March 2016

Hello again

Sorry the blog is a bit late this month, but we've been down to Denmark (WA) to spend Easter and our 55th wedding anniversary with Jo and John and family, which was really good - lots going on and we were spoilt rotten, chuckle!

I've decided to include the 1st few days of April with this March blog so as to include the whole holiday.

Before we went away, there was the L.J. Hooker Champagne Breakfast at the bowls club which I played in with my bowls partner John, and Jack and Bobbi, and we were lucky enough to get the runners up prize! It was a very good 'fun' day, and an event which is sponsored annually by L.J. Hooker real estate agents. 

Bobbi, Jack and John celebrating after the game

Also all the Ladies Pennant teams from our club had our 'wind up' (as is 'wined up', not the blowing kind of wind, chuckle) at a local Chinese Restaurant. It was a very good evening and, apart from other presentations, our team was presented with our '8' badges. Unfortunately the photo of us with the badges was a little too dark to upload, but here is another photo of the 4 of us at the restaurant anyway. 

Back - Betty and Maisie, front - Eileen and Linda

The 3 teams in our division managed to hold our position over the last couple of weeks to remain in 1st Division Green for next season. 

The 1st Division White teams had won their promotion up to Premier Division and the following week they also won the Pennant Flag.

Now here's all the holiday photos - rather a lot I'm afraid, as Mike took so many it was hard to choose which to upload!

We arrived in Denmark on Good Friday about lunch time and had a very warm welcome from all the family. Easter Saturday it poured with rain all day long, but it didn't stop the locals - and visitors - from enjoying the annual Easter Markets in Berridge Park. (Any white lines or white dots you can see is the rain dripping off the roof of the cover we were sitting under)

John dancing to one of the bands....

....and preparing to play later himself.....

John with the 'De Nada' group he plays with. I'm sorry the picture quality isn't very good, but the sound is!

On Easter Sunday morning, traditionally we all had boiled eggs and drew faces on them, but I'm afraid the crayons ran and got smudged due to the heat of the eggs, chuckle!

Easter Sunday breakfast

All the coloured eggs....

....and the 'family' of eggs!

In the afternoon Edith and Aden came to share afternoon tea with us. Silvia  made the Easter cake which the kids helped decorate by making the chicken and rabbits on the top.

Here's old daddy kangaroo who spends most of the day in John's back garden!

On Easter Monday we had decided it would be a good day to celebrate our anniversary early (it's really on 1st April, chuckle!) as the grandchildren would be home from school and John and Silvia wouldn't be working either, so we asked Pia, a young relative of Silvia's who was staying with them on a working holiday, to reserve a table for us at lunch time at the Denmark Tavern. Beforehand we went to Mad Fish Bay where the kids had fun with body boards.

Mad Fish Bay

Here we all are at the Denmark Tavern for the celebration lunch, which was very good - not a single thing was left on the plates!

Benjamin and Maya with their 'kids size' steak and chips!

 

Jo with squid, which Emil also chose

Pia, our waitress

Mike had pepper steak and I chose reef steak, with garlic prawns, knowing that John or Emil would be able to help me out when I was full up, chuckle. John chose a huge beefburger and chips and Silvia chose duck - the chef's special.

All of us.......

......Maisie and Mike......

.....Jo, Mike, Maisie and John.

Benjamin with his sticky date pudding and cream!

On Tuesday, Emil had an extra day off from school - he's now at Denmark High School - so he did his homework in the morning and in the afternoon we took him to Ocean Beach so he could surf, while we watched bravely from the shore, chuckle!

Getting up.....

....up....

....and away!

Wednesday we had a day out in the van and ended up in the afternoon at Green's Pool where Mike had a swim! I was unable to go in as I had cut my leg badly just as we were leaving home before Easter and still had a dressing on it. 

.'Ooh! it's a bit cold....

....but lovely once you're in' he said.

Before it got too late, we went up to the van in the car park above the beach and cooked ourselves a nice meal of chops, mushrooms and vegetables and finished it just as the sun was setting. Mike took lots of photos, but these 3 are the best of them.

The wonderful sunset at Green's Pool

On Thursday I sat in the park while Mike had a bike ride along the inlet. It was another lovely day.

The cormorants and other birds have painted the island white!

Friday, 1st April was our actual 55th wedding anniversary - yes that's right! I married Mike for his money and he married me for my looks and both of us were fooled!  Silvia had asked us the night before to be in the house for breakfast at 7am before the children left for school and she for work. When we went in the children had laid the table very beautifully as you can see.....

A heart each for me and Mike....

....and this beautiful rhubarb tart all made by Silvia!

She also cooked scrambled eggs with smoked salmon for everybody too which we had first, and in fact we were all so full it was decided to leave the rhubarb tart for dessert at dinner time later. 

After breakfast we went to Parry's Beach and had a nice walk along the rocks until we could go no further, turned inland and came back to the camping site for lunch.

 

 

We saw this notice in the camping site as we were walking around it!

We had already arranged to get fish and chips for everybody in the evening as we preferred to celebrate again with the family rather than eat out by ourselves. So we had another lovely evening with plenty of wine flowing as well! Jo had bought us a bottle of very good Spanish red wine and John and Silvia gave us a book of love stories.

We had a quiet day on Saturday but went with John, Emil and Benjamin to watch them flying the model jet plane.

Sunday we all went to Light's Beach where the children had more fun with the body boards and Mike and Jo were impressed with their artists' eyes by the light on the wet rocks and sea. 

To finish with, here are a couple of photos of John and Silvia's front garden - they have difficulty keeping the kangaroos from eating the plants. They particularly like the roses!

After a coffee with Jo and John in the town, we left late Monday morning and had good trip back, staying overnight at Highbury, where it was very cold! We ended up putting on a couple of extra jumpers each, but luckily the General Store was open at 6am for hot coffees and pies for breakfast, chuckle!

Well that's it for now. See you all again next time.

Enjoy!