Cappuccino at the Grand....

The Cappuccino strip in Bunbury where I live is lined by old buildings and flowering trees. This is the old Grand Central Hotel built in 1900. This glorious old lady now houses speciality shops - boutiques, jewellery, handbags shops etc, and of course a cafe.
In the background of the third pic you can see a modern highrise. Old and new blending together....

and a cappuccino
and pear and blue cheese tart..........


I hope you all have a wonderful weekend with time for cappuccino with good company.

Corella pears - sweet & crunchy with every bite!

This is a delicious new pear variety, Corella, (well new to us) that we discovered at the Bunbury Farmers Market recently. I am going back to buy more. It is absolutely delicious, sweet and crisp. And such a gorgeous colour! I just had to take it out and photograph it before we ate them!

There are some new varieties of pears principally come from crosses between Corella, Guyot, Rogue Red and Butirra Precoce Morettini.

You should try them if you see them in your market.

This has been my contribution this week to Mosaic Monday at Little Red House. To see the beautiful work of Mary and other contributors please click on the link here - http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/

Thank you for looking. I look forward to hearing from you.

Umbrellas of sunshine

Joanna, a Flickr friend from New Zealand, described this photo of Chrysanthemun as "The Chrysanths look like umbrellas of sunshine" - so I wish you all happy sunshine days over the weekend.


Do you ever have a day where the whole day disappears while you "play around" with your camera? On Wednesday I had a day off work, and before I knew it the end of the day had come and my husband was walking in the door. I had spent the whole day taking photos and updating my blog! At least I had put the washing on the line!

This is one of my photos I took - a chrysanthemun. They always flower this time of year in time for Mother's Day. I have a big bunch picked from my garden in the house. I took this one with the light coming through the windows through the petals.

Wish I had a macro lens! This is taken with a "close up" filter on my lens.

Food photography in my garden

I have had a day off work today, and so have been playing around with some food photography. Here are some of the results all taken in natural light - the only additional light being from a silver reflector to throw some additional light into the picture.

I have been trying to learn as much as I can about food photography and have been inspired by the work of several food photographers and their web sites.

Here are Cardamon pods in an old food scoop given to me by my mother-in-law

Eggs in an old serviette embroidered by me when I was a young girl - note the cross stitch!

I like the morning glow on the eggs.

Snow peas in two old enamel mugs - the green one at the front is an old mug that my mother always used to put gravy in and kept hot on the wood stove while the roast was being sliced. Or to keep a left-over in the fridge.

Star anise - these sure did smell devine when I was photographing them!

Thanks for looking everyone. If you would like to comment I would love to hear from you and would really appreciate your feedback. Thank you.

with love on mother's day

I am sending a special mothers days wish and love to my dear mother, mother-in-law, my sister,
And to my daughter-in-law and her sister, who lost their mother a few years ago.
And to our dear friend who lost her mother recently.
And to all our friends who are mothers.

Every precious moment with our families should be treasured, as time and the years slip by so quickly. May the love and joy of family always be yours.

Yesterday I spent a wonderful day with my family, including having a mother's day lunch with three generations of mothers, and our fathers, husbands, sons, grandsons and great-grandsons.

My sister was staying with us for the weekend, and last night we watched the "Mamma Mia" movie on DVD. It is a wonderful feel good movie.

One song in particular always makes me cry and I want to share some words with you - it is particularly relevant to me at the moment, and it is a reminder to savour every moment, and to not let these precious moments "slip through our fingers"....

Slipping Through my Fingers - by Benny and Bjorn

.....Slipping through my fingers all the time, I try to capture every minute
The feeling in it
Slipping through my fingers all the time......
I let precious time go by........
Whatever happened to those wonderful adventures
The places I had planned for us to go
Well, some of that we did but most we didn't
And why I just don't know.
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Sometimes I wish that I could freeze the picture
And save it from the funny tricks of time
Slipping through my fingers.......


Thank you for visiting my post which is my contribution this week to Mosaic Monday. Please join Mary and the other wonderful contributors at Mosaic Monday - by clicking on the link - http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/search/label/Mosaic%20Monday

I look forward to hearing from you. Take care.

The Pinnacles, Western Australia

We have just returned from a camping trip up through the wheatbelt and then down the new Indian Ocean Road from Dongara to Perth.

Here are a few photos of the Pinnacles just south of Cervantes.

The Pinnacles are located in the Nambung National Park, about 200km from Perth. The limestone spears, several metres tall, were created over millions of years as seashells were broken down into sand and then eroded by wind and water. They have been repeatedly exposed and covered again by shifting sand. Best time for photography is late afternoon.

There is a walk trail through the Pinnacles or you can drive the 4km loop trail, and get out at various pull-over points.

We were there in the golden light of late afternoon, and my daughter-in-law & I had a wonderful time taking photos. It is difficult to represent the scale of the place.

Don't forget close up details when photographing in the Pinnacles.

The Pinnacles at sunset overlooking the Indian Ocean.

A prayer for peace

Anzac Day was 25 April - a time when we remember those that went before us, who gave their lives to give us freedom, and made our country what it is today. And I send a silent prayer out for peace around the world.

These words are on the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne.

and the eternal flame in Kings Park, Perth

We have this moment sparkling like a star

Wishing you all the joy of Easter and the love of being with family and friends.

In the words of Marie Beyon Ray -

Begin doing what you want to do now. 

We have only this moment, 

sparkling like a star in our hand - 

and melting like a snowflake.

Here are some beautiful frangipani flowers, which I sent to you all with love.

Memories in a plate

These beautiful plates were given to me by my Mother-In-Law recently when I was helping her clean out her house in preparation to move to a retirement village. They are exactly the same as a set my Mother has. They were both married in 1951 so I guess it must have been a favoured pattern for newly weds during that time.

My Mother's dinner set was always kept for special dinners - and I always adored them and the beautiful pattern of autumn leaves. My Mother-In-Law must have used her set often, as only these few plates remain. I was thrilled when she gave them to me. I will cherish them always.

So I have put together a little mosaic using the plates. One of the photos you see contains a simple Apple Tart.

We had a busy weekend, home jobs, pruning and triming the garden in preparation for a curb-side pick up of green waste, and yesterday afternoon getting our camper trailer organised for a trip away soon. No time for photography. Late yesterday afternoon I was standing at the kitchen sink peeling quinces, which I bought at the market on Saturday, when I looked out the window and saw the beautiful late afternoon light, so I put the quinces in a basket, grabbed my camera and tripod and ran outside to take some photos before the light disappeared. My husband was left to organise the vegetables for the roast - lucky he understands my photography bent.

Quinces are an old fashioned fruit that you might see in an old orchard. They fruit around this time of year where I live. The fruit is rock hard - you can't eat it raw, but cooked it has the most amazing aroma and flavour, and the yellow flesh turns a delicate pink. Quince paste, as you see in the picture, which I made, goes wonderfully with cheese and biscuits and a glass of wine - I was in too much of a hurry to include them in the photo! oops!

Quinces are delicious - you must buy some and try them if you see them in your market.

Do you remember the peom by Edward Lear - "The Owl and the Pussy-Cat' -
   "They dined on mince, and slices of quince, Which they ate with a runcible spoon,
   And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,  They danced by the light of the moon"....

My post is part of Mosaic Monday. To see the work of Mary and other wonderful contributors, please go to the link - Mosaic Monday at Little Red House

Have a wonderful week. I hope you have enjoyed my photos, I look forward to hearing from you. 

Every new day

The end of another busy week - so going into the weekend I send you a few words written by Eleanor Roosevelt -

With the new day ahead comes new strength and new thoughts.

  I am fairly sure this is a Swan River Myrtle - a beautiful wildflower which I found in the Crooked Brook Nature Reserve near Dardanup - about half an hour from where I live. It is a wonderful place to go for a walk during spring when the wildflowers are out, but any time of year you will find something flowering in the Australian bush. I find walking in the bush is so calming and rejuvenating - peace descends as worries slip away. I hope you have a piece of "bush" or forest near you where you can escape to and enjoy being out in God's amazing creation.

Have a lovely weekend in the company of those you love, and give yourself time to do the things you want to do.