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