awol and far too busy

I'm not quite sure what I've been doing with myself over the last couple of weeks, it seems to have gotten away from me rather rapidly....that and I decided not to turn my computer on for a week....


Lets see .....  


DS16 is home from Germany, now its feels like he never left, 

DS4 and I made special cookies that he got for Christmas,

They never turn out quite like the picture do they .... we had fun though!

We found some fig trees on the side of the road, had a 'picking session' and made jam,

Do you see that red splash right in the middle of the photo .... that's DH climbing the tree!

Went crabbing in the Swan River in Perth,

DD19 had her last procedure (hopefully) and has been pain free - the first time in months,

Did some more fishing and camping on the beach,

This time with good friends,

Hubby quit his job, took a pay cut and went back to his old company .... in his words ' family comes first and working 60 - 70 hours a week is detrimental to our family life', 

At last I got some tomatoes,

Today we finally get a break in the heatwave, 

Why does it take nothing to feel exhausted these days??

time to chill

After what seemed like the maddest few weeks before Christmas, it was so nice to just get away from it all, if it was only for one night.  

Usually we head off on a 2 - 3 week holiday following Christmas but this year decided to stay home, partly for financial reasons and also to get stuck into a few jobs we've been putting off around the house.

One of our favourite spots close to home is 'Whitehills'.  Its really just a long stretch of beach that used to be a great fishing spot.  Sadly, it's been quite some years since we've caught anything decent.  These days its more about the experience than what we catch.  Having said that though, we love fish but refuse to buy it, so if we want to eat it we have to catch it!

Here's a sneak ..... be warned, there's lots ....


DD21 got a little frustrated with her fishing when ....

DD4 caught more than her!!

A selection of cold meats, salads, pickles followed by Christmas pudding and custard, mmmm.

I sat up here in the sand dunes, just watching

loving and never forgetting how lucky we are to have the opportunity to do this ...

all while witnessing another spectacular West Australian sunset ....

this is how I like my beach time, private ....

We threw our swags out where we wanted ....

there's still a big lump in one of them, how she can sleep that long on the beach I'll never know ....

the scene that greeted me when I finally stuck my head out .... it's one of my favourite things, to wake up on the beach, listening to the water

DH had been up for hours fishing again .... 

we even made a special beach 'snowman' for DS16 over in Germany ....

we watched dolphins feeding and surfing in on the waves (no pics unfortunately), had so much fun playing in the surf and sand, before heading home with our catch .... 

no biggies, but enough for a few meals ... which is enough!

Hope you're finding some time to wind down and relax :)

fishing pics

Here are some fishy pics that I promised you.

There are strict limits on the amounts you can take on all fish species.  These are absolutely adhered, being avid fishermen we believe in 'fishing for the future'.  There are hefty penalties of fines and confiscation of cars and craft.  We fully support this as do our fishing friends.

the 'other boat'

tuna (can't remember what sort)

pink snapper

no idea (hubby not here to ask!)

spanish mackerel - probably my favourite fish

yes darl, its a hard life

on the way in

Looking forward to many meals, we love fish, never buy it - only catch it!

Have a lovely day :)