Winter warmers - It's winter in Western Australia

It's mid winter in Australia, and I woke up this morning to the sound of the rain pouring down on our roof. So how about a bowl of hot home made winter soup to warm us up? I love making a big pot of hearty home made soup - there is nothing better on a cold wet winter's day. The delicious smell of the cooking soup seeps through my house - it is a welcoming smell - that says come in and have some!

I have some recipes of soups that my mother used to make - ie the Vegetable, Lamb Shank & Barley soup was always a standard in our house when I was growing up -  but now I like finding new recipes that reflect our multicultural Australia - ie Mulligatawny Soup and Minestrone Soup. During the summer when there are plenty of tomatoes, I make big batches of tomato soup, and freeze it in containers, then in the winter use it as the basis of the Minestrone Soup. It is wonderful on a cold Sunday night to have a bowl of Minestrone served with Italian Roll-up rolls, in front of the fire for tea.

I like a thick soup with lots of flavour. What is your favourite soup?

What sort would you choose? From top left clockwise - Pea & Ham, Moroccan, Minestrone, Vegetable & Barley, Pumpkin, and in the centre Mulligatawny  -

And we better have something to go with it - scones, Italian roll ups, and fresh crusty bread -

My sister reminded me today about making damper - I haven't made it for years - I will have to make some soon to go with our next pot of soup. For those who don't know what damper is - it really is a traditional Australian bread which was a staple food in colonial days, and now favored by people out camping, cooked in the camp fire - here is a link to find out more - Australian Damper

The sky is amazing in winter - What a glorious palette of colour it can be - these images in my collage were taken between lunch time one day and 5pm the next day a couple of weeks ago. In the first image - lunch time - the sky was blue, then in the evening there was beautiful pink colours in the late afternoon sky, threatening clouds next morning, rain at lunch time (the lighthouse pic), and then driving home that afternoon - a glorious sunset. What an ever changing colourful pallet the sky has!
These images are all totally straight out of camera.

Yesterday we went walking in the bush along the Timberline Trail in St John's Brook Conservation Park in Nannup - below is a pic. I love bush walking during winter or spring. We walked through some misty rain but it didn't bother us. There were a few wildflowers starting to open, hinting of the spring to come. We took a picnic and had lunch at the overnight hut along the trail. I hope to bring you the story later this week.

Until then take care, by happy, and have a wonderful week. I look forward to hearing from you and your comments which I always appreciate. I am linking up with Mary and the other wonderful contributors at Mosaic Monday at Little Red House - click here to see their work - Mosaic Monday at Little Red House

Interested in seeing what I was doing this time last year? - go here - The Oceans Edge - Yallingup Western Australia - The Oceans Edge