Knitted Knockers

Storms have abounded these last 2 weeks, I think most of the south west of WA has been battered and saturated.  For us the water tanks are overflowing and a few branches down but otherwise unscathed.  Often after a big storm, there is a big swell in the ocean, and the thing to do in Albany when there's a big swell is to visit The Gap and Natural Bridge.  As it turns out, big swell day was also our Embroidery group day, and as The Gap is only a 15 minute drive from Embroidery, I kidnapped three of the ladies, and we wagged embroidery for an hour and nipped out to see the ocean.  The day was bright and sunny, giving a beautiful view over the Natural Bridge, but you could hear the undertones of the rumbling and whooshing of the power of the ocean swells.

Turning around and looking towards The Gap you can see what a 7 1/2 metre swell can do.  Can you see those tiny people on the platform of The Gap, absolutely dwarfed by the humungous spray coming up from the deep.  It was so exhilarating and majestic to watch.  

 One of the trees alongside where we park our cars has been slowly growing a  very large branch that was leaning towards the cars and we've been a bit worried about it crashing down and squashing them, so Steve decided the branch had to go.  He didn't relish the idea of being up the ladder with the chain saw, so he took the opportunity to test out the limits of the new reciprocating saw, a much safer option.  It did a darn good job, slower than the chain saw, but with the same result of the removal of the offending branch and keeping our cars safe.

 I was driving home along Cosy Corner Rd the other day and I just had to pull over and photograph this beautiful sight.  That rainbow ended in the cow paddock, just past where the cows were grazing.  So pretty.  I scanned the paddock for the pot of gold but the leprechaun that guards it must have hidden it well.  :-)

 We visited Goode Beach earlier this week and had a nice walk.  Halfway along the beach, where the sand meets the bush, you come across this stone marker, with the plaque telling you that this freshwater spring was discovered by Captain Vancouver in 1791.  The spring runs constantly I believe, and generations of Albany children have spent busy days at Goode Beach, trying to change the course of the spring with buckets and buckets of sand, but the spring always prevails in the end and goes on its merry way as always.

 We also stopped at Misery Beach, a tiny, beautiful beach with perfect white sand and an amazing view over the beautiful King George Sound.  I love the light in the photo, shining through the clouds gathering over the water.

 And this is the view from the path to the carpark, showing a bit more of King George Sound.  I am trying to find out the origin of the name Misery Beach, so far it has been suggested it was so named in whaling days, as this beach used to get offal washing up from the whaling station nearby.  I thought I had also read something historical about a group of people being marooned on the beach and as there was no fresh water, had a hell of a time.  I need to spend more time on this to get the right answer, I love a good mystery!

On Thursday mornings I go to a craft group at the Elleker Tavern.  Usually we just do our own thing, but this week we all helped out with a good cause.  What do you think you are looking at here?  No clue?  We were stuffing knockers!  They are called Knitted Knockers, and they are made for ladies who have had a mastectomy.

The organisation Knitted Knockers Australia , has volunteers knitting soft, comfortable boobs for mastectomy patients to pop into their bras to regain some shape.  They are given to patients free which I think is a wonderful wonderful thing.  One of our Elleker crafters, Robyn, is a member, so she came to craft with a pile of knitted knockers that required stuffing, so that's what we did, stuffed them and then sewed them up. 

So, how many of you staggered out of bed last night to see the Blood Moon?  We kept opening our eyes and peeping out the window, seeing heavy cloud, so expected to miss it, but just before 4am we had a brief period of a crystal clear sky, so we popped outside to see stars everywhere, and a beautiful orange/red moon with a bright bright Mars alongside.  I was too tired and cold to get the camera out so sorry, no photo! 

Until next time....xx