Vancouver , Stanley Park

Hello! Here we are looking particularly windswept on the trolley bus. The trolley is a tourist hop-on-hop-off service which we rode for 2 days. In typical fashion the drivers point out areas of interest, tell stories, provide history of the area as they drive you around. There are many stops throughout the city and you jump off wherever you want to explore and hop back on when you are ready to head to another venue. We often walked between bus stops and then jumped back on to rest out feet. Another bonus was that it stopped one street over from our unit so it got us close to home at the end of a long day.
We ventured out to Stanley Park both days that we rode the trolley and were very pleased to have done so. The Park is Vancouver's oldest park and covers 1000 acres. It's situated quite close to the city centre yet seems quite separate as it is on a little piece of land that juts out into the harbour. There are many beautiful gardens (I've contained myself to one photo, knowing others are not quite as taken with gardens), as well as areas wooded with hemlock, cedar and fir. There were many walking trails throughout the park that meandered in and out as well as a long walk around the seawall that edged the park. All were quite well used at all hours of the day. On our first visit we were most surprised to see a cricket match taking place. Don't really think about Canada being a cricket playing country. It was lovely to see the boys out in their whites.
Just near the kids aquatic play area we found this little beauty (photo above). It is a drier! You push the button on the right and stand inside and air gets blown all over you to dry you. How cool and funny is that! Obviously you don't dry in 2 seconds flat in the sun like we do here so technology was introduced.

Walking along the sea wall we were very fortunate to see a whale! We saw it twice in three days actually so lady luck was definitely shining on us. It was about 20m off shore so very close. Evidently whales are not frequent visitors to the harbour so this was special.

Vancouver

After a long 30 hour transit (lots of waiting around airports) we finally arrived in the very lovely Vancouver. We had a fantastic location in the city within walking distance of most things and with a variety of bus routes running by our door. The above photo is taken from our unit on the 21st floor. We could see the water and mountains in 2 different directions from our dining room which was a treat.

We spent the greater part of one day visiting Granville Island, seen above. It was within walking distance of our unit and we took this as we walked over the bridge. The markets here were our point for visiting and we were both in raptures. Me over the fresh produce - huge punnets of berries, stalls of gorgeous vegetables and herbs, the brightest coloured salmon you've ever seen, fresh meats and I could go on. All I wanted to do was shop up and go home and cook up a meal worthy of the produce. My sweet, darling husband however nearly went into a state of paralytic indecision when he came upon this counter (which goes on around the corner for much the same distance). His not-to-be-denied sweet tooth almost went into meltdown at all the sugary goodness awaiting it. We are so very different!

We shared a table and a huge punnet of cherries with the sweetest Chilean lady who lives in Sydney with her daughter. She was off on a cruise to Alaska as were nearly all the other Aussies and Kiwis that we met.

Another day we spent wandering down to Gas Town which really emphasised the European feel of Vancouver with wrought iron lamps and fixtures, cobbles, cafes and the like. We took an obligatory look at the steam clock which was a novel experience. It appealed to Jeff's mechanical engineering background, where as I was rather more taken by how it blew steam and tooted like a train to signal the hour. Oh my sophisticated views. Upon reflection it was lucky we took these early in the morning before the crowds set in and swallowed it in a sea of people. We found that shops opened later than at home so we beat the crowds by chance rather than good planning.

I shall post more on Vancouver and our trip tomorrow. Sorry it's taken so long, I didn't have blog access whilst on the road and have hit the ground running since I arrived home.

Road trip

We recently went on a weekend roadtrip out to the Bunya Mountains and Kingaroy. We wanted to show Kathrine a bit of our extended local area before she returned home to Denmark. The above playground was something we stopped near on the trip out. I included it to show that many of our playgrounds here have shade covering to provide sun protection. Our schools also have No Hat, No Play policies as part of the sunsmart programme. We have the highest incidence of skin cancer in the world here so these measures are important. Now you girls in the Northern Hemisphere will know what I've been talking about when referring to the above shade covers!
The Bunya Mountains are about 2 hours west of us and are a popular place for winter get aways, bushwalking and wildlife watching. The wallaby and her sweet joey pictured above where sitting conveniently, next to the path near the toilets and little information hut. They were quite at ease letting me get close.
Funky fungi that reminded me of Avatar.
The cloud rolled in when we were on the track to Paradise Falls, fortunately most of the rain missed us. I walked to the first falls and then let Kathrine and Jeff head off for the longer walk while I read in the car.
I just love cows in paddocks particularly when the sky looks so promising!

Ahhem. Hang head in embarrassment. This post is from August (it's now October) and I just found it in my posts to be edited. Better late than never I suppose.

The Abbey Medieval Festival

J and I bundled ourself off to the Abbey Medieval Festival recently. It's the largest medieval festival in Australia and it was surprisingly busy. It took us 45 minutes to get through the gates - loooong line. Once in J decided to immediately line up again, this time for coffee! I wandered over to watch the fencing (as in sword fighting). I was still happily perched on my bale of hay watching the fencing some 30 odd minutes later when J arrived with the coffee. Yes, the coffee line was HUGE also as were the food lines later in the day.
The father of one of the fencers kindly gave me some information on the sport that clarified a bit of what I was seeing. Fencing is a martial art so each of the fencers was graded. In the above photo you see a blue sash hanging down with 3 white stripes on it, this indicates what grade the fencer is. White I think was the first grade and these individuals were only allowed to do a block and an attack before stepping back so were a bit disjointed to watch. The fellow above and a gentleman wearing a silver sash (for swordsman, highest grade) just went at it with each other and were brilliant to watch. The all remained in role throughout which was a bit of fun too.
During our wanderings we came to a Viking settlement and found this dear sweet little one drinking milk from a horn. Her grandmother had just finished making butter in a large wooden bowl. She had tied a bunch of dried reeds together to use as a whisk. I forgot to ask how long it took! You can see her loom leaning on the tree behind her. All the clothes seemed handmade and from the coarser handmade fabrics you would expect.
We crossed paths with these lovely ladies over near the jousting - yes people, there was real jousting, horses, armour the lot. I just thought they were so gorgeous I had to ask if I could take their pictures.
I have never seen so much gorgeously healthy long flowing hair and that wasn't just the women, it seemed to be the favoured style for men too.
I didn't get to see the cooking displays that I was interested in as we were still trying to get through the front gates at the time. Will have to go back next year for another attempt and this time I'll buy my ticket online ahead of schedule!

What I wrote while procrastinating over a post title

We had a lovely little Sunday outing up the range today. For a more extensive write up and pictures click here to visit my other blog. I'm making an effort not to double post.
On the creativity front I made this cute bouquet of vintage and new buttons. Absolutely cruddy photo doesn't do it justice. It is SO VERY CUTE! I used florists wire and simply threaded it through the button holes before doubling it back on itself. I made stacks of buttons to form the flowers. Easy, therapeutic and fun to do. I became addicted but unfortunately ran out of buttons. The lovely Miss Heilala, our very own Tongan sister gave me some of the buttons for this. Thank you Lala and Malo e lelei!! I may have a new source though as my brother-in-law's Aunty evidently has an enormous stash. Aunty Rett, here I come!

Sorry, things have slowed down here on Heart's Landscapes, I've become a bit more focussed on Belladonna's Garden. Will need to get my head into dual blog space and get back into posting here. Thanks for being patient.

I'm still here

Yes I still exist. I've not fallen off the face of the earth or been abducted by aliens. It's just been very busy and I am still working out how to get my photos from my new swanky camera to my blog.

Here is aforementioned new swanky camera. It comes in anti-Jeff pink, and is waterproof to 3 metres which is great for all the splashy happiness that goes on there. Looking forward to getting some action shots of the kids in the pool this summer.

Been back sleeping this week, 3 days so far which is something to keep an eye on. I must admit to having been quite busy and active. I've increased my exercise as well as being busy. We had a day at the beach with little M (2), and Miss R (4), then Miss R stayed with us for 3 days. I've had 2 days out attending meetings, getting haircut etc and I spent one very hectic morning supervising a prep class at a local school. I go to help out in my nephews class and supervised the kids while the teacher did some end of term testing. I'd forgotten how full on, quirky and cute 5 year olds are! Fun.

Rob, glad to hear you are feeling better. You'll be horrified to know that I've been given yet another Farah Fawcett haircut. OMG, what was the lady thinking! Why do you and your scissors live so far away!

A winner for dinner

Tonight for dinner I made Seafood Marinara with fettucine. Oh my, it turned out very well so I thought I'd share the recipe.

Ingredients:
Red (Spanish) onion, finely chopped
Garlic, 2 or 3 cloves
Anchovies 4
1/2 cup white wine (or water if you prefer)
1Tbsp tomato paste
Tin of tomatoes, crushed
100grams of marinara mix per person
8 kalamata olives
Greens (I used baby spinach and kale)
Lemon (add some zest to meal or simply squeeze some lemon to taste over food)
Method.

1. Add onion and garlic to pan with chopped anchovies and cook until soft and onion is going clear.
2. Add wine, tomato paste and tinned tomato and cook until reduced slightly.
3. Add marinara mix and simmer until cooked (time depends on thickness of fish etc, usually about 3-4 mins)
4. Add chopped olives and greens. Turn off heat and stir through. Allow to sit while serving up pasta or rice. This allows your greens time to wilt without becoming mush.
5. Eat and enjoy. You could top with fresh herbs like parsley and basil but I didn't tonight and it was still beautiful.
I served this with fettucine tonight but rice, quinoa, noodles and the like would be just as successful. J has been away on a scouts canoeing camp so unfortunately there are no leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Hungry boy.