October in a nutshell

You would have gathered from my last post that October has been a very stressful and sad month for us.  We admitted Dallas into hospital on the 5th October and she was released into our care on the 10th October.  We drove the 160 km round trip everyday to visit her in hospital.  It was very tiring but the plus was that we ate at a lot of nice restaurants during that period.  (Dallas was re-admitted into hospital on the 20th October and died the same day.)
Our very favourite at the moment is Coco Mojo at Clifton Beach.  We have eaten there four times now and each time is as good as the last.  They have an extensive menu from Small Plates through to more traditional size.  Every time we go there it is well patronised so maybe we were the last to know about this little place.

Philip declared this the best Calamari he had even eaten!

Another restaurant that we always enjoy is Tha Fish at the Pier.  I ordered tempura Coral Trout with a delicious little seaweed salad.  It was so yummy and I can't wait to return and order the same thing again!

When we brought Dallas home from hospital she was very under nourished so I tried very hard to cook dishes that I knew she would like.  Breakfast was the only meal that she really enjoyed so I made a bit of an effort.  One morning I cooked poached eggs on a tomato salsa,

I have finally learnt the art of poaching an egg

And another morning I cooked up porridge and added banana and macadamia nuts.  It was very delicious and we all licked our plates clean.....

On the 18th October we had one of the heaviest falls of rain that we have ever experienced.  The thunder and lightening was frightening and we spent most of the night just lying in bed and waiting for the next bolt.  Just after midnight I took this screen shot of the radar.  The yellow/orange mass is us.  The system stayed in one place and it rained for many hours.  The next day we went to measure the rain but the 250mm (10 inch) rain gauge had overflowed!  We are guessing that we had about 300mm (12 inches).  We have had quite a bit of damage done to our new bitumen road but nothing that can't be repaired.

And lastly.  Would you look at the Jade Vine....it just won't stop flowering!

Last Goodbye

We sadly said our goodbyes to Philip's mum, Dallas, on Friday.  She would have been 82 in December. Thankfully, she had a short illness finally succumbing to Emphysema and heart disease.  We were fortunate enough to have her stay with us for a week before she was admitted into hospital even though we of course didn't realise it would be her last stay.
Dallas never wanted any fuss so we decided to have a private funeral ceremony for immediate family.  I picked flowers from our garden to lay across her coffin.  She loved the garden so it was fitting that they should be the flowers we used.
As there were only seven of us we had our chairs placed in a semi circle around the coffin and we all took turns to speak.  It was beautiful and touching and Philip and I have said that we also want to do the same thing when our turn comes.
After the funeral we went back to Dallas's apartment where we had laid out her personal belongings for the family to chose what they wanted.  We then took our drinks and nibbles outside to the pool area and sat around and chatted.  Dallas would have loved it.
I will miss Dallas, even though we didn't always see eye to eye, but we had a great deal of respect for each other and at the end of the day that is the most important thing.