Monday 19th January 2026

Monday 19^th January

SHE SAID:

We had an outing… to Aldi! We needed a few things & it got us out of the house. The weather is heating up today & the next few days; at one stage the BOM was predicting 42C here on Tuesday. It is now supposed to be 38C. We will be hibernating for the next 2 days!

The Australian Orchid file is well under way. I tallied the new finds for WA; a further 9 new orchids, & including new hybrids that goes up to 23 in total.

I also decided to sort out the orchids from the UK & NZ today. I was surprised to tally my finds in the UK at 21 different types; 14 new ones for 2025. And we found 11 in NZ, my first time looking for them there.

HE SAID:

With no plans and the warm weather we only made it as far as the supermarket for a few supplies. There is no cricket today as the BBL finals commence tomorrow, and this is the last week of cricket for a while. I reckon the lounge chair will be breathing a sigh of relief!

Sunday 18th January 2026

Sunday 18^th January

SHE SAID:

Light at the end of the tunnel with the orchids for 2025. I got the first file for the Australian Orchids finalised… Still more to go, but happy that is DONE!

More Cottesloe art

HE SAID:

I successfully avoided straining myself at the house as I awaited the last BBL match of the season to commence at 4:15. It was an interesting match, with the loser missing the finals, but if Sydney Sixers won they could leap up to 2^nd place. I guess it shows that the competition was very even this year. Sydney ended up beating Brisbane, leaving my sister Kathy, who was at the match at the Gabba, a bit disappointed. She seems to have adopted Brisbane Heat as her team now that she is living there.

Saturday 17th January 2026

Saturday 17^th January

SHE SAID:

A few chores: washing, baked a cake, & sorted another 9 days of orchids. It’s getting to the end… slowly.

I even started the slow pack up from here. We still have 11 days to go, but I have plenty of things in the house I don’t need now!

Art around Cottesloe & strangely in a house!!!

HE SAID:

With 2 BBL matches today I completed my short list of chores well before lunch. The mowing (with the crappy corded electric mower), whipper snipping, weed spraying, and bin emptying all got done. And I got cake!

Friday 16th January 2026

 Friday 16^th January

SHE SAID:

We haven’t done anything much for a couple of weeks so I dragged Geoff out for the morning.

About 50km south is the area of Cottesloe, which has quite a few sculptures around the suburb. They have been acquired over the years by the council, from the annual Sculpture by the Sea event held in the area.

We managed to see maybe 80% of them & had morning tea too.

Back at Quinns Rocks we also had lunch out, a rare experience for us! We were both keen to have a Doner Kebab; it has been ages. The cafe was open, so Doner Kebabs were bought & consumed!

The Ministering Children’s League Convalescent Home was established at Cottesloe Beach in 1897 for adults.
A few children were admitted as paying inpatients during the early years of the Home.

HE SAID:

We made the most of our trip to Perth’s beach-side, with sculptures for Varena, and yummies for me. Our elevenses, a Biscoff cup-cake that we shared, was rather plain. But our lunch at the shops near the Quinns Rocks house was very tasty, and broke our seemingly long kebab drought.

The BBL in the arvo was great to watch, with both David Warner and Steve Smith, on opposing teams, scoring centuries. Though, Smith’s was off just 42 deliveries!

Thursday 15th January 2026

Thursday 15^th January

SHE SAID:

Another day of orchid file sorting.

Geoff headed out for beer.

Dinner was beef curry, so, easy!

Fur kids, happy!

HE SAID:

Our usual quiet days at this time of the year continued, with just a brief outing on a beer run during the morning. I grabbed a couple of English ales while I was there, just for some variety, and yummy curry for dinner!

Wednesday 14th January 2026

Wednesday 14^th January

SHE SAID:

Two weeks left here at Quinns Rocks!

We achieved heaps today!...

A short walk.

Sandwich lunch.

Square-eyes on the PC.

Leftover dinner.

Shows in the evening.

More murals

HE SAID:

We have the best leftovers. So tasty!

Of course, there was also BBL on TV.

Tuesday 13th January 2026

Tuesday 13^th January

SHE SAID:

A day glued to the computer, it took me most of the day to get ¾ of the August orchid photos sorted! My eyes were going crook & tired, so I gave up!

Random Artwork

HE SAID:

It was a very quiet day at the house. There were no plans for the day, so… success!

Monday 12th January 2026

Monday 12^th January

SHE SAID:

We headed to the mall at Joondalup for a few things but were back for morning tea.

I started on my next “BIG” task, copying all the orchid photos & notes from the Blog to the orchid file. I managed to get to the end of July!

After dinner we watched an amusing comedy series from the UK, The Change! Quite amusing.

More murals from my Subiaco wanderings

HE SAID:

I had three things to do while were out this morning. I needed some new shorts, as my hobo look was not being appreciated by my wife. Also, it was time for a new computer mouse. My old one used a USB radio dongle, and as my computer only has one USB port it was a pain to keep swapping things in and out. I found one on special for $10, so if it works, it stays! The other task was to get some more cat food. I was very surprised at the price. Wow! These cats are pampered. As My purchases were all at the first shop of each type my tasks were completed very quickly. We finished off in Aldi and were back at the house for a cuppa just after 11am.

Sunday 11th January 2026

Sunday 11^th January

SHE SAID:

HAPPY 60^th BIRTHDAY BRO!

OMG, my “little” brother is 60 now!

We chatted with him, Mum, & Kiyoka on Teams in the evening. He was amused with our present of Flying Spaghetti Monster T-shirts. Mum organised a lovely ‘Spurs” themed birthday cake for him too, which I think surprised him.

Our day was mellow; the warmer weather has returned, no need to do anything, so we didn’t.

HE SAID:

There were a couple of BBL matches to watch, and a Teams meeting, but overall it was a very lazy day.

Saturday 10th January 2026

Saturday 10^th January

SHE SAID:

I woke to a message from our friend in NSW, Megan, that they put Sophy, their old cat, to sleep yesterday. She had kidney failure, very sad; she was a sweet little thing. We had looked after Sophy several times over the years.

I made a Toffee Almond Slice today, Geoff’s request. We had some several months ago & I got the recipe. It was totally delicious, sweet & naughty.

PS I have finished sorting my 2025 photos! Yayeee!

Toffee Almond Slice (one batch semi-frozen, yes, 
bonus, they freeze well!)

HE SAID:

Varena had the house smelling great most of the morning; the slice she made was great. Yummo! There were a few minor tasks for me to do around the house before the two BBL matches today. Needless to say that I completed them with aplomb, and watched the cricket!

Friday 9th January 2026

Friday 9^th January

SHE SAID:

BLOG BOOK EDITING DAY.

The day has come for the final edit together of the book. As usual it took all day, though we did go for a 45 min walk before we started!

Several minor errors were found, also a few photo adjustments & realigning the writing. The most obvious thing we both missed was on the front spine. I had spelt September wrong; thankfully the spell check alerted me to my mistake.

We finalised the edit around 5pm & it was fairly quick to upload for printing, despite being 394 pages! We also got a 40% discount from Blurb which was excellent. At just over $250, that is the cheapest it has been in years!

 More wildflower photos from the end of last season

HE SAID:

We had planned a walk to the beach for the morning and then tackled our joint, final proof-read of the latest blog book. It was a long day of reading, but we got there.

The shorts that I was wearing today had been showing signs of wear recently; they are quite old. With some small, innocuous movement I managed to cause a ripping sound and saw a good sized tear. I mentioned to Varena that at least I was frugal, making them last so long. Her reply was “Not frugal, Hobo!” That was a surprise.

Thursday 8th January 2026

Thursday 8^th January

SHE SAID:

The final day of The Ashes Test today. Geoff is eagerly hoping for an Aussie win.

I ducked up to the local shops for a few things. I made hash brown potato nests with tomato coulis & egg, & we had them with the leftover rice salad for lunch. A tasty change.

My photo culling has stopped at the 23rd November for the day. Square eyes!

Fungi & odd looking plant

Interesting bugs

HE SAID:

The fifth Ashes test went into the final day. I was expecting England to be all out quickly, but they weren’t, getting to 180 ahead. At this point all results were possible. Luckily, despite losing 6 wickets, Australia managed to score the required runs, winning the series 4 – 1. Hooray!

Wednesday 7th January 2026

Wednesday 7^th January

SHE SAID:

I had another 45minute conversation with the National Insurance people in the UK. I sent money over to top-up my account way back in mid-July after 4 years+ of battling to try & find out how much I need to put in. They only use “snail mail” & different people were telling me different things….

HO HUM with *@#*** added!

Now I am told it hasn’t been allocated due an error in telling me how much I owe, so it needs to be looked at manually & currently those people are working on early June 2025! This has been an ongoing nightmare from the day I started it, & I wish I had NEVER bothered.

Street murals, Perth, WA & New Plymouth, NZ

HE SAID:

I was up early again to sort out the animals before the cricket started at 7am. The England team has been widely castigated, mainly by their own media, for their several failings this Ashes. But, I reckon that there would not have been so much criticism directed at the team if they hadn’t blown their own trumpets so much leading up to the series. The England coach, McCullum, stated to the media that this Ashes will be the series of the players’ lives, and that the squad had been moulded and developed for several years just to win back The Ashes.

So, when they rejected playing lead-up practice matches, their Bazball (reckless, aggressive batting) tactics didn’t actually work on the field, players withdrew through injury, and then the squad had a break between tests in Noosa that seemed to be a public booze-up, they couldn’t really say that they had done all they could to get the results they wanted. So sad. Too bad.

There was BBL in the afternoon, Varena made a very tasty laksa for dinner.

Tuesday 6th January 2026

Tuesday 6^th January

SHE SAID:

Geoff had another appointment in Leeming with Dr Seet. The doctor is still unsure of the reasons for Geoff’s ongoing dizziness.

We dropped by Scott’s work afterwards to collect some mail that has incorrectly been delivered to them AGAIN!

We were back to the house for lunch.

WA wanderings...

HE SAID:

We managed to squeeze in an early morning tea at a nearby cafe before the doctor’s appointment. Dr Seet was a bit vague about what may be going on. I hope to know more in 6 months when we go to see him again. The Ashes and BBL entertained me upon our return to the house.

Monday 5th January 2026

Monday 5^th January

SHE SAID:

With Geoff glued to the cricket, I headed about 20km south to a mall for groceries & a wander around. I know Whitfords Shopping Centre from our two house-sits in Kallaroo, as it was close by.

Back at the house I managed to zoom along with the photos at the beginning of November as the files were small. I’m now up to mid-November!

Wildflowers from the spring /summer just gone!

HE SAID:

The cricket is good to watch, of course. After rain in Sydney yesterday the rest of the days play will start half an hour early, to catch up. This means a 7am start for me! For the next four days...

Sunday 4th January 2026

Sunday 4^th January

SHE SAID:

With the final Ashes Test starting in Sydney today Geoff was up & about well before me. He was engrossed with that for as long as it lasted… Then the rain came!

I had no other plans other than the seemingly “never-ends” photos. I got to the end of October, phew!

Mum & I chatted for about an hour on Teams.

Swell Restaurant, Mullaloo

My Aperol Spritz

HE SAID:

I was up early before the cricket. The scheduled time is 0730, but I wanted to sort out the cats and guinea pig, and myself, before the match started. There was some rain in the afternoon, curtailing play by a bit over a whole session. The two BBL matches later on in the day helped me get my fix.

Saturday 3rd January 2026

Saturday 3^rd January

SHE SAID:

“Ground hog day”. We did have a very short walk around the street; my left leg is rather painful with a dark bruise randomly appeared on my big toe! No idea if they are connected, but it has been several days now. I was wondering if it is all the sitting around & thought a walk might help. It didn’t!

But drugs did!

Scott rang. He & Geoff arranged for us to meet up for dinner at… As usual we had a good evening with them. We had an early birthday drink for Scott; he turns 56 on the 6th January.

Arid area summer flowers 

HE SAID:

It was another quiet day. BBL in the arvo, as usual. But then we headed out for dinner with Scott and Andrea. Two of their boys are in Tumut, and the other 2 are old enough to stay at home, giving Scot and Andrea the chance to have a peaceful evening for a change.

Friday 2nd January 2026

Friday 2^nd January

SHE SAID:

A warmish day again, mid-30C’s. The AC went on around midday, for Marvin!

Otherwise, it was quiet. I’m down to the last 3 days of October in my photo sorting! Yayee.

Homemade pizza for dinner, it’s been a while!

Art works - Kings Park

HE SAID:

I had no plans for my day and managed to achieve the lot! Varena’s homemade pizza hit the spot at dinner time.

Thursday 1st January 2026

Thursday 1^st January 2026

SHE SAID:

After our BIG night last night, we made it to midnight to farewell 2025 & celebrate the start of the new year, we had our usual plan of doing not much. Which was achieved effortlessly!

Geoff had 2 BBL matches to entertain him & I’m progressing with the photos, heading for the end of October now!

Street Art - Subiaco

HE SAID:

It is now 2026. There were a few moments of flashbacks to when I was a kid, struggling at primary school to remember that the date had changed from 1974 to 1975, but otherwise it was just another day.

Wednesday 31st December 2025

Wednesday 31^st December

SHE SAID:

We had a quiet, warm day in Quinn’s Rocks.

No mad partying till midnight, though we did stay up! We had some Ferngrove “Orchid’ bubbles to toast in the New Year. Hopefully 2026 is a good year for all. Xxx

"Orchid" themed bubbles to bring in 2026...
with thanks to Nikki.

Jes & Jazzy wanting to celebrate too!

TV shots of midnight in Sydney, delayed screening in 
WA as we are 3 hours behind!

HE SAID:

I received a rather pleasant surprise when my phone rang this morning. The specialist appointment that I have in March, when we will be 400km away from Perth, can be moved to next week due to a cancellation! This will save us heaps of time, effort, and money, so I’m glad I sent the email requesting this yesterday!