Paella & Flamenco & Happy Easter

 Hi everyone. I hope you and yours are doing well. I have been so so busy....no time to blog!..... so I am just stoppping by to wish you all a safe and happy Easter to those who celebrate, and to everyone have a lovely weekend. 

Here are a couple of pics from a Spanish paella & flamenco Sunday lunch we went to last weekend. The perfect combination! Fabulous!

Paella from my good friend Montse and friends from Food with Passion South West, and flamenco from the wonderful dancers Nicole and Suzie from Sol y Sombra Spanish Dance Company.

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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Flamenco!

 Planta, Tacón, Talón, Gólpe, Punto, Taconeo - are all Flamenco dance steps terminology - which put together create the stamping toe and heel footwork that is typically Flamenco - a vibrant powerful passionate and seductive dance style - the essence of Spain.  

Flamenco dance has been  burning in Andalucía for nearly five hundred years. It is a a land where music and dance is just part of everyday life, and the Andalucians express themselves beautifully with the dance, and especially with the flamenco dance.  Andalucía burns with life, colour, and romance. It is a place of music and dancing, of plucked guitar strings, and the snapping of fingers, clicking castanets, and the stamping of feet, all of which mould together to create this wonderful culture we know as flamenco. From -  Flamenco in Andalucia 

 

 

Soly Sombra - Nicole from Soly Sombra is now running beginners Flamenco classes on Thursdays at 7pm at the Bunbury Art Gallery. Go to the link below for Soly Sombra to find out more.  
What to try something new - then come and join us -

Click on the link to learn more -  Sol-y-Sombra-Spanish-Dance-Company

Want to see more? - if you "Google" Flamenco or Spanish Dance on the web there are lots of "U-Tube" clips which will have you stamping your feet and clapping, and wanting to experience the passion and vibrancy of Spanish dance.