Weekend of lunch, gardens, music & dance

What a wonderful weekend we have had -

Lunch in the cappuccino strip in Bunbury.  There is a variety of restaurants, some of which are housed in lovely old buildings. Trees which are lit up at night with fairly lights, line the street. It really is a lovely place to go for coffee or lunch.  There is a variety of restaurants - you can go from a simple sandwich to Chinese to pizza to fish and chips to a top class Italian restaurant. Take away, dine in, tables along the footpath, and the cakes are devine! and the people watching - the place to be seen. The cappuccino strip certainly has a lovely feel about it. It is a great place to go and meet up with friends, or just go for a stroll!

On Sunday we went to the 16th Annual Nannup Flower and garden festival - They have had 4 days of garden and floral displays, quilt & craft displays, stalls, art  exhibitions, choir singing, workshops and entertainment.  As you can see in the collage below it is tulip time. I love the "beetle" car covered in grass and run by solar power! And I might have to dig out some old boots and plant flowers in them!

And a beautiful quote from Buddha on the display from the high school - 

"The perfume of flowers travel only as far as the wind

but the fragrance of goodness travels throughout all worlds

The garlands woven from a heap of flowers

fashion your life as a garland of beautiful deeds" 

On Sunday late afternoon-evening a friend and I went to "Concert and Cocktails" at the Koombana Bay yacht club. 
This was a fund raising event for the Stirling Street Arts Centre, going towards renovations and additions to their facility. 
It was a wonderful evening. Performing were the South West Opera Company (with songs from Carmen), South West Philharmonic Orchestra, Bunbury Musical Comedy Group (with songs from Fiddler on the Roof), Bunbury Catholic College Girls Choir (with songs from the Beetles and the 60s), Bunbury City Band and South West Jazz Enzemble, and a crowd favourite, the Soly Sombra Spanish Dancers. 

In the mosaic below in second from bottom left, and on the far right of the top right photo, you can see my daughter in law in the bluish gypsy dress.  Don't they all look so beautiful dressed in their gypsy costumes? I joined the dance group earlier this year, and my teacher says next year I will be dancing..... I don't now about that.......

Thank you for stopping by. I look forward to hearing from you. I am linking up with Mosaic Monday at Little Red House. Click on the link to see the work of other wonderful contributors. - Mosaic Monday at Little Red House

You might also like -
Spanish Flamenco Dancing 

Cappuccino at the grand

Tulips in my garden

July and August is the time for tulips in my garden. Last year I grew them for the first time, and earlier this year I bought some more bulbs, kept them in the refrigerator, and then planted them when I thought the time was right.  The first one flowered the day after my mother died on 19 July, and every day I have seen the new buds forming and opening. But this morning is the first time I have photographed them. They were still in shade, so not yet open. But I will go back this afternoon and capture them in full bloom. A bit like life I guess, forming, being nurtured, and then blossoming in full bloom.  And then like the second image in the collage, there can still be beauty in the closing stages of life. 

And Ruth Tearle's quote for today? - 

The way to stop being a pawn fighting for someone else's ambitions,

is to create your own dreams

and share them passionately, with others.

 Back at 11.30am with sunlight - 

 And how about a little tulip texture? for Kim's Texture Tuesday - Texture is "dream-it" applied in soft light, with quote from Paul Simon. 
Click here to see more of Texture Tuesday -  Texture Tuesday

What is your passion?
Do you have tulips in your garden? 
Thank you for stopping by my blog. I look forward to hearing from you and welcome your comments. Have a wonderful week.

You may also like - a visit to see the beautiful tulips of Araluen near Perth last year - click on the link here - Spring is the time for tulips

A walk in Yalgorup - Western Australia

After the last few weeks, it was wonderful to get out and go for a walk in the bush on Sunday with our grandsons. We walked along the Lake Pollard walk trail to the bird-hide at Lake Pollard in the Yalgorup National Park, only 45 minutes north of our home in Bunbury.

Laying on the western edge of the Swan Coastal Plain, the 12,888 hectare Yalgorup National Park protects a chain of ten lakes - Swan Pond, Duck Pond, Boundary Lake, Lake Pollard, Martins Tank, Yalgroup, Hayward and Newnham Lakes  The name Yalgorup is derived from two Nyoongar Aboriginal words – Yalgorup meaning swamp or lake, and up meaning a place of.

We are in late winter here, and the spring wildflowers are just starting to blossom   In the collage below are wildflowers I photographed along the trail. I haven't been able to successfully name all of these - but I can tell you some of them....

Left to right starting top left - 

1st row - Native Wisteria, Hibbertia. Dryandra, Dryandra with bee, perhaps one of the Grevillias.

2nd row - Native Wisteria,  Weeping Pittosporum, Cocky's Tongues-Templetonia retusa, Native Rose, Hibbertia

3rd row - unknown, I think the Helmet orchid before flowering on a bed of moss, Hibbertia, unknown, leaf of the Bull Banksia. 

Flowers like the "Hibbertia" and the "Grevillia" have many different species, so very difficult for an amateur like me to name them accurately.

 Along the trail also look out for other interesting things..... an ants nest, fungi, the red insides of a collapsed grass tree, a bird feather, sea shells on the lake shore, fungi climbing a tree, and a broken egg shell my grandson found beneath a tree. Looking for things like this along a walk trail is a good way to keep children interested and not thinking about how tired they are.....

The Yalgorup wetland system is international recognised on the Ramsar List as an important habitat for migratory waterbirds and so is a haven for birdwatchers. As well as native waterbirds, birds migrate to Yalgorup from the Northern Hemisphere, including the Red Knot which breeds around the Arctic Circle.

A good place to view the birdlife is from the bird hide constructed on the edges of Lake Pollard. Black swans arrive here in large numbers from October to March to graze on the musk grasses.

The six kilometre (approximately 2 hour) Lake Pollard trail conveniently begins at the entrance to the Martins Tank campground. The trail winds through parrot-bush thickets, and woodlands of jarrah, tuart, peppermint, bull banksia and Christmas Tree. You know when you are getting close to the lake when the tuarts are replaced by saltwater paperbark trees. 

We didn't walk the whole 6 kilometres - it is a long way for 2 little boys aged 3 and 5. We took the shorter flatter return option - about 1 & half to 2kms there, and then back - still a long way for little legs! We took food with us and ate it in the bird hide - you can see the bird hide in the collage below. Unfortunately we didn't see any birds!  But the bird hide gave us shelter when a shower of rain passed over. 

Can you see the kangaroo laying by the log in the third picture? We saw him and his two mates at the camp ground.

The trail starts near Martins Tank campground on the edge of Martin Tank Lake. It is a beautiful shady campground managed by the WA Department of Environment and Conservation. In the collage above you can see us having our picnic lunch after our big walk. The boys decided to go log climbing after that and had a kick around with the soccer ball - I think they got their second wind!

In the bottom left picture you can see the avenue of paperbark trees going down to the edge of Martin Tank Lake. 

Our grandsons are used to being out in the bush, but when you have little legs that are tired of walking, there is always Pop's arms......... whilst the 5 year old sang me songs he had learnt at school and this helped the walk back.

So much pleasure from the simple things....

 

Of the ten lakes at Yalgroup, Lake Clifton is the most unique, as it is the home to 2000 year old Thromobolites. These are the largest known example of living non-marine microbialites in the Southern Hemisphere, and only one of two known places where microbialites occur in water less salty than sea water. The Thrombolites are extremely fragile and an observation walkway has been erected so you can have a close view. 

To read my article about The Ten Lakes of Yalgorup - please see Go Camping Australia magazine - October-November 2012

You can read more about Yalgorup by clicking here - WA Department of Environment and Conservation

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed our walk in Yalgorup National Park. I look forward to hearing from you. Have a wonderful week.

I am linking up to Mary and the other wonderful contributors at Mosaic Monday at Little Red House. Click here to see their posts - Mosaic Monday 

 

Become what makes you special

I have used another quote from Ruth Tearle's fabulous pack of inspirational cards "unleash the magic within you" which came to me last week with her book " Blackboards Bubbles and Cappuccinos"

Thank you Ruth for your book, your email and for your inspiration.

To learn more please click here -  Ruth Tearle - Change Designs

The wavy technique with the fonts I learnt about in the latest day of Kim Klassen's Beyond Layers 52 weeks e-course.  If you want to know anything about playing around with layers, textures and photo editing techniques - check out Kim's site by clicking here - Kim Klassen Cafe

And a special thank you to everyone who has been so supportive of me over the last few weeks and months - sometimes life makes you stop and take stock, and realise what and who are most important in your life.

Have a wonderful weekend - and hug the ones you love - and become what makes you special.