitchen very well. Ready for a Christmas present.

Mini Kitchen before

A Spring miracle in the garden - 3 wagtails were born in a nest the mother made in the rotary dryer which we use as a cover for our veggie patch , and we saw them take their first flight.

I first noticed the nest on the 30th September and they flew off on the 24th October. That day I checked on them before leaving to go to Rockingham and Mandurah, and 2 of them were already sitting on the fence. The smallest one was still in the nest.

When we returned in the early evening, the last one was on the floor, but when we approached it, the bird climbed the nest and managed to fly off.

Aren't they so cute? The baby birds stay in the nest 13 to 14 days before flying, and the parents are very fierce and territorial birds.  Even though they are tiny they manage to scare off crows or any other animal that are in the area looking for nests.  

I made 5 jars of  Tomato jam from Roma tomatoes gifted to me from the "Buy nothing group". Not the ideal tomatoes because they should have been peeled and seeded but I just used the whole fruit and sieved the jam before putting them into the jars.

Other birds in the garden: 

Galah, magpie-lark eating seeds with the doves nearby, magpie eating nuts, honeysucker, rainbow lorekeets on the neighbour's palm tree

A trip to the op-shop yielded 4 pirex dishes ranging in price from $4 to $8. A couple of them were a bit dirty looking but they've been cleaned with a paste of vinegar and bicarbonate and they look almost new again. I'm keeping the yellow and the red one and giving the other two away to my friend Kei who is always looking for old pirex. I have a big collection mainly with blues, yellows and reds... 

I also got a couple of books, which were library books.