THE Cactus

You walk a lot?
You need to eat.
Right?

I ended ... no, I went to the Hawker´s Markets in Forrest Chase.

Do you "suffer" cliches, also?
"The German".

It´s Bratwurst, Currywurst, Kuchen, Bier - Lederhosen, if you count in Bavaria as Germany.

What do I love here?
Pizza Calabrese at Guido´s!
Burger at Burgerista!
Subway´s stuff!
In my old home-town: Döner at Gabar!

But Currywurst?!
Yes, in old(er) days - and I admit I like Schnitzel, too!

I had a slight sense of December on March 1st...

... and settled on something you could eat, not a good choice (it sounded yummy, though!!!)...

This is one of my fav places.
Forrest Chase or Forrest Place, the Cactus, I always smile when I see this symbol.

Can´t wait to see it again.

Beautiful Rain

We wanted to have lunch together, NameSis and I.
And she wasn´t sure I´ll really be there!!!

Because...

        

(Turn on the sound!)

But... I love me some rain! :-)

When I left the house it was grey outside and I thought, hmmm, brolly or not?
I just went over to Hamburger Street when the rain set in like... FULLY!

Dear lord!
I wore sneakers as it´s a 35 minutes walk - my feet were soaked!

NameSis waited inside, laughing - AT (not about) me - she knows I love rain.

We shared the worst Lasagna ever but it was fun.
Had a cuppa and the sun came out.

"Never gets boring with you", she said as good-bye.
Well, goes both ways!

Rain, here I am! :-)

Lion of the day, so dry!

@ Kohlmarkt, I guess it was...

Beauty

Isn´t this just great architecture??? A big WOW?

From Wellington Street I turned right into Barrack Street in Perth CBD on May 1st.

Yes, I´m still stuck there and let me tell you it was one of the best days, too.
I love all my friends, my dear Perth friends, but, yes, being on my own was fun, too!

To just step aside and STOP when you want to. (Yes, I at least step aside and do not stop in the middle of the way ;-)...)

I know it was a rather crazy walk, here and there, no plan at all and yes!
No plan!
Just where my feet wanted to go.
Spontanous.
Chaotic.
Me.

And I find beauty!

And, haha, if you think this is a hint I went to Perth Underground nearby...

... noooo.... :-)
Not YET!!!!
Not yet.

I am sitting here on a hot summer´s day, here, in Braunschweig, Germany.
The days start late now, it´s dark. I hate this.
Soon it will be cold again.

Perth will be in Spring and we will be in ugly Autumn, then even worse, Winter.
And Winter here is ugly indeed.

So, please understand I cannot let go of Perth.
Yet.

Soon I´m off to meet my NameSis and she will not be pleased I made no progress, work-wise.
I have someone fighting for me to get money. I payed in 17 years and they do not want to pay back.
Yes. I could, I should.
I do not care.
You give, give, give.. and never get back - no motivation, we all were but numbers the last years, no people, no persons, material.

So, all I can do is dwell on my last day in Perth...

And do not get me wrong, I´m not bitter.
I am so thankful we could have this holiday, I could have this last day.
It was wonderful.

Sprühfett

Ingo needed some sandpaper and hence we payed Ohlendorf a visit, a shop founded on October 1st in 1892.

You need one nail? You can buy one nail. One.

And the SIGNS are still written by hand, too!
To the left in pic above you find "Sprühfett, weiß", btw. It´s ... hell, I don´t know, men´s stuff, Silicone oil! ;-)

Isn´t this kinda sweet, in this "modern" kind of world?

Our wedding rings are made of Titanium, bought in Lakeside Joondalup Shopping City, a couple of days before we got married.
Germans like us expected to find "wedding rings", haha, no such luck!
In Australia the man wears a plain ring, whereas the woman has a "pompous" one.
NO!!! We want the same ring, that´s a symbol for being a couple!!!
Germans, huh... (we found a matching pair after all)

A little flash-back to when you were young with those hand-written signs?
I remember Mum gave me, a 4-year old, 2.10 DM (Deutsche Mark) to buy her cigarettes!

These days you have to give proof you´re 16 to buy this!
As sparkling wine, btw.
It was my 30th´s birthday and I wanted to buy a bottle for in case someone pops up on a Wednesday.
30 - and the lady at the cash out wanted proof I´m at least 16.

Long, long ago!
Am I sad?
It´s bitter-sweet, isn´t it.
FIL says you can get old or you die.
Well, I wanna get old then!!!

Linking to Tom's Signs2.

Do you know these "flowers"?
In the 70´s they were everywhere in Germany!!!
Big love!

Hello, Mum

I got my Dad´s genes and fish actually is not on my list.
Which is sad and unhealthy!

But Ingo sure finds ways, be it fish-fingers or... gilthead seabream and...

Why Mum is here now?
She had to leave in December 2011, on her Baby-Brother´s Birthday, whom I had to call.

Imagine that.
"P"
"Iris here.."
"Oh, thank you, you remembered my birthday!!"
"..."
All I could do was cry, and he knew his Sister had passed. We cried together, happy birthday...

He looks like an older version of my Brother btw.
Lives in Spain, to his wedding my Brother had a sign with his name on it to get him at the airport.
So unnecessary, they look like twins, crazy!!!
And there we were, crying from Germany to Spain and back.
I miss her so much at times, my Mum.

Mum never gave up on me and "presented" me with that fish-holder thing.

Well, Mum, once a year it works! ;-)

As long as Ingo takes your job and gives me the best of the (darn) fish ;-)

To you, Mum, I miss you.
No Lion of the day as this reminds me too much of my home town, Seesen (where I just visited my dear Bro).

Fun fact - this is better than Bratwurst!
And thank you, Ingo.

Addendum...

Red Henry?

I got a surprise yesterday, this Lion!

Why ever this wall gets new murals over and over again - there are enough walls to fill, though!

Ingo now found this Henry:

Artist? Unknown....

Taking part again in Sami´s COLOURFULWORLD Monday Murals.

Ever-Changing Art

From King Street I turned right in Perth CBD, enjoying the digital art.

This is the Digital tower screen, when it was under construction last time I really had no idea that this weird thing will turn out this great!

You find a short, pointy explanation about Yagan Square here.

It is yet another beautiful example of honouring the natives, keeping old architecture and adding wonderful art.

The Black Swans, symbols of Perth at the "entrance" of the bridge building the connection between CBD to Northbridge, are certainly (!) still there.
That wasn´t where I went next, though, I went on and then turned right... I show you soon.

THE Life

Summer is back, we´re in the 30+Cs again, sooooo good.

Can you believe autumn is just around the corner? :-(
People are ENJOYing these last hot days big, smiling faces all around!
The smell of sunscreen (at least on my skin, hello sun-allergy), we just soak it all in!

A weird summer this was.
Very hot, cold, rainy, now hot again. The flowers had no real chance to bloom...

We have BBQs now again, yay!

Lion of the day:

Note the piece of the Berlin Wall in the background.

Hail To The King, Dracula Sleeps

On my last day in Perth CBD I walked down King Street and peeked into the side streets.

This is the view to the train station on King Street.

And opposite Uncle Joes you find this:

A real cool shop, I guess:

Some more of their big art a tad closer:

I leave you - "as usual" for now with this:

It reminded me a bit of ...

... which was really bitter-sweet as this sight was so close already, time-wise.

Books, Books, Books

The tram was on time, the train, too, and whilst on it, Bro called - if I want him to pick me up from the train-station. Hmmm.. WHAT?!!!

Monday I walked some 17 km and he asks if I need a ride for 550 m. "Oh, Brother!" ;-)
After a quick lunch in his workshop we went to his village to surprise the Birthday girl by being there (she arrives via bus and usually walks home).
She spotted us, completedly ingnored her Dad and came RUNNING into my arms, hugging and hugging, such a cute phase (for me, that is, not for Bro!).

We prepared everything for her lille garden-party (the big one will be on the weekend) and she never ever asked if I have a pressie for her!
Well. I had not one.
I had two for her, one for her Sis, two to share, Braunschweig-chocolate for her Mum and a lille book ("Dear Brother") for her Dad.

All wrapped up and with tags, as she can read.

"Dad???!!! Here is a pressie for you!!!", she exclaimed. Yah, the crazy Auntie again ;-)

With the first book I was not sure, sagas from the region she lives in (witches and such) - they wanted to buy it, but ended up not to, she was thrilled (phew).

The other is so clever-cute, it´s "used", as I read it!

Hieronymus is a frog and an inventor. Funny, clever and Bro or SIL will have to explain some things, I reckon, sorry about that (in second grade you don´t know what olfactory, osmosis etc is, bet they´ll "hate" me for this)...

It comes with a side story like this:

For Bro I had a small book with sayings from sibling to brother - which she immediately took a deep read to!
Bro said, "that´s for me", she said, "but I love it!".

She got more books from Grandma, Granpa, some parent´s-friends... loads to read.
And stuff for that wooden horse, a saddle and such.
(My SIL asked me not to show her family online, so, sorry, you just see parts of the kids)

A bit hard for me to understand she still has this imagination for that "game".
Can you explain?

It was a nice, little party, great times with my Brother and the way back was OK, too.
Nine years old, my, where is that tiny baby from "yesterday"?!