Justin was going to come up on New Years Eve (Tuesday) when it was only supposed to be about 26 degrees
Anyway, on the drive there Helen said her back was hurting, and she ended up lying down when we arrived, and taking it easy. Was also feeling nauseous, and had a few small vomits. No idea what was wrong
We left her to rest, and I walked up to the pool with the kids for a well deserved cool down
Water was lovely and refreshing, stayed there a few hours - and did at one point manage to be the only person in the pool for a short period of time, about 6.30pm
Walked back, the kids had a shower, and I had a G&T in the garden under the tree. (swapped G&T notes with Justin back in Melbourne)
Helen was still feeling a bit poorly, so didn't really have any dinner. The kids and I had Christmas leftovers - turkey, ham, onion tart and salads
Kids went to bed, and Helen and I watched La La Land - which I'd seen before - but thought it was quite a lovely film
Friday, and another hot day - stayed reading in bed til around 8am, then a quick breakfast, and watered my parched citrus trees.
And then off to the pool with the kids again after 2pm. Helen remained behind, and made an appointment with the local doctor - who diagnosed a kidney infection, and put her on antibiotics
After the pool another G&T, this time on the veranda
The kids and Helen also came out to join me
More leftovers for dinner - and then we watched Life Itself, as Helen had wanted to see the film that I had seen with Karen and raved about
She also loved it
Saturday, and another very hot day. More watering by me in the morning, and then dead heading the dried poppy heads and collecting the seeds
Xavier helped me
Invited Terry over for an Iced Coffee frappe which we drank in the dining room. Made some iced chocolates for the kids. And gave Terry some of the poppy seeds.
And then his time Helen came to the pool in the afternoon, as she was feeling better.
The kids were playing with their friends there, and Michaela asked if her friend Addie could come over for a sleepover - so she did - after dinner - as our leftovers were getting pretty sketchy by this stage, and I pulled some stuff out of the freezer ie dolmades that Terry and I had made a while back.
Sunday, and it was supposed to be a very hot day - around 42 or so. Did my watering, and then given that the top veranda rail was very dry, I gave it a quick sand, and a 1st coat of oil. You can see in the below picture where I have oiled, and where I haven't.
Helen still wasn't feeling well, so after oiling the rail, we went into the Emergency Department in Bendigo. This was another very hot day -so the only good thing about wasting more than 4 hours of waiting there was that it was air-conditioned
Finally after 4 hours and 20 minutes (we got there at 11.48am, and they saw us at 4.10pm) - Helen was seen by a doctor - who basically couldn't see what was wrong. But she didn't think it was kidney related, and advised her that she may as well keep on taking the antibiotics, and also to take some painkillers for her back - 2 tablets of paracetemol 4 times a day, and 2 tablets of ibufuron 3 times a day. She didn't do this, preferred the advice of the Inglewood doctor.
Anyway, got back to Inglewood well after 5pm, had a quick change, and back to the pool for an hour and a half or so (closes at 7pm)
Monday 30th, and another scorcher - however, given that it was a funny overcast sort of day, ie no radiant heat yet, I called up Terry to see if we could come up and do some yabbying in his dam
The answer was of course
So, we went and bought some bait, and drove up there - but by the time we got there the sun must have broken through the light cloud, and it was already around 35 degrees (in the shade)
We assumed that we wouldn't be yabbying for that long - and Helen actually stayed in the cool of Terry's house
Terry came out with us, and thought that the chicken was not very good bait...had thought that red meat with some blood would be better
Took a while to catch something....and Xavier was the first - catching two at once!
We caught about 25 all up, and put them in a bucket filled with water
At the end - Xavier caught one with his hands...ie from the string without a net
Given that we only caught 3 or 4 larger ones, we decided to free them all
Went back inside to Terry's after this - was pretty hot by this stage - over 40 degrees
Terry offered us cold drinks - and I drank a very welcome icy G&T - delicious. He then asked if we'd like to stay for lunch - we did. So he warmed up a yummy spinach and filo pie in the oven which we had with some salad
Helen and the kids were in raptures
Given our late lunch - around 2pm - we left around 3, and I had a nap on our return. Was lovely. And then back to the pool
I had suggested the pub for dinner - the kids were very keen, but we weren't even that hungry given our largish lunch at Terry's. So we ordered some nachos and wedges to share, I had a entree size calamari, Xavier had a full size parma, and Michaela had kids chicken nuggets and chips. Helen grazed on the nachos and wedges.
Steve also gave the kids some icecream - which was nice of him
Back to the house, and we all watched Pitch Perfect together - which the kids found quite amusing - particularly Rebel Wilson
Tuesday 31 (New Years Eve) and only supposed to be 28 degrees or so. We had some kid visitors - who played with Michaela and Xavier. And I finished off with the 3rd coat of oil on the veranda rail
We were expecting both Justin and Michelle separately.
They arrived around 1pm and we had a lovely leisurely antipasto lunch under the big tree. Also invited Terry
It was really nice, and afterwards retired for a bit of a siesta
The kids and Helen went to the pool, I didn't this time
Made some tuna patties and simple salad for dinner - and had them under the tree again
Wednesday 1, and we used our Christmas present from Sarah - a fancy new 4 piece toaster - worked very well
Thought it would be nice to show Michelle Melville's Caves and then go to Waterwheel. I called Waterwheel first to see if they were open. Peter answered, was only there doing paperwork, but he said we could go.
Once again he amused us with his stories, and I bought a case of shiraz (excess stock for the Chinese) and Michelle bought some whites
We were there for quite a while, as Peter was quite the raconteur.
And then onto Melville Caves. Was a lovely clear day, and not too hot
Back to Inglewood for lunch - and more of the same antipasto lunch as yesterday - under the tree. And once again very nice.
Off to the pool, Michelle and Justin elected to remain behind. The tree guy from Bridgewater came and provided an estimate to Justin to cut down the dead bunya pine - around $700.
Dinner was the remainder of the tuna patties for Helen and Michaela and I made up a simple Patak chicken curry (Michaela had some and loved it) Once again under the tree.
Upstairs after dinner - and somehow we ended up having a bit of an impromptu concert. Justin started singing, and was on guitar, and Helen on the drums.
This of course woke the kids up (probably weren't asleep at that stage) - and Xavier and Michaela then had a shot on the drums. Michaela and Michelle danced, and I filmed some of it on my mobile. Was a lot of fun
Not so sure about the musical ability, but we all enjoyed ourselves
Lateish start on Wednesday - Michelle and Helen and the kids left before lunch. Justin and I pottered around, I was making good use of the hammock under the tree, and we left around 3.30
