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.