An almost perfect Perth weekend

August 18, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
6 Comments

We experienced some more magnificent conditions over the weekend in Perth. It feels like spring has arrived early.

I managed to get out on my bike for my Saturday morning ride with friends for the first time in a few weeks. It was great to be able to push myself a little harder than I normally do on the daily ride to work and back. I’ve had back pain which has prevented me riding too hard for the last few weeks and while my back isn’t feeling 100% it is certainly a lot better than it was.

The scenery we get to take in on our ride is such a bonus. We live in the heart of suburbia yet it always amazes me that in just the fifty kilometres we ride together we get to experience the magnificent Swan Valley then paddocks of cows and sheep out through Hazelmere and Helena Valley before we head back into civilization to grab a coffee. I reckon it’s the perfect way to start a weekend.

On Saturday afternoon I headed to Bassendean Oval to see Swan Districts Football Club play a brilliant game against Subiaco … at least for the first three quarters. The mighty black and whites were slightly ahead until five minutes into the last quarter when Subi ran away with it. Oh well, it was a great day for watching football.

After church yesterday we headed into the Swan Valley to the Margaret River Chocolate Company. It was beautiful weather for sipping coffee in the valley but unfortunately the venue left a lot to be desired. I love going to the Margaret River Chocolate Company and sampling their wares but they were extremely busy and no one was bothering to clean up the tables in the outside cafe area. Time and time again we saw waitresses carry orders out to patrons before walking empty handed back to the cafe. Would it really hurt to grab some of the piles of dishes on your way back?

On top of that they had three reasonably talented musos playing some live music. They’re repertoire was pretty much ‘golden oldies’ but they sounded OK. Unfortunately management decided the best place to put them would be right next to several of the cafe tables. The only table we could find when we first arrived was near the ‘band’. While they weren’t turned all the way up to eleven, it was still way too loud for us to be able to chat. If I want to go to a concert, I’ll go to a concert. I don’t mind a bit of background music but if I’m sharing a coffee with family I want to be able to hear the conversation. My tip – never go to the Margaret River Chocolate Company on a nice day when they’re likely to be busy.

Now that my whinge is out of the way, it was good to catch up with family and overall the weekend was a good one.



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James is back

August 4, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
2 Comments

Our 9 year old son James, returned home from an overseas trip on the weekend.

He had traveled with Pauline’s mum to England and France. I’m not at all jealous that he got to see the final stage of this year’s Tour de France live in Paris. (Well – OK – maybe a little.)

We’ve been missing him terribly so it was wonderful to finally have him back, even if it meant being at the airport in the very early hours of yesterday morning. We finally got to bed at around 4:00 a.m.

I reckon that overseas planes purposely arrive at odd hours so that even the people who haven’t been traveling can go through the whole experience of jet lag with those who’ve been away.



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Fitting in with the kids

May 22, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
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We caught up with a few friends last night. We headed out to a local Thai restaurant.

It wasn’t a late night, probably because we all had kids at home. We needed to get home to relieve the babysitters.

I guess another reason it wasn’t a late night also had a lot to do with the children. Having kids certainly puts you into the routine of eating earlier in the evening so we had quite an early booking at the restaurant.

I remember dinners in the past that started late and went on well into the night. These days if we’re not eating by seven my tummy starts asking questions.

Children bring about all kinds of changes to our routines. Sometimes the changes are so subtle that we don’t even notice them.

Are there things you do differently now because you have children? Are there any routines you started when your children were young that have just stuck ever since? Are there routines that are still in place even thought your children have outgrown the reason those routines were put int place?



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Ice Cream Therapy

March 10, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
3 Comments

ice_cream_cone.gifHow was your weekend? It was a rather relaxing weekend for our family.

We took advantage of Perth’s beautiful weather yesterday afternoon to take a drive into the Swan Valley for ice cream at Oggies. Very nice.

I’m a bit predictable when it comes to choosing flavours. If an ice cream shop is offering macadamia ice cream that’s what I’ll usually end up buying.

It was a very relaxing way to spend some of the day. It’s amazing how much stress is released through the simple act of eating an ice cream cone.

I think that eating ice cream cones should be a recognised therapy and that we should get a rebate from our health insurance company every time we buy one.



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