Justin and I drove up on Good Friday morning after loading the rest of the fence posts onto the ute
And, at least it wasn't cold in the cabin like last time
I had wanted to get a few things achieved, as we were having a long, long weekend, taking off the Tuesday also. My suggestion was to paint our bedroom, however we couldn't decide on a colour, so then I suggested for Justin to do some more on the scullery cupboards. In the end we did neither...but did have a pretty nice social time of it. Justin was also pretty tuckered out from a 5 week circuit, so was taking the week off after Easter.
Arrived around 2pm for a late lunch.
Helen and the kids were already there.
After lunch, we thought we'd try our luck at some yabbying, and went to a close by dam. Although pleasant, not one yabby.
Justin took out his drone again, and let Xavier look through the head piece. They both had fun, and it survived for another day
If you look very closely at the below photo, you will see the drone about 1/4 of the way up the tank overflow pipe (on the right).
Some relaxing on the back veranda. I also provided a mobile hot spot with my phone so that I could put some free apps on the kids tablets. They were very pleased.
And some cricket after dinner
Saturday, and Helen, the kids and I went off to Terry's to make some passata
First had to cut the tomatoes
Was lots of fun, and I thought the machine was rather nifty, separating the skin and seeds from the pulp.
Basically you put the tomatoes in the top funnel type bowl, crank the handle, and then the pulp is forced through a tub into the tray below, while the skin and seeds are collected in a smaller bowl
Helen thought that the skin and seeds should be fried up with some garlic and eaten, but we just threw it away
That said, Xavier did eat some - and of course made a bit of a mess
Michaela kept busy by drawing
Once all the passata-ing was done, we bottled it up, and Terry put the jars in a large saucepan filled with water to cook.
He also invited us to lunch - Helen had been talking about eggplant parmigiana - so he thought he'd make one for us. Given that he needed some mozzarella cheese, we went back to Inglewood to get some, and do some other chores, and then went back with Justin
It was delicious
Xavier was rather hungry while waiting, so made silly faces to amuse us
We also did some tidying up and cleaning after lunch - in preparation for Daniel and Kim's visit. I cleaned out the shed, gt rid of the junk on the chimney shelves, and back window etc. Justin mopped and vacuumed, got rid of spider webs
For dinner I had planned to make pizzas, so Justin fired up the pizza oven, and I made up 5 pizzas which we ate outside under the tree
There was also a Blue Moon - 2nd moon of the month
After the kids went to bed, we had a bit of a musical interlude upstairs
AndI sat on the veranda for a while, as the weather was still very warm, and I thought it was getting a bit stuffy inside
Sunday, and of course there was the Easter egg hunt by Xavier and Michaela. Lots of fun, excitement and chocolate. And it was also the end of daylight savings, so we scored an extra sleep in, and the kids had to keep quiet for even longer. I must say that they did keep pretty quiet this time in the mornings, so that was an added bonus.
Daniel and Kim arrived around lunchtime. So we had a casual deli lunch under the tree. Daniel and Kim brought some delicious cheeses which we had with cold cuts and dips etc
We went to Melville CAves after lunch via Blanche Barkly, which was closed, and then Kangderaar where we bought some wine.
Helen had suggested that we park down the bottom of Melville Caves (we normally just drive to the top) So we climbed up - not as hard as Mt Koorong. they liked it, but it was unfortunately a bit hazy, not as sunny and bright as it had been yesterday.
Took lots of photos
Meanwhile I had the lamb shoulder slow cooking in the oven - which I'd prepared after our lunch
Got back to the house late afternoon, and adjourned to the veranda - Kim was having a nap. Not sure where Daniel was
And Justin took some good photos of the Town Hall with an ominous sky
Dinner was sometime after 8 - needed 5-6 hours to cook, so the kids were hungry ( we did have a late lunch though)
And if I don't say so myself, the lamb was really delicious, you could have used a butter knife to cut it. Looked very pretty too with the pomegranates, fetta, red onion and parsley surrounding it (got the recipe from the Adam Liaw in The Age)
Monday morning, and more visitors - this time one of Justin's previous colleagues (whose parents had an old school house not far away in Bet Bet) and her partner. they brought me some home collected honey - which I thought was very nice. They are also doing up a house in Footscray painting stencils on the walls, which is what I'd like to do in our bedroom.
We fired up a big breakfast with the lot - eggs, bacon, hash browns, toast, avocado etc - once again outside under the tree.
And then we all went onto the fabulous Rheola Easter Show. All of our favourite events were then - wood chopping, sheep dog trials, vintage tractor pull, mystery steam machines, vintage cars etc. And also saw a lot of our local friends.
Steam Machines
Wood chop
Sheep dog trials
Tractors (lots of them, Justin just loves them)
And the kids both entered in their age appropriate running races
Xavier won his, got a medal and was very excited
Michaela wasn't quite so lucky, she started well, but then was cut off at the end, as another girl veered into her lane
Helen and the kids and I tried our luck at fishing in the reservoir, also some more yabbying no luck at all
Tuesday, and Helen and the kids left before lunch, Justin and I pottered around tidying up etc. He also put up the curtain rods for me in the Garden room. Now we just need some curtains for the upstairs green room and little yellow room
