Justin, Mad & I went to the house this weekend (Fraser had too many things to do back in Melbourne, he's a social butterfly that boy)
The scaffolding is all gone now - and the roof looks great. Not brand new, but well kept, and the finials are dark and straight now also
We arrived on Friday night (Mum was looking after Fraser) and had takeway from the bakery again. Was quite warm, but nice and cool in the house. Non eventful evening, hadn't brought any dvds so sat and chatted/read
Went for a long walk by myself in the morning - and bought some supplies from the IGA on the way back. Also went and bought some fruit from Diane's new fruit & beg shop -looks good, and ordered my turducken. James had said it would only take 3-4 hours to cook - and we could check with a meat thermometer.
Read the newspaper for a bit, and then when we were ready to get to work decided to start on the bathroom - sugar soaping the walls/ cupboard, bath etc Had to particularly scrub the bath as it was quite filthy. There was also a lot of reddish dust perhaps from Daniel pulling up the floor for the toilet and drilling through the walls/bricks for the pipes etc
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| just starting |
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| staged shot! |
Mad came and helped me too - after having slept for hours. Ahh teenagers!
Gordon the roofer came by also - to show us what he'd done and he also got down the signed lead roofing cap - the original roofer signed it in 1882, and then someone else in 1901, and then again in 1991. We said that Gordon should sign it too. Looks like its been painted over a few times so you have to look at it from a certain angle in order to see the writing. We think that we'll strip the paint off in order to better see the writing - but then Karen said that the writing might have only been scratched into the paint, and that if we stripped it we might lose it - so we'll have to have a better think about it. That said we plan to mount it in a 3d frame.
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| roofing cap |
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| clsoe up of signatures on roofing cap |
Original Gordon dropped by also - and commiserated on all of the mess in the garden, Justin's ruined path etc. He'll tidy up for us and mow the grass again -as it's getting a bit high, and we certainly don't want any snakes lurking around. He confirmed that the side tank was probably not empty as Justin surmised - as there was a stop cock up the top which we hadn't turned around. Justin wants to empty this tank and then take it off the slightly leaning stand -a s he thinks it could be potentially dangerous
Got to the bottom of the other (back) tank mystery also - The roofer Gordon turned the tank tap on quite hard - and then we saw water bubbling up outside the kitchen window. The plumbers must have disconnected the pipe to the back tap near the well, as that tap doesn't work anymore - and just left the pipe open - as it is emptying near where the new pipes have gone for the kitchen ie near where the water used to pour out of the kitchen sink at the back of the house. So I've left a message with Daniel to come and fix it
A P & A came around 3pm, and Karen, Mark & Zoe a little bit later
So we downed tools soon afterwards
Karen had brought some pre dinner nibbles/antipasto and we had that with some wine up on the veranda - very relaxing. - and A & M went for a 10 km run down the road and back - given that we now have a usable shower
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| antipasto on the verandah |
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| cold beer after a long run! |
Bruce also dropped by again -asking if we wanted a Christmas tree- as he had a "spare". With an offer too good to be true we gladly accepted. He initially said that he'd leave it by his back door - but ended up walking it down to our place - which we all thought tremendously funny after a few wines. Took a few photos of this walking Christmas tree
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| Christmas tree's progress |
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| onto the front path |
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| receipt by Justin |
Wandered down to the pub for dinner - and of course had a good night. Asked Enzo where we could get ice for Christmas day (for drinks etc ) - and initially he said that he'd fill up a large esky with ice for us, and then said he had a spare fridge and freezer that he could drop around for us to borrow on Christmas Day! I was chuffed.
So - first night with a flush toilet, and I didn't even need to go during the night - what a waste!! But it's there if we need it!! Woke up during the night - too much quiet? and took a while to get back to sleep again.
Bit rainy on Sunday
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| intrepid me off to get The Sunday Age |
More weeding out the front - need to look our best... and didn't take too long. Robert - head of the Lions club came and said hello. Also more waterning -as as although it had been raining in some parts of the garden it was hardly wet
Meanwhile the girls decided to make and then sample some home amde icy poles - (maker a Christmas present from Karen)
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| home made icy poles (Christmas present from Karen) |
More sweepinng inside - so much dust....
Justin was also getting domestic and decided to start polishing - first the old organ which was looking a bit sad and dusty, then the bookshelf and finally the stairs and banister - all looks great
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| some spit and polish? |
Had a visit from Darren @ Bay Building as we wanted to move the soon to be rebuilt laundry from it's original spot to fristly by the back wall ,and then we decided that it would look good squared up a couple of metres away from the vegie bedsas per below.
And speaking of the vegie beds - the tomatoes that i'd planted a couple of weeks agao with Susan have crumbled into the dust, the potatoes are still there, and a couple of hardy brocoli? beetroots have also sprouted, but it's all lookign a little sad. I had also brought a couple fo herbs from home - lemon grass, & oregano which I planted in there - we'll see how they go...
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| wheer we plan to put the laundry/wood shed (note not much happening in the vegie beds) |
Wraps lunch and gingerbread cake
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| what a feast! |
And more plastering work in one of the upstairs rooms
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| Alex has been skimming |
Followng on from his polishing, J fixed up the wood burning stove, as there were a couple of little bits missing. He used that stove cement that i had bought a while ago, and "glued" the missing piece in, and used a bendy piece of metal tas a base for the other missing bit. Hopefully it will work, and I will be able to use it over Christmas!!
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| fixing the stove in time for Christmas |
After the others had left, Mad decided to start playing the electronic piano, and then of course Justin wanted to also... They weren't so much taking it in turn as demanding to play it while the other was still playign it. Luckily it didn't end in tears. I did also point out that theyorgan was available to play on the other side of the room - however maybe that's not as much fun - as it doesn't have all of accompanying sound effects etc
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| electronic Mozart |
I wanted to wait around til, 5pm for the annual Inglewood Christmas party - to
make an appearance, go and chat to people etc
So we wandered acrossa and poked out heads in the hall as per below
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| inside the Town hall |
Also had a chat with Shareena, the bride, and with Don (who caretakes the hall and who had let us up there to take a photo of our house). Don introduced us to his daughter Robin - who was visiting from Mackay - she said she had never been inside the hosue - and wondered if she could one day. So I invited her then and there - no time like the present. so we went back and I showed her around. She also told us of a ghost story from her own house in Inglewood - dark shape in a top hat and tails, her brothers had seen it too. MAd thought that was very intersting
Anyway, had to leave by 6pm or so - as Fraser was by this stage home alone and probably wondering when he was going to get dinner. "Luckily" we didn't win the door/raffle prize,as Justin had thought that wouldn't be the done thing...If we had won we could have donated it back
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| view from the verandah |
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