Boxing Day to NYE 2025

Well, I'm over a month late is writing this ....my excuse being that I have wafted gloriously from holiday to holiday

ie Inglewood = Boxing Day to New Years Eve, followed by sailing in Tassie from New Years Day to  9th January, then a week in Vietnam staying with Alex, then 4 days boogy boarding in Ocean Grove...

So, back to Boxing Day, we were still cleaning/tidying up from Christmas, as we held it at our place

Luckily, we don't really have to pack much to go to Inglewood.   I did want to take the Christmas leftovers though 

Madeleine had given me a fun Christmas present which I proudly displayed by the back door

Fraser and Rileigh came for a couple of days also - which was nice. And Helen came too

Rileigh had brought a 1000 piece jig saw which kept them very busy

And yes, they ended up finishing it

The also relaxed a bit outside

As did I

I also made some turkey stock with the carcasses

And Fraser helped me dig a hole to plant my new juniper bush

We all enjoyed the green grass - although it was getting too long.  I had wanted to play  croquet on it - but it was too long for that

Justin did some more painting/epoxying of the canoe - I had hoped to be able to go out in it - but Justin wants to give it more coats - maybe next time?

I found the badminton set for Fraser and Rileigh to play

Helen, Justin and I played boule (Fraser and Rileigh had left by this stage).  Helen was the champion at this game

There were some close calls - so we had to measure the distance with the official string

The strawberries and plums were ripening - and i picked a whole lot of plums.

And some cosmos have self seeded - I'm hoping that they will survive to flower

However the front watering system wasn't working properly - a lot of dry areas.  Let's hope that Shane can fix it - and the dry plants will survive

Christmas celebration in Kingower 19-21 December 2025

 Arrived on Friday night - it was a hot day - 40 degrees in Inglewood and windy

Got out of the car and immediately smelled smoke - thought it was from Charlton as we'd heard on the news that there were grassfires up there

However we were wrong - we found out on Saturday (from Denise) that someone from the Royal (now King Charles 3rd) was burning rubbish out the back - very stupid thing to do in this weather.  However the fire brigade were onto it quickly - and got it under control in no time

Had a quick dinner - and I persuaded Justin to see a Christmas movie - "Christmess" - an Australian one - that was a bit different 

Saturday - given that it was just us - breakfast in bed, and then to the shop to buy some supplies.  Saw Denise on the way back (and she told us about the fire) 

Had a look in the garden - grass needs a cut again.  There are also some brown patches - which I'm not too pleased about

Went to Terry's after lunch to help set up the Village Green for the Christmas dinner that night

First set up the tables - there were going to be 6 of them 

 And then put the chairs around them

Decided not to put the tables cloths/plates /glasses there - as although it was quite still when we started the wind whipped up a bit later

Next up we set up the lights

Got tall star pickets and rammed them into the ground with a nifty pole rammer device

Finished up around 3 or so - and back to the house - Alex and Jane arrived soon afterwards  - they had had lunch in Guildford at Curtis' cafe

Made my Chang's noodle salad to take to Kingower - and we went back up around 6.45pm

Another lovely night

The lights looked good also

I guess we left around 11pm or so

Sunday, and we'd said we'd get up for breakfast at 9am - so that gave me plenty of time to do my puzzles

Alex and Jane had brought some lovely sour dough and fruit breads - so we had them for breakfast

And then it started raining, and then pouring ....

It was expected.  Thursday through Saturday was late 30s early 40s in temperature.  Sunday was still warm - 27 - but a bit humid and wet

No gardening today - no watering required either.  I had pulled up some "weed" passionfruit from home, and planted them here - we'll see if they survive - they were looking a bit bedraggled  

I'm assuming that they haven't ....

 

Finally, everything sorted re the Extraction fan Tuesday 16 December 2025

Whew, whirlwind one day visit - Jason had said he'd organise to come up before Christmas to install the stainless steel to cover the bricks between the original black cast iron, and the bottom of the extractor fan unit - but I wasn't holding my breath

Anyway, he contacted me on Monday, and said he could come either the next day or Friday - I went for the next day

This meant that I could take the ute and also bring the gazebo and some more trestle tables home (rather than drive up in the ute with Justin on Friday evening)

Jason said he'd get there around midday, so I left around 9.20am

As it was he beat me, he had sent another message saying he would get there around 11.45am   

I stopped for petrol, and there were also a few stretches of road works which slowed me down 

Anyway, all good, as he had to go to the hardware store for some additional supplies

He got right to it 

Had to make stencils first - to make sure all the pieces would fit properly

I had a look around the garden - was pleased to see the medlar doing very well

As was the grass - in fact it needs cutting again - it's so lovely and luxuriant

I also spied those 2 x apricots becoming their namesake colour - and thought I should pick them - even though they are not quite ripe - rather me than the birds

 

I went up to the op shop to see if they had any small white plates -(for Christmas)  they did - but buying them was a bit trickier

No credit card, and when I went back home I could only scrounge together just under $8 in cash (from my egg money) 

Went back to tell them - and then had the brilliant idea of transferring the money to their bank account (it was $14) so did that - all good.  I forgot to take a photo of the plates - oh well

Also saw the the King Charles III was open - though not as a pub 

It sold $2.50 coffees (once the machine was serviced), and an odd selection of other stuff - ie makeup, cold drinks, pruning shears, mugs, chopping boards, chocolates etc

 

I assumed it didn't have its liquor licence anymore

I also invited Terry around for a cup of tea and my real purpose of getting him to help me load the ute

Jason finished up around 4pm - these things always take longer than you think - should be properly sealed up now - yay.  Hard to take a photo though

Left just after Jason, as we were having the Danes for dinner at 6.30pm.  As it was, I was just pulling up when they arrived - so they helped to bring the stuff inside  

Weekend with Justin - Friday 5 - Sunday 7 December 2025

A nice weekend with Justin - arrived on Friday night - and had our now customary lazy breakfast in bed on Saturday morning - doing our puzzles/reading the weekend Age etc

Once we got up - I put my overalls on - and filled up the rubbish bin with weeds again 

This time I concentrated on the right hand side of the outside garden

Before

After

And ended up with another wheelbarrow full of weeds for the next rubbish collection

 

The orchard was also coming along very nicely

I spied 2 nice looking green apricots - which probably won't be there the next time we come up (and they were a bit too high up to net)

And the cherries had suddenly ripened - no where near ripe last time

Which the birds were certainly abreast of 

I was able to pick maybe 1 kilo of untouched cherries - grr - they are probably my favourite stone fruit  - next time we net from mid November! 

As I was picking a pesky parrot flew into the tree and gave me an insouciant look

The medlar is also looking very promising - with fruit appearing to mature.  I have been keeping Susan and Mark in the medlar loop, as we had all admired a medlar in a heritage garden in Tasmania last year   

Strawberries are ripening also - I did score 2 that weren't nibbled on - nice and sweet

And the pomegranates were looking very healthy

Saturday itself was rainy/sunny/rainy/sunny etc 

The down pipe extension is still leaking which is a nuisance - as that means that the tank is being filled

During one of the rain periods we went up to Terry's place to say hello

And I went to the 1st Saturday get together in Kingower at 7.30pm

Sunday, more of the same - and Justin took some lovely photos

I also got things together to take back to Melbourne for Christmas ie glasses/plates/trestle tables etc