Tonight we cut into the last of the lemons that we harvested from the lemon tree at our rental house in Glengariff Drive, Floreat. It was planted by the old lady who passed away there a few years ago, in the 1970s when she and her husband built the house to live in and bring up their family.

As I sliced the lemon to garnish our grilled fish, I gave silent thanks to Bev – her tree makes the most juicy and almost sweet lemons:-)

This evening, as Rob and I had our drinks on the balcony of our woodland cottage near Pemberton, we were joined by one of the inhabitants of the forest. He was quite chatty and very fond of almonds!

This is the view from the dining area of our apartment in Albany; we are here for a few days for much-needed R&R to start recovering from the franticness of the last 5 months!

During our drive south from the heat (39 degrees in Perth) yesterday, including right through the Stirling Ranges where we have enjoyed many walks and climbs in years gone by, we enjoyed seeing: red-capped parrots on the road verges, a beautiful copper-coloured snake on the road (alive!), a big bungara lizard, several small bungara lizards, LOTS of 28s (good thing because the rackety introduced rainbow lorikeets are pushing them out of the Perth metro area!), hawks, wedge-tailed eagles, heaps of little birds which we couldn’t identify.

I write this sitting in our dining area, enjoying the glimpse of the ocean and the lovely, cool breeze with a tinge of salt on it:-)

Lots and lots of people put in lots and lots of effort to make Tom’s school fete a great success. One of these people was Blaine who coordinated and put on the plant stall – great work and a crucial part of the success.

It was good to wander around for a bit a get the feel of this community – ordinary wanting good things for their children.

And Tom and Thea had a good ride on the tea-cups, and especially on the horses with Tristan and Rob watching out for them closely!

This afternoon I made my way across town to meet Tristan, Blaine, Tom and Thea at Galleria to get the kiddliwinks some summer clothes. These are some favourites!

And as I left I noticed the beautiful sculpture in the front of the shopping centre – gorgeous:-)

This morning, while Blaine worked on our library, I took Thea and her rabbit out for morning tea with Thea’s Great-Grandma (my Mum). They all had a good time!

You can’t hear the hiss of the hull as our yacht, Dusky Dolphin, powers through the waves, driven by her sails. You can smell the salty tang in the air. You can’t bask in the warm sun on your skin.

But you can imagine that’s what we enjoyed during our overnight trip to Rotto and back this weekend.

Sailed by a mother and calf humpback whale just near Rottnest!

Enjoyed the terns in Stark Bay doing their mating dances in the sky.

Savoured the ospreys swoops and calls around the bay and headlands.

Shared company with fellow cruisers who were also there.

Slept soundly, rocked gently by the swells.

Rob got lots of photos so I just had to take one of him taking yet another photo.

It was a good weekend!

This morning I felt that I had enough energy (since our move back to home) to go for a good walk AND go to the gym! So it was back west to the walk that I so enjoyed when we were staying at the rental house in Floreat. I parked outside the house, walked further west up the 2-hill climb to the water tower (where I saw the pair of pink and grey galahs accompanied by the calls of many rainbow-bee-eaters), south then east up to Reabold Hill, west out to the lookout across the sea to Rottnest (where I took the vista pic), back east to Tullow Road (where I saw the hawk) and up to Roscommon Hill from the east so I walked over the 2 Roscommon peaks. After standing on the west peak, where I had seen so many days end, it was back to the car and then to the gym.

It was good to go back and be grateful for our time there:-)

On 22nd October we moved back home from Floreat. Our home is now bright and sparkling and new and clean, so as we unpack the boxes I just have to clean each item before placing it where it feels it now belongs. For many things they don’t belong any more and have been repacked and sent to the white elephant stall at Tom’s school fete later this month.

But I was surprised how I was drawn to our usual walks once more, always seeing how the non-human life was going! This owl is a mother we have seen for 2 years now. She is in the final stages of sitting over her chick, as it will fledge soon. Last week we were gifted with a “fly-past” of 2 ospreys! Mother and young flew past, the young calling and the mother occasionally urging as she taught it to fly well and true. No more sightings so their nest in the pine tree is already falling into disrepair.

And we have already heard the mopoke owl, who lives in the trees by the lake, calling in the cool of the night. We had one living around the garden of our rental house which we really enjoyed – – touch of home at least:-)

Life is good, back home.