My day with the Fire Chief's wife

On Saturday I spent the day with the Fire Chief of Somerset's wife; Kim, since Will was busy all day, first hosting a presentation and then a training session that was attended by firefighters from three different counties.  Kim was a fantastic tour guide, having been born and raised in the area, she took me around to the hot-spots!

9am:  We started our day by leaving the fellas at the training facility and driving down to a country store for doughnuts and coffee.  This was no ordinary country store!  Being inside Meckley's was like stepping into a time warp to the 1950's!  It almost made us forget about any doughnuts as we were swept away with authentic trinkets, condiments, tea towels, handmade goodies, decorative items and vintage memorabilia. Photos below... 

10am: Once the doughnuts were bought, delivered back to the training ground and devoured by the pack of hungry fire fighters, we set out again; this time for Amish country.  Another time warp and truly a one-of-a-kind experience, we drove right into their community, past several properties and then into the yard of an Amish family that had a bakery set up on their land.  The bakery also sold raw, organic produce and cooking materials that they farm themselves.  Since they do not allow photos, I wasn't able to sneak very many; but here are the ones I did manage to sneak:

12pm:  Came back to the training ground to deliver water and check on the progress... still in full swing, so we set out for a winery and some local wine-tasting at the Cherry Creek Winery!

These were the ones I loved and bought...
All 3 bottles for $38!!

2.00pm:  Back at the fire station it was lunch time.  While the steaks and hot dogs were grilling, Kim put in a good word for me and I got to go for a ride in the fire truck!  

It was a wonderful, action packed day, thanks so much to Kim!  By 4pm, Will and I were on the road again for our next stop, Marshall Michigan: the town where he spent several years as a kid and where we would be spending the weekend.

Wildlife of Michigan

During my weekend in the State of Michigan, here are the animals I saw alive and running around:

Black Squirrels!  I was so fortunate to see a few of these
since locals told me they are only found in the counties
around Marshall and Battle Creek

Beaver
Photo thanks to: answersingenesis.org

White tail deer with antlers!
Photo thanks to: statesymbolsusa.org

Woodchuck!
Not the best photo but it's just how I saw the little guy:
running across a footpath
Photo thanks to: juliesickefoose.blogspot.com

Finches!
I saw blue and green ones too,
but these were the  best photos I took

Sand crane!
Photo thanks to: fishandgame.idaho.gov 

I also saw plenty of raccoons, possums, skunks and a vulture; but as they were laying along the side of the roads (next to the wildflowers) I feel that they don't count!

Wild flowers of Michigan

Just after lunch on Friday, we left Indianapolis and drove to Brooklyn, Michigan.  Although it has been a very dry summer up here, the foliage seemed lush to me and all along the sides of the freeway I saw the brightest and most beautiful flowers.

Queen Anne's Lace - gets its own collage
because it's my favourite of all 

  

Scarborough Beach

Of all the experiences within my life, few compare to the sunsets on Australia's western coastline.  For half the year of 2009, I would try every evening to be by the shore to bear witness to another glorious sunset over the beach.  Scarborough Beach. 

Prior to moving to Scarborough Beach, I had lived three years in QLD at the base of the Great Barrier Reef; but this new beach had a completely different kind of beauty.  Its sand was powder soft and white; its water was sapphire blue with enormous and angry waves and its seashells were types I'd never seen before.  There was a raw, untouched authenticity to its shore; where tall grass grew right onto the sand and rabbits would hide - real, adorable rabbits on a beach - nothing else I've seen yet beats that.  There were giant pine trees growing at the border line where sand met soil; and Rosella parrots were seen everywhere and  heard above beeping horns and crashing waves. 

This was our first home; Will and I.  A more magnificent backdrop we could never have imagined as we were consumed by our love for each other and took our first steps into a shared life.  It was on Scarborough Beach that Will proposed to me - surrounded by rabbits, gum nuts, crashing waves, those annoying parrots; and a setting sun that still takes my breath away just remembering it. 

Scarborough Beach was where I met Will's mum for the first time; where Will and I had our first argument; and there in that tiny, one bedroom apartment on Pearl Parade that I cooked our first dinner, paid our first bills, ruined our first load of washing and got my first taste of missing my home in QLD so much, that I stayed up and cried in private while he slept. 

It was there on Scarborough Beach that I realised for first time that I would spend the rest of my life with someone, as Will and I sat on a blanket sipping champagne (shhhh, alcohol wasn't allowed!) and watched as the sun set over the beach and that very first, very amazing chapter of our joint life.  At times, I close my eyes and I am right there again.


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