Kingower Music Night Friday 13 - Sunday 15 September 2019

Caught the tram/bus/train to Karen's on Friday afternoon (there was a problem with the lines at Burnley)

She picked me up at the Greensborough station and we drove to Inglewood (didn't miss the Calder turnoff this time!)

Arrived before 7pm, unpacked and walked down to the pub for dinner.  Margie wasn't there (was sick)

Had a pleasant meal, and then someone put on the jukebox, and before long - The Devil went down to Georgia was blasting out again.  And yes, it was the same people who put it on as when I was there last.  Had a laugh about it

Back to the house, and upstairs with a bottle of wine, and a card game Karen had brought called Cards against Humanity

It was hilarious, despite there only being two of us   

To bed, and a bit of a sleep in

Brought Karen a cup of tea in bed on Saturday morning (I'd already had breakfast) and then off to Terry's for 9am with Moby her dog in tow

Given that Moby is well behaved, he was allowed to stay inside away from the cooking action, and he was allowed on the couch.

Karen and I were on jam/custard tart duty (tarts making tarts!).  I made up the pastry in the food processor, and then Karen rolled it out, cut the circles, and put them in the tins 

I then filled the first lot with jam, and then made up an egg custard and filled the next lot with custard

Meanwhile - Arlene was cooking up 2 big pots of goulash - with a bottle of red in each pot

Terry, June and Dermott were kept busy with other tasks

After the tarts I chopped lots of herbs and made up 3 lots of different herbed cream cheese for our different hors d'oeuvres, and made the gremolata

Terry as usual made us a marvellous lunch - eggplant parmigiana - which we had outside with a crisp glass of white and some salad.  It was a glorious day, so was very pleasant

Back to the house after lunch - and Justin and Fraser were already there

Justin and I had been talking about a building a rotunda in the garden, so I had called up a company, and they had requested that we take photos of where we wanted it, and also provide them with a photo of the house - so they can see what style it is

We think we want it roughly where the hay bales are - ie in line with the dining room window

And, as you can see - the trellis posts have been cut down, and a cap put on the top (and Gordon has poisoned the peripheral weeds).  Bit of a puddle next to the little apricot tree.  That leak needs to be fixed.

I also planted the 5 x kiwi fruit plants - so hopefully they will do well here

The garden continues to embrace Spring - with pink peach blossoms

And a white iris

Penny arrived around 3, and Alex and Sarah around 4.30 - Justin would have preferred earlier - as he wanted some more time to practice....

No matter, Karen and I were in the advance guard up to Kingower - to be there at 6pm, as Terry had wanted us to assist in the set up

And I had organised for Denise & Steve, and Pauline & Jerry to come to the house at 6.15, so that they could follow Justin and co to the church, as they hadn't been before, and were unsure where it was exactly.  I'd sent Rachel a photo of the church, as she would have been going backwards to come to our place first

Karen, June and I handed out the appetisers - and what a hit they were. 

Spinach blini filled with herbed cream cheese, roast capsicum and jalapenos, and then cut into bite size pieces like a roulade

Salmon crostini with herbed cream cheese and capers

And cucumber rounds with different herbed cream cheese crowned with a chilli slice

These were all very popular and delicious

And then we served up Terry's fabulous sausage rolls - which Fraser declared to the best sausage rolls he's ever eaten (so obviously better than mine!)

Justin and co were up first, and I was even invited up to assist with  Tumbling Tumbleweeds

Then main course - the goulash, mashed potatoes and gremolata on top - delicious, and just perfect for a cold evening


Then some more musical acts -

David, Mark and friends

and Dermott

June piped some cream onto the jam tarts, and we had other delicious desserts too made by Jan.  I must admit I was a little bit disappointed with our tarts - I unwittingly made the short crust pastry with self raising flour (and was surprised when the dough did rise), and then the custard for some of the tarts seeped into the pastry - leaving not much custard to be enjoyed...Oh well, still tasted quite nice, and there were some better ones where there was enough custard 

And a good time was had by all

Finished up after midnight, Karen drove me, and Sarah drove the others in Alex's car

I stayed up for a little while, but then went to bed, as I was tired.  The others stayed up later.

Sunday, and Karen brought me breakfast in bed, which was fabulous!  Justin declined the breakfast.

Karen left before lunch, and Alex, Sarah & Penny after our antipasto lunch of smallgoods and cheeses etc

The day was a cloudy and overcast, not at all like yesterday's beautiful day

I did some more work in the garden, watered some plants, weeded etc

Caught Fraser in the garden

Mid week weeding and photographing 5 -7 Sep 2019

Well, I had an unexpected email from a restoration house TV program which I had applied to a few years ago, saying that they were going over old emails, and asking if we were still interested

I chatted with Justin, he wasn't, but was happy for me to proceed if I was

I was, and after a few phone conversations emailed them photos of the house - highlighting areas of disrepair, what was needed etc - as they wanted to make sure that we weren't too progressed in our renovations

For example

Outside Cracks

Ironwork that needs work

Bricks that need repointing

Side fence

Kitchen

Dining Room

Bathroom

Bedroom 1

Bedroom 2

Front hallway

Back Hallway

Mid landing

Room above kitchen

Top Hallway

Big upstairs room

Stairs

Interesting features

So, I sent these through, and a few days later received another email saying that she was going to pitch our house to her series producer, and she'll get back to me....so obviously it wasn't too restored for her (did send a photo of the red room, but didn't of the new bathroom or the little yellow room, figured she wanted to see what needed doing)

Anyway, after all this changed into overalls and got weeding again

There's a certain amount of relaxation with weeding, your mind can wander, all you need to do is differentiate between the weeds and the actual plants that you want

I also developed a bit of a hit list of weeds

I had my favourite  - a grass type clump that could get quite large, but had reasonably shallow roots and could come out relatively easily

My non favourites were these nasty creepers

I also don't like the oxalis/sour sop

Some weeds had very matted and dense roots

The weather was a bit changeable ie sunny, rainy, windy etc When the rain got too heavy I came in and started a jigsaw

Did get quite a lot done though, as I was determinedly antisocial, just wanting to weed

Gordon did drop in and was surprised at how full the trailer was

And I did reward myself with a satay chicken pie and beer for lunch on Saturday

The lettuces in the vegie garden are looking good

The plum tree is in blossom

And there was a card in the letterbox - basically offering to paint our house - addressed to the "Nimmitabel Homestead"

So, all in all a productive visit, and even got a bit sore and a few calluses from all of the weeding, (despite the gloves)