John has experience, but this was my FIRST time on a real 4×4 dirt track. I learned when the guide book says, “Engage four wheel drive low range.” that in 4×4 talk, this actually means “Don’t go down that track, there will be ruts deep enough to fit small children!”...
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ~ John 3:16 Sometimes on the weekends, John and I will take drives to the country. I really enjoy it. Our little “escapes” sometimes leads us...
The last visit we made on our wedding anniversary was a visit, or should I say, re-visit to Castle Rock beach. We first went to Castle Rock with Laura in 2010, and because she loved it so much there, it quickly became a favorite place of mine. We thought about...
Still our anniversary, moving on from Busselton, Reptiles, and ice cream, we went to Cowaramup. We had passed through this ‘cow town’ before, so it felt a little “deja moo.” Cowaramup. The name is believed to be derived from Aboriginal word Cowara, meaning Purple-crowned Lorikeet. Locals from the region often...
Continuing on with our anniversary celebration, it was a day for spiders and snakes. Now I know my husband is familiar with Jim Stafford’s song, Spiders and Snakes, and he should know that wedding anniversaries should be filled with romance, but he took me to a reptile house anyway. Later...
Last year, for our 3 year wedding anniversary, we were far apart. This made our 4 year anniversary extra special. So much so, that we packed a lot into the one day, and I will blog about it over the next few blogs instead of just one. We decided to...
This was going to be my first Sculptures by the Sea. I don’t know why we hadn’t gone any of the summers I had been here before. This year, we went twice. (Something that just seems to happen, that we have to go to the same event twice). Given that...
Georgie, John’s sister, gave him his 50th Birthday party, so when she suggested she do the 60th, it seemed right. Initially I had thought to have John’s birthday at the Perth Zoo, but the expense of renting a place was just too much, so Georgie and I went with a...
As I write this, 4 years ago tomorrow John and I got married. Last year we missed our own wedding anniversary, we weren’t together as I was caring for my very sick mom. Not that she liked it that way. Had it been up to her she would have sent...
So Valentine’s Day came upon us, our 4th as husband and wife. We went to Perth’s Laser show. Deciding what we were going to do was another thing. We had missed last Valentines together. We couldn’t let this one just go by without some sort of celebration. We decided to...
We drove through York once in 2010, but we had never gone back. Since it’s Historic, we thought it might be a nice Sunday afternoon outing. We went to church, we ate our lunch, and then we were off. York is the oldest inland town in Western Australia, situated 97...
We missed last year’s Australia Day. This year, we decided to go South of the river and meet up with The Olsens.For our photos this year, we thought it might be interesting to have the City of Perth to look at with the fireworks. At last it was time for...
Today, John and I went somewhere different. We actually made a few stops down the coast. One that was rather beautiful was Point Peron. From the video, you can tell how windy it was today.
John and I had been to Roadside America once before together, yet I wanted to go again, this time with the children. Roadside America is a model railroad miniature village. It’s located in Pennsylvania. It’s made with a lot of attention to detail. It was kind of interesting to see...
So we had a unusually warm holiday season between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but it was on a chilly night Enric invited us around the fire. Not a holiday decorated fireplace in the house, no, the firepit in our cold back yard.
With the grandchildren. Which is the part that made it an adventure. I am not sure why, but I didn’t think we were ever going to get Silas out of the Bass Pro Shop. This post makes it look easy, but they kept us hopping, but it was so worth...
Perhaps Christmas at Georgie’s will be an annual event, as this is now year two that we have it. Since Georgie and I both believe that Christmas is a season, not one day, and we’d be crazy to do all the work and expense of it for JUST one day,...
As lakes go, Lake Gwelup is a very nice place to go. We’ve been before and have always enjoyed going. This time we went to see the rainbow bee eaters, but we saw a few more kinds of birds than that.
When do you travel 4 hours out of your way for lunch? When it’s the Berry Farm Café and the blue ferry wrens eat with you!
For our third walk of the day, (not bad for a recovering sprained ankle?), we went on the Tuart Walk. The highlight of this walk are the majestic tuart trees which grow up to 40 metres high and occur in the 420 kilometre strip between Busselton in the south to...
Many years ago, Petra sent me this precious book about Gnomes. My interest in these unknown beings began there. So when I learned there was a place in Western Australia called Gnomesville, it was a must-see place to go! And off John and I went! Gnomesville is literally a place...
Kings Park was having a plant sale, and after a day at the Royal Show, it seemed like a nice, relaxing thing to do after church. And it was. So we bought some plants for our garden, and then we went for a stroll, around a different part of Kings...
I tried before and couldn’t do it, so I know better this time: I can’t write just one blog about the Perth Royal Show, I must do it over a few blogs. I will start with just some random moments at the Show: One section of the show, they let...
Weekends are kind of like spin the wheel and see where we go this time. Dwellingup became our next destination. Dwellingup is an Aboriginal name said to mean “place of nearby water”. Which I will buy that, there was lovely water ‘nearby’ for sure.
In Australia, Father’s day is in September. So is the Kings Park Wildflower Festival. Why not combine the two? That is what Naomi and I had decided.
One day we had new friends over for dinner, this was the first time they had been to our house. One quick look at the front yard and Pauline said, “Hey John, you have your own private bush-land right here.” I was rather touched how she just noted and stated...
Unlike the computer that tried to die on us and we had to replace, we knew for a while now that we needed to replace John’s 1997 car. What we didn’t know was what a difficult decision it was going to be. Do we replace it with a new, small...
Before church we had a morning bushwalk, after church, we went for a drive. We ended up at a place called Christmas Tree Well off of Brookton Highway.
We’ve been awake awhile and it’s still not time for church, what to do? Go for a walk in Koondoola Bush. I think we enjoyed our time in God’s creation before Sunday worship.
So I arrive in Australia, ready to relax some, as the last 8 months have been grueling. I figure, I will play some on my game, work when it comes in, and enjoy restful weekends with John. That was not to be the plan, his computer started to have problems...
The more I dig into the family history of the Buckwalters, the more it points to origins of Switzerland. Today I found this old photo. It’s marked on the back as Mary Buckwalter. This lady married a Buckwalter. Mary would have been my mother’s father’s mother, Mary Buzzard. (The Buzzard...
“How many smurfs did it take to get the water that blue?”~Miquel Lopez
Rubí turns 5 and wanted a skating party. Naturally since Pop Pop couldn’t be there, he asked me to make a movie! He didn’t have to ask me twice. 🙂 Back at home… Rubí seemed to LOVE her birthday party. I know I sure did!
When he’s not playing the piano, Ezra seems happiest when he’s on his feet using his legs. He wants to walk.
