Preparing for the CWA Nimmitabel event and festival of Small Halls Tarnagulla - Fri 20 March - Mon 23 Mar 2026

Whew, I really am getting very far behind (have visited Inglewood twice since this trip)

Anyway, it was sort of a spur of the moment trip, I was planning on coming up before the 28th, but decided to come this weekend - as Sue had especially asked  if we could come up and attend the Festival of Small Halls in Tarnagulla - which she was organising 

There was also a Loddon Valley Tourism event immediately before hand - so I intended to attend that also

And, I had brought up a whole lot of stuff for our CWA event - Jenny's blackboard, trestle tables, Kerry's crockery and bunting, CWA table cloths etc - the ute was full!

Got there by mid afternoon and had a look around the garden

The cosmos are growing pretty well

The 2nd cumquat looks dead 

There are buds on the Japanese anenome (bit hard to make out)

My juniper tree looks very dead - which is so disappointing to me 

Many peaches on the small tree - and even more on the ground

And many peaches on my "heritage" peach tree 

By the way, I tried one of each, and they are great! no fruit fly - hoorah!

And here is the same peach tree from nearly 15 years ago - ie October 2011 - when Alex and I moved it from under the mulberry tree - where we were putting the vegie boxes

 

 

The pumpkin seeds that I planted have come up in a few places, and I even have flowers on some.  Might be a bit late to get pumpkins though - although you never know

The "grass" was pretty long  on the Kingower side, and needed to be cut before our event 

 

And the nature strip looked a bit wild and wooly also

As a break, I went up to the IGA, and got a copy of the Loddon Herald.  Chris E had contacted me earlier in the week to get some details about David our singer for the CWA event - so this was some good further publicity 

I contacted Chrissie to see if she was going to Tarnagulla and if so - could she please give me a lift.  She was, and she did 

In fact, Mark drove, and Terry came along too, we were in their Kia people mover which was actually pretty comfortable.  There was a small esky on the floor between Terry and myself - and Mark said it was full of drinks - I didn't believe him, but yes, it was, as they also use this car as a courtesy vehicle for their Winery.

Anyway got to Tarnagulla too early, Chrissie thought the Tourism meeting started at 5pm (it was 5.30).  So we sat out in the park, and had a few of those drinks, and some chips - very pleasant apart from some pesky mosquitoes

Went inside around 5.30, and there weren't that many people there - it was more an informal gathering.  The food provided was excellent - lots of variety, and delicious!

It came from a food van from Maldon - This Little Piggy - I'll certainly consider them if we need catering again

And then there was the Show at 7pm

It was excellent 

Sue came up and welcomed us first

Then a young local girl with a very sweet voice performed

Followed by Irish Mythen - who I enjoyed the most. She had a raucous voice and attitude and some great songs

Lastly, there was Kaurna Cronin - who was also very good 

So, all up, a fun night - and back home not too late

Saturday, and to work as I wanted the place to look nice inside and out

First up the garden

There was unfortunately quite a lot of pesky couch grass in the new flower beds and some on the paths - which I removed

Also discovered a whole lot self seeded artichokes in the vegie garden

Dead headed the roses

And cut this branch off a weed plum tree - I was wearing my hat, and banged my head on it hard - three times - as I couldn't see because of my hat brim - after the third time - I got the pruning saw and cut it off

So now I can walk along that path and not bang my head - weed plum on the left 

I also sawed off some of a weed prunus tree's branches - was on a roll

Raked up the fallen Hoop pine droppings

And had a refreshing gin and tonic at 5pm, after a long and hard day's work 

 Sunday and back out into the garden - weeding, trimming etc

And then I realised that the watering system was on - it shouldn't have been - as it was not programmed to do so - and I couldn't turn it off 

I was horrified to see that there was a significant leak in one of the pipes - I could hear water gushing out.  I tried to turn off the system with my mobile phone, but it didn't work - because it wasn't scheduled....In a panic, I called Shane, and he got me to turn off the pump? at the power point - which I did.  And speaking of the pump, I noticed it going on and off all day yesterday - making quite a bit of noise, another thing to bring to Shane's attention

There was also a LOT of water near the rotunda - to my mind indicating another leak

And near another of the tear drop beds

I dug down to see how deep the water was - and it was very wet at least 10cm down

Speaking flooding - the cellar was a little bit flooded again - stupid float in the sump pump doesn't float - have to follow up with the builder again

 

I also discovered an Aster Daisy that I musty have bought from Burnley Gardens - I wasn't sure if it was a weed or a proper plant - so sent Bianca at Bridgewater Nursery a text, she confirmed it was a "good guy"

By the end of Sunday I had quite a pile of trimmings/weeds for Shane to dispose of - and had also filled the bin 

 
Monday, and I decided to be inside

Had to do a cup/saucer/plate audit

 

Also cleaned out all the fireplaces - filthy work - just call me Cinderella! I should have taken a before photo - this one was mostly done - apart from the right hand side

While cleaning out the dining room fireplace, I found a small egg shell - does that mean there's a nest on top?

Ended up with a lot of detritus - stuff falling down the chimney

And swept and dusted, and generally tidied up .....

And put a waste transfer voucher under the Mat for Shane to collect and use when he takes the green waste

And eventually had enough, and drove back to Melbourne 

   

  

A few new plants and still no platypus Monday 23- Wednesday 25 February 2026

Hmm, I'm getting slack, or actually have been a bit busy....as I was in Inglewood more than three weeks ago

The front garden was looking a bit patchy so I wanted some new plants - and also to see if the plants were looking any better than last time - as they had been very parched due to the faulty watering system 

Came up on the Monday afternoon

The lemon tree was looking a lot better

But the juniper looked a lot worse - I hope its still alive....as it was a present from Madeleine and Fraser

Picked some cumquats - to make some marmalade

Bought some new plants from Bridgewater nursery

And noticed that the cockies had been eating the Hoop pine cones

Grass had dried off - and was looking brownish - Shane the gardener said it was some sort of mite, and would treat it

I filled up the bin with weeds/cuttings, and also went up for a coffee with Terry on one of the days

Stopped off in Bridgewater on the way back to Melbourne - and stayed by the water hole for about an hour - listening to my talking book - but really on the look out for platypus - no luck....

Was pleasant sitting there though

Scottish neighbours back again 6-8 February 2026

We figured that Val and George hadn't been to Inglewood for about three and a half years - what with one thing and another - they had seen the new wallpaper in the dining room, but that was about all of the "current renovations" 

Anyway, this time the stars aligned and we made a weekend of it 

There was a bit of traffic when Justin and I drove up, but not too bad

Val and George had gone up earlier - and so missed any traffic 

They stopped at the Bridgewater pub - and were pleasantly surprised by the renovations - (new to them beer garden)

We arrived at the house around 7.20pm or so, and were surprised when they came and greeted us from the garden.  It was a rather hot day, and we thought they would have gone inside where it would be cooler

However George had said they needed to have the grand reveal from us re our renovations - so we gave it to them a bit quickly, as we needed to get to the pub for dinner before the kitchen closed.  Yes, it closes at 8pm, but that means that you really have to have your orders in by just after 7.30pm....

Luckily (for us) it wasn't too busy, and we put our orders in just fine.  George and I both had a chicken parma, and Justin and Val had pizzas (which took quite a bit longer than the schnitzels)

 Came back and had a few drinks at home too

I had a haircut at 9.30 on Saturday morning - and saw George in the garden on the way there - with a breakfast of champions - rollmops and a bottle of beer!

I also noticed that the lemon tree on the left - was looking extremely parched - so checked the watering system - and it didn't seem to be working on that side of the garden - grr.  

My hair took quite a while - so came back at lunch time in effect - which was an antipasto array - cheeses, pate, dips etc - very nice.  Sadly no one took a photo of my "new" hair - beautifully blow dried quite straight - i said to them it would never look that good again...(until the next haircut)

I set up the hammock for Val to read in  - and she also befriended the local magpies 

 

So had a pleasant afternoon

Justin did some work on the canoe - another coat of epoxy

A surprising (or not) meeting occurred when I just happened to go out onto the street outside the house

A car pulled up with about 4 people inside - they got out and said hello - and said they knew exactly who I was - through the Restoration Australia Show.  They also said they loved the house etc.  One of them - then said he was a paranormal investigator and would love to come to the house with a medium and their investigative equipment.  I thought it could be interesting - don't really expect them to find anything - but would be good to watch - so I said yes,  - they were very excited by this.  Given that we're pretty busy over the coming months - we made it a Saturday in late May - so we'll see what happens.... 

Bought a barbecue chicken for dinner, and had salad etc with it - nice and easy because it was hot

I was rather keen to watch a movie outside - as the weather was perfect for that - had cooled down a bit 

We had wanted to watch Cinema Paradiso  - projected on the wall - but we have a blue ray disc, and that couldn't play on my old lap top

So we watched Up instead - was lovely

And there was a slight breeze, no mozzies - just perfect - Val and George very much enjoyed it also

Sunday, and Shane came over to have a look at the sprinklers - as I'd also seen that the new juniper bush was also very parched

He found that that the heads were blocked - so said he'd fix them up, and also come and water the juniper and lemon tree by hand for a couple of days to get them back on track.  

We also discovered another couple of problems.  George pointed out that the very expensive wooden benchtop had bowed

And that the cellar was slightly flooded - even though we put a sump pump in at great expense - the motor didn't kick in because the float didn't work - had sunk....Not good enough

Will either have to get onto the builder or the Builders Insurance ....

However on a positive note George seemed to have fixed the problem of the lack of hot water - or at least intermittent hot water in the bathroom upstairs - he took something out of the shower head - so now it is fine, and the pressure is improved also

To change the subject we saw a couple of lizards - this one looked like some type of dragon

 George got a bit close, and it scurried up a tree quite quickly

And we also saw a blue tongue lizard near the garage water tank

And speaking of wild life - Val discovered what had been eating my delicious strawberries - bloody harlequin bugs

We went to Bendigo - Langley Estate after lunch - and saw the Velvetones - a 4 piece acapella group

It was lovely, and we saw Thomas and Simone also

There were some drinks in the lounge afterwards - but we could only really stay for one - as we had to get back to Melbourne - and it was around 5pm by this stage