35 Years!

See this handsome couple here?  Hard to believe that's us!  That was taken back in 1979 when we'd been going out for about six months.  On April 3rd we celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary.  Far out! -)

We decided to treat ourselves to a trip on the Kalgan Queen, something we've always been meaning to do.  It's a four hour boat trip from Emu Point, across Oyster Harbour and up the Kalgan River.  It was a great day out and the skipper was a mind full of local folklore and information.  I never knew why Emu Point was named thus, it was nothing to do with emus, it was in fact named after a boat belonging to explorer William Wentworth.

 This is Perch the Pelican, isn't she gorgeous.  She was hand reared by the skipper, Jack, after he found her caught up in fishing line when she was a youngster.  She delighted us all by wandering up and down the side of the boat, then catching a couple of herring that were tossed into the air by Jack.

Oyster Harbour is huge and shallow, with one deep channel across it.  I didn't know that it is theorised that wayyyyy back, Oyster Harbour was dry and the deep Kalgan River ran across it and out into King George Sound, then sea levels rose, flooding the Harbour and the river bed remains as the deep section across it.

 This is Green Island, a nature reserve right smack in the middle of Oyster Harbour.  It is a breeding ground for many birds, but in particular, it is one of only four breeding grounds for the pelican in the whole of Western Australia.

 Jack throws out two fish for each of two Sea Eagles that swoop down and grab them, it was quite a sight.  We've never seen a sea eagle before.

 Here they are atop a giant, dead, Norfolk Island Pine tree.

 We choofed under the Kalgan Bridge and headed up river.

 The Kalgan is a beautiful river and it abounds with various birdlife

 This is an Australian Darter, it has a neck like a snake and apparently keeps its wings open underwater to help it shoal the fish to catch them. 

 Meanwhile, on the home front, hello Lucy and Rabbit.  The roos are enjoying the flush of green grass that has sprung up after the recent rain.

 We are enjoying our apples.  These lovely red ones are Red Fujis, our best apples I think.  Nothing better than plucking one straight from the tree and munching on it whilst have a walk around. 
I am still up to my eyeballs in tomatoes too!  I've made bolgonese, tomato sauce, dried tomatoes, chopped tomatoes for in the freezer for winter cooking, we've eaten trillions, given them away, the ducks love eating them as long as I squish them or slice them first, I think I need to make more sauce with the next batch.

 The weather has been up and down between cold and warm, dry and wet.  Voldemort enjoys the sunny days, he bakes himself out the front on the warm concrete.  He looks rather sleepy and contented don't you think :-)

 

This is the trolley that we tow behind Helga the ride-on mower when we want to move stuff around.  It's become rather decrepit and rusty being out in the weather.  The wheel bearings were stuffed a while ago and it has been very rickety.  The final straw was when I pulled it along by the handle and the whole handle fell off, rusted through.  Now we could have spent $250 on a new one, but instead my clever husband spent about $20 on some new wheel bearings, and he forged a new handle by welding some bits of spare square tubing together and even finding a piece of squishy tubing to make the handle comfortable to hold.  As good as new!

 Meanwhile I have been busy on the crochet front.  This is dad's beanie in the making.

 And the finished article, measured for size on a partly inflated balloon.

 And here is dad, wearing his beanie, that fits! I hope it keeps you nice and warm dad xx

 I've also joined a Crochet Along which involved crocheting 35 squares, two or three of 12 different patterns, then putting them all together into a blanket.  We use our chosen colour scheme throughout all the blocks, although the order of the colours change.  The colours I chose are Petrol, Sage, Meadow, Parchment, Camel and Duck Egg Blue. This is square number one!  And yes, I know I also have my Mandala Madness blanket too, that is sitting forlornly in the corner of the sewing room at present.  I like to have a few things on the go, so I can chop and change. :-)