More Kitties

Alright, already. Due to popular demand, here are more pictures of the kittens. They are now 7 months old, and they are growing so fast.

Here's Puck, sleeping on the perch - that he barely fits on. I can't see how that could be confortable for him, but he is well and truly asleep. Isn't his tail amazing? I read somewhere that they say the Maine Coon is a tail with a cat attached.


Duchess is resting on my kitchen step stool. When she stands up and stretches, she can reach the counter. In the center of the step stool is a hole, to pick it up by. Puck is reaching up through that hole, and messing with her. He often does that, messes with her or pounces on her, when she is quietly minding her own business.


She was not in the mood to be messed with, though.


Here they are, both babies. A minute before this photo, Duchess was resting on the perch. Puck will jump up behind her, and push her out.

Happy Birthday

...to me!

Police Gnome

Stephen saw this today on the BBC website, and called my attention to it - and I knew I had to share it with you all.

Arrest Threat Over Garden Gnome.

Police have taken a dim view of a man's glowing garden gnome and threatened him with arrest unless he removes it.
The solar-powered policeman figure stands sentinel in the garden of Gordon MacKillop's home in Treovis, near Liskeard.
His neighbour, former policeman John McLean, says the gnome is annoying and upsets buyers viewing his home.
Now police have served Mr MacKillop with a notice for "placing a garden gnome with intent to cause harassment".
Mr MacKillop said he bought the gnome to deter criminals, after his motorcycle was stolen from his drive.
"It just happened that it had a police uniform on," he said.
"I'm not having the police telling me what type of garden gnome I can have in my garden.
"This is a standard gnome I bought from a retail store. If they are considered to be harassing they should be withdrawn from sale."

Nothing I say here could be funnier than " placing a garden gnome with intent to cause harassment."
I am so very happy we don't live in the UK.

On the Road Again

This time we went south, about 3 and one half hours, to Margaret River. The region is home to wineries, and world class surf. They are serious about surfing here - with good reason, I suppose. We took these pictures at sunset, and it was quite chilly, yet there were about a dozen surfers in the water.




It's a small country town, with the requisite coffee bar and art galleries. This is a picture of the main drag through town, looking up the street.


And looking the other way...


Strolling along, wandering in and out of the gift stores and bookstores, was quite enjoyable. Some of the merchandise on offer was really nice, stuff I wouldn't mind having in my home.

Some of it, not so much...

Click on this one to enlarge, you'll see it's called "Loo with a View". (loo=toilet). Which would actually come in handy for those times when you're out of reading material.



This ad made me laugh; only in Australia will you find a tree called "Snotty Gobble".

We went to the lighthouse at Cape Leeuwin, which is the southwesternmost point on the continent. It was a blowy, blustery day, and the air tasted of salt. It stands 128 feet high from ground level, and 184 feet above sea level.







Look at how deeply the window is set. I thought that was interesting.




You have to look at this plaque full size. It gives the distance to certain landmarks. Standing there, there is nothing but ocean until you reach the South Pole.


Cape Leeuwin sits where the Southern Ocean and the Indian Ocean meet.
On our way back, there was a lookout, and from there you get a good view of the rocky point.
We went to one of the wineries for lunch. The food was good, but I would have to say the menu was overambitious and pretentious. Just really strange combinations.



This is a view of the grape vines...picture this in all directions, as far as you can see.



Stephen and I had a really good time, and I loved seeing the area. It's still very undeveloped and unspoiled, although I think that's changing fast.

You want fries with that?

Right, hope you enjoyed the pictures of our trip. I'm working on a post about our trip to Margaret River, so check back tomorrow for that.
In the meantime, I have a little bit of Aussie culture to share with you. Every now and then I get the taste for a burger. (You know how it is.) Of course Mickey D's is everywhere, but I'm a Burger King kind of gal. Burger King here is actually known as Hungry Jack's. Feeling adventurous, I got an Aussie Burger.


Lets look closer, shall we?

Yep, that looks like a Whopper to me. Alright then. What's that you say? What is it that makes this an Aussie Burger, instead of a plain jane Whopper with cheese, you ask?

Let's look a little closer, then.

Under the hood, so to speak:




Well, now I see. That, my dears, is beets. On a burger. Aussies love beetroot (as they call it). There's also bacon and egg on it. I don't have a problem with that though. I happen to think that bacon and egg is a wonderful innovation in burger technology.

I can't get behind the beets, though.

Road Trip to Geraldton

Finally, here is the account of our trip to Geraldton, which is about 4 hours north of us. It was a lovely day out. We actually did it as a day trip, which was a lot of driving for him.
I think this sign from a rest stop says it all:

Truly rural, indeed. Lots of fields, and sheep, and goats. Oh, and wild emus, too. That was very cool.




Here is the restaurant where we had lunch, and the food was not bad.

Skeetas was right on the beach, so we could see the water from our table. Lovely sunny day.


This is St Francis Cathedral in Geraldton, locally famous for its' mix of architectural styles. The front of the church:

and the back of the church:


This restaurant is where we didn't have lunch. My other half had done a search for restaurants in Geraldton, and came across La Mexita. Knowing my ongoing quest to find Mexican food here, he made a note of the address, and we went there. It was basically just a lunch counter, not a proper restaurant, and the menu was eclectic, to say the least. Click on the picture to enlarge it, and you'll see what I'm talking about. They look to have started off with a Mexican restaurant, and when that wasn't bringing in the numbers, added some Italian to the menu. Then, souvlaki, and beef stroganoff, and lamb curry. A culinary world tour. Also a classic mistake for inexperienced restauranteurs... that sign on the taco case is a for sale listing.


Back on the road... They have what they call road trains here. The picture is pretty self-explanatory, although I've seen some with three trailers connected. "Take care when overtaking". They ain't lying. Imagine trying to pull out and pass, on a narrow 2-lane road, a monster semi that's 175 feet long. (That's half a football field, including the endzone).



Finally, here is a picture of the windshield, nearing the end of the trip. Don't enlarge this picture if you're at all squeamish:

Catching up with the news.

The past couple of weekends, we've been getting out in the countryside, doing some sightseeing. We went up north to Geraldton, and south to Margaret River. I'll put up some pictures of that later.
The kitties are growing so fast, it's amazing! The carrier that we brought them home in could not fit both of them now. We got them a scratching post/kitty condo type of thing, and there's a perch at the top. They fight over who gets to nap there.

Look at that face - she likes being woken up about as much as I do... which is to say not at all. Unfortunately, they are soon not going to be able to fit - look at how she's hanging off. That won't stop them trying, though. I'm looking forward to seeing that.


Here's Puck - I wanted to get a picture of him in the window (their favorite place) but he is so nosy, he had to come see what I was doing.

Last Friday, we went to a local art show. There was a lot of interesting stuff there, and we found one piece to bring home. I won't post it here, though, sorry.

All of the work is done for my visa application, we've had the interview, now it's just waiting to hear. I will be so happy to have this over, and have an answer one way or another.

Kitties

Shhhh... the kittens are sleeping...


Awwwwwww!


We decided on names for the kittens. He is called Puck, and she is Duchess. Believe me when I tell you they live up to their names.



Here's Puck, helping me do laundry. They are the most inquisitive cats I've ever seen. They study my every move. Especially when it involves food.

In other news, the kitchen renovation is proceeding. We're really making progress now. We bought all the appliances, and this week we went to look at granite for the benchtop, and also we picked out the cabinets. All that's left is to decide on a floor tile. Since we're having the same tile throughout the house, that's taking a while to get it just right.

This Sunday, we're going to an Independence Day picnic. Which is sort of ironic, what with Stephen being a Brit, and all.