After a very wet Saturday, we woke to a
sun-shiny Sunday morning.
The sky was a soft blue, the leaves
sparkling with dew and … uh-oh, I’m in
danger of turning this into a cheesy poem!
We had “our” secret magical lake all to ourselves
again this morning. That’s not always the case, as it really is the perfect
photo op’ for novice and professional photographers.
But, if we get there early, we’re usually
in luck.
At the risk of repeating, I’m posting a few
(new) pics of our morning walk – I hope you don’t mind, but I really love
sharing some of the magic with you.
Then, we went to one of our favourite cafés on the mountain, ‘ripe’.
This is a quaint little old wooden cottage situated in the pretty mountain town of Sassafras. Great food, even better coffee.
And, they make a mean soy hot chocolate!
At the bottom of this glass, is a real treat - melted Lindt chocolate. Mmmmm.
Tucked away nicely off the main road, this café
seems tiny, but inside is deceptively spacious. And in winter, a welcoming fire
is always blazing.
However, it's rare that we ever go inside.
Why? Because we usually have Jack with us, of course! :)
I would rather be outside, in all weather,
with him than leave him in the car or tied up outside. And if the weather is
too unsuitable, well, we simply get takeaway. That’s just us.
But, we’ve found
that we’re not alone.
Ripe café has become a meeting place for
locals and their canine companions. And we are very grateful that our pups are
welcome there. Not inside of course, but the generous seating area out front under the lovely old birch tree is
often graced with wagging tails.
Here’s a regular customer, beautiful "Bella", AKA "the Mayoress of Sassafras". She is a well known and loved identity in the town :) And, if you look
carefully, you’ll see a wee Schnoodle at table 26.
These two sweeties are waiting patiently for mum and dad
We always have the “chubby gubby” with us -
Jack’s back pack. It holds his café essentials like a padded mat
to lie on, his collapsible water bowl, a bottle of water, a towel and his other
collapsible bowl with a zip lock baggie containing his all important breakfast
biccies.
Um, biscuits perhaps?
Now that he’s a senior citizen, Jack gets
lifted into and out of the car – wanna save those old bones and ligaments as much as possible
– not mine, his.
“I’ll get Jack, you get the chubby gubby”,
one always says to the other. Oh dear.
Still waiting here… hello?
Quick story about “the chubby”. A few years ago,
I decided I wanted to find a good backpack to fit all of Jack’s stuff in –
instead of the old shopping bag we used. A doggie travel bag.
When out and about one day, I passed, then
went into, a baby store.
I found the perfect bag.
While paying for it, the woman at the
counter asked me, “buying this for the new grandchild?”
Without thinking, I replied, “no, it’s for my baby”, and walked out with the bag
under my arm.
As I walked away, I realised I left the
poor woman with her mouth open. It was too late to go back and explain, so I
decided to leave her to her imagination :)
So, this morning was the perfect
start to our Sunday.
And, Jack did get his biscuits. Of course.
