Our News, Photos and Videos : July 2014

Hello again

I have decided that from now on I will only upload a new post when we have a special occasion to tell you about, instead of regularly every month. This is because the programs I use for editing photos and videos and even this blog are constantly changing so I am having to re-think how to do things too often which takes up too much of my time!

Probably, as I'm getting older, my brain can't cope with all these changes and new technology which we are bombarded with these days, chuckle! Also everything seems to be geared for using tablets or mobile phones and I have no tablet and only use my mobile to send texts and to actually speak to people, lol!

We have not had a lot of 'special events' this month except John's (John and Tricia) birthday, so here are one or two photos of the paella he cooked etc.

Paella in the process of being cooked - turned out to be 'the best yet' chuckle

Happy Birthday John!

Now there's a good ad!

We (well Mike mostly) have continued work on the back patio and garden and it now looks very much tidier and colourful, especially as we have now moved all the firewood into the wood shed leaving a lot more useable space on the patio. There are still some more things to do but here's a few photos for now.

We have had a lot of fun trying out cooking different things in the Mexican oven which Jo and Simon bought for us many years ago, and apart from one try at smoking fish when we first got it, haven't used it since. However we had great success with salmon and chicken recently so aim to use it more often if we can. Mike had to make some adaptations to it - of course - and fitted it with a door with a vent, as you can see from the photo below, so that he can control the amount of smoke and the temperature more easily.

John, Silvia and the children are all fit and well and enjoyed the school holidays. Silvia came up to Perth for a theatre workshop I believe, while John took the children camping.

Jo has received yet another award for one of her paintings, Alex is still busy painting/drawing and Lizzie will soon be starting another round of exams, although only recently finished the last lot! Simon is still busy writing and programming.

Jo often meets Mike at the Kent Street Weir café when he walks and she cycles there. (Unfortunately his knee has been playing up again lately so he hasn't walked as often as he'd liked to) I only walk on Sundays, chuckle, preferring to spend a couple of afternoons bowling instead. Here's a few photos of some birds and flowers Mike took.