Hello, I hope everyone is well and happy it is March! Things have been, well, hot here and we continue to sweat and remember you all are dealing with snow and wet, etc.
On Tuesday, Feb 20th, I took the
bus into the city in the evening and attended a lecture at the Western Australia Museum called
“Dressing Desires: Girls, Gowns, and Bridal Fantasies,” part of their Unveiled
exhibit. Don’t get any ideas, I wont be wearing a white dress any time soon, I
just thought this would be an interesting lecture as it was by a Professor from
the Curtin University School of Design and Art. It was mildly intriguing, but I
left feeling very happy it was a free event and feeling very spoiled with the
education I received. It basically was just a survey of bridal magazines
with the conclusion that wedding dresses are white and wedding dress models are
young and white. The main resource was a 1999 study published in an American
journal. I could have figured out as much from standing in line at the grocery
store, but I went, listened, and I am no worse for it!
Wednesday evening Matt arrived back home, we stayed in for dinner. I made mushroom lasagna.
On
Thursday I thought we were going to the hardware store to pick up materials for
Matt to repair the patio table. (It was broken a while ago when a friend of a
friend who was over decided to throw someone onto the table…obviously, I wasn’t
around when this happened, but I have been pestering Matt about the money he
would lose from the deposit if it were left with a gaping hole in it, and he
agreed it was time to fix it). Instead of heading straight to Bunnings,
however, we just kept driving into The Swan Valley!
The whole time I was in Perth before, I never made it to the
nearest wine region. There are also breweries, restaurants, and produce stands.
It is only about a 20-minute drive from the city. Our first stop was Feral
Brewing, which Matt loves because it sounds like Ferrell. It is a really nice
place with lots of tables inside and out, they brew about 20 varieties of beer
and we ordered a tasting menu of six mini beers. They were all tasty, though we
liked some better than others, and the food menu looked very nice. A return
trip might be in order!
Next we stopped at Olive Farm Wines, which actually
didn’t have any olives, so uh, very misleading. To make up for that the wine I
tasted was very good and the girl working was friendly. We bought two bottles
that we didn’t really need…next we stopped at Whistler Chocolate Factory, tried
the free samples and browsed. I think Matt thought I was crazy when I bought a
small bag of chocolate covered pretzels. He changed his mind once I opened it!
Our last stop of the trip was at Twin Hill Wines. There we sampled cheese,
wine, and port. Matt bought a 2-liter bottle of port for $20 and was very
happy. We also got cheese and another bottle of wine, so I was happy too. (We
have just gone over our spending for the month of February and determined there
will be no more winery/brewery visits for some time!).
On the way back to Perth we stopped at Bunnings for supplies
and that afternoon Matt fixed the table! Looks almost good as new – hopefully
good enough to avoid notice by the property manager! We grilled out that
evening and enjoyed eating off a complete, whole table!
On Friday, we made a trip to the grocery store and the
liquor store, since those are two separate places here, and prepared for
several of Matt’s work friends to come over that evening. I made 7-layer
Mexican hit which went over muy bien! It was a pretty relaxed evening with
everyone sitting around the (complete) table, chatting and enjoying each
other’s company. By the end of the night, Matt and I had plans with Galina and
Peter to visit Ethan and Louise at Ethan’s house in Bunbury the next day.
So, Saturday, we drove down to Mandurah and had a nice lunch
with Peter and Galina, and continued on to Bunbury, which is about two and a
half hours’ drive south of Perth. Ethan and Louise had been busy making pizza
dough and we all made individual pizzas! Matt and I decided to take advantage
of the cool evening temperature and get in the hot tub. The others stayed in
and watched TV while we had fun boiling ourselves outside. The next morning,
after devouring pancakes made Bulgarian-style by Galina, we went to the lookout
tower (photo op!)
and then to check out some basalt rock nearby. This is just
how it goes when you are with four geologists.
Apparently basalt is special
because it forms hexagons. I learn something everyday. After staring at and
climbing on the basalt, we wandered town and eventually made it to the Parade
Hotel where we enjoyed a drink and were entertained by a dolphin fishing in
front of us.
On the way back to Perth we stopped at the Old Coast Road Brewery
and had a late meal. The place was huge – and had olive trees all over,
unadvertised olives. The world makes sense again!
After enjoying our food and
drink, Ethan and Louise headed back to Bunbury and Matt and I, and Peter and
Galina drove to Perth. Matt managed to stay off line and watch the rugby match
recorded from earlier that day with no clue which team would win. England did,
thank goodness!
Monday morning we got up and opened a bottle of champagne!
And orange juice! It was time for the Oscars at 9:30 AM! In addition to
mimosas, or Buck’s Fizz as they are called in England – see, always learning -
we also had Danishes and brioches from the New Norcia Bakery in Mt Hawthorn. We
had filled out our ballots the night before. I ended up getting 12 right and Matt
got 4 right, but he did get Best Picture right, so pretty even I guess.
On Tuesday we took a drive to Hillary’s Boat Harbour,
which has a water park, the aquarium, shops and restaurants, and had lunch there. We
didn’t have enough time or energy for the aquarium, but we do plan to go soon.
That evening we made our second attempt at pizza on the BBQ, and our results
are improving!
Since Matt has been back at Plutonic, I have been working on
translating training PowerPoint’s for Siegwerk, cleaning out the garage which
is mostly full of the home owners belongings and a few of ours as well, and
looking at rental properties (a little bit obsessively). The good news is,
wherever we move, you are welcome to visit and stay with us, just not all at
once!
This week when Matt is home we won’t be up to much, mostly
searching for places online and then making appointments to check them out. I
will feel much better once we know where we are going! I am sure we will find
time to hit the beach or something fun in between house inspections.
Early birthday greetings to my Aunt Erin, and congrats to my
brother who, only a couple months after returning to the US from Costa Rica,
has landed a job in DC and moves there in under two weeks!
Thanks for reading,
Jane
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