As it was just the 2 of us, I thought I would spoil him a little (cupboard love?). We stopped at the Red Couch cafe in Bridgewater for lunch on the way there - which F very much appreciated.
Then to the house, I thought that we might either do some garden stuff, or else try our luck at plastering one of the rooms - as I thought F might like to do that. But first I wanted to plant the cuttings that I had brought up and had already struck root, ie some lavender, wallflowers, penstemon, rosemary, and also some parsley and lilies that had grown in the wrong place, and of course the cherry tree that I'd bought week ago from Camberwell market.
Becky also dropped in (Elise had gone to her Dad's) and we had a chat out the front in the sun.
After she left I thought we should concentrate on the weeding, as the weeds beyond where we had cleared had grown quite tall and wild, and I thought it prudent to get rid of them while the weather was still cool and prior to snake season. Little did I know that in the paper today (Tues 16) that there would be an article about the stirring of snakes and how they have been sighted due to the unseasonal warmth, and even though it only got to 10.5 degrees in Ballarat yesterday, a student at Ballarat College had been bitten. Luckily I was wearing gloves, due to my huge blister 2 weeks ago! And no, I didn't see any snakes, the only wild life we saw were of course lots of birds, and F found what he considered to be a huge disgusting witchetty grub
Anyway, below is a before shot....
I must admit that Fraser wasn't too interested in weeding (neither is Justin) he wanted to do something more exciting such as looking for our secret passage from our house to the Jennings store. So he was tapping on walls, closely examining the cellar, checking out any loose floorboards. Unfortunately no luck(yet!). I did get him to replant a few bulbs that I rescued
And also got him to transport piles of the weeks that I'd pulled out to Gordon's trailer which Gordon had brought around
This kept us busy, and we also fit in a visit to the IGA to stock up on goodies, a visit to Grant to ask if he had found anything out about the secret tunnel (he hadn't - but would keep asking) and also to ask if we could have some horse manure as offered previously, and lastly a visit to the Empire to book for dinner
Finished up around 5 or so, and went into the kitchen to get the stove going (went through quite a few matches again) - so sat and tended the fire, had some nibbles and a drink, and I also read the paper - very convivial. We also boiled a kettle as I thought we might use the hot water bottles...
Went across to the Empire around 7, and we both had the mixed grill followed by a cake - delicious! Then back home to watch Centurion (Fraser'schoice of dvd from the IGA) Also got the fire going in my room, this took a while, as I guess I didn't set it up properly. In fact, I had given up and was going to let it die a miserable death, but it bucked up and caught, and we suddenly had quite a nice roaring fire - no thanks to me. The movie was quite well filmed, but rather bloody and violent...And the hot water bottles worked a treat!! We really are getting back to old fashioned basics here.
Of course I woke up before Fraser - so let him sleep while I set a new fire in the kitchen and read the Sunday paper. Finally got him up around 8.45 and offered him a rather delicious yet unhealthy fried cheese sandwich on the wood fired stove. He certainly took up that offer, and I had one too, washed down with a couple of cups of coffee.
First thing after breakfast I put the curtains back up in the kids room - for some privacy
and also moved the cane chairs 9from Myrtles) into the dining room in front of the fireplace, given that I had moved them I also changed the configuration of the "dining room" table, had it across the width of the room, rather than down the length. (Justin not happy about that - so I guess he'll change it back)
And also artfully positioned the blue and white urn in the hallway - just so!
Once outside, wasn't too cold this morning, so didn't bother with the thermals, under my overalls, and soon had to take off my jumper as it was warm weeding
Fraser decided to help also, and so suggested taking out the stump in the 2nd top photo. I told him he had to be extremely careful, and would have to wear the steel capped boots if he was using the mattock.
He did so, but said they felt a bit uncomfortable, and then we saw that there were strange bits of rubber or something on the ground - it transpired that the soles of the shoes were deteriorating and just falling off. He put on the 3rd pair that I had bought, but this happened to them also. Very strange!!! They were brand new Dunlop work boots (bought from Camberwell market) - the guy that I bough them from had had them sitting in a cupboard for some time, but I would have thought that shouldn't make a difference....- but it obviously did! Actuallyy I've just been looking on the net to see if this is a known problem and I came across a thread re Ecco shoes soles deteriorating - so I may look into this further. Anyway, it was certainly very strange that it happened to 2 x pairs of boots - after wearing for the first time!
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| underneath of one of the deteriorated boots.... |
Worked away steadily for a few hours, and then he wanted some lunch.... I had promised hotdogs cooked up on the wood fireed stove again - and suggested that he go and start on them while I continue with the weeding. So he resurrected the morning's fire, and started frying up the bacon bits and onion in the frying pan, and boiled the hotdogs in a pan of water on the other "hotplate". It worked a treat! In the meantime when I came in I chopped up the lettuce and cheese, and crisped up the rolls in the oven. Yes, it would have been quicker/more efficient to cook up on either the bbq or the gas hotplate, but not as much fun
Back to more weeding, stumping after lunch.....
Certainly filled up Gordon's trailer...
and got quite a lot done, when you compare it to the 1st photo...
Anyway, F was getting a little restless and wanted to go- so I compromised and we finished up at 3.30 and left by 4pm.
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