But first, Justin and I had to drop by Jan and Peter's to pick up some heavy pieces of mahogany/red gum? which had been their kitchen bench-top, and will be eventually re-purposed into one for us at Inglewood
So arrived at Inglewood around 12, unloaded the ute, had a quick wander around, and yes the "grass" is yellowing off, and a quicker lunch - butter chicken pie from the bakery, and then I was off to Maile's for her "Old Ladie's" movie afternoon
A small group, myself, Maile, June and Jan, and we watched "I can only Imagine", which I hadn't heard of previously
Was a bit of a tear jerker, so Maile brought out the tissues....
I left around 4pm, as Karen and Mark would have arrived by then. I also dropped in on Terry first to give him the Dane's $40 for the Music Night. Had a coffee and a chat, and he showed me the table that he's fixed up for us - looks great!
I also invited him to dinner at the pub tonight
So back to the house, a cheerio to Karen and Mark,and a bit of weeding before dinner.... I was also very pleasantly surprised to see that Justin and Mark had extended the white pebble path around the tap etc - looks fantastic
Terry arrived around 6pm with the table, and Justin was very impressed. He'd fixed up the central crack, got rid of most of the unsightly marks, but kept the patina of age, and then french polished it. Very professional, and much better than the condition that we had received it in (with a half crack)
Had a G&T in the dining room, we'd lost the sun on the veranda, and it was cooling down rapidly.
Went to the Royal for dinner. I had fish and chips which were very good. Also enjoyed Mark and Chrissie's Both Banks red wine
And then back to our place, had thought it would be an early night, but that wasn't to be. Went upstairs and Justin started playing his guitar, and given that there no actual singers there, invited Karen and I to come up and belt out some tunes - which we did with not too much urging
Mark, Terry and Moby had more sense
Karen had some down time also
Anyway, some how it got to 1.30am, which is when I called it quits. Unfortunately our pristine table somehow developed some new water marks and a couple of scratches - what a PITY! I had put out place mats, but should have used a table cloth. Terry also said that maybe the polish hadn't quite cured yet
Well, a late night, and luckily a sleep in! I did wake up around 6am, and read for a little while, but then fell asleep again, and re woke up around 9.30am - fantastic!
Gave Justin some toast and coffee in bed, and I read the Age on line. Karen got up after 10, and Mark got up at 10.50am, and was extremely surprised by the time, he thought it was only about 9am.....
We thought that we would have hotdogs for our Grand Final lunch, so Karen and I set off for the shop, and bumped into Terry outside who had arrived with a bucket and some shellac etc to fix up the table, what a great friend!
More weeding/gardening, and then our hotdogs for lunch
Prepared the venison for slow cooking and popped it in the oven, and then went with Karen to harvest some scrounged asparagus in the secret location. However there was none there, not a skerrick, The reason I had gone, was that I'd had a look at Maile's and she had plenty. And it had just come up in the last 2 weeks....so is very fast growing.
No matter, but I didn't want to buy any, I had it in my mind that I wanted wild asparagus
So back to the house, and more weeding - didn't bother with the Grand Final. Mark gave me occasional updates ie Collingwood ahead, until they weren't in the last 5 minutes...
Came back inside around 4.30, and did roast potatoes, carrots, bean puree, salad etc
Then a shower and dressed in my finest for our Murder Dinner Party, - I was Major Lady Hilary Bagshaw, in the horsey set with pearls of course.
Damo and Nicole arrived around 6 while we were still getting ready. I hadn't actually given them a definite time. No matter, they waited a few minutes in the dining room
Had an introductory G&T and cheese and biscuits, salami, olives etc before we slipped into character
And then the games began....
Karen - Lindsay Johnson - the young secretary
Mark - the handsome flying ace, Captain Samuel Roberts
Justin - dashing Lt Commander Nathaniel Cooper
Damo - Lt Rex Diamond, duty officer, handsome, charming, irresistible to women
Nicole - Sheila Barnes, young witty intelligent, highly efficient
Started with Karen's spicy tomato soup, then my slow cooked venison shoulder, with white bean puree, roast potatoes and salad and custard and cake from Nicole. And of course lots of wine!
The game progressed with lots of laughter, but not that many clues, or that much information. At the end we had to say who we think had committed the murder, why, and how, and none of us got it right. In fact I had played my role so well, that I was the popular choice for the murderer (and it wasn't me) We all decided that we would have needed further information in order to make an informed guess. But it didn't really matter as we all had a lot of fun
And yep, it was another late night.....after 1am again, and so yep it was another late start to the morning.
We had called up someone to come and give us a quote on the orchard fence, watering system etc, and he was going to come at 10am, However he was too busy, so we had to make it another time
Tidied up a bit last night, but there was still more to do....Karen did a lot of it while I was out in the garden. What a good friend
Toast and coffee for breakfast, and a bit more work in the garden
Found some home grown wheat also - which I didn't pull out. Might keep it in as an experiment
Justin had also taken some nice photos in the garden
For lunch I suggested that we have a picnic at Melville Caves - Justin wasn't that keen, so I brought some chairs, chips, savoury shapes etc to soften him up. ie I even brought up some Almond Magnums in a freezer bag, and they went down a treat
It was glorious up there - sunny and blue, clear and still
Quite a few groups of people passed through, but we had a good spot off to one side
On the way back we stopped at Mark and Chrissie's place as we had liked the Both Banks wine at the Royal on Friday, and thought we would buy some
Mark welcomed us with some generous tastings, and then we walked around the vineyard - lovely
Back to the house, after purchasing a case of red each, a bit more gardening for me, and Justin did a bit of whipper snippering
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