The ocean is my favourite colour..

It's true, I'm an aquaholic :) Hope you don't mind a few more shots of the gorgeous Indian Ocean five minutes from home.. I feel incredibly lucky to live where the sea breezes cool the temperatures through the long hot summers. The range of colours is astounding, from the palest blue, torquoise and far out in the fathomless waters where the big fish live, the deepest blue 🐬 Happy Monday, take care and stay safe..

All you need is the beach..

... thought every dog I saw on the dog beach yesterday :) The little sweetie above turned to look at me as if to say there's only one way to get her off the phone...PULL!

Well hello there, you're just my size!

... but no! I'm not sharing my frisbee!

All too soon it's time to go home! It was pretty windy down on the doggy beach yesterday, I personally was pleased to get out of the breeze and into a cafe 😉 Hope you are having a fab weekend, take care and stay safe..

A view from the bridge..

An early morning view this way and that while standing on a bridge across the Wooroloo Brook. What are you up to this weekend? It's a long weekend here in WA, Monday being a holiday for the Queen's birthday.. I'm guessing there will be a hike scheduled for either Sunday or Monday morning :) Happy weekend, take care and stay safe..

Visit James to see more Weekend Reflections from around the world..

Playing with fire.. water.. earth.

     Double trouble 😉 My favourite sculpture in Forrest Place is Meteorite created by sculptor Malcolm McGregor. Sculpted from Orbicular granite, if you aren't sure what that is it's worth clicking the link.. fascinating stuff. The Orbicular granite deposit is 'located 35 km west of Mount Magnet in Western Australia. This unusual granitic rock, located on Boogardie Station, is one of a few orbicular granite localities known worldwide'. It is not only I who enjoys this fabulous orb spinning around in water, it's almost a cert that there will be children having fun too. We were sitting in Bocelli's Espresso when I took this shot, just for a change :) Happy Friday, take care and stay safe..

Country perspectives..

Had a bit of fun playing with the focus in the two shots above.. I blame it on the country air :) Focusing first on the sunshine yellow acacia bushes along the road then switching the focus to one of the many wind-pumps pumping water in for livestock in the fields. Below the big picture, can you see the small acacia bush there with the windmill in the background.. the big picture can often not be what you expect it to be.. 

A few bits and pieces to finish off this trip to the country. It was good to show my sisters the amazing murals, below centre top, on the silos in Northam painted back in 2015 by Welsh born London based artist Phlegm and part of the Public Silo Trail. Bottom right the water was flowing fast over Noble Falls. The flower spike of the Grass Tree is a weird and wonderful thing! If you embiggen and look at the two shots side by side in the top right hand corner it will give you an idea of how tiny the many varieties of bush orchards are.. if I'm honest they did have to be pointed out to me :) tres jolie they were. Happy Thursday, take care and stay safe..

Yellow.. the happy colour..

So there we were last Thursday, my sisters, myself, P and brother in law wondering will we go a'wandering, will we wait for a sunny day, or shall we not let the weather dictate our plans! We decided on the latter and so glad we did. It was a super day with periods of fabulous skies as above interspersed with grey below. The canola fields stretch as far as the eye can see unfortunately enticing the many tourists who visit to trample in the fields in search of the perfect selfie, much to the farmers angst.. “It's a catch 22, the canola brings tourists to town –  but it is an issue going on private property". I should say so! It may not look like it but there is definitely a fence between moi and the canola fields :)

 

The shot below just because I liked the branches framing the white flowers in the field. Re the canola trampling problem there is now a designated spot at Pet Teet Park, a thirty minute drive from York where if tourists really want to walk through the crops they can.. Farmer Kevin Johnson said they planted a 20 metre squared canola crop purely for tourists.“The difference between ours and the farmers is we encourage people to walk through it.” he said. “We actually decided to do this because we heard farmers were frustrated with people walking in their canolas.” What a good idea! Happy Wednesday, take care and stay safe..💛

Birds of the wheatbelt..

Last week I took a drive with my sisters to see the wildflowers along the way to Toodyay, one of my favourite country towns. A visit to the country is never without it's rewards. This time, apart from the wildflowers it was the discovery of a mural painted back in June by Kat and Nic. The colours of the red-capped robin and the rufous whistler are gorgeous and although these two birds are local to the area this was as close as I got to spotting them :) Every element of the mural has 'significant meaning and structure' to the area. Will show you more of the wildflowers tomorrow. Happy Tuesday, take care and stay safe..

Visit Sami to see more Monday Murals from around the world..

Global day of action..

On Friday Perth students missed school to join in a world wide Climate Change Rally. During the day I heard more than one government official on the radio saying they were 'shocked that children were skipping school to protest, that if they wanted to protest they should do it at the weekend.' I find it astounding that they would be more shocked at students missing one day of school than what they were actually protesting about. In the words of a nine year old "It's all going by too fast. If we don't fix it no one will, and it just needs to be stopped." Let's see if a global protest by students has any effect on the United Nations Climate Change Summit in NY this week. I couldn't be at the rally so thank you Aimee for letting me use your shots of the event. Happy Monday, take care and stay safe..

The art class.

A few last pics from our visit to Araluen Botanic Park. When I saw the group of artists set up poolside by the pergola I thought that if you couldn't find artistic inspiration here surrounded by magnificent trees and spring blooms then you may as well hang up your easel and paint brush. I have to confess to a little bit of arty play with these shots myself :) Happy weekend take care and stay safe..

Visit James to see more Weekend Reflections from around the world..

A park for all seasons..

Following Aimee as she disappeared around each corner ahead of me felt a little like an Alice in Wonderland moment :) Araluen Botanic Park is indeed a wonderland in whichever season you visit. Right now alive with multi-coloured spring flowers.. in summer the massed beds of agapanthus and warm weather blooms kick in. In autumn the many trees in the park glow in their oranges and reds 🍂 must get back there for that shot.. in winter those same trees look magical as they shed their leaves. One more post from the park, saved for Weekend Reflections. Happy Friday, take care and stay safe..

It's tulip time..

I did say it was going to be a flowery kind of week :) Next stop after the Saku Festival was Araluen Botanic Park to see the tulips. As you can see above Aimee was dressed appropriately for our floral expedition 💙 Gorgeous tulips as far as the eye can see, in all shapes, sizes and colours, planted so cleverly that as the first blooms fade there is an army of buds ready to take their place...

Although the tulips are the main attraction at the moment there is so much more to see at Araluen Botanic Park..let us follow Aimee and she where she takes us tomorrow :) Happy Thursday, take care and stay safe..

Message board..

As we were leaving the Saku Festival on Sunday the message board above caught my eye and pulled me in to have a read. I'm always super curious to see what people share in a public domain like this. Three that stood out.. this can be true at times..

Depending on how you look at it 😉

Awww this is my favourite, who doesn't enjoy a tribute to hard working mums.. and dads, out there💚 Sorry I haven't been around the last two days, bit of a migraine.. catch up tomorrow. Happy Wednesday, take care and stay safe..