Monthly Wrap-up : July - and Signs

Joining Tom for Signs. Please check this link for signs from around the world :)

Tuesday 1st -Start of new financial year.

I had a consultation with a optician to check on the sudden appearance of eye floaters and foggy vision. I had a change of glasses in November 2024, so thought it was too early for these sudden changes which I attribute to the medications I'm taking for the psoriatic arthritis. The optician thought it could be dry eyes and prescribed some drops, but they aren't helping at all.

Saturday 5th - spent part of the day helping Jose cut down branches from our lemon tree. This year the tree was full of citrus gall wasp (lumps on branches) that can eventually damage the tree and reduce fruiting.

Thursday 10th - Full moon.

Photo taken at the end of my street

Friday 11th - Jose and I had lunch with friends W and L at Mela Indian restaurant in the city, too chat about their upcoming holiday to Africa and Europe. Food was just ok and both men, who had eaten spicy prawns had mild gastro issues. 

Various curries and avocado ice-cream

Weather outlook for the upcoming week - from Sat 12th

Saturday 12th - Jose and I attended the "Ageing Well Expo" at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre. Even though we thought we might be a bit too young for this type of information, the visit was quite informative and we came home loaded with pamphlets about services, etc. we might need in the future.

Perth Convention Centre (on the right)

At night we readied ourselves to go to dinner with our friends Mena, Tony and Kei at 7 Spices Indian Restaurant - Indian weekend it appears! And Jose had thought of making prawn curry for dinner on Thursday, but I told him I had booked an Indian restaurant for Friday 🤣 but didn't know we would be eating Indian on Saturday too!

Sunday 13th - Little P's 5th birthday at a Jungle Gym.

Wednesday 16th - meeting with our financial advisor to discuss our plans for our retirement income.

Friday 18th - I met up my just retired colleagues Sue L and Sue J and Dr S. for lunch at Praline French Cafe in Mt. Pleasant.

The colleague that had started working in May (the one that lived 70km away from work), decided to quit, and this was her last day. That left us again in a difficult situation as we were again short staffed, with 2 ladies having retired end of June, 2 part-time students and me, who unfortunately feels compelled to hold it all together! My boss had been on holidays and had just returned 4 days before that young girl left... All very messy and my stress levels at all time high!

So glad I had already told my boss I was retiring at the end of September, at that stage I was ready to go right there and then!

Sunday 20th - after the sunny day, we had a very cold, wet and stormy day in Perth! We stayed home all day.

                       

Monday 21st - I found ice in my car window, and had to pour water over it before driving to work. It was 3°C at 7,20AM.

It showed 3C when I started the car at 7,20 am to drive to work

Wednesday 23rd - I joined some friends of my italian friend/neighbour Maria at her house for an Italian themed dinner and I was responsible for bringing dessert.

Thursday 24th  - We woke up to the coldest morning in 15 years, with a temperature of 0.3°C at 6am. The maximum temperature reached 15°C.

Ice on the window

In the afternoon a truck picked up our "green verge collection" (twice yearly collection).

Jose is coming to the end of an online "Cyber security" course and that evening we attended the end of the course presentation at a bar behind Burswood Casino.

Nibbles and soft drink were free, beers could be bought for a fee. There was music, dance, and lots of games with prizes. It was a fun night and Jose got to meet the lecturer and course colleagues.

View of the 2 bridges seen from Burswood

The bar full of students having fun - Burswood Hotel

                      

They had a photo booth, which was quite popular with lots of props to choose from.

Sunday 27th   - 41 mm of rain fell in Perth, making it the wettest day in Perth in over 1 year.

Jose and I had lunch at a Chinese restaurant we had never been to - Emperor's Kitchen.

           

When we got home we had a slice or two of a tiny "Honey cake" from Madeira, that a friend had given to us a few months ago.

              

Monday 28th - Managed to buy tickets to Ed Sheeran's concert in Perth at the end of January 2026. So looking forward to it!

My number in the queue

Wednesday 30th - Sandra, a wonderful strong lady that I met a few years ago at one of our Portuguese get-togethers died after battling ovarian cancer for 5 years. She was looking forward to her 50th birthday party at the end of November 😢.

Sandra on the left and me next to her

Monthly Wrap-up - June - and Signs

Linking to Tom's signs. Please check his blog for other signs from around the world.

Sunday 1st - the start of Winter with temperatures still in the mid 20's C (68F+)

I visited my friend/neighbour Maria, who had been discharged from hospital the week before after an op to take her some food.

Monday 2nd - public holiday - WA (Western Australia) day. Once again this year it rained, so only Fremantle seemed to be celebrating with outdoor music events. With Jose away, I decided to stay home and instead did a bit of decluttering and gave away stuff on Buy Nothing.

I also decided to re-paint my kitchen island and laundry cupboards, that I had painted two years ago. The blue I had used then was not exactly what I had imagined, so because we have a black countertop, I decided on black, and I'm so much happier with the result.

We installed the Ikea kitchen and laundry cupboards about 16 or 17 years ago. We bought the glossy type for the kitchen, but bought the cheaper unglossed version for the laundry. A few years later I noticed they were getting yellowish, reason I painted the 2 top doors white and the others in blue and now in black.

Black & white - the last incarnation of the laundry cupboards

The blue phase - painted in 2023

The all white original laundry

Thursday 5th - took my first shingles vax (free over 65 years of age), the 2nd dose will in 6 months time later.

Sunday 8th - Staff of our medical clinic met at Henry M's Cafe in the suburb of Manning, for a farewell high tea for 2 colleagues retiring end of June.

Most of the Doctors and receptionists at the farewell (I'm third on the right)

             

Thursday 12th - Just as I woke up and opened the bedroom curtains I spotted the sunrise. 

Friday 13th - In the morning I met up with my friend W for coffee at the nearby Riverton Cafe.

In the early afternoon I attended a physiotherapy appointment for my hand at the Claremont Hospital- my last one, as the therapist agreed it wasn't doing anything and I was just wasting money.

I went to the local shopping centre - Claremont Quarter  - where they had a free immersion art installation - The Airship Orchestra - 16 inflatable "beings" (some up to 8mt tall) that responded with movement to noise and music. The exhibition ran from the 21st May to the 17th June. It was quite cool :)

                

On the top floor, the luxury fashion label boutique "Camilla" had it's windows covered in Portuguese inspired decorations, with photos of streets, tiles, churches...

This from the website: The "Rua do Universo" collection, in particular, is a tribute to Portugal, with designs reflecting the country's rich cultural heritage and Camilla's own travel experiences. 

That evening, after 4 weeks in Lisbon, Jose departed to Doha (Qatar) where he would be staying with Karina and Thomas for 2 weeks to break up the long flight home and to spend time with our daughter. 

They attended free classical music concerts, enjoyed outdoor dinners by the pool, swam daily in the pool. It was very, very hot, so people don't usually go out during the day, but socialize when the weather cools in the early evening.

To make me jealous Jose sent me this beautiful sunset photo taken from Karina's house, with the pool and the lagoon waters just a few steps down 😎

                   

Tuesday 17th  - had dinner with my friend/neighbour Maria at Tiramisu Pizzeria in Parkwood. I had Chicken Scaloppine with mushrooms.

                

Thursday 19th - I woke up to a very, very foggy day, hardly had visibility to the end of the road, so it was a slow drive to work. In the evening news we were shown how the city buildings weren't visible from above.

After work I had a Spirometry to test for asthma due to long term cough. No asthma I can report, so I'm now using an awful tasting nose spray, which is helping.

Friday 20th - Met with Dr J at the lovely French Praline Cafe in Mt Pleasant, for a bit of a chat about work.

        

On the way home I drove via The Esplanade, around the Swan River, with the city to my left. Stopped a few time when I spotted some murals (always a bonus) and captured a rainbow too.

Monday 23rd - woke up and checked my Whatsapp and lots of messages from Karina and Jose re Iran's missile attack to an American military base in Doha.

Apparently the powers that be were advised of the attack so were prepared. The three of them were about to go out to dinner when they heard the "booms" and came out to check. Jose even filmed the missiles going one way and the other! They got a bit of a fright, but luckily it was over very quickly and the air space opened up 1 hour later.

Tuesday 24th - fetched Maria and her friend Michelle, for another dinner for the Community Harvest group, this time at an italian restaurant - Forchetta, in the suburb of Canning Vale. Nice food and service, and good company.

Friday 27th - coffee with Gill and Jan at "Spill the beans" cafe in the southern suburb of Rockingham, just across the beach. It was a nice sunny day and we sat in the outdoor area.

Saturday 28th - Jose arrived in Perth safe and sound, from his overnight flight from Qatar.

Monthly Wrap-up - May and Signs

Joining Tom for the SIGNS meme. Check his blog to see other signs from around the world.

Friday 2nd - we attended the Annual General Meeting of the Perth Codfish Association, held at the Portuguese Club. After the meeting we had dinner at the club. Jose bought Portuguese custard tarts for the table, from the bar.

                          

Saturday 3rd - voting for the Federal election.

The Labor party won with a majority, giving the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese a second term in office, which had not happened since 2004 - a big win for Australian values, fairness and opportunities for all.

The opposition leader Peter Dutton not only lost the election, but lost his own seat in Parliament with his "Trump" like ideas.

After voting I had coffee with my colleague Sue, who had already finished work, enjoying a holiday a few weeks before her retirement at the end of June.

Jose and I picked olives from our small tree to marinate. They will be covered in water, which gets changed daily for 1 month.

Tuesday 6th - I had a day off work and together with Jose we joined our friends W & L for lunch at the Subiaco Hotel pub. After that I accompanied Jose to a specialist appointment not far away.

rainbow on the way home

Friday 9th - a very full day that started by picking up our friends W & L and driving to the Wanneroo Showgrounds (in the northern suburbs) to attend the Caravan & 4 Wheel drive Show.

On our return while Jose sat with L watching TV, W and I walked around Subiaco's main streets to admire the "Subi Blooms" exhibition for Mother's day weekend (9-11 May).

And these were the temperatures for the week. Quite warm for the beginning of Winter (1st May to 31st July)

The sun just setting with us on the way home crossing the Swan River, the city buildings on left

Then it was time to go home and get ready for my Italian friend and neighbour Maria's birthday, with a dinner at the Italian club in Fremantle. The following day she would be going to hospital for an operation.

Saturday 10th - Mother's day dinner with our son at Yuki Japanese Restaurant.

Flowers, chocolates & home-made jam for Mother's day

Tuesday 13th -  Took Jose to the airport for his flight to to Lisbon via Doha. He would be away 6 weeks, to start his treatment for dental implants, which are 1/3 of the price of the quote he got from our local dentist. On his way home he will stay 2 weeks with Karina and Thomas in Doha.

Friday 16th - My second visit to Murdoch Hospital, this time to pick up my friend Maria, but the specialist wasn't happy with the progress and she had to stay a few days longer.

Great signs in the hospital walls

The hospital gardens were pretty and serene, with ducks and bird song.

That evening I had dinner with Monica, an ex-blogger who I met in Perth many years ago. She now lives in her home country of Brazil. Her children live here and she travels to Perth every year to visit them. This time she came to meet her newborn grandchild. We had seafood at "The Rusty Old Boat Fish & Chips in the suburb of Guildford. And they had a mural :)

Sunday 18th - Portuguese elections for which we voted by post a few weeks earlier.

Wednesday 21st - Appointment with my rheumatologist - there's been no change with the medication I had started on in mid February. He reduced the dosage and added another medication and was hoping for an improvement to my hand in a couple of months.

Friday 23rd - After my yearly dental check-up (all well) I drove to inner city suburb of Subiaco to meet with my friend W for coffee. After our get-together, I drove to the nearby suburb of  Mount Lawley, for lunch with our friend Vina, to celebrate her 91st the following day.

Saturday 24th - Olive picking with another person from our Community Harvest group, for our second batch of olive oil - we picked just about 60kgs, as we had an amazing tree. Another two people had picked the day before, so in total we got 100kgs!

Tuesday 27th - The Community Harvest members got together for dinner at the house one of the members, each taking a share plate.

Thursday 29th - Sunrise at 6,59am, as seen from my bedroom window, while preparing to go to work. (I usually leave home at 7,20 to be at work at 7,45, when I open the clinic, although the Drs only start at 8,30am).

Friday 30th - Meeting of the committee of the Codfish Academy at Coogee Boatshed restaurant. Due to noise after making it impossible to talk, after dinner we went to one of member's houses within walking distance, to discuss events planned for the year.

Saturday 31st - Portuguese Women's Association, 6th anniversary dinner - "Ties of friendship", at South Fremantle Football Club.

Catering supplied by Benny's Bar & Cafe, in Fremantle - one of the young owners is Portuguese - the food is always very taste and well presented.

Portuguese tarts (pasteis de nata) and the anniversary cake were ordered from a home-baker, and they were delicious.

Entertainment provided by a Brazilian singer Marcio Mendes, who sang songs from the iconic 84 years old Brazilian singer Roberto Carlos, and by the very talented Portuguese/Australian singer Catarina Viegas Schuett.

Birds in the garden:

Sun setting in my street, seen from my car mirror:

Not a great photo, but full moon on the 12th of May, from my house