My (very) happy snaps

Middle-aged dating is a difficult beast. The demands of single parenting, work and two needy, badly behaved dogs (that no-one wants to mind) mean that DD and I rarely get more than a few hours together at a stretch.

But with the kids away at the National Skipping Championships and the serendipitous news that my beloved dog sitter Glen was available (thank you Glen!), DD and I managed to snatch a whole 30 hours together in a row.

It was so lovely.

Boy did we cram a lot in: a boozy lunch, two bushy walks, a ferry ride to the Central Coast, my first coffee in a cafe and creating a birthday cake for DD’s daughter’s birthday.

The birthday cake bit was a little stressy and messy. Neither of us had used fondant before … actually I’m not sure DD had ever decorated a birthday cake before … but we muddled along OK and didn’t snap at each other once. More about that later.

Forgive me while I bore you with my some of my (very) happy snaps. There are captions on each one with extra details:

This is the view from a gorgeous new restaurant called The Avalon on the Beach.

We shared a bottle of wine while looking out at THIS. Divine.

Our lunch – salt and pepper squid, tomato and goat’s cheese salad, and a burger with enormous onion rings.

We clambered up onto the cliffs at North Avalon to admire this amazing view.

Looking down …

There were clusters of flannel flowers all along the route. I love flannel flowers, they remind me of my grandmother – we’d play in fields of them when we went to visit her at Hawks Nest.

Our view as we came back down the cliffs.

Then we tackled the climb to Barrenjoey Lighthouse at Palm Beach.

This was the view when we got there. Sublime.

Walking back down to the beach.

DD couldn’t believe I’d never ordered a coffee in a cafe. He bought me a mocha at The Boathouse.

We decide to catch the ferry to Ettalong. There were dolphins frolicking in the water as we cruised, it was magical.

That’s a windswept DD and I on the ferry ride. We had a glass of wine looking out at the sea at the local RSL then caught the ferry back.

I’m so sad it’s all over. It’s just me and the dogs now on a glorious Sunday.

How’s your weekend going? 

Song of the day: Pete Murray “You pick me up”