Yesterday, Friday the 30th August, I took myself out of the house for a drive over to my old home town of Denmark (Western Australia). I had a wee touch of cabin fever and needed to get out and see the world. The first place I went to was the beach and I took photos of the sand bar opening. It is opened most years around mid to late August when flooding of farmers fields and rivers leads to this bridging of the sand to alleviate the flooding of Wilsons Inlet. You can see the lovely green sea water pushing in to regenerate and oxygenate the inlet. Thousands/millions of baby snapper and adult fish that have been breeding and growing in the inlet congregate around the sand bar waiting for it’s opening so they can head off to the ocean for whatever it is they do out there (have wild parties and wake up in strange unusual places?) 😀
Here is another angle of the bar opening taken looking back into the inlet.
You can see the old Denmark surf club building perched to the left of the shot. The way the bar has opened, it has torn away most of the beach and dug out a huge big trench along the front of the club rooms.
The little black dots you can see here just out from the mouth of the bar opening are a bunch of dedicated surfers that wait eagerly each year for the bars opening to make full use of the new big waves that form here. Myself, I would be wearing wetsuits that don’t make you look like a seal as some pretty big old sharks like to congregate here waiting for the fish escaping from the inlet :O
In years gone by, I would come over to Denmark and take my Mum out for a meal. Just the two of us usually. Sometimes we’d be joined by my daughters and sometimes by my partner but more often than not, it would be me and Mum. Now she’s been dead these past 2 years, I haven’t gone back to one of our favorite restaurants for a long time. Yesterday, I plucked up the courage to go it alone and I had a most wonderful meal even if I did feel at odds with my memories. I had a wonderful bowl of Mrs Jones Gnocchi served with a basil and cream pesto, sundried tomatoes and parmesan cheese. Such a heartwarming and delicious meal of little fat, fluffy potatoey morsels in a rich sauce with some lovely crisp potato skins on top.
Sorry it’s a bit blurry. My phone camera was salivating apparently 😀 I also had a yummy cappuccino to help me on my way.
I also lashed out and bought a “Trevatt” apricot tree and 3 potted Winter Lace Lavender plants that have bees buzzing about them already! I’m not allowed to plant out the Apricot till new year the garden guy said as he had just transplanted it into the big garden bag so it can grow new roots. I just soaked it in a good fish emulsion (Seasol) as soon as I got it back to Albany and the plants are looking mighty fine this morning. I’m hoping this apricot will be producing very soon and can be well established by the time my poor old other apricot finally dies.
The above group of pictures shows a few of my fruit trees, in order the Satsuma Plum and the double grafted Yellow and White Nectarine and my gorgeous blue Iris that are flowering or attempting to 😀
I leave you with another springish like flower that curiously likes to grow around the base of certain rose bushes in pots. I call it Bubbles Pussycatus 😀
See you all in the Spring!
cathyandchucky 
I was just trawling through old photos from mums little portable hard drive that we got from her PC when I was over there and found a lovely picture of mum all dolled up with a glass of red raising it to the camera. It was from one of your jaunts together and she always loved them and couldn’t wait to share what a wonderful time and how delicious her meal was. I think spring is definitely on its way all over Australia. Our nectarines are out in full flower (next step, erect tents around them so that the possums can’t eat them this year!) and its lovely to see your iris’s. Glad you plucked up the courage to go to Mary Rose, you can do it for mum from now on :). Remember that gorgeous gnocchi that I got when we went down to Hobart that time? YUM! Must have another go at making them…
Yeah that was a great place in Hobart. Was it called Sugo or Soda or some other four letter word starting with S! That photo of Mum was taken at a place that Jim was renting up off lights beach road before he and Debbie moved to Perth. I can’t remember which birthday of Mums it was though. 65th? maybe. I found some gluten free gnocchi at Woollies and will be using it sometime but I bet it wont be as soft and fluffy as the gnocchi from Mrs Jones.
http://www.mrsjones.com look it up sis xox
LOL I just went to that site and it was for sale… are you trying to tell me something sis? You want to go into business with your big sis? ;). Wherever mum was she appeared to be happy and I saw it today and thought of how happy you used to make her when you took her out for a meal. It just seemed like she was raising that glass of red to you today when you posted about taking her out before so consider her happiness yours because you certainly did make her incredibly happy when you treated her :). I don’t buy gnocchi from Woollies as it isn’t the same as that place in Hobart. I can’t remember what it was called either which is probably a bit of a worry as I only saw it a couple of weeks ago with Kym!!! Sigh… 😉
Some lovely photos of the inlet Cathy, and what a lovely memory to have of you and your mum ❤
Yeah, as much as I could get cranky at Mum sometimes I would give anything to go have a meal and a catch up. I guess I see her every day still but she’s not very talkative up on the sideboard in her decorative urn 😀