Susan came up with me for the ride - and of course we chatted the whole way there.
Wandered around the town first, and saw that there were a couple of new shops - a children's toy/book shop, and a small art/postcard shop etc which had some postcards and fridge magnets of the house - bought a couple. Had a good chat with the lady who ran it. Also saw that a new fruit and veg shop was opening in the next week
Went and had a chat with James the butcher after this - to enquire about a turkey for our Inglewood Christmas. He told me about his success last year with a turducken (boned duck inside a boned chicken inside a boned turkey) - said it looked great with the 3 coloured meats when you cut it through - and also the taste is delicious! So I'll probably get one of those.
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| picture form the internet |
He also showed us his modular bathroom - self contained bathroom unit - which you buy off the shelf and then plaster and paint over the outside to make it look like a proper room. Could be good for our room over the garage.
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| image from the internet |
On the way up, we saw his collection of mainly vintage motor bikes, including one like Steve McQueen's in the Great Escape, and a fancy Harley etc. Susan was impressed as her grandfather had tinkered around with motor bikes and she had recognised some of the names
With all of this chatting, Susan wondered how we ever got any work done when we were up there
And speaking of work, once we got back to the house, I saw how much more work was required in the garden. It was unfortunately still a mess - as there was a large pile of dirt, and large pile of gravel leftover over from the plumbing job. Yes, Daniel had refilled the holes and trenches, but it must have been loose filled as opposed to packed as there was plenty left over. I guess we'll use this leftover dirt to even out the ground in other places
However, on the plus side the toilet had been installed, and we now had running hot and cold town water which was rather exciting.
Daniel had also put in the laundry sink
and put in a new shower head underneath the supersized old one. I guess the old one wouldn't work properly - would use up too much water etc. Or maybe the old pipes are so rusted that the water just wouldn't get through. It's also a bit sad, but I'm actually looking forward to sugar soaping the kitchen and bathroom walls when we go up next time -as it was just too hard previously without any running hot water
And the roof looked fantastic - Gordon had done a terrific job with the slate tiles, the straightened and newly panited finials, and the chimneys. I called him and said how pleased I was. He's been wonderful, and wants to come up and show us exactly what he's done when we're up next. Seems to be a real perfectionist. He'll also show us the original roofer's capping ridge which was signed and should be interesting.
But, back to the garden, unfortunately nothing much was happening in the vegetable beds - most of those seeds that I had planted seem to have failed - obviously no one has been watering them to give them a start, but there has been some rain...
The seed potatoes that I'd got from The Royal Melbourne Show have come up, and so have a couple of little shoots (interdeterminate at this stage).
I also planted some tomato seedlings that I'd brought from home. Hopefully they'll survive. Susan and I watered them in well, but it had become a quite warm and sunny day (had told Susan that the weather is always better after the Great Dividing Range) - and we were just in t shirts, and we certainly had sun hats on. We also did lots of further watering around the garden, fruit trees, lemon trees - looking rather healthy if I do say so. However the protea which I had quasi-saved a couple of weeks ago looked dead - quite decidedly brown, while when I had replanted it there was a skerrick of green left.
I saw that the new tap in the front had lots of small plants coming up around it and they didn't look like weeds - but I couldn't figure out what they were - eventually surmised that they were pumpkins! - as I'd scattered the seeds from Nin's Halloween pumpkin there - somewhat ironic that they're growing there and not in the vegie boxes. Oh well, I can always transplant them
Susan and I also very much enjoyed the mulberries in the back garden - as some of them were ripe and delicious - sort of like a cross between a blackberry and a raspberry - except on a tree as opposed to a cane. However you had to make sure that you ate the dark/black ones as these were lovely and sweet, the red ones were still tart and sour.
I also had a visit from our first bride Shareena who came with a a lovely thank you gift hamper for us. It had a bottle of Zibbibo, some biscuits, nuts chocolates etc
And so our lightening visit came to an end - we'd toured the town, chatted to quite a few people, had a sandwich on the verandah, a drink in the pub, did lots of watering, a bit of sweeping (quite a mess inside) and ended up at the viewing site up from the Botanic Gardens. I'd wanted to show Susan how encircled by bush Inglewood is
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