Nimmitabel: A Work in Progress

Hmm, Helen had wanted me to take Xavier to the medical clinic to get hear the results for his MRI on his thumb

Had to pick him up from school first, and then to the Repat Hospital, we had to wait more than 2 hours....(appointment was 1.45, didn't see a doctor til after 4pm) and then they just said healing nicely, come back on 11/11

So dropped him at home, and then onto Inglewood - traffic bad on Bell Street, and then still bad on the Tullamarine and Calder til the Ring Rd exit - as there'd been an accident

Anyway, got to Inglewood just after 7pm (about a 3 hour trip) ....what a waste of a day!

So, unpacked, had some dinner and watched some TV

Tuesday, and the NBN guy came pretty early ie just after 8am (they were supposed to text me an hour before he came - oh well)

I was still in bed - doing my Japanese Duo Lingo

Answered the door in my dressing gown - oh well

Got dressed soon enough and went into garden

Saw that Shane had done some work in the orchard - putting irrigation? rings around the trees

The fig tree also had lots of figs

There are also lots of immature bunches of grapes - I wonder if any will actually mature - would be great if they did

Found a little egg shell near here - didn't see the nest though

The NBN guy was up on the back veranda roof

And set it all up in the music room - we apparently have a pretty good line of sight to the tower

And voila, after a few hours it was done, very neatly, and all hooked up. Let's hope that it gives us better /more stable internet than what we currently have

However I was starting to feel like I was getting a cold - oh no! Right before our holiday. Went to the pharmacy and she recommended some immune strengthening pills, plus to gargle with warm water, salt and apple cider vinegar. Let's hope it works

Back to the house, and did some weeding - as some weeds were coming up in the new beds

The roses are all budding also - hope I don't miss them..

Eril from Colbinabbin dropped in to say hello around 2pm - we had been texting for years (Peter B, the underpinner had asked me to give him a reference) And we had been meaning to meet up over the years, but never got around to it

She was lovely, showed her around a bit, and then sat in the kitchen and had some tea. She also gave me a bottle of wine from her vineyard

She was very nice also, and told me about her trials and tribulations with the old homestead, as well as running a farm and winery full time - very busy. We'll try and go and see her soon

Went over to Michael's around 4pm to pick up our old fridge which he had been minding in his garage.

Michael had just had a fancy battery to store excess solar energy put into his garage. Reckons he's going off the grid - said he only paid $4 for electricity for his last bill (and that was without the battery) - something for us to look into again

Michael, Steve (i called him earlier and asked if he could help) and I loaded it onto the ute

And then the three of us went back to my place to put it in our garage - kept the doors open, and it will need a bit of a clean out

Ended up parking the ute in there also. Also worked out that when the roller door is fully up, its too tall for me to pull back down - need a step ladder to reach it

Did some more weeding, and then inside for dinner

Wednesday, and the cold is maybe taking hold, not happy, husky voice, phlegmy throat. So took it easy, left for Melbourne around 11

Whew, this weekend was a blur....

Arrived on Thursday night with Justin - he was working from home in Inglewood on Friday

Had a late dinner, watched some TV, and then bed

Friday, and had a modest breakfast in bed, and then went out and had a quick inspection of the garden

Shane had mulched the new garden beds and spread some more stone around

He'd also mulched the olives and the kiwi fruit

And he put the stones up around the garage - so that we should be able to drive in now

And, I was thrilled to see that there were some tiny pears (from the suspect suckers)

At least two apricots (first time for this tree)

And some lovely yellow irises

Justin and I also attached the Arts Trail corflute poster upstairs (in addition to the one I'd put up last week on the gate)

Right, and after this it was "action stations"

Kingower Mel's Mum, Dad, brother & Mal came over at 10.30am to have a look around the house. They had wanted to book on the Arts trail website, but every session was booked out - so I told them today at 10.30. That said, I thought I'd told them Saturday morning at 10.30 am, so was surprised when Mel texted me on Thursday saying they were looking forward to tomorrow....And of course I'd told some other people that they could come on Saturday at 10.30 also

That meant that instead of 5 official sessions ie 2 on Friday, 2 on Saturday and 1 on Sunday, that we now had 3 each on Friday and Saturday, and still one on Sunday

So, showed Mel's party around, and also asked the blokes to roll out the carpet in the green parlour as it was still rolled up, and a bit of an eyesore.

I was glad that that was done- had been bugging me for a while, and we needed more than 2 people to do it

Right, so they finished up, and then there was the first of many unsolicited door knocks, a couple asking if they could come in for "open house" I hopefully kindly told them that this was bookings only, and that it was booked out. I guess they left a bit disappointed

The next knock on the door came soon afterwards, and I gave them the same spiel, except they dejectedly said they had driven 1.5 hours just to see the house - they'd come from Riddels Creek - so softy that I am, I let them in ....and gave them an abridged tour

By the time knock number three came I was more than ready - and just asked them to come back for an official tour, I told them that it didn't matter that it was booked out, but that I would be asking for gold coin donations - for my time.

So the guy got out his waller and put a $100 note into my tarnished silver coffee pot - I was stunned, and told him no it was just supposed to be a gold coin donation - but he insisted - said he was very happy to do it, and was pleased to see what we have done here. And then he and his partner left, and came back for the 1.30pm tour

Anyway, Justin and I had a quick lunch

And then they came....

Had about 15 for the first tour, and about 22 for the 2nd tour. So what with the first lot it was approximately 43 people

I started in the hallway, explaining how/why we'd purchased the house, then into the very original front parlor (downstairs green room), then into the back hall and the mural, and finally the dining room

Rachel came and helped out a bit, and there were also some relatives of Elsie Parry. In fact, over the 3 days there were three lots of relatives, and some friends who used to play with Elsie's daughter when she was a child.

I took this photo of my first official tour

Rachel took some photos (and videos)

Marilyn and Lyn came from Bendigo CWA

Right, so I completed the 2 official Friday sessions (took about an hour, rather than the advertised 1/2 hour)

Caught my breath, and then Rosemary came and picked me up to go to Tarnagulla around 4.30 - for the Opening night BBQ. The reason being was that Justin had a soundcheck up in Kingower at 5pm - and so needed his car

Quite a good number there - including Bev and Suzi from St Marys in Inglewood

There was a retro caravan with a duo playing music

And various artworks displayed inside

Had a sausage in bread, and sat down and talked to a couple who had bought the old Tarnagulla Court House years ago, plus a local councillor and Mel another artist

Was very pleasant

Rosemary drove me back, and we passed Justin standing in the street, waiting for his takeaway pizza. I got out and waited with him, and had a couple of slices with him once we got home

I think that Justin took this rather good photo of a truck, and the pile of David's bricks while waiting for his pizza

Saturday - and it was almost rinse and repeat.

Another modest breakfast in bed, and then up and at em for the unofficial 10.30am session

I took the below photo from the stairs

And the this one by standing on a chair

Had about 30 then - Shaun and Sara arrived during it, and helped corral everyone, did a head count etc

Given that there were so many - after the hallway introduction, I took approximately half the crowd into the green room, while the other half went with Shawn into the back hall and listened to him talk about the mural commission/creative process etc

Then another 18 or so at 3.30, so about 80 for the Saturday

Alex also arrived sometime during the day - it really was all a blur

And then onto Kingower - Sarah and I went up there around 5.30pm or so - saw some cheeky kangaroos right in the middle of the road

Nabbed our usual table (front left) - and helped set up.

Irene and Neil from Bendigo were there too - so it was nice to catch up

There was delicious pate to start with and some cucumber rounds and mini quiches

People were supposed to get there at 6pm, but Justin, Alex, Shawn and Michelle got there later - as they had waited for Michelle to arrive in Inglewood.

Main course was beef cassoulet and green salad, and then dessert was apricots with custard

Music started at 8pm

First up the Boozy Brothers - David, Mark, Justin, Peter & Alex

Then they did some individual sets, and Dermot came on also

Justin & Alex did one song with Shawn

And then for the last song which was the crowd pleaser - The Gambler - Justin called up Sara to be on percussion, and then me also to assist with the chorus (no photos of this, will just have to live in our memory)

And Shawn also sprung up to assist with David - and some Ricky raccoon lyrics

And he also popped up with Dermott

Anyway, another good fun night, and we left around midnight - pretty much the last ones left apart from Terry and Dermott

Sunday, and a modest breakfast

and then I thought I'd be civic minded - and went to visit some of the other exhibitions

First off Bill up the road, then off to the Goods Shed near the old railway line where I saw Chris E's photos, and had a bit of a chat

Then back home for it all to start again - was only supposed to have one session at 11am, but one sort of rolled straight into the 2nd one - I'm a glutton for punishment

People waiting out the front

In full flight

And some more CWA gals dropped by - this time from Charlton (Cabaritta branch) and Wedderburn

Chris E and the council photographer came for the 1st session and were busy snapping shots from the front door. we were pretty full.... Shawn counted about 45 across the 2 sessions

So, all up we had approximately 183 people come through the house - almost 4 times what there should have been - ie should have been 5 x 1/2 hour sessions of 10 people max.

And the visitors had been very generous with their "gold coin" donations - almost $500 worth! I think I'll buy something for the garden/house with it

Had a quick lunch, and then Alex dropped me at the Eucy Museum to hear Sophie Cunningham (author) and Damien Wright bespoke furniture maker talk about eucalypts. they were very interesting, and hats off to Rosemary for curating such a great pairing. I could imagine the same discussion happening at the Wheeler Centre