Art and Lilly pillys 16-18 May 2014

Culture vulture that I am, I went to  Bendigo to see :- Genius and Ambition :- The Royal Academy of the Arts 1768- 1918 exhibition on Friday.

Cowper - Vanity

It was lovely.  I had as much time as I wanted, no one to hector me into leaving early, and although I had to buy a ticket with a timed entrance, it wasn't crowded, and once finished I could even go backwards and revisit paintings that I particularly liked.

So by the time I got back to the ute after 3pm, I was pretty mellow.  Unfortunately that feeling didn't last, as when I tried to start the car, it wouldn't.  Yes, I had left the lights on, as it was National Road Trauma supporters day, and drivers were encouraged to drive with their headlights on.  Now I normally do this for the last 50km to Inglewood, where it is a single lane carriageway, but I had been in a hurry to get to the exhibition for 1pm, and the ute doesn't alert me that I have left the lights on (unlike the passat), so like a dummy, I had left them on and rushed to the Gallery.

Shine a light Day

However, it wasn't all bad news, as two weeks ago when I had driven home from Inglewood with all the scaffolding, I thought how awful it would be if I broke down while driving by myself (in the ute).  So I called up RACV a few days later and joined up with the ute.  The passat is already covered.

I called up RACV who told me that they'd be there within 90 minutes.  Given that I didn't want to hang around the car for this length of time, I told them that I'd go for walk, and perhaps they could  call me back when they were 5 minutes or so away.  Well. I had barely rounded View Street, when I received a call, saying that the driver was 2 minutes away.  How was that for service?

You'll need us one day....

It did end up costing me however, as he told me that the battery was the wrong size for the ute, and that one of the cells was dead anyway, so it needed to be replaced.  Therefore I bought a new battery and drove back to Inglewood.

Upon arrival, I went to say hello to my friends - Denise & Steven at the Inglewood Emporium,

Inglewood Emporium

and then onto MGM Hairdressing to see if they'd opened up, and to say hello to Michele.  Well they had, and I did, and Genevieve told me that they were having dinner at Jamie's that night, and that I should come too.  I was of course flattered, but a little flummoxed, as I didn't think they could invite me to some one else's house for dinner, and said so.  But Genevieve persisted, and said she go next door and ask Jamie if it was alright, and it was.  On the way back I also ducked into see Jamie and double check my forced invitation, but he was very gracious, and said that I had an open invitation, and that every Friday they make pizza, and eat it outside by a fire pit.  Sounds good, as I was just going to be by myself tonight anyway.

So, Friday night dinner at Jamie & Michelle's.  I walked there again (not far), and reminded myself how I had got lost in the dark on the way home the 1st time I had had dinner there.  Quite funny really, as I had turned right too soon, ie before getting back onto the road, so I was walking cross country through the paddocks with only the light of my mobile phone to guide me.

No such dramas this time, I arrived and the others were already sitting around the fire pit, Jamie & Michelle, Michael, Michelle & Genevieve, and a couple more brothers - Andrew who I already knew, and Mark who lives in Melbourne. Was a lovely social evening, so of course I enjoyed myself.  This time I was given a lift home, as Genevieve was driving.

Saturday, and I was out in the garden, planning where I would plant the  the 5 x lilly pillys that Penny had given me.  I thought I'd plant them out the front, next to the palm tree.  But first I had to measure up, and decide where/how they would be spaced.  As you can tell from the below photo, the grass/weeds had got very long, and you can see my foot marks in the grass

waiting lilly pillys

measuring up

placing sticks where I was going to plant the trees

looking back towards the house

I also called up Rodney the local fruit tree guy, as I wanted some more fruit tress for our "heritage" orchard. And luckily I had the ute to go and pick them up in, as last time Justin and I had trundled the wheel barrow down to his place to pick up the trees.  Anyway, I ended up getting a quince, a pomegranate ( the one that I'd bought from Masters didn't look that good anymore), a gooseberry, and a persimmon.  Quite happy with my haul.

my new fruit trees

 I also had a number of visitors, Casey (Clancy's brother) and his wife Helen came to visit, as they knew the house from before we bought it, and so were curious to see it.  I gave them the "royal tour"  and then we had a late lunch at the Empire.  Casey had been enjoying a motor cycle tour of Victoria, and Helen joined him via car in Inglewood.

Casey & Helen

Casey leaving

Helen leaving

a sign at the butchers which had tickled their fancy

There was also a couple having an impromptu picnic at the back of their camper-van outside our house.  So we stopped and chatted with them a little. Had a lovely conversation, and I ended up showing them around also, and they made me promise to come and visit them if we ever got across to Shepparton, so if we ever go there, we certainly will!

And, there was a lovely thank you card in the letterbox from Christopher & Wally inviting Justin, Mum and myself to dinner at their place at some stage.  I was feeling very popular!

Anyway, Casey and Helen left mid afternoon, so I recommenced working in the garden, digging the holes for the lillypillys with the post hole digger.  And despite wearing gloves, I still managed to get a sizable blister.

post hole digger and hidden holes

the tress all in

Also while wandering through the garden, I noticed that one of the olive trees was looking a little sickly, and that some of the prunus and plum trees were in blossom presumably because of the unseasonably warm weather.

sickly olive tree - why???

as the others are looking very healthy 

blossoming prunus

I picked up the trampoline mat that Cathy at the Blue Eucy had fixed for us on Sunday.  The only thing as that we had lost 5 of the connector pieces (hopefully they're just in the grass underneath the trampoline somewhere.

fixed mat

I also went and picked up the offered cubby house from Jill's in Kingower.  Now there was no way that I could do it by myself, so I tried to organise some help.  Michael was already busy doing his own renovation work, so I didn't ask him, I tried calling Damien but couldn't get through, but I thought I'd drive up to Kingower on spec, as if he wasn't there, I would try David at Blanche Barkly.  Well, there were no cars at the school house, so I continued onto the winery,.  No cars there either, but activity over at the house.  So I drove on down there, and saw Arlene.  Had a little chat, and then David happened over.  He generously agreed to help me as extra muscle (and brains) even before I had offered my bribe of some fresh pate that I had made yesterday.

And yes, the brain part was important, as he decided on the order in which the parts were to be placed on the ute, and then helped or actually attached the holding ropes/ties to keep the load secure.  I was never any good at that, as Justin tends to take control (and I let him) when fixing on loads.

David at work

David at work #2

the full load

We finished up around 12.30 and I drove back to Inglewood. and then walked down to the Fire Station as they were celebrating their 150th anniversary, and having a sausage sizzle to boot

150th fire station anniversary

There were quite a number of familiar faces there - Maile & David, Faye, Merle, Don, Kevin etc.  I had a sausage or 2, a chat, and  looked at the old fire engines on display

approaching the station

old engine #1

old engine #2

old engine #3

spruce goose?

really old "engine"

kids hosing down demonstration

Back home, and Gordon had arrived with his ride on mower, which was very timely, as the grass certainly needed cutting

cutting a swathe through the green #1

cutting a swathe through the green #2

Left for Melbourne around 4, and went via Helen's in Bellfield in order to drop off the cubby house.   Didn't particularly enjoy driving the ute with the cubby on the back, as I couldn't see out the rear vision mirror, just had to rely on the side mirrors, but I pretty much kept to one lane, and got there safe and sound.

Easter 2014 - with marvellous scaffolding :- April 15 - April 20 2014

It was after the Great Christmas in July Cellar Flood of 2012 that Justin nominated an electric pump to be the tool/device of the decade.  In my opinion there is now a worthy challenger, sure, you might think that it's the handy post hole digger, but no, it's our hired scaffolding - which fitted very nicely into the ute

trusty ute and scaffolding

No longer do I have a fear of falling backwards, there's a safety rail, it's big, it's sturdy, and it's nice and high so we don't have to balance precariously on a ladder.

But, given that I had dodged the Easter traffic by arriving on Thursday afternoon, I firstly needed help undoing the straps on the ute (strangely harder than you think), and then help in assembling the beasts, as although I had instructions...

instructions #1

instructions #2

I doubted that it was a one person job (it wasn't)

So I called up my mate Michael, and he scooted over to give me a hand.  Helped carry them bits and pieces upstairs too.

Michael about to start the assembly

Michael finalising the safety rail 

the assembled beast

Actually Michael put up most of it, I was more a helping hand, holder of poles etc

But I was raring to go, and given that we had set it up in the top hallway, that's where I started.  Now from prior experience, I had "worn" lots of grit/dust spiderwebs when scraping the wallpaper off the ceiling close to the walls via the ladder, so I decided to protect myself with a home made protective cap - some might call it a crappy plastic bag - - but it was moderately effective.

selfie with protective "cap"

  

This is what I had to get rid of .....looks rather revolting doesn't it

falling down wallpaper in upstairs hallway

Anyway, I did this Thursday afternoon, and then Good Friday morning - listening to the band 501 again - like a couple of years ago (they were playing across the road outside the Town Hall.  Also on Thursday night, Michael and Michelle kindly invited me over for a drink, so I gladly walked over, and part watched an old movie also.  On the way there I walked down Storm Lane which was pretty dark, and with growling/barking dogs I hoped safely locked on the other side of fences.  So, on the way home I walked down the main street, more light and no dogs!

By 12 or so, I'd had enough scraping, and went down to the the Town Hall Fish BBQ where I saw Denise and Chris. Karen and Zoe arrived soon afterwards, and Mark a little later (they'd come up in separate cars)

Alex, Karen, Zoe & John

Justin and the kids were last

Justin approaching us at the fish BBQ - having just arrived 

Anyway, once everyone had arrived, we went back to our place for a late lunch.  As per the usual, Karen and I were simpatico, she had made an onion tart, and I had made a chicken sate tart (baked in the frying pan) - and we had used identical tart dishes

Eating our Good Friday tarts

all that remained of the 2 tarts

As always, Mark made himself busy and made us a compost area - using a couple of large bits of wood, and some scrap tin.  Very nifty

compost area evolution

the finished product - complete with horse manure

Karen and Zoe took Madeleine out for a drive.  Zoe in the driver's seat to begin with

getting ready

bit too much reflection

a nice grin

And I returned to my beloved scaffolding - without the plasic bag hat - it made my head too hot!

Justin and Mark also set themselves a good challenge, and that was to patch up the ugly hole in the top hallway ceiling caused by (presumably) years of water damage

unfortunately a bit blurry - Mark and Justin assessing the damage 

Assessing the damage from afar (me)

First a plaster template

Mark assessing the template situation

After having cut the template, and then positioning it

1st template in place

affixing the 2nd template

getting there

coating the template

looking pretty good with a mad grin #1

Now it's all fixed, and looks pretty good, apart from all of the mould on the ceiling, which had been under the wallpaper.  Will have to wash it off with vinegar/sugar soap etc

While Justin was on that side of the arch, I was on the scaffold on the other side of the arch and did as much of the ceiling on that side as I could.  Once I had exhausted that supply, I stripped the wallpaper along the stair case, at my level.

I had also commented to Justin that it was my opinion that I did the grunt/unskilled work, and he did the more artisan/finer work.  Being the supreme diplomat that he is, he answered, "of course not darling", but then I asked him if he would have let me fix the ceiling, and put the new layers of plaster on etc.  He took a moment or two to consider, and then as expected said no.  Aha, I was right! But I don't mind, he's a lot fussier than me with these sorts of things, and at least with the wallpaper stripping/scraping I can use either arm/hand which comes in handy when working on the ceiling, and my working arm tires through constantly holding it up

you can see where I had started stripping along the stairs #1

you can see where I had started stripping along the stairs #2

you can see where I had started stripping along the stairs #3

 
As you can see there is a lot of mess

some of the mess

I have become quite the afficionado of wallpaper stripping; appreciating the long strips that come gliding off the plaster, and gritting my teeth at the baked on bits which appear to have gum underneath and have to be painstakingly scratched off.  Michael had told me that they had used vinegar to take off the wallpaper at their place.  I tried this also, but it didn't seem any more effective than just water in a spray bottle, so I stuck to the water.  I also quite perversely like stripping the wallpaper, as it is the type of job where progress can be seen.  It's all about appearances.  As filling in cracks, and even worse sanding the filled in cracks is a thankless, boring task, where notable progress is slow and hard to appreciate

One last stubborn little spot of wallpaper that took ages to scrape off

Surprisingly the kids also helped, even volunteering to scrape in the unnamed (arch?) room opposite the red room.

my 2 volunteer scrapers #1

my 2 volunteer scrapers #2

the job ahead....plus 2 x heads....

But, wallpaper scraping and plaster fixing weren't the only improvements for this Easter. Whilst I was up the scaffold, Karen had taken it upon herself to raise the curtains in the red room.  However given that it was Good Friday, finding a large enough curtain rod would be challenging.  However my indomitable friend visited the Brooke Street 2nd hand stores which were open, and although initially told there was nothing at the Inglewood Emporium, Denise chased Karen down the road with a left of centre suggestion.  A bit of plumbing pipe? which was strong enough and long enough for the curtains.  Did the job just fine!  Although next time we're up, we'll probably put up the matching pelmet - didn't have dyna bolts this time

ta - da :- blockout curtains

And the curtains were very effective,  enabling our guests to have a good sleep in - due to their block out capabilities.

Strangely, given our generous lunch, the kids were starving, so we wandered up to the main street, and the kids got some hot chips, and we also went and visited Michael and Michelle

on the way to get some hot chips

eating the hot chips

I also snapped this photo of Fraser next to Michael's Aldi scaffolding - to demonstrate that it is not 3m high to Helen.  She had called me up a day or two beforehand saying that Aldi had these scaffolding units on sale, and that they were 3.1m high.  Initially we thought woo-hoo, and were going to rush out and get one.  But then Justin worked out /read the fine print quite carefully, and the real meaning was that you would have a working height of approx 3m, standing on a platform, of about 1.5m.  Sure that would be fine for a regular house, but we have 3.9m ceilings!

not tall enough for our ceilings

Given that it was Good Friday, not withstanding my non catholic chicken sate tart, we had salmon for dinner

Good Friday dinner #1

Good Friday dinner #2

Good Friday dinner #3

Good Friday dinner #4

Good Friday dinner #5

dinner by candlelight

Followed by an Easter screening of Life of Brian - with chocolates of course. Remember he's not the messiah, just a naughty boy!

oversize Toblerone

she should look ahppier than that with that much chocolate!

Saturday was more of the same - scraping etc, and a bit of a red and black photo shoot of the girls.

2 red and black girlies #1

2 red and black girlies #2

2 red and black girlies +1

Karen, Mark & Zoe left soon afterwards,  tag-teaming with  Sarah and her boys who arrived later in the day.

Pub for dinner, and then the boys hunkered down to watch some movies and eat lots of lollies upstairs

Zac and some suspicious pearly whites

Curtis and Zac both with suspicious pearly whites

Zac and Basil

Justin, Sarah, Mad and I remained in the dining room - with a cosy open fire

relaxing #1

relaxing #2

Sunday, and Easter egg hunts, even though the kids are getting a bit old for it

counting the spoils #1

counting the spoils #2

And once again, I was up the scaffold, and Sarah helped out down below - sweeping and tidying up

sweeping

Now, I mentioned that the scaffolding was relatively big, which was both an advantage and a disadvantage.  The advantage was the stability and the fact that it didn't have to be moved around that much.  A disadvantage was that it couldn't fit through doorways ( we were lucky that it fit under the arch way in the hallway), so we had to dis-assemble and re-assemble a number of times.  Got easier each time though.

Sarah and Justin re-assembling the scaffolding in the small room #1

 Justin re-assembling the scaffolding in the small room #2

   Sunday lunch was pizza - as Sarah's boys had been keen on that yesterday

syncing some music

fraser playing peek a boo

We also managed to snap a tractor which we assumed was going to the Rheola Show the next day

Curtis, Sarah & a fine looking tractor #1

Curtis, Sarah & a fine looking tractor #2

Back up the scaffold after lunch.  And I asked Fraser to take a photo of me from outside - looking through the window.  But unfortunately it didn't work, you couldn't see me, just the window reflection - oh well it wasn't with a proper camera, just my mobile phone

I'm up the scaffold in that room

Also while I was doing this, I spied the boys - Fraser, Zac and Curtis chopping wood out the back.  Luckily they came back with all fingers and toes intact, and we got a bit of split wood - which they neglected to put back in the wood shed

some split red gum?

Given the sunny late afternoon I took a couple of shots in the down stairs hallway - with the sun shining through the glass

art shot #1

art shot #2

Easter Monday, and of course it was the Annual Rheola Show - our 3rd visit.  As I have mentioned previously the kids stayed at home, and elected to strip the ceiling wallpaper in the arch room.  I was somewhat sceptical as to how much they would achieve, but was pleasantly surprised at what they did in fact accomplish.  They did however stop at the awful gummy spot, where it took ages to scrape off a few square centimetres (for me)

At the Rheola Show we indulged in our favourite activities - of course the wood chop, the  sheep dogs, vintage tractor pull and mystery steam engines.  It was also the place to see people - Chrissy, John, Kevin, Alex & Joy, Maile & Dave, Michael, Michelle & Genevieve etc

outside the Rheola Show

a bit young for sheep dogs?

Patchwork quilt display

In the Rheola Town Hall

John's mystery steam machine

equestrian competition

The old humber

Life story of an old Ute

the refurbished ute

Was home again by lunchtime, and as I said surprised that the kids had accomplished so much.  Justin and the kids left after lunch, and I continued the wallpaper removal in the arched room.

scraping with my left hand, taking a photo with my right

more mess

getting there

all finished arch room #1

all finished arch room #2

Later in the afternoon when I had finished, I asked Steven if he could help me disassemble and reassemble the scaffolding in the proposed bathroom, as given that we had the scaffolding, I wanted to make as much use of it as possible.  But this was after a coffee and chat with Denise, as I had promised myself a reward of a coffee once I had finished in the arch room.

Steven assisting

We also had to move a lot of furniture around, so the hallway is looking quite crowded

crowded #1

crowded #2

crowded #3

crowded #4

crowded #5

Tuesday, and I was up the scaffold at 8.30, and finished by 12.20, so just under 4 hours for the little room.  I was pretty exhausted after all of this - aching shoulders, more blisters, but was very satisfied that I had got it done. Steve also came and helped me disassemble it for the last time, and load it onto the ute

all done#1

all done #2

all done #3

all done #4

all done #4

all done #4

And now that we've done all of this, the filling, sanding and painting will follow.  Although Justin is saying that we should really do the underpinning first so that we don't do work for nothing ie fill and then it falls out once the underpinning is done.

Lastly, given that I had finished with the scraping I went into the garden for some fresh air, and planted the pomegranate, elderberry, and loquat trees that  had brought up

pomegranate tree

loquat tree

elderberry tree

Also admired the new roses and birds of paradise that I had planted the week before

birds of paradise

roses, box hedge etc