Also joining Tom's Signs. Check this link for other signs from around the world.
Friday 3rd - Our Community Harvest group was meant to participate in the annual Canning show, from Friday to Saturday, but due to the CAHRS (Canning Agricultural, Horticultural and Recreational Society), management needing the room we had been assigned for an evening function, we were asked to just participate on Saturday.
We had plenty of stuff for our display, and dropped our goodies in the kitchen adjoining the function room, to set up on Saturday.
Saturday 4th - It was quite a hot day at 36C (96.8F), our group was at the Canning show by 8,30 as doors would be opened at 10am, to set up our display tables and the the tables for the pasta making workshop for children.
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| Flower pavilion |
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| Our display tables with the goodies we made during the year - soaps, olive oil, passata, deodorant... |
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| kids Pasta workshop |
We had no idea the workshop was going to be so popular with the kids, and poor Maria kept making more and more fresh dough, so kids could process it through the pasta machines as fettucine.
Then it would go back to the kitchen to be boiled and served with various store-bought sauces to the kids, parents and whoever happened to come by!
And of course, who wouldn't want a bowl of free food instead of paying for it at the various food vans? We had a box on the counter for donations, but we just made about $30 for the 4 or 5 hours we were there. Eventually Maria was exhausted, and we closed shop.
I helped out until about 3pm, then had to go home, shower and dress, and Jose and I drove to Mandurah, about 70km (43,5 miles) south of Perth, to attend our friend T's 60th birthday party.
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| Dessert table |
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| Sunset seen our friend's house on the Mandurah canals |
Monday 6th - Jose was seconded to a client of the company he works for, to help out with project management of the Butler to Yanchep train extension. The only problem is Yanchep is 70km (43,5 miles) north of Perth, taking Jose 1h to drive there, and 1,30h to drive home at the end of the day. Apart from long working days, plus 2,30h driving every day it's exhausting for him and he can't wait for his part of the project to be finished by end of January or so, so he can get back to working in his usual place, literally 10 minutes from home.
Saturday 11th - The "Buy Nothing group" organized a free garage sale, that I took part in. A map with the addresses of the 10 participants was posted in the group early morning, and people started showing up at 10am. It wasn't as successful as the one the group had about 3 or 4 years ago, as it wasn't frequently advertised.
Still I got rid of half of the stuff, the rest I posted to the Buy Nothing Group on FB and I got rid of half of that!
That evening we met up with two other couples at the Gages Road Brewery in Fremantle. They have a wonderful outdoor area by the river, and while we there watching the sunset a massive cruise ship sailed by towards the port.
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| The Princess Cruise liner in front of the pub |
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| The WA Maritime Museum (to the left) |
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| The cruise ship at the far end in front of the Passenger terminal and the Rottnest Ferry (red) |
Some lovely statues in Fremantle:
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| A man cycling with a coffee cup at Bathers Beach |
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Bon Scott - AC/DC singer - at the Fremantle Fishing boat harbour, sculptor Greg James
Blondie - the dog, by sculptor Janet Nixon (From Greg James Studio).
Friday 17th - While biting on a pizza at lunchtime (at home) a very old tooth cap on a canine fell off. My dentist is just down the road and I went there to see if they could glue it. He wasn't there, but I was seen by a young dentist who said she would glue it to the top and sides, but the pin had broken and the surface was very flat so not much adhesion, and she suggested I see my dentist soon. An appointment was booked for Tuesday.
Saturday 18th - Of course I promptly forgot I had a "glued tooth" and the following day at lunch time it fell off again! Not the best day for that to happen, as we had a dinner booking with 2 of the Drs from the clinic where I work, at "Manuka Woodfired Kitchen" in Fremantle.
I first heard of this restaurant when my daughter Karina and husband Thomas had dinner there just before they returned to Germany in mid January this year, and they had loved the food.
I thought we should give it a try. The idea is to share plates, so you get to taste a bit of everything, food is cooked on a wood fire, hence the great taste.
I'm glad we went there, as everybody raved about the food.
Karina and Thomas had mentioned when they dined there, one of the waiters was from Marseille, and they discovered that Thomas had gone to school with his brother. When we were there that waiter was serving us and although he hardly had a french accent, Jose asked if he was from Marseille and he replied: "yes, how did you know?" Anyway, he still remembered meeting Karina and Thomas and later came to show us a photo they had taken together in January.
We also took a photo with him to send to Thomas, who instantly recognized him.
Small world isn't it!
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| Jose and I with the French waiter at Manuka Woodfired Restaurant |
Tuesday 21st - dentist appointment to find a solution to my missing tooth - either a very expensive implant or a cheaper bridge, but that would damage 2 perfectly good teeth, so I had to go with the implant which was booked for the 8th December. In the meantime, my clever dentist managed to drill the inside of the tooth and insert some sort of support and glue it to the broken piece in the gum, but of course with an admonition to not eat or bite into anything hard...
Wednesday 22nd - I took the train into the city after work to go and buy a dozen gold door handles for a chest of drawers and bedside tables I'm painting, and K-Mart in the city had them in stock.
While there I saw some of the city's Christmas decorations near the train station.
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| Christmas lights in the city, during the day time |
Friday 24th - I hosted a lunch for the committee of the Community Harvest, plus 2 others that helped us at the Canning show earlier in the month. Everyone brought food, I baked a Lemon cake and a Caramel pudding.
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| Meat balls, home-made pasta, salad, my Caramel pudding, Arancini balls, my lemon cake |
Saturday 25th - we met up with friends W & L in Subiaco. They have recently sold their beautiful house that backed onto the Canning River, (remember where I would go once in a while and take photos of the black swans and ducks?) and they've downsized to a small unit in the inner-city suburb of Subiaco.
We visited the "Subi night markets",that run every Saturday from November to April, with various food vans, and live music.
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| Mr Canoli van where Jose bought pastries, one was meant to be Portuguese tart, but not really... |
Afterwards we walked around the main streets admiring the Christmas street decorations.
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| Subiaco Christmas lights trail |
Sunday 26th - Voting at the Portuguese club from 8am to 7pm for the Council of the Portuguese Communities. Jose was in one of the 3 lists (one from Melbourne, 2 from Perth, Sydney had no representative this time) and I was on the voting table the whole day!!
The registered voters from Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Darwin were only 2247, but only 142 people voted!
Just in Perth there must be over 12 thousand Portuguese residing here, but also just about 400 are registered at the Consulate....
Another anomaly is Darwin voters would have to vote in Perth, even though they are a 4 hour flight away. Obviously, the Portuguese governors have no idea of the size of this country, as even in Perth people can live about 1 hour from the Consulate in Fremantle, and obviously those didn't bother to come and vote either - voting should either be online or by post if they want people to vote!
Anyway, Manuela and Jose didn't win,the young lady and partner from Perth won.
Thursday 30th - the month ended with our 43rd wedding anniversary celebration with dinner at Yuki Japanese Restaurant.
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| Food at Yuki Japanese Restaurant |
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| It's Jacaranda season at the moment - a tree near my street |
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| Visiting birds |
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| Why a cow on top of the liquor store? |
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| Anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated. If you see it, or hear it, tell us about it (sign on train) |
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| Christmas bear at my local shopping centre |
