Infusing Myself with Coffee and Thai

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While waiting for an appointment this morning, I decided to have a coffee at Infusion Cafe & Thai on Plaza Parade.   As soon as I entered the place I had a feeling that I would be able to sit and relax and get some words down for my very neglected blog posts. Maybe because this is a lower foot traffic area or maybe it is the airy dining area but the atmosphere here has a very relaxed feel. The welcome was warm and friendly and I had barely sat down before my coffee was being served at my table in the courtyard. 

I was planning a cheeky Facebook post of some photos that I had taken of bees and flowers and I settled in to do some writing.  The coffee lived up to it’s aroma and life was good. I relaxed…..  A good feeling

Ettore, the owner, appeared and served up a caraf of water just in case I was dry and we chatted amiably for a while about the cafe. It appears that it was due to open just two days before the Covid restrictions came in and the guys doing the fit out were unable to come up from NSW. Not being set up to do take-a-way, they were on hold for several weeks.  Taking the positive, Ettore said that it had given them some time to sort out some loose ends.

After a while, Nuttida, co owner and wife to Ettore, came out with a plate containing two little leaves called bettel leaf which where covered with nuts and sauce, and asked me to try.  They are to become a part of the menu and I have to say they were extremely tasty. The sauce was quite sweet which was offset by the slight bitterness of the leaf and Nuttida said that they were planning to add this dish to the menu.  

I am so looking forward to Asian cuisine when this Covid bug finally goes back to where it came from.

With Ettore calling Italy home and Nattida from Thailand, this is truely an international restaurant

It was interesting having a chat to Nattida about her origins in Thailand and the reasons why, here in Australia, she goes by the name Jenny or Jane.  She told me she came to Australia to learn to speak better English and has stayed.

All in all the restaurant  hasn’t been here for long however, if you are wanting a nice relaxing coffee or meal, Infusion Cafe and Thai is not going to disappoint.  You can find it in the Plaza Markets on Plaza Parade.  Good service and good people

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The spacious dining area is under cover but still protected from the elements

Watching the sky

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Just a brief post to talk about what I saw in sky this morning.  A friend sent me a link about a celestial event taking place in our skies at the moment.  Well actually there are two events: one, the its Aquariid meteor shower and, two, the Comet Swan.  This is the biggest comet we have had for some time and as it is unlikely to visit again for a few thousand years, I thought I’d get up and have a look.

After a restless night, I dragged myself out and down to the beach.  There are few street lights in the village and so light pollution was never going to be an issue.

I set up the gear and watched and waited.  At around 5:00am I noticed a fast moving light in the sky.  Thinking that its was a satellite I aimed the camera around to pick up a shot.  It was then that I noticed another, and another, and another.  Pretty soon there were around ten or more all following the same trajectory across the heavens.  Too high and fast for a plane, but too low to be on the same altitude as the space station.

To make it even more interesting, these lights seemed to just pop out of the night sky at exactly the same place like emerging from a worm hole in the sky.  WEIRD!!!

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Light lines that follow the path of the Space Ex satellites as they raced across the sky

By the time it was all over, there must have been almost fifty of these lights which headed north by north east and disappeared from view  far to the north.

As the sun began to taint the darkness of the sky with a dirty orange haze, the temperature dropped what seemed a dozen degrees.  The dawn arrives very slowly at the lower latitudes and the sky took on a golden hue at a snail pace while the cold began to seep into every joint.  I had decided to take a time lapse of the day’s awakening but as time dragged on I soon came to regret the decision.  My feet were the first to suffer as they quietly stopped letting me know they were still attached.  Next came the shins with feeling that a slight tap  with a hammer would shatter them like glass.  I took to jumping up and down on the sand until I noticed a watcher on the lookout above the beach, no doubt wondering if she should call for the men in white coats.

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The answer came later that day after talking with my son.  We ruled out planes and space stations and were reluctant to go down the road of UFO’s but with the lack of other evidence there were few other options.

Then a breakthrough in a post from a news outlet in South Carolina who had also seen a photo in a similar vein.  It turns out that Space Ex have a huge number of satellites racing around the world bringing us all a broadband service.  This morning they just happened across my patch of sky

www.foxcarolina.com/news/seeing-lights-in-the-sky-have-no-fear-the-spacex-starlink-satellites-are-visible-tonight/article_90fe24d6-7df7-11ea-bb71-43596173dadb.amp.html

 

 

22 – 4 Life in Isolation

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Another week of self-isolation here in what is likely one of the better places to be if one has to self isolate. It does have it’s limitations though, as it is some distance from anywhere and so the local walks tend to follow the same path. There are only so many kangaroos and sunsets that can be photographed.

That said, I am trying to make sure that I can capture something of interest every day which has two distinct benefits.

1. It gets me out of the house and doing some useful exercise.

And…

2. It gives me an excuse to practice using my new XT-3 camera.

With all of its bell and whistles, it is quite a different beast to the Canon range that I am familiar with. I was sorry that I had to leave Canon but their offering just didn’t stack up in the good, but light mirrorless range. The M50 was close but in low light, it showed too much noise to be able to eliminate enough, and it was just a tad too small for my big hands.

These few photos we’re all I managed for this evening. I hope you enjoy them

Til next time…

Social Distancing

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The South Coast of NSW is idyllic in that it is not so far from the big centres of Sydney or Canberra yet seems a whole world away from the hustle and bustle of twenty-first-century living. More than that, there is a plethora of tiny bays and hideaways all along the coast between the small town centres that provide the necessities of everyday life. It is in one of these places that I have come to relax and recuperate.

As the sun sets on another South Coast day over Durras Lake, I find myself reflecting on the places life has taken me, it is quite possible that this may be the best of them

In this crazy world we are living in, with pandemic conditions calling everything we have known into question, I have found myself living in this perfect place for self isolation. Someone suggested that this is really an excuse for me to indulge in a reclusive lifestyle and there may well be some truth in what she said.

As I write this, I am lying back in a hammock, over looking the garden, and watching the parade of parrots, pigeons, and other birds that come to feed from the seed feeder hanging from the rafters.

One of the regulars in the garden is the Brown Cuckoo Dove. Doesn’t stay long but will visit the feeder for a quick snack

The news that keeps popping up on the banner headlines is almost exclusively about the Corvid-19 virus and what we may or may not expect over the next few weeks. As the reality of it all begins to sink in, I find myself thankful for this place and it’s quiet solitude.

One thing that is a positive is the time it gives to catch up on all those things that procrastination has allowed me to put off…. writing this instalment for example.. with just the birds for company, I can sit back in the hammock and write away to my heart’s content

I can walk on the beach, bush walk or simply stay at home mowing the lawns or doing some online courses that hopefully may pave a new pathway forward for me. Contrast this with the lives that so many others have to lead, particularly those in the health care field, putting themselves in harms way on a daily basis, and one gets a truly different perspective of what life is about.

If I should find myself in a country wide lock down I can think of few place that would be better to be than where I am right now. Keep safe people and take this thing seriously. It may not be you who feels the effects…. but it may be someone close