magpie attack!

the same day that I saw the turtles, i also had a not so nice nature experience... attack of the magpie! Oh yes, I'd cycled the lake and was just crossing the grass to head home when the magpie swooped in front of me. Obviously at first I just thought it's a flying bird. There are lots of trees at the lake and so there are lots of birds flying about. And i think i said in a previous post, that the birds in the garden are always darting about here and there. But then it came back, and came back, and came back! Hmmm, i thought, this is a deliberate attack! then i remembered seeing something on another australia blog about attacking magpies, so I stopped, got off my bike and walked through the danger zone, keeping one eye firmly on the bird. It was only when i got away from the lake and round the corner that i jumped back on my bike and cycled back to the safety of home! Two days later R came home having also been targeted by the magpie. Now, having done some research, and seen a lot of youtube footage of people being attacked, it would seem that they particularly like cyclists and now is not a good time because they get very defensive of their nests hence their hostility. It sounds like they're smart cookies though and apparently can recognise faces and will attack the same people! Eek! I'm not cycling around lake monger for a few weeks now until the chicks have left the nest and even when walking or jogging, i'm avoiding that patch of grass!

turtle power!

Lake Monger is a hive of activity at the moment. And a few days ago I was lucky enough to see, not one, but two turtles! These turtles are called Oblong Turtles (or long neck turtles) and as you can see from the photo, they have crazy long necks, which are almost as long as their shells. They only come out of the water around this time of year when they're looking for somewhere to lay their eggs. The first one I saw was just pottering about on the grass and then it made it's way back towards to the lake. I then carried on cycling, got round the corner, and then was another one mooching about in the leaves. Hopefully they found some good spots for their egg laying!

(the king of) kings park

Whilst you englanders at home might not wanna hear this, it's been absolutely glorious this week. Today, i'm sitting on the back porch in shorts and flip flops (i'm never ever gonna get used to calling them thongs, that's f'sure), the sky is clear blue, the sun is shining and it's a very lovely 28 degrees! I'm not sure if it's expected to stay this way now through to next March/April, and actually, that's kind of a crazy thought if it does, but i can't really complain. I've now started to put sunblock on as a matter of course in the mornings after getting slightly red on a walk around lake monger last week and we've switched to the lighter duvet (dooner)... wooo hooo! summer is definitely a'coming.

When the sun is shining i feel like i need to get out there and make the most of the day so yesterday, after hot yoga (that's another story!) in the morning, I jumped on my bike with my water bottle, a packet of raisins, my camera and a book and cycled up to kings park. I'd been to Kings Park back in March but at this time of year, it is simply spectacular. The flowers completely put Aruleun Botans to shame; absolutely no comparison, and it's all free! My guide book raves about Kings Park and when i went last summer, I wasn't really sure why. Yeah, it's a beautiful space and great views overlooking the city, but wow, yesterday, i saw it in a completely different light. Not sure if it was the sunlight (late in the afternoon) or the photographer (more than likely) but the photos don't really do the colours justice. But hopefully you'll get the gist of just how beautiful it was - vibrant flowers in all colours - orange, blue, yellow, pink - amazing. I need to learn a lot of the plant names but there's kangaroo paws, which are v. cool looking with a great almost fuzzy texture. The black and green ones looked great but my pictures unfortunately didn't. And the funniest thing that happened was some japanese tourists came over to me with a camera. Ah, i'm thinking, they want me to take a photo of them. Nooo, they wanted to take my photo with one of the boys! I can only assume my pasty white skin and red hair was the reason... and somewhere right now, i'm in someone's holiday snaps on facebook... hmmm!

spiders!

eek, i almost don't even wanna write about them, i'm feeling that icky. And I have now decided that most jobs around the house are now 'man's work' and therefore need to be left for R to sort out when he's home from work. Today, i decided that i was going to have a big spring clean. This lasted as long as it took for me to hose down two chairs on the front porch and find two redback spiders. One shower and intense shampoo later, clothes i was wearing straight in the wash, a google of all the spiders i'm likely to find in western australia and i'm still feeling icky icky icky. I did however manage to go back and finish hosing down the chairs and table. How brave am i.

it's fashion dahling

apparently it's perth fashion week this week... i wouldn't know this particularly because i rarely go into the city these days... unless it's to read magazines for free in Borders. And also because my style at the moment tends to be limited to daywear - lycra for exercising to evening wear - my pink velour pyjama pants (circa 1980s) and a headtorch (for x stitching... i kid you not!) I think i am actually the world's biggest dag. I'm therefore probably not the sort of person they'd want at perth fashion week anyways. But, i saw this on the Guardian website today, which is cute and if i had a printer i would actually print it out and colour it in, but then i do have a lot of time on my hands.

a taste of europe

On our way back from the botans, we stopped off for some tea and cake in east perth. R, on a previous cycle ride, had stumbled across a little area which reminded him of amsterdam or copenhagen and so we went back there. claisebrook cove sits on a little inlet of the swan river and is reminiscent of europe because of it's mismatched architectural houses sitting on the water front (although it's all modern - built in the 1990s on an old industrial site). Faced with the dilemma of cafe (tea and cake) or bar (beer), we went for the sensible former and luckily grabbed a table in the last of the sun and enjoyed a well earned cup of afternoon tea and cake after all that lounging around in the sun at the botans. The cafe was rather cute and R was very taken with his proper china tea cup.

springtime in perth

At the weekend we went to Araleun Botanical Gardens. Or as R kept saying in a really annoying aussie accent, 'the Botans'. We took a picnic (in the loosest possible term - really it was a couple of hardboiled eggs, some pate and a can of coke (singular) which we ate in the car and then got picnic envy when we saw people set up with blankets and hampers), and drove to see the tulips. The best bit was watching the tourists taking 'romantic' pics of each other in the flowers... yup, actually in the flowers, right up in the flower beds, kneeling down, lying down, eye to eye with tulips and daffodils. And now I wish we'd done the same. So i apologise that there are only a few photos of boring flowers and no shots of me scrambling through mud, trampling the flowers in the process so I could be captured dreamily admiring the beautiful colours.

rainbows, sausages and shoes (sorry, sandals)

yesterday i saw a rainbow. ahhhh, pretty. Yesterday, we had sausages for tea... nothing unusual about that.... except... 7 sausages in a pack! That's right, 7. Not 6 or 4, or even 5, but 7. Weird. Yesterday, (and every wednesday because i walk past the same shop), i saw an advert in the window of a surfy type clothes shop. An advert for shoes - shoes for men and women.... except they're not shoes, they're sandals. That's their slogan - 'they're not shoes, they're sandals'. Because sandals are better than shoes? Maybe it's different here but if a boy said he was wearing sandals, i'd laugh. And all i keep thinking of is a scenario where some poor kid is having the mickey taking out of his shoes and him saying 'noooo, they're not shoes, they're sandals', and then being bullied even more.

Must we?

Saturday nite after a work meal (with partners - yesssss, it was a lil' bit scary - all of R's workmates and their respective wives/girlfriends!), we ended up at Must on Beaufort in Highgate. Now, I don't wanna be negative, and I must (ha ha) point out that we didn't eat there (R has eaten there before and apparently the food is good), and I can't complain about the wine, and maybe it's not always like this, and blah blah blah, I'm really not slating it, but, omg! Twas a lil' bit strange. I really felt like i'd gone back to the 90s. It was basically a wine bar (even saying those two words together makes me shudder slightly) with a, let's say, mature clientele. 40 something was the youngest and at 32, i felt positively youthful. there were lots of suave men with silver hair and laydees dressed up. And when I txt ian to (snootily, i know) snigger about this experience, he reminded me of the only fools and horses episode where del boy's in a 'yuppie' bar. Anyways, i won't be rushing to go back.... but maybe in 10 years, i'll be a regular.

my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard

... unfortunately, the truth is probably quite the opposite, as i'm sure anyone who saw me at zumba class this morning would testify. oh dear! So, i've jumped on the bandwagon for the dance workout class that is sweeeeeeeeping the nation. For those who don't know, google it... actually youtube it and have a lil' practice at home in the privacy of your kitchen/living room. Loud music, crazy instructors and a lot of booty shaking... although in this case at 11 in the morning, a lot of inhibited women nervously giggling watching the two frenetic instructors milkshaking (this is a move apparently) and whooping. owwwwwwwwweeeeeeeeeeeeee! But a lot of fun, and once sarah and i had got into it a bit more it was just a case of going with the flow. The primary school kids who were having a tour of the leisure centre must have wondered what the hell was going on. Having completed my beginners yoga course (level 2 has moved to friday mornings) zumba is now the thursday morning activity of choice. I didn't realise however just how uncoordinated i am. Still, if it sorts out my fat knees, i'm definitely a zumba convert.