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Monday 12 February 2018

In the summer time

It's summer here in Western Australia but we are enthralled watching the Winter Olympics. I love watching the events on TV and seeing the speed and exhilaration of the sports. These winter sports are so different for us, as we only have a couple of areas that have snow in Australia, and certainly not in Western Australia, except for an occasional light dusting on Bluff Knoll in our south west. 

Medals for Australians at the Winter Olympics are few and far between, so when an Aussie wins a medal, or in fact just gets into a final, it is a reason for celebration. So it was exciting to have just watched Matt Graham take silver in the moguls, our first medal at this Olympics.   Daily Telegraph - Winter Olympics. Congratulations Matt! 

But as I said it is summer in Australia and this last weekend we had a very busy weekend immersed in summer life. 

We had family come to stay so there was a BBQ on Friday night, and then Saturday morning we went to a waterfront restaurant for breakfast. The water was sparkling and the icecream van was already cranking up for the day.  Our town is surrounded by water on three sides - the Indian Ocean, the Leschenault Inlet, and Koombana Bay, so beach and water activities are a big part of our summer



In the afternoon we went down to the Inlet to watch our sons compete with their dragon boat club, Forza, in their local annual regatta. Dragon Boating has been a part of the landscape of our town, and our family life, since the first regatta was held here in March 1990. We have seen the big days of the sport when our local regatta was a two day event with over 70 teams, to the small regatta it is today. Our main competition is held in Perth, our capital city. Our local event was for teams of 10 paddlers, rather than the usual 20.



 On Saturday evening my husband and I drove up to the Ferguson Valley, a wine region only about twenty minutes from home, to enjoy a Spanish Sundowner at Green Door Wines. My Spanish friend Montse and her partner Laura, from Food with Passion South West cooked up a storm, including a variety of tapas and a huge paella. Delicious. 

And the light coming through the west facing window in the late afternoon was amazing. 


In between courses Flamenco dancers, Nicole and Susanna from Sol y Sombra Spanish Dance Company danced for us. Unfortunately the low light, the fast movement, and my skills didn't do their dancing justice, but you can get an idea of the colour and movement in these couple of images. 
These two talented ladies are our Flamenco teachers at Sol y Sombra. I've blogged about them several times before - Ole - Celebration of 25 years of flamenco


It was a fabulous evening. Oh, and don't forget the Sangria



On Sunday morning we had an early get up to travel down to Busselton to see our eldest son compete in the around the Busselton Jetty swim.  This is an annual event, which started in 1996, and which now attracts over 2000 competitors. The course is a swim of 3.6 kilometres from the shore, around the Busselton Jetty, and back to the shore. People swim solo, as my son, nephew and his wife did, or relay teams of two or four can nominate. 

Below you can see the start line and the end of the jetty where they swim round and then go back down the other side. 


And my son on the return leg.  We only managed to spot him because he was swimming alongside the jetty instead of further out. He said he was having difficulty dragging his arms out of the water at this point, but he managed to sprint the last few hundred metres to the finish line - what a welcome sight it must have been. We are so proud of him that he achieved this swim.


Thank you for stopping by everyone. I hope you have enjoyed this little look at summer in my part of the world. What is happening in your corner of the world? Are you watching the Winter Olympics?



I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week.  

You might also like
A celebration of 25 years of flamenco 
Belonging and choosing happiness 
Busselton jetty swim - 2015 

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Life in Reflection

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You can also link up here Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global.





 

33 comments:

  1. Great event, Jill! In what age range are your boys? The ones in the boats look adults...
    Oh Paella, one of my favorite dishes! Can imagine so difficult to capture the flamengo dancers, their movements are so unexpected at some point:). Love the capture below with the castanets (hope that is the right spelling). This looks like a fun and busy summer! Thank you for capturing it for us at All Seasons:)

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    1. This is an adults competition, though they do have junior (teenager) crews. My boys are in their 30s. I was mid 30s when I started, and I paddled for about 21 years. Lucky for me with the flamenco that I usually know what's coming as this is the group I dance with.

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  2. I love your postcard posts about your life in the South West. It always makes me want to live there - oh wait a minute - I do!! You document everything so entertainingly in an inspiring way, and your photography skills just highlight the beauty of this part of the world.

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  3. Living in a large city like London my life is quite different to yours and that's what I love about reading blogs like yours. Thoroughly enjoyed your post and excellent photographs. The sun, sparkling water, sangria and summer life is so far removed from the cold, grey days here.

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    1. I'm sure spring and summer will not be far away.

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  4. What a great summer you're enjoying full of family activities, wonderful food with friends and above all sunshine!
    Loved the action shots of your flamenco dance teachers, they are fabulous.
    I'm so tired of all the rain we're having in Normandy and am looking forward to our trip to Corfu in May very, very much.

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    1. Our north west has been deluged with rain...too much rain... this summer. Corfu in May sounds wonderful! I will look forward to the pics.

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  5. My goodness - the pan she cooked paella in would completely cover my stove and lap over the edges!!!
    Thanks for linking up at https://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2018/02/more-from-nasher-art-museum.html

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  6. Yes, that must be kind of weird watching the winter olympics when it is summer. I haven't seen any of the events. We have been to busy!

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  7. Lovely series of photos ~ wonderful colors and action too!

    Happy Week to you,
    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

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  8. I'll say "busy" as a description is a bit of an understatement ... but it looks like a heck of a lot of fun! How did the boys do in the boat race? A nearby town was supposed to have dragon races this past summer, but it was cancelled due to forest fire smoke - we can always look forward to next year!

    Yes, we have been watching the Olympics - I think this is the first time that I can remember that extremely cold and windy conditions have affected so many events - it's usually lack of snow and warm temps that are the problem!

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    1. They just had average results in the races, but there are still some regattas to come before the end of the season. It's been our family sport since 1990!

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  9. Congrats to Matt Graham! Wow! Love your winter sports...on the water! And that FOOD! I would really enjoy that restaurant...the food looks amazing, and the flamenco dancers would be so thrilling to see!

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    1. The combination of the dancers, Spanish food, and the location was wonderful.

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  10. Wow, you are having a wonderful summer! Scotty James won a bronze medal on the half pipe. Tonight I am watching ice skating.

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  11. I really love the Olympics too. :-) Your Spanish feast sounds absolutely amazing and so inspiring. :-)

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  12. How fun to see a glimpse of the other side of the world, Jill!
    I would love to join in on your linkup next week if you think it's appropriate? I know not everyone enjoys fashion and clothing....
    XOXO
    Jodie
    www.jtouchofstyle.com

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  13. Dragon boating is popular here in Oregon, too. They do it in a river and you can go watch them race. I think it would be fun to see flamenco dancing.

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  14. Oh my, the light and movement in those Spanish photos! #teamlovinlife

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  15. Such a beautiful and active summer! I love the photos you took at Green Door Wines. Beautiful capture of light and movement. Amazing!

    -Soma

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    1. thank you for visiting Soma. I enjoyed visiting your blog too.

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  16. lol, I have been paddling in one of those dragonboats once. They had a competition in the town I lived at the time. It was a LOT OF FUN!

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    1. When I started in 1990 it was meant to just be a bit of fun, but I became addicted - only about 21 years worth of paddling! :)

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  17. I would 1000 times rather be in summer watching winter Olympics than in winter being in them or watching them or anything cold. Summer looks beautiful in your area -- and lots of fun too. It's theoretically winter here in SW Florida, but our temperatures are more like yours than most of the US. And I am so grateful for that!!

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    1. one of these days I hope I can enjo9y a snowy winter!

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  18. Hello Jill. My goodness. What a fun summer you are having! I LOVE water so I am very jealous of you right now! :) HAVE FUN.

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  19. Congratulations to Australia. We Canadians were amazed that an Aussie got a medal in moguls. Wow and double wow!
    And the dragon boats — I love to watch dragon boats.
    A wonderful blog post indeed!
    Kay
    An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel

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I hope you have enjoyed your visit to my blog. Thank you for stopping by and for taking the time to comment. I read and very much appreciate every comment and love hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return.