W is for Weird & Wonderful

Welcome to the A to Z blogging challenge where for the month of April we post everyday except Sundays, corresponding to each letter of the alphabet. I've chosen to blog about keeping the romance alive in a relationship along with ideas for married couple dates. Each post will also have a romantic song for you to listen to whilst you read.

Today's song is I Have Nothing by Whitney Houston.

I think it's important to have variety in life and especially when it comes to dates as a married couple, so we have a mixture of the weird and the wonderful. As you're already together you don't have to do that thing where you hide your slightly crazy hobbies until later in the relationship.

Here's a few examples of our weird and wonderful dates over the years.

Weird - I dragged my very patient beloved along to a Death Cafe in London where there's meant to be nice open conversation about death accompanied by tea and cake. Ours wasn't quite like that as there were a couple of very opinionated euthanasia supporters there and once they found out I was a nurse they kept putting me on the spot and I was trying desperately not to offend or upset anyone. When we left the two of us went into a lovely sushi restaurant to remove the tension.

Wonderful - A visit to the ice cream parlour at Harrods where we shared an amazing ice cream sundae.

Weird - I took Ken to an open day in Nunhead Cemetery. Stalls, crafts people, refreshment tent, art displays, and birds of prey all set up amongst the headstones. There was even a choir performing in the ruined chapel.

Wonderful - a fabulous afternoon tea in a Mayfair hotel. Was so lovely just sitting there together for ages, talking and sharing scrummy creations.

Weirdly Wonderful - One year for Ken's birthday I took him to the Pudding Club, which is basically a small main course and then seven different puddings for dessert. You get one bowl, and you can't have the next pudding until you've emptied the bowl - it wasn't until about the third pudding that I realised you could ask for smaller servings. It was a really fun evening with a real sense of camaraderie amongst all the diners as we tried to conquer the sweet dishes.

Dates are about the two of us being together and however that happens is always worthwhile - I can't wait to see what our next date involves.

Today's quote:

Pamela & Ken
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Winter Sunshine in Tasmania

Mother nature is being very good to us, granting us with clear skies for the days we want to explore beautiful Tasmania - it's still cold, and I've had to buy a hot water bottle for nighttime, but the days are glorious. Our first day trip out was heading west along the coast to Stanley, one of my favourite spots in the Northwest.

On the way we stopped at the Table Cape lookout to get the view of Wynyard and east along the coast - the sea is such a stunning blue.

On table cape there is a deer farm (the vegetarian in me calls it a deer sanctuary where they get to live out their lives in tranquillity). In the middle of the second picture is a lovely white deer.

Looking west from Table Cape - in the distance between the two humps on the right you can just make out the pale blue of the Nut in Stanley.

A very funky mailbox. If I was a postie this would brighten my day every time I saw it.

Stanley is a cute little town with a population of less than 500 people, though in summer I'm sure it grows as it's a very popular tourist spot. I've written a couple of blogs in the past about Stanley, check out Top Ten Thursday: Favourite Place on Earth which of course had to be this place.

The Nut from the car park for the chairlift which takes you up to the top - unfortunately it wasn't working that day, probably because it's the middle of winter.

Sunny selfie with Stanley behind us - who would have thought I'd need my sunglasses in Tassie in July.

One of the beautiful long beaches that surround Stanley - you can walk for miles on pristine golden sand.

One of the lovely little shops in the town - Providore 24 which has food, drink, clothes, jewellery and lots of things of loveliness.

The Plough Inn on the left of the picture which is one of the oldest buildings in the town and next to it is St Paul's Anglican Church which was built in 1887 after the original stone building was demolished.

Time for a refuelling break and where better than a place called the Chocolate Gallery and Cafe - sounds like my kind of place. I loved the orange colour theme.

The menu that was in the window - I'll have one of everything.

The orange theme continued inside, even with Ken's cup of tea and jug of milk.

Inside the cafe.

Me and my mum.

There are over twenty flavours of ice cream on the menu so after much deliberation I chose salted caramel and peanut butter, which came in a chocolate basket with chocolate sauce - scrummy!!

Looking up the main street of Stanley - I love the wide streets that we have in Tasmania.

View of Stanley in the shadow of the Nut, a long extinct volcano that is popular with tourists to walk up or travel up on the chairlift.

On our journey back towards Wynyard we stopped briefly at Brickmakers beach for me to have a reminiscing moment - I remember swimming at this beach when it was very cold and then ending up with a nose bleed. It's a lovely spot if you ignore the smoke from nearby Port Latta which is where Iron Ore is exported from Tasmania to the rest of the world.

Looking back towards Stanley from Brickmakers beach.

Our road trip continued and we came across this farm which had an interesting sign and name in front of their property.

And in their front yard was this fabulous creation - I think you would call it a hybrid tractor and motorbike.

Back in Wynyard and this is the great painting on the side of one of the shops  - a giant pirate octopus with his boombox under one tentacle among other things.

The next day we stayed home as we had a visit from three of my very lovely aunties (mum's sisters). It was great to catch up with them and wish it could be more often.

To stretch our legs after everyone had left, my beloved and I went for a walk and we found this friendly koala near one of the schools (I should point out here that koalas are not native to Tasmania and only exist in wildlife parks).

The sun starting to set and leaving a lovely pink glow in the sky.

We hope you're enjoying our holiday with us even if it's only vicariously, and hope that you stay with us through the next couple of weeks.

Until next time, be good, stay safe, and treat yourself to something delicious this week.

Pamela & Ken

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