Gopher

Surprise present number 2.
JL received this splendid machine from his sister, who scoots around her retirement village on one. The main issue here is getting it down from our sixth floor apartment and through the heavy security doors on the ground level. We are reluctant to keep it in the basement carpark which is a bit dirty and prone to burglaries of bicycles etc.

Seen from above: gopher is top left.

A surprise present

As a confirmed Camino addict, I’ve waited a long time for this book.  Its appearance on Christmas Day was a wonderful present. Rebekah and Patrick have done what many of us have dreamed about: purchased an old ruin of a house in a tiny pueblo right on the Camino Frances. I’ve been there and walked past it!

The most important thing to say is that Rebekah is a professional writer, unlike most of the other travel diarists who publish their e-books willy nilly on Amazon. Her account of random happenings in Moratinos in the 2010 Holy Year is magical and evocative. I want to be there again!

Nobody knew if we were doctors or lawyers or housewives, if we had raised the First Class Laying Hen or won a Pulitzer. We became just pilgrims, like all the other pilgrims there.

Scott, Rebekah. A Furnace Full of God: A Holy Year on the Camino de Santiago . Peaceable Publishing. Kindle Edition. 

Christmas indulgences

Another hot day was forecast: too hot to have our usual Christmas lunch in the garden at Como. Our balcony at Burswood would be cooler and we could go for a pre-lunch dip in the pool. The first indulgence was a luscious chocolate cake for my birthday, made by DD. Couldn’t find 75 candles in my drawer: two would have to do!

A few cards and bottles. Cards get fewer, bottles get more!

An e-card came from iiNet.

We had the pool to ourselves.

On the menu for lunch:

Blinis w. Tasmanian “hand milked” caviar.

Crispy-skin barramundi w. salad.

Two helpings of choc cake (since the rest of the meal was healthy and slimming).

Tiny bottles of champers from my now ended Advent calendar.

Salad being prepared.

Blowing out the candles, in competition with the sea breeze which had just come in.

OK, I don’t feel 75!

The blue wall

I said all I wanted for Christmas was a blue wall in my bedroom. I had bought a new quilt set named Tavira, which was the last place I visited in Portugal- a place with Moroccan connections. I wanted a feature wall to bring out the turquoise blue of the quilt.

“Tradie” Claire is an expert painter in her spare time and did a superb job, aided by her young apprentice who cleared the bedroom and hoovered up all the dust from under the bed. In a small apartment, under the bed is a logical storage area and dust collector!

A visit to Bunnings produced a customised paint colour - not easy to choose from so many.

Work in progress.

The finished product.

Lovely sunset at 7.30 pm on our longest day.

Kookaburra vs Willie Wagtails

The bushwalking group celebrated Christmas with their annual BBQ in Kings Park. It was a lovely evening after a very hot day, and the group had set up camp under a big tree when we arrived. My contribution was meatballs (purchased from Torres Butchers) but cooked by me on the temperamental public BBQ. There were plenty of birds wanting to join the party and carry off bits of food, first the big black crows, then a lone kookaburra and then a few angry Willie Wagtails.

Giving the crows a drink of water

Meatballs cooking

JL heading for the food

Luscious desserts

Kookaburra waiting to pounce

Close-up

The kookaburra waited patiently in this tree till no-one was looking. In a trice, he swooped down and stole a meatball, lifting up the lace that was covering all the dishes to do so! Amazing! Then he was under attack himself from a pair of Willie Wagtails. They were obviously trying to keep him away from their nest by chattering at him and even pecking his bum. He just ignored them and continued to watch out for more food opportunities. (Kookaburras are known to steal baby birds from nests, but didn't get the chance on this occasion). 

Pain and Glory

What to do on a hot afternoon when it's 40 degrees outside?  Go to a nice airconditioned cinema for a couple of hours.

This award-winning film by the Spanish director Pedro Almodovar attracted me just to hear some Spanish (though I had to read the subtitles, I have to admit). I rarely go to the cinema, and would certainly be reluctant to provide a review - unlike some of my favourite bloggers. However, I can say that this film is a work of art albeit a bit strange in parts. The computer-generated background to the opening credits is ridiculous, for example. Ditto the endless diagrams about his various ailments.

The story concerns an ageing film director (Almodovar himself?) reminiscing about aspects of his life while under the influence of heroin. I loved the little boy who plays his younger self and Penelope Cruz who plays his mother. She is a regular in his films. One reviewer put it rather nicely:

Pain & Glory beautifully negotiates the past and present to land in a personal place the filmmaker has never been before. Long may he stay there.

Spanish poster

English poster

Dolphins, crabs...

Time to leave Mandurah and head back to hot, hot Perth. On the last morning, I went for a swim in the sea before breakfast. It was 7.00 am and already there were a few locals on the beach. I suddenly saw splashing and a fin next to another swimmer. Then the fin came perilously close to me. It was a dolphin! I found out there were two of them, probably a mother and baby which had been sighted there earlier in the week. I don’t have a photo of this encounter, but I do have one from last January:

This is C and me next to the groin, with two dolphins nearby. It was taken by a woman at the hotel swimming pool, where everyone was looking our way, with great excitement, including E who suddenly realised that it was her mother and grandmother out there!

Seashells Hotel has paintings in every room by a local artist, Emma Blyth. They depict holiday scenes around Mandurah. I find them bold and brash and “in your face”, but this one in our room is interesting. It seems to be an advertisement for the annual Mandurah Crabfest:

Someone is about to enjoy two Blue Manna Crabs and a bowl of prawns.

Evening in Mandurah

We went for a meal at Flic’s Kitchen on the foreshore. There is a very creative chef who produces many interesting vegetarian dishes. On a balmy evening, we enjoyed sitting at an outside table while wafts of dampened air floated down on us from above.

Photo from their website.

Crab croquets and Prosecco.

Gnocchi in mushroom sauce w. green pea purée.

Vegan dessert: strawberry “cheesecake” w. torched plums.

The gnocchi are a speciality which have been on the menu forever, demanded by the regular clientele.

Afterwards, we strolled along the foreshore admiring the Christmas lights:

This is a box, or a castle?

Beach access

Hot weather is forecast all week in Perth, so we have come down to Mandurah where it is not so extreme. We are staying for 4 nights at Seashells, our favourite spot right on the beach at Dolphin Cove. Because we only have a small unit for two, we are at the back with a canal view rather than a sea view. But it is marvellously cool as it gets no direct sun.

Early morning walk!

Seashells is the highest building. We have Room 505.

Norfolk Pine.

View from our balcony.

We are entertained watching the occupant of that small square “houseboat”. It appears to be home made, with solar panels on the roof and a rowing boat moored alongside. It moves around a bit: maybe it doesn’t have permission to be there.

JL about to enjoy his dinner: chicken parcels w. rice and broad beans.

Ferry across the Swan

On a sunny morning I took a ferry from South Perth across to Elizabeth Quay. The journey takes 7 minutes. When I first came to live in Perth, I did this every day on my way to work at ECU. It was my aim to mark one assignment in the 7 minutes. (In those days, we often had 80 assignments to mark, such was the popularity of our external online courses). Nowadays, I can just enjoy the trip. Elizabeth Quay is a relatively new development and it’s still not finished.

The new Ritz Carlton hotel is behind the ferry.

Looking back from Elizabeth Quay to South Perth. I used to live in the white apartment block.

Elizabeth Quay pedestrian bridge.

A boring machine which brings up mud. The hole will be replaced with concrete and steel piles for another high rise building.

Artwork on the fence surrounding the building work.

The rather grim-looking entrance to the new Ritz Carlton Hotel.

Ritz Carlton restaurant.

Trying out one of the beautifully designed chairs in the minimalist foyer. This might be the nearest I get to enjoying the Ritz Carlton luxury; at $500 per night it’s too expensive even for me!

Quinns Bushwalk

This walk attracted me because it was going to my old haunts of Quinns Rocks where we used to have a beach house. I haven’t been out with the group for months because of my gammy knee. I knew the pace would probably be too fast for me (and it was), but it was possible to turn back at any point, sit and get a coffee.

It was a lovely morning for a 7.30 am start, though very breezy and the sea was too choppy to think of going for a swim. 

Near Mindarie Marina.

Looking north.

Hundreds of kids arrived at the Surf Club for lessons.

Lovely coastline.

My friend V has recently acquired a retired greyhound. These dogs are put out for adoption when they can no longer race. (C and E wanted to do this, but their cat went beserk when one came to visit!).  V’s dog apparently won $80,000 in prize money and had 3 litters of puppies before being retired. She came for part of the walk and then got taken home before it got too hot.

She was very quiet and calm, having been properly socialised by the adoption programme and, being a fairly old dog, was placed in a household of a similar age group.