Wedding Album!

OK, so its nearly been a year, but I finally got our wedding album. I've been putting off ordering it until they had a sale, as the lay flat photo books are kind of expensive! I was a bit hesitant, as ours in the biggest format (12"x12") with the most possible pages so it was heading to $400, which is a lot but about a third of the quote from the photographer for her to do it! Plus this way we can have the photos we really like, and include "unofficial" pictures too. Plus I got 30% off :D

It came in a box matching the front cover, to protect the pages.

Some of the preparations. Got to make sure The Boy is in there somewhere!

Our vows. We also have these printed out and hung as a triptych in our bedroom
along with the "first kiss" photo.

This is my favourite page!

They lay flat pages are so good for this stuff. I might have cried a little when I got to it.

In case you were wondering, BigW have no idea I'm writing this, and definitely didn't give me anything for sharing it with you!

The Garden in August

We've been doing some more work on the garden.

The front garden is meant to eventually turn into a tropical paradise, but as you can see, its a work in progress! 

We split up some Dianellas (I think they are dianella revoluta, but we inherited them with the house) and moved them from the side of the house to the front, and put in some tall growing deep red cordylines behind them. They are in the death corner- everything else we've put there has died - but hopefully these will overcome! 

We really need to fix that fence though- the land behind is semi vacant... I think the front house owns it, but its not used for anything and fenced off, and the eucalypt thing is pushing it down.

We also added some more plants into the back, at the far end around the tree. Purple and white agapanthus and dietes. These were partially picked because they flower in summer, when the rest of the garden will just be foliage....

I think its done now, we just need the plants to grow up and make it look a bit more lived in!

The difference in only a couple of months is amazing.

Winter is when a lot of the native plants flower, so we have lots of colour in the garden at the moment, and hopefully soon the rest of the Roo paws will be out too- they are currently putting up the flower stems. These are some of my current favourites:

And obviously the plants are attracting the honey eating birds, which was part of the point of the native garden:

We also planted some strawberry plants in hangers on the wall...

Hopefully I will remember to water them and we'll have a good crop away from the snails!

More Dolphins, More Babies

I saw my first dolphins as a certified Dolphin Watcher this morning!

It was a gorgeous morning too.

In other news, my office-mates wife has hopefully just delivered their baby girl.

And co-incidentally, my plans for the weekend fell through, so I see some more baby sewing on the horizon, plus finishing off some UFOs.

2 baby girls and a baby unknown all due in rapid succession!

I've got the perfect fabric in mind too.

Doggy Sitting

This weekend we are looking after our friends bear dog.

More sewing at some point... I'll show you the projects Ive made that turned out rubbish and you can see where my mojo has gone!

River Guardian - DolphinWatch

I'm officially a DolphinWatcher :)

Last night I attended the training session, learnt lots about dolphin behaviour and the science that we were contributing towards, and received my hat and short to prove that I wasn't just late to work because I was marvelling at the dolphins- I was taking part in important research!

In theory every time I'm in contact with the river, which for me is nearly an hour a day and more if I go for a walk at lunch time,  I record if I saw dolphins or not. The not is just as important for an unbiased data set- you need to know where they weren't as much as where they where. I pass through many of their data collection zone on my route, but I think I'm going to focus on reporting for just the ones that they apparently get the least data for, otherwise I could spend ages every day reporting that I didn't see dolphins in any of the 6 zones I passed through in the morning or the evening!

Occasionally they organise days out on the river research boats, where you can watch the dolphins behaviour with the researchers, and learn more about what they are doing and why. I'm muchly looking forward to that!

I'd definately recommend going to look at the River Guardians website, whether you live in Perth or not. Its full of useful information on how to make small changes to make the ecosystem, and especially our rivers, more healthy! 

Curiosity...

The new Mars Rover just landed on Mars.

A small step for Curiosity, a big step for inter planetary geology!

One of its tasks is to look for evidence of water flow on the surface, which is crucial for life as we know it.

Back in 2006 it was asked to apply for a Phd that had come up, looking at the sedimentary facies (environments) on Mars to look for evidence of water flow. While I have no regrets about not following it up, at times like now its hard not to think "...what if"

So next time there are stars out at night, look for the brightest one and say Hello to Curiosity :)

Almond and Raspberry Biscuits

I forgot to buy biscuits... and my sweet tooth was calling while I was finishing the second draft of my research proposal. So I quickly whipped up a batch of these. So easy and very tasty!

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Almond and Raspberry Biscuits

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1/2 cup sugar

125g butter/marg

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

Some Orange zest 

(though I used the juice of a clementine...)

3/4 cup Almond Meal

1 cup plain flour

Raspberries or jam

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Cream together sugar and fat, then slowly add the eggs and other wet ingredients.

Fold in dry ingredients

Spoon out onto baking tray in about 1 inch wide blobs (mine spread- beware!)

Put a raspberry or a small blob of jam into the middle

Mine made maybe 25. I'm not sure. I ate lots before counting!

Cook in oven at 190 til slightly browned.

Very tasty, but very moreish!

You could also add slivered almonds for an extra nut hit and a different texture.

Olympics...

I can't... stop... watching!

Even though the coverage is soo bad. Its hard to really follow whats going on when channel 9 keeps flicking between sports.

My favourite to watch is usually the gymnastics, but since Australia had such a poor showing it hasn't been shown much. I've been trying to watch again online, but the quality is pretty rubbish.

I really enjoyed todays Triathlon too. Who would think that after all those km and three different sports, it would come down to a photo finish! Very exciting!

I do kind of wish we'd gone back, but it wasn't really an option. Its been such a big year in the UK, what with the Jubilee and now the Olympics. There seems to be such a good atmosphere.

Have you been watching? Whats your favourite?