Anyway, Chris came and picked me up after 1pm on Friday (after having been to Mum's for a tidy up with Helen)
He educated me on the histories of various old bands ie Chicago, Doobie Brothers etc
When we got to Inglewood we had a rather late lunch of yummy cheeses, prosciutto, and biscuits that he had brought, plus a few beers, as it was a hot day. Very nice, on the back veranda
Terry had suggested that I come over and start food preparation that afternoon, but it was too late, and my driver had had a few beers, and so wasn't driving anywhere, so we stayed put.
Chris also helped me take out the last old tank stand, - Gordon had taken out the tanks, and the other stand, as the council was having a hard rubbish collection. I was pleased about this, as they had made the garden look junky
Justin arrived just before 7pm, and we went to the Empire for dinner, and then back home and some music practise for the boys
Sat out on the veranda also, as it was cooler, and talked into the night. Very pleasant, and no mosquitoes.
Chris made us a bacon and egg breakfast on Saturday
And then Justin gave me a lift to Terry's to start up the cooking. It was a Middle Eastern finger food feast - with even some of the recipes that I had suggested to Terry
As always we were a well functioning team.
Terry gave us a lovely eggplant parmagania lunch, and Justin came and picked me up around 3 or so
The others were here by then - Alex, Sarah & William, Susan & Mark, and Penny - full house
I excused my self, and had a quick nap, as I hadn't slept that well the previous night
Susan drove me back to Kingower at 6pm, and then drove back to Inglewood, while Terry, June and I set up the tables on the Village Green
Sasha the dog was supervising from a supine position
People started arriving around 6.30, and I tried to ensure that we had our own table - as there were 9 of us...Felt like minding chairs at the cinema - but I made it..
Was a really lovely evening, the music was great, the food was great, and I think we planned it pretty well also, bringing out different sets of food in a timely manner
Mark was our special guest artist, playing his violin, and Justin commented afterwards that the audience started whooping and clapping in the opening chords of Ashokan Farewell - which has a lovely and haunting violin solo at the start. We would have first heard this tune on Ken Burns American Civil war tv series.
We had also told all of our guests to make sure that they brought jackets/jumpers, as it was a clear night, and a month or so ago when we'd seen Sweet Country, it got pretty cold.
That said, it was still quite temperate even at the end of the evening, and our scoffing guests were right, we didn't need long sleeves. my thoughts were better safe than sorry. Susan and Sarah were our homeward drivers, and luckily no kangaroos.
We probably went back upstairs, but I didn't stay too late, as I was tired
People got up at all times on Sunday. I just had toast for breakfast, but Chris once again made eggs and bacon etc for those who wanted it. Made a few batches to cater for differently timed risers
An antipasto lunch was in the same place a few hours later
My old school friend Carolyn C came and visited in the afternoon. She was staying with Tim in Castlemaine- so was relatively close by.
And then off to the Royal for dinner. A few of us ordered the porterhouse steak, but there was only one, so Margie kindly offered two of us either t bone or scotch at the same price. I took the t bone, and it was really delicious, and BIG! I couldn't finish it, but William helped me out.
Chris and I also played pool. My first game was deplorable - and I was in mortal danger of being "pantsed" - ie having to drop my pants and run around the the pool table, as I hadn't potted a ball (except the stupid white one). However Chris made some mistake also, so I was off the hook, whew!
We also played some games against another couple, and my game mysteriously improved. In fact, I hit some fabulous fluky shots, and we won. It also didn't hurt that our woman opponent was even worse than me, and mistakenly potted the black a few times. We carried on however and used a spare white ball as the black ball. We still won.
Back to the house, and a reasonably early night for me (I think)
On Monday morning (public holiday/Queen's Birthday) we asked our friends to assist in moving/laying out some of the rugs, as it was too cumbersome for just Justin and myself
First, our room, had to lift the bed, move the other rugs, unroll the large rug, needed multiple hands. I decided to be chief photographer
And then it was upstairs to the Lime Parfait room. Get rid of the blue carpet offcut, (which we put out the front as hard rubbish) and put the nice rug from our front room in Glen Iris there
People started leaving after this, although Alex, William and Sarah stayed for lunch - we just bought pies from the bakery. And William made a his own "smore" - marshmallows in a choc biscuit sandwich
