A short but nice weekend 14 & 15 May 2016We

Well, a late start, because we went and watched Fraser play school hockey.  Another annihilation (their way), 6 - 0 or so, and Fraser got a goal from a short corner.  That said, bit of a dull game, would have liked to see the other side get some goals.

Anyway, by the time we left Melbourne it was close to midday (after having bought Fraser some school shoes on the way back) and I'm glad that we did go.

The drive was eventful only so far as the verges and hills were definitely green, not a hint of green, not a smidge of green, but definitely all green.  Perhaps not a deep verdant green, but a pleasant light not yellow, green.  Very refreshing to see after all of that yellow/brown/dust.

Stopped at the Bridgewater Bakery to get a late lunch of hot pies and sausage rolls.  The list of the pies on the board only partly resembled what was in the warming oven.  The available pies sounded more like pizzas ie Meat Lovers, Hawaiian etc.

The other new  thing was that the large hole caused by digging up all of that spilled fuel from the tanker crash is being filled in again - good!  There are still the temporary traffic lights, but I'm assuming that these will soon go.

So, got to the house, and had our late lunch washed down with a cheeky beer.

out cheeky lunch beers

Our garden has now become green also.  What a huge difference 2 weeks has made!

green garden #1

green garden #2

green garden #3

I tootled around in the garden after lunch, doing a bit of weeding, yep not all of this new green is grass, a lot of it them are new weeds.  The ground in the garden is also a bit soft, it gives a little when you walk, and there isn't the constant dust.  A very nice change.

I  picked some of our olives (left the green ones).  Some of them were so lovely and shiny black that they looked like jewels, I was very impressed.  I picked about 1.4kg.

big haul of olives

what a beauty

1.4kg

Also spied lots of mushroom fairy rings around the garden.

mushroom rings

One of the yuccas in the succulent garden bed had also started to flower

flowering yucca

And one of the pomegranates was still flowering madly - lets hope its not a a last gasp before giving up.  (sadly I think my lovely cherry tree which I'd had at least 2 harvests from is no longer of this world - I will keep it till Spring just to see if it has miraculously survived)  The cumquat likewise
looks "cactus"

flowering pomegranate

Justin also had a spell in the hammock reading his book, and having a npa by the look of it

And he went upstairs afterwards, and did some more painting (I assume)  (I'm still not allowed to see what he's doing, although I went on the computer the other night, and saw a photo of a Green room from Werribee Mansion, and thought that might have been up there for inspiration)

much more ornate than our place #1

much more ornate than our place #2

 Meanwhile, I read and napped on the new red chaise longue.  Was very relaxing.

"Finished up" this bloomin' relaxing  5-ish as we obviously needed to retire to the veranda for some more furious relaxing,   Had a G&T, and enjoyed the lovely sunny later afternoon. Got a little cooler so we retired to the dining room for some yummy cheeses and biscuits.

cheese, music, and newspapers

Justin had bought a new little record player and played me a few of his dad's old records - Justin's favourites from when he was a kid ie Sea Shantys & 20 Explosive Hits,  It was ok, and call me a philistine, but I have no interest in records/vinyl, I got rid of mine years ago.  They only last about 20 minutes before you have to turn them over, and they scratch etc.  I thought that cds were much better, and now digital music much better than cds

Songs of the Sea

20 Explosive Hits!

We were planning on going to the pub for a late dinner, but didn't really feel hungry after the nibbles,  So we decided to skip it, and watched a dvd instead, An oldie but a goody - Bill & Ted's excellent adventure.

Bill and Ted's excellent adventure

Sunday, and I made us bacon and eggs which we ate outside - delicious.

Justin did some more painting, I did some more gardening, ie replanting lots and lots of bulbs that i had dug up from the grass

mystery flower bulbs

Followed this up with a light lunch, and then went around to Maile and David's - they had offered their olives to me the last time we were up (and I was going to bring them more proscuitto), and Justin decided to come along too (given that he didn't come last time)

It was a glorious sunny, still afternoon, and Maile and I picked the olives - huge kalamatas, while Justin and David played their guitars.  Was idyllic.

troubadours #1

troubadours #2

troubadours #3

And of course the prosecco also came out.  Because we were enjoying ourselves stayed a little later than we maybe should have, so didn't end up leaving Inglewood til after 5pm . Oh well, it was a good weekend

Girls weekend (with a couple of blokes) 30 April - 1st May

Girly weekend. Well, at least that was what was planned. Karen had had a tough week and was asking about Inglewood, so I thought a girly weekend was in order, so invited her and Merrill up.
That said, Alex had also been speaking with Justin and had suggested a work weekend – to start painting that upstairs room.

So, a quandary, a proper girly weekend, or a girly weekend with a couple of blokes in overalls. We took the latter, after all I do want that room fixed up.

Justin and I had a quick dinner in Melbourne and then drove up. Traffic was still a bit bad on the Monash, but was ok once we got over the Bolte Bridge. Karen had a school event that she had to attend, so her and Merrill planned to leave after 7.30. We anticipated getting there well before them.

As it was, because of the initial traffic, we only beat them by about 20 minutes.

Now, the reason that Justin had agreed to come up on the Friday night was that he wanted to get some more filling done, and wanted that to dry so he could sand and then paint. He obviously didn’t think that I and then Alex had done a good enough job previously, as we thought it didn’t really need any more filling. Oh well (and I know that the Red room isn’t perfect also – sour grapes?)
Anyway, Justin donned his tradie overalls, and got filling and I waited for the gals on the veranda – in splendid electric light, and surprisingly just a T-shirt and jeans – no jacket required. It was unseasonally still quite mild at 9.30 at night, and the last day of April.

The gals arrived around 10, and I set up a lovely cheese platter for us. Merrill had brought a tasty selection of cheeses, and I had also bought some nice ones.

We sat in the dining room and enjoyed them with some welcome bubbles. Justin joined us eventually, and we ended up having a relatively late night.

A leisurely breakfast - with plenty of laughs









Saturday, and we had to work out our dinner menu for the evening (after a late start, and a visit from Damo & Nicole, and then Maile & David)

Had to hot foot it to the butcher before he closed at 12. Karen bought some lamb cutlets, and then off to the supermarket for the other ingredients. Both gals had brought their trusty thermomixes (I left mine in Melbourne). So we were in fact planning a feast. Thought we’d have a Morroccan type theme. Karen marinaded the cutlets in a lovely Morroccan type Thermomix mixed spice mix, and also some yummy pull apart bread. Merrill organised the assorted vegies & cous cous, and also
made a Marco Pierre White chocolate tart (thermomix of course) I did nothing!!! How novel! They had their dinner plan, and any assistance by me was surplus to needs.

Now, apart from being a girly weekend, I was also planning on this being the weekend to disinter my pig, or to pull the prosciutto out of the cellar, as we had put it in the cellar 12 months ago after the Heritage Day. In fact Karen assisted and with me, ably watched Justin construct the box to hang it in.

Anyway, went down to the cellar, and pulled the box out. Took it into the scullery and started pulling out all of those tacks that Justin had hammered in (took ages). Merrill was chief photographer, and took many action and “hammy” (pun intended ) shots.

So, got it out of the box, but was very hard to actually cut through it, solid as a rock. I’d called Terry and got a voice mail, so then I tried Arlene and got through. She told me that she did have a meat slicer, and that I could borrow it. So off to Kingower I drove, to pick it up. Came back and tried it, but it didn’t seem strong enough, the meat was too hard. Gave up for the time being.

However I mounted another challenge, and that was to put up the curtains that I had bought, so that it could be darker in our room at night.  I had got some curtain rings from the op shop, and so got the gals to help me while I held up the curtains (they were pretty heavy).  Looked good, but had to wipe down all of the dust first

 
The girls and I then went for a nice walk – took them on the scenic route past the rusty eucy boiler ruins, and then through the bush, down the white sand road, and past the old chicken pens. Merrill had brought her good camera, so took lots of arty shots.  That dam that Karen and I had yabbied at a year or so ago was completely dried out (see the photos)

Back via the IGA to make sure that we had enough tonic water, and then back to the house where the girls got on with their cooking - lots of Thermomix action.

Merrill took a few house arty shots also

Sneaked a few peaks at the room that Justin and Alex were painting. Although I had wanted blue, I hadn’t wanted it strongly enough, Justin was dead against blue. So we went green, or at least he
chose green. The shade he chose is called Lime Parfait, and appeared suspiciously bright on the sample card. And yep, it was likewise suspiciously bright on the walls. I must admit that at first glance I don’t really like it, but I have been assured that it will look very nice with a bright white trim, and if not, then it can be the base colour for a new colour. I guess I will reserve final judgement until its finished. After all I was wrong about removing the wooden wall in the upstairs hallway, so I may also be wrong about this.

More cheeses, dips and drinks on the veranda.

And then the boys were dispatched downstairs to cook up the cutlets on the bbq.




Another “epic” dinner in the dining room.

 

Justin brought out the guitar and strummed a few songs. Us gals sang along with gusto, but perhaps not quite in tune. We had fun. The boys must have been plum tuckered out by their painting, so retired to bed before us. We obviously had more stamina, and stayed up – making our own “music” – banging together some bottles as percussion. I seem tor recall singing one of my old favourites :- Rupert Holmes “Escape” with Karen accompanying me. Merrill was on the camera recording us for posterity as opposed to blackmail (I think!)

Anyway, eventually got to bed, and slept well and long. Staggered breakfast in the morning, then the 3 of us gals went off to Terry’s place. He had called me back re the meat slicer. I had then asked if we could perhaps come over, as we didn’t want to break Arlene’s meat slicer, and I know he has very sharp knives. As always he was very gracious, and invited us up.

And yes, his knives didn’t disappoint. He sharpened one up, and made the first incision, and then
cut off a few slices.

SUCCESS! It was pretty good, perhaps a bit too salty, but pretty good nonetheless, so I was thrilled. We stayed a while with Terry and had a coffee (best coffee in Kingower), and then back to the house
to have some lunch in the garden. The gals left after lunch, the boys did some more painting, and I went back up to Kingower, as Maile and David had invited us up yesterday for some prosciutto and prosecco.

Given that it had rained (apparently quite heavily on Saturday night), there were puddles everywhere, which was actually lovely to see (although the roof leaked again, so we had to contact the roof guy again).  Quite a few puddles on the road to Maile's so had to drive carefully

Unfortunately I was the only one to come, and gave everyone else’s apologies. Maile had made up a nice cheese platter which I added to with some prosciutto. They were very impressed, and also tucked into it with gusto. I left them some too. Justin, on the other hand didn’t want to try any until 24 hours after I had – just in case I got sick/food poisoning. Well I’m happy to say that I didn’t, and he has now eaten some of my prosciutto, although hasn’t really raved about it, nor sought it out. Oh well,I think it was a mighty fine first effort.

So, I stayed and shot the breeze with Maile and David, and then dropped in quickly to see Arlene. Gave her back her unused slicer, and also gave her some prosciutto.

Then, back to the house, where Justin and Alex were still painting, but finishing up. I was concerned that Justin had wanted to get home earlier, but it was all fine. We left around 4 or so.

I should also mention that Justin wanted to surprise me, so I didn’t have another look at the room, will only do so when I am invited.  I look forward to the grand unveiling.