I drove up by myself in the passat, and Reilly and her Mum Karen (who is visiting from Canada) came up soon afterwards in the ute
Karen had heard a lot about Inglewood, so I showed her around the house (which she liked)
She also really wanted to see a kangaroo in the wild, so I called up Terry to ask if we could go over at some stage - as he has them behind his house from late afternoon
He said they were there right now - and that we could come at any time
Rileigh and Karen wanted to go to the IGA first and get some dinner supplies, so they did that, and then we drove to Terrys around 6pm or so
And yes, there were kangaroos - which was very exciting for Karen. They unfortunately hopped away once we got out of the car, but she did manage to take a video
Went in and saw Terry, and he invited us to pick some of his delicious cherry tomatoes
On the way we passed one of his apple trees which was literally dripping in apples - looked fantastic
Then back inside where he gave us a gin and tonic each - hit the spot!
We tried looking for kangaroos again afterwards - and saw a few - which jumped away again. I pointed out the wild garlic, and Rileigh was amazed. Terry went and grabbed a fork, and dug some up for us. I think I'll try and pickle it
Then back home, and a casual dinner in the kitchen
Also went upstairs to the veranda once it was getting dark and cooler and sat and chatted and admired the sunset
Had an early night -
A quick breakfast and coffee (bit too full)
And then it was action stations from early Tuesday morning
Cam and his guys came up - and installed the sump pump in the cellar - we actually should have done this years ago - but it was only in the last couple of years that there were some torrential downpours and the cellar flooded (prior to that there were broken pipes etc). I hope that we don't have a broken pipe now - as the last water bill was quite high, and the floor is still damp after a few days of the pump being installed - and it hasn't poured since Christmas - so could the lower ground still be so wet??
Put chrome pipes in the powder room - as the pipes are exposed, and plastic would look ugly
Had to adjust the floor boards
And voila (just need to paint the walls and skirtings now)
And also changed across the old cracked basin in the upstairs bathroom for a new white one - yay - had tried to do this years ago - but others tradies said it couldn't be done/couldn't find a replacement
I vacuumed up the old basin shards later
So they were tradies #1
Tradies #2 - were the plasterers for the Music room - David and Steven - they also came early
Unfortunately while they were trowelling near the light - it just dropped down, and one of the light shades fell and broke - arghh - can't find the same replacement, and they couldn't hook it back up - the hook was broken (not put in properly?)
Anyway they did a fabulous job - and were here all day Tuesday, and half day Wednesday (had to wait for the plaster to dry) so finished up on Thursday morning. Had beers on the veranda at the end of the day - as it was hot, and very dusty - so the beers were very welcome
And then tradies #3 - were Shane and James - come to clear/level off the site in preparation for new paths/garden beds etc. They were here for a few days also
Did the other side of the house also
And cut back the tree - the bees love the sap - must be sweet
Anyway, with all of this tradie activity- Rileigh and Karen made themselves scarce - and left for Daylesford - to go to Lavendula before lunch time
So, I made myself useful also - putting on my overalls and getting down to business
Thought I'd work in the garden while it was relatively cool - and was very surprised to see a jonquil bud - in February!
The kiwi fruit bed is a mess of weeds - as the grass hadn't been mown close enough to the mulch....oh well
Before
I followed the shade to weed...
Some days after
Once it was too sunny near the kiwi fruit, I weeded around the rotunda
Before
After
I also rescued numerous self seeded olive trees - as Shane would have bulldozed them
Picked up the rest of the fridge cardboard - and stuffed it and other boxes in the recycle bin
Transferred yucca leaves from wrong bin to right bin for rubbish collection
Weeded a little bit in here too
And weeded/trimmed back the path
Put mesh fruit fly bags on a lot of the pomegranates
Visited Denise and spied this silver dish in the Op Shop - just like mum used to have - so bought it
The days started merge.....a shower at the end of the day to refresh was most appreciated, as was a G&T and some cheese puffs
Started on some inside work
Fixed up the crack in the hallway wall where the bathroom door used to be - and also smoothed out the skirting below
before
After (work in progress)
After (work in progress)
Plastered over the now hole from the moved sconce light. Hmm, forgot to take the after photo...-had to fill twice, and sand, and then paint....
Did some more plastering on the right side of the kitchen hearth - - below is the "before" photo
Dirty hands post plastering (or painting)
Got rid of some stupid old pipes in the kitchen door - electric conduit...once again should have got rid of this years ago
I then filled this hole with wood putty (before photos) (and then sanded)
Pulled out all of the stair carpet rod eyelets (in preparation for sanding)
Found a fresh dead blue tongue lizard on the front path - watched over the coming days as the ants literally made a meal of it
Wood puttied holes/cracks in the powder room door
Pulled out another wire and tacks etc in the scullery
Filled in the awful cavity in the cellar (I unfortunately didn't take a before photo - but will try and find an incidental one - it was down to the bricks
First with mortar
Then wet plaster - it's still a work in progress
Patched up/plastered the gap in the skirting on the stairs (before photo)
after photo
Patched up other cracks - as I wanted to get painting
Downstairs hallway
Powder room
Sanded the plastering and swept down walls
Found a mother and lots of baby spiders near the ceiling
And of course was able to see them while standing on my trusty portable scaffold
A different view of the mural from the scaffold
put up tape in the hallway and powder room
And finally started cutting in ...took ages....
And I did have one social morning - when I went for coffee with Denise - at Robyn's new cafe - Ottos - at the Pelican Hotel
I eventually went home on Friday - having worked pretty hard while I was here - and was also thrilled by all of the progress by the paid tradies...
I had hoped to completely paint the bottom hallway and powder room, and even the painted woodwork on the powder room door, but it all takes a lot longer than anticpated - ie patching/sanding/sweeping/dusting/taping and then finally painting. Not to mention the laborious cleaning up of the paint brushes afterwards. It was good to get back to melbourne for a rest...
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