Mothers Day weekend 5 and 6th May 2018

Another Mother's Day in Inglewood, but this time without Mum, as she didn't feel up to it, too cold, and she preferred to stay at home.

We had invited Michelle up for the weekend, as we hadn't seen her for a while

We got to Inglewood  around 11, having taken the irrigation hose from Clancy, and various plants that I had dug out of Jan's garden (that were going to be removed soon) - took the ute which was easier. but less comfortable.

Went to the butcher to buy steak etc for Keira's birthday dinner that I was making later in the week.  I had also wanted some lamb shanks, but they didn't have any, so bought some at the supermarket.

Went into the garden after this and planted the plants before Michelle came

First - the grape vines by the trellis

Then some in the vegie patch - oregano

Rhubarb and spinach etc

Michelle advised that she wouldn't make it for lunch - so we had a sandwich, and she arrived around 2pm

Justin went and had his haircut, and planned to go on a long run afterwards in preparation for his Great Ocean Road half marathon.  I had suggested that he run to Maile's - but that had a few logistical problems ie he didn't want to be hot and sweaty at their place, and three of us in the ute on the way back would be a squeeze.  So he did his normal run off Potters Hill Lane.

After Michelle had scoffed down a sandwich, I grabbed a bottle of chilled prosecco, and we went to Maile and David's to pick their jumbo kalamatas.

Was glorious up there, sunny and blue, and we picked kilos and kilos....

Maile then put out a spread of cheese etc, and we drank the prosecco - very nice.  Michelle admired Maile's numerous collections ie feathers, rocks, Japanese dolls etc - they are both bowerbrids in that respect.

Left just before kangaroo o' clock - but saw a few in the bush.

Got the lamb shanks cooking and stuffed an eggplant for Michelle (newly minted vegetarian), then just waited for dinner to be ready.

Wanted to make sure that the shanks were good and tender so cooked them for a couple of hours at least.  Were delicious, had included tomatoes, wine, white beans, olives etc

Ate upstairs with a roaring fire - very nice

Sunday - Mothers day, and Justin made us both a lovely breakfast which we ate in the dining room.  eggs, avocado, and hash browns.  Filled us up nicely.

Then Michelle and I went and visited the 2nd hand shops which she loved.  Denise reminded us that there was the annual Mother's Day Morning Tea at the RSL so we wandered over there.

They had a lovely spread of both savouries and sweets, but sadly none of PC Mick's famous scones (he wasn't there this year)

So, even though we weren't really hungry we had a few pieces, and a cup of tea - delicious. 

Sat with a previous RSL chief and his wife, and chatted away (also saw lots of other people that I knew (ie Alex, Joy, Merle, Faye etc)

Bought raffle tickets - and Joy pulled out the winning ticket. 

Chris from Sharps won, and they had a bit of fun with her on the phone loudspeaker informing her of her win.

We must have taken a while because Justin came to find us, he'd gone to the Emporium, and Denise told him that we'd gone here.

Once he'd established where we were, Justin went back home, and we continued on to the other shops for some more fossicking.  Michelle ended up buying a jacket, but had her eye on some other items....

Got back and went up to the veranda, as it was lovely and sunny by this stage - and read the papers for a while

 Michelle left soon afterwards and took a few photos of us

 

I then picked the rest of our (large) olives, we had a late lunch, and we left around 3.  We'll certainly have lots of olives this year - will have to give some away

Lots of neighbours 27 - 29 April 2018

Given my Fridays off, the stars aligned that I could go to my 3rd "Old Ladies" movie afternoon at Maile's.

Had a bit of running around to do in Melbourne first, so got to Inglewood around 12.45, quickly unpacked (had to put some food in the fridge), and then off to Brenanah with a chilled bottle of prosecco.

Not that many OLs there, Maile of course, plus Nicole, Anne and another lady.

Maile had put out one of her famous cheese and biscuit platters which we grazed on for lunch.

The movie was Madame - with Toni Colette

 Read/sounded better than it was - still amusing though.

Left late afternoon, and some leftovers for dinner - only one kangaroo jumping away from me into the bush.

Saturday morning, and I prepared for the neighbours.  I had made the pizza dough and dips/pate back in Melbourne.

Now just had to actually make the pizzas.  Given that Roy and Pamela are vegetarian (but eat fish), I made 2 x salmon/cream cheese/capers etc, 2 x mixed vegie and cheese, 2 x salami, anchovy, capsicum etc, and 2 x tandoori chicken, coriander etc, plus a large dish of eggplant parmigiana, and a green salad.  I also had various cheeses and biscuits, and our home made salami. I was going to make a cake, but decided against it (thought we had plenty of food, and we did!)

Given that I was pretty much under control, I went and had a coffee with Denise, and bought some eggs from David .

Was walking back to the house, and Clancy/Julie and Justin pulled up in front of me - around 11.40am.

Clancy and Julie had given Justin a lift - so that we wouldn't have two cars up there.  And they came early, so that Justin could get the pizza oven going (needs to get to white smoke before you should put the pizzas in).  Sometimes when it's just me, I'm a bit impatient, and put the pizzas in too soon, when there is still a lot of flame...(not the right thing to do)

Julie and Clancy helped by setting up the table under the tree - table cloth, chairs, plates, glasses, cutlery etc

Looked very nice, particularly given that it was such a lovely blue sky day, with no wind - just perfect to show off the place to the neighbours who haven't been here before

The others (Peter & Sue, Roy, Pam & Trish) got here around 12.30.  So we ushered them outside, and we started our long lunch.  Unfortunately Carolyn couldn't come, sent an apologetic text, as she had a migraine.  And Val and George couldn't come either, as they had another long standing arrangement.

Justin cooked the pizzas to perfection - lovely crisp bases, and it was a great afternoon

 After lunch, we showed the "newbies" around the house, and then a quick walk around the town.

And here's a photo compilation that Sue made

Justin thought a few of them would be interested in the motor bikes at Steve and Denise's

Clancy and Julie were the only ones who ended up staying the night, the others were all invited, but wanted to get back home/ had other commitments on the Sunday.

As per the custom, we ended up on the veranda upstairs and had a few more nibbles.  Had to rug up a little by this stage, as it was getting cooler, but not cold.

Surprisingly went to the pub for "dinner" weren't really hungry, so just got entrees

Justin took a nice photo of the Town Hall on the way back from the pub

And then back to the house, downstairs, and a good fire.

Had a relatively early night

Sunday, and a modest breakfast; Clancy and Julie left soon after.

And Ben finally came back to fix up the cellar window (had been busy on another job in Maryborough?) - and also had some suggestions for moving the water tanks to the back, putting up the orchard fence, and putting in some watering systems for selected trees/plants

     

Justin and I also harvested some of our lovely olives - separated them into large and small - although the trees didn't seem as laden as last time, we still picked quite a few kilograms

 

Winter is coming and flamenco meets jazz 14 & 15 April 2018

Well, Winter is well and truly coming....(apologies for the GOT reference)

Justin and our Melbourne neighbour Val were competing in the Race around the Rock (Hanging Rock) 13.5km run on Saturday morning

So, we thought that we would invite Val and George up to Inglewood for the weekend - given that we were just about 1/2 way there.

Was an early start, and it was cold, wet, windy and miserable.  The temperature was supposed to be 8 degrees

We arrived at Hanging Rock just before 9am, and reluctantly left the comfort of the car for the horrors of outside.

Given that we couldn't find Val and George, we wondered if they had changed their minds about coming and stayed warm and comfy in bed.

They didn't and we found them by the coffee van trying to warm up with a cup of coffee

Justin and Val set off on their race a little later - Val looked happier about it than Justin

Their race started around 9.25am and I guess I thought that George and I would  just go and wait in the warmth of our cars - but no, we braved the elements and walked around the base of the rock with Dylan the dog.

The runners were also supposed to run around the rock, but because of the rain, they had a detour, so it wasn't as scenic as it was supposed to be

George and I had also wanted to climb up the rock to see if we could see the runners - but the path up was closed due to the very windy conditions.  So George put Dylan back in the car, and we went and waited at the finish line...

We also got very wet, I was wearing Justin's warm jacket, and my mobile phone was in the pocket.  It got rather wet also - and actually stopped working.  Justin had to take it apart once we got to Inglewood to let it dry out.  Luckily it re-started and is still working....

Anyway, they took less than 1.5 hours, Justin came in first - and picked up his medal.  George had to take the below photos for me, as my phone had stopped working, at that stage I thought it might have been my cold fingers not able to wake up the screen.

Val came a few minutes later, I don't have a photo of her success. By the way, she ended up coming a rather impressive 7th in her class.  Justin came 15th out of 35.  Also pretty good.

Anyway, George had organised a lovely picnic for us to share after the race, but given that it was still so miserable, we just wanted to get back into our warm dry cars and get onto Inglewood -and have an inside picnic there.

So, that's what we did.  We eventually warmed and dried up in our cars, and got to the house just after 12.

Showed Val and George the improvements - as they had previously been here in June last year. And then had our picnic at the dining room table as it was also grey and gloomy in Inglewood.

George had made little smoked salmon and also prawn sandwiches, and also provided yummy cheeses and biscuits and hand milked Salmon caviar (said so on the label) and trout dip - delicious!  All washed down by some wine.  Not mulled, as we were warm enough by this stage, and Val had also set up a roaring fire.

So, it was a long and leisurely lunch, and given our early start, we adjourned for a postprandial nap

I had considered cooking up something for dinner, but we all agreed it would be easier to just go to the pub, so we did.

Got there after 7pm, and it wasn't very busy

We were very surprised when 3 of us received our meals, within 10 minutes of ordering, although Justin had to wait a little longer.

After dinner back to the house and upstairs for some music

I was very impressed that Val could remember so many lyrics of numerous songs

Sunday morning, and it was grey and dull again.

I heard George get up to walk Dylan, so I decided to join him.  We drove to the reservoir (last time we had walked there with Dylan, and he kept straining against the lead), and then started walking around it.

Thought we would take a bit of a detour, and went up a track I hadn't been on before

Came across a mining tower

And a nicely shaped tree

Saw a couple of kangaroos, luckily Dylan didn't, and made our way up to the tailings dams that Justin and I had seen a couple of weeks ago.  Didn't let Dylan near them - as I was concerned that they might be poisonous.

George had reception on his phone, so used the gps function to bush-bash our way back to the Inglewood reservoir

And then drove back to the house for a modest breakfast of toast and coffee

Tidied up, and then onto Kingower to meet up with Maile and David at 10.30, as we were seeing a jazz/flamenco concert in Dunolly with them

Got to  Dunolly before 12, so had a little wander around town, and yet another chuckle about the Queen Victoria plaque

Justin knows a J Desmond - so found this shop front amusing

Went and had lunch at the old Wrights on Broadway (can't remember the name of the new place)

We all had excellent food (although it took a little while to arrive)

And then back to the Town Hall for the Bart and Paco Flamenco/Jazz concert

Maile had organised us to have front row seats - because we're "special"

It was supposed to start at 2pm, however Rachel (the hostess/organiser) came on stage and advised that they were running late (artists!) and that we could all go for a short walk if we liked and come back at 2.30

So, Justin and I went to the Court House which was hosting a fancy Glass exhibition

 
Back to the Hall, where Justin spied them practising beforehand

And then Bart came on by himself.  He is a jazz guitarist who played with a Flamenco twist

photo from the internet

Then an afternoon Tea interval - where Justin took a photo of some grand mustachioed/bearded gentlemen

And also a plan of the Town hall

And then back in to listen to Paco - a Spanish Flamenco guitarist from Barcelona - who played flamenco with a jazz twist

photo from the internet

And then they played together

Was a great concert, wonderful music, lovely intimate location.  We'll certainly come back for more of these concerts.

Finished around 4.30pm

We milled around the front for a little while, and Maile introduced me to the inimitable Rachel who had organsied the whole she-bang

As Maile would say she's a "hoot" and I invited her to come and visit, and enjoy a G&T on the veranda some time.  

Left for Melbourne via a rather circutous route blindly following the new passat gps through Maldon, and then onto Castlamine.  Put our collective feet down when it said to rejoin the Calder at Malmsbury - stupid!!!  We re-joined it after Castlemaine, and even once on the Tullamarine it was telling us to exit and go another way.  Clearly a superceded map....Fine for city driving, but cross check against Google Maps/Melways in the country