Ghost Gums, Old Glory

Margaret River Getaway

I've been feeling quite stressed, just worn thin and worn out. I haven't had a trip overseas in nearly a year, so I started to look around and see where I could go close to home. One of my girlfriends agreed to come with me, and she even offered to drive. We went down south, to the Margaret River region. Truly an area of outstanding natural beauty, with some of the most gorgeous coastline anywhere.

We stayed 2 nights in a B&B. I got a coupon for half off the room rate, which I thought was good value - and just about what it was worth. Well, it was nice enough, and made a good base for our explorations.

It was such a wonderful, relaxing experience to have no particular place to go, to be free to wander and stop wherever we liked. I tasted lots of excellent wines. I found some gorgeous pottery. Mostly, though, I relaxed.

Busselton Jetty, which at 3 kms long is the longest timber-piered jetty in the Southern Hemisphere.

The other end of the jetty, with the train that runs from one end to the other.

In other news, here is my most recent picture of Buffy:

I gave her a bath this morning, and as usual I ended up taking one as well. 

 

 

Buffy To The Rescue

Well, what a very busy few weeks I've had! My niece was here visiting, that was so much fun. She only had a short trip, and I packed in as much as I could...I'm still recovering! hahaha

I'll be posting our activities a little later, but for now I have a short video to entertain you.

One day last week we were sitting in the kitchen chatting, and I heard the dog barking outside. It was her deep, serious bark. The one that says 'Come here now!! I've found something you need to deal with!' So, I run out back, and she was circling something in the grass. I knew what it had to be before I saw it - a blue-tongued lizard. We have so many here in the warm weather, but it's the first time Buffy had ever seen one.

I have been calling this a goanna  but it is properly called a shingleback, the western blue-tongued lizard. The goanna is a monitor lizard, and this one is a bob-tailed lizard. There's your Aussie wildlife fact for the day.

On to the video!

  

It was really interesting to watch her. She circled, closer and closer. She was smart enough not to charge in when she didn't know what it was. I pulled her away before she could eat it, though. While it's not poisonous, they do bite. But they move so slowly it's not hard to avoid being bitten.

Oh! And! Tonight is our first concert of the season: The Bangles opening for Pat Benatar. w00t!!

I miss the 80's.

 

Always Runnin' Behind

Between the garden, and trying to keep the dog from getting her face scratched off ( Buffy just can't understand why the cats don't want to play with her) and organizing the Thanksgiving meetup, posting has been rather light. For that, I apologize, faithful readers.

I don't have any fresh pictures to share, sorry. I KNOW. But I did want to share the fact that I will be taking my Aussie oath of citizenship in January - on Australia Day. I called the town council office as soon as I passed my test and asked when they had the next ceremony planned. "Australia Day, isn't that exciting?" Um, no yes? Well, when you put it like that, I guess I can't complain about having to wait for 5 MONTHS! Oh wait, I just did, didn't I?

Here's something I discovered on the web. Don't ever say this blog doesn't help you to live your life better.

 

One last thing. I've been migrating some old (OLD) posts over to this blog, and things might look a leetle wonky. Bear with me while I sort it out, ok? OK!

Back in the U.S.

I've been back in the US for a little over a week. It was a quickly thrown together trip, at the last minute, but I needed to be here to take care of some family issues. I was able to spend quite a few days doing as little as possible, and that really helped me to get over the jetlag. No danger of me driving in the wrong lane anymore! (Sorry, Mom).

It's 4th of July weekend, and it's the first one I've spent Stateside in many years. I'm slightly surprised and disappointed not to see more decorations around. As if there's not a lot of pride in being American anymore - that really saddens me. Tomorrow is a cookout with the family, which means chili dogs! YAY!!

I grew up here, and coming back is not very fun. There's nothing to do that I haven't done a thousand times before, and I don't gamble, so have no interest in the casinos. The best part, for me, is that it's less than 3 hours away from NYC on Amtrak. Always has been the best part, now that I think about it.

One day last week we went to Captain Scott's Lobster Dock for some seafood. The New England roadside staples - clam strip roll and lobster roll. It's well known, if you're local, but I never see it mentioned in any writeups on the area. The salt in the air, the gulls wheeling overhead and the ducks begging for scraps - just a perfect backdrop to the freshest, tastiest seafood around.

This is the view from the dock, can't you just smell the salt air? 

Meanwhile at home, Buffy has doubled in size and weight. She's 15 kilos (33 lbs.) so I guess I won't be cradling her in my arms when I get back home. And I don't think I need to mention how sad that makes me. Funny story: I went to the pet store to get a few toys for my fur babies back home. The cashier looked at the pile on the counter and asked me how many dogs I have. I may have gone a little overboard.