Nimmitabel: A Work in Progress: January 2014

HOT!!!!!

We had planned to get a lot done in the first week, ie complete another room ala those Home Renovation television shows etc, however we hadn't reckoned on a HEAT WAVE.

melted - bent candle

Yep, the 1st 4 days we were there were all well over 40 degrees everyday, barely sinking below 30 degrees overnight. It was hot in Melbourne, but it was hotter in Inglewood.

Melbourne weather forecast

Steven at Inglewood Emporium clocked his thermometer at 48 degrees centigrade (in the shade) one day but said that it was probably "only" 46 degrees!

Therefore, given the extreme heat and our general lassitude/lack of energy, we didn't end up accomplishing much.

However, despite the unwelcome weather, I had a wonderful surprise waiting for me. A lovely and very personable Christmas card had been posted to me by a lady who had been born in Inglewood, but now lived in Melbourne. She must have stumbled across the blog while looking up Inglewood, and she gave me great encouragement, and was also rather complimentary!

I also found a previously hidden treasure. Or at least it was a treasure to me. I had been putting a blanket in the bathroom cupboard, and something was hindering me from getting it in there properly. I reached in and found a box wedged vertically against the inside wall of the cupboard

It was a box of fruit? knives

seemingly never used, as the paper sleeves were still intact' although a little silverfish eaten

I of course reached around and felt behind all of the walls, but didn't find anything else. Justin looked them up on the internet, and found they weren't worth very much, but it was the thrill of the find, not the potential price tag that excited me.

As per previous occasions I had set up an advance guard, arriving on the Monday night with a well laden ute. This time we were bringing up many boxes of stuff destined for the op shop (courtesy of an ex step grandmother in law's effects), and a garden setting from Jan & Peter

some of the boxes unloaded from the Ute

one of the boxes of old records

new garden setting

The kids and Justin arrived Tuesday lunchtime, as well as a couple of friends Clancy & Julie. Clancy and Julie had planned to have lunch at the Bridgewater Hotel, but were told that it was too hot to fire up the stove in the kitchen, so there were no lunches on offer. They went to the Bakery instead.

Had a wander around town with them, including a cold drink at The Royal. Julie and I went to the pool also to cool down, and then back to our place for drinks and nibbles in the dining room. Just too hot outside still.

Clancy, Julie, Justin & Fraser #1

Clancy, Julie, Justin & Fraser #2

Dinner at the Royal in air conditioned bliss, and then back to our place which was heating up....

Poor Clancy and Julie "slept" upstairs where it was rather hot. Not a great way to introduce them to our house. I suggested that they come back and stay in Winter also. It was hot for us too downstairs, as although we had windows open there was barely any breeze, and the temperature did not go down much.

Unsurprisingly, our guests beat a retreat back to air conditioned comfort in Melbourne before lunch time. I had suggested to Justin that he and the kids might want to do that also, as it was bakingly hot, but they persevered. I thought the below cartoon from The Age was quite apt.

this is what it felt like

We were also very conscious of bushfire threats - with many small fires in the surroundings. Closest ones being at Kingower, Rheola, and Mt Koorong. We saw and heard numerous fire trucks going past which was a sobering experience.

fire warnings in Victoria

A couple of nights we did have some weak respite via tropical thunderstorms with huge sparse raindrops. Some pretty good lightening also ( but was really hard to capture in a photo)

Mad relishing the rain #1

Mad relishing the rain #2

Mad relishing the rain #3

me - praising the heavens for the rain

Lightning behind the house

Justin and I sat out the front to try and take advantage of the on one of the evenings, breeze, and he took out his guitar

a new place to play the guitar

The kids tried to keep cool as best they could - with a fan that Karen & Mark had given us a while back, or just sleeping

hot kids

sleeping hot kids

I went to the pool every afternoon, and was surprised that no one else came with me until the 2nd last day after an unsuccessful fishing trip to the Loddon River in Bridgewater. The kids came then, and Justin and the kids on the last full day - about time! The pool water was surprisingly warm - literally solar heated, and very easy to get into. The pool attendant told me that when they'd measured it earlier, it was 31 degrees!!

But, we did have to do a little bit of work - and I got us some "new" work clothes from the op shop. Large t shirts and baggy shorts that we didn't mind getting grotty. As overalls would have been too hot.

Justin scraped, filled, sanded and painted at the front door

starting work

scraping

painted (1/2)

And he also re-puttied the window in the red room, painted the sill some more, and made a new flywire screen.

puttying? #1

puttying? #2

nice new putty on the bottom

not sure what he's doing here

I attacked the one of the small rooms upstairs - removing the wallpaper. A lot of it was hanging off already, so that was easy to get rid of, and most of the rest was able to be removed with a scraper.

wood paneling wallpaper on ceiling & other patterns on the walls

The kids even came to assist at times. To try and cool down a little I fashioned ice scarves for us. I basically put some ice cubes in tea towels, rolled them up, and then wore them around our necks

ice scarf #1

ice scarf #2

Fraser scraping #1

Fraser scraping #2

Madeleine and Fraser surveying the scene #1

Madeleine and Fraser surveying the scene #2

There were at least 6 types of different wallpaper in that room, all of which I've kept samples of, to ultimately frame and hang.

one of the wallpapers

It was terrifically hot work, in fact it felt like a sauna in there. I sort of pretended to myself that that's what it was, in that I like saunas, and sweat copiously in saunas, so that was what it was like here, so I should like it?!?

A selfie - trying to show how hot and sweaty I was

Anyway, I got a lot done

been busy

not stretching too far

scraping demonstration

a well deserved soft drink

looking a lot cleaner #1

looking a lot cleaner #2

I also discovered that there was a servant board and bell, up in the corner of the wall, adjacent to the ceiling. It had been smothered in wall paper which is why we had never noticed it before

servant bell close up from the ladder

servant bell from further back

Also had to do a lot of watering as the plants had been fried. My beautiful prolific raspberry canes had moulted, leaving only brown curling leaves on top, and the artichokes had greyed.

grey artichokes and raspberries in the background

The yuccas were doing pretty well though, and I was astonished to see that some of them were developing pups

small pup visible bottom right

Anyway, Justin & the kids stayed til Sunday, which is when Mum, Helen & her kids came. On Mum's arrival we gave her a bit of an tablet lesson on her new ipad, and then they left after lunch.

The weather was much kinder when Mum, Helen and the kids, were here. The heat wave had ended by the Sunday, and although still warm/hot during the day, it cooled down at night, and was easily bearable upstairs at night.

Mum and Helen assisted in the hanging of a turkish tapestry that we'd bought at the Grand Bazaar a few years ago. Mum did the sewing, and I did the hanging

the Turkish tapestry

the rods we hoped to hang it on

polishing the rods

stitching

success #1

success #2

success #3

I ventured with some further interior decoration, picking some artichoke flowers and putting them in the hall

now you see it

Unfortunately the flower heads proved too heavy, and tipped the vase over a few days later

now you don't

Although it was anywhere near as hot as the week before, I didn't really do much work while Mum, Helen and the kids were here. We went fishing a few times to the Loddon River in Bridgewater, but all I caught were a few twigs and a turtle which I had to let go of course

fishing on the Loddon #1

fishing on the Loddon #2

fishing on the Loddon #3

fishing on the Loddon #4

fishing on the Loddon #5

fishing on the Loddon - Turtle!!

We also tried our luck at the Inglewood Reservoir - for both fish and yabbies - using Fraser's new yabby nets

the reservoir is receding...

new yabby net

The kids and Mum framed by the gums

2 proud kids admiring their stone structure

Finally caught a couple in one of the nets - but given that there were only 2, I let them go again

2 x yabbies - bottom left & top right

close up yabby #1

close up yabby #2

Went visiting in the street, and took Myrtle's numerous boxes to the Op Shop

Michaela with Op Shop offerings

Mum with Op Shop offerings

next trolley load of Op Shop offerings
(the boxes were heavy!)

Had a day trip to Charlton

remember the big flood of 2010 /2011

Mum, Helen & kids wandering down the main street

One of the pubs

By the Avoca River - which flooded terribly

looks smaller than the Loddon

how much does he weigh?

A nice pavillion

The others are sitting across the street on the bench

Mum found this empty can and thought it would be amusing to pose with it

Rex Theatre

John Curtin lived here for a few years as a child

a double piggy back before lunch

main street

grain silo #1

grain silo #2

grain silo #3 (different view of above silo)

Marvelled at the cost of real estate there - but realised the threat of floods must have lowered the price

a lovely Victorian

beautiful house and garden

what a bargain!

fantastic French kitchen

chandelier in the bathroom

dramatic hallway

And had a lovely lunch at the Boyz cafe

about to go in for lunch

Went to the pool most afternoons, and hardly even had to share it with anyone else

Xavier & Michaela #1

Xavier & Michaela #2

Helen

Michaela

Xavier

I was the only one in the pool!!!

Enjoyed our eating, ie went to the pub for dinner once, made pizzas on one of the less hot evenings

Xavier helping with the pizza dough

Michaela helping with the pizza dough

Me - taking out a pizza - still in my pool rash top

Enjoying the pizzas #1

Enjoying the pizzas #2

And also made scones in the pizza oven one "cooler" morning. I was very pleased with them. Used the lemonade and cream recipe

kids brushing milk on the scones

kids eating of some of the dough (why?) #1

kids eating of some of the dough (why?) #2

licking the cream

cooked scones from the pizza oven

Xavier & Gordon enjoying morning tea

blurry scones, with strawberry jam & cream

Helen enjoying the scones

Me enjoying the scones

Had morning tea with cakes courtesy of Enzo at the pub

Empire Hotel cakes - morning tea

enjoying the morning tea

Karen & Mark came up for the weekend, and brought Justin with them too. Mark revved us into action, as he had brought a trailer load of mulch up from Melbourne, and so spread it accordingly, as well as doing other garden jobs. Mum helped in the garden also

Mum helping in the garden

Justin scraped the more difficult to access parts of wallpaper off the ceiling in the little room upstairs (I was too scared/nervous to go on the top on the ladder to do this)

thrillseeker Justin

While Karen and I got started on the little room (proposed upstairs bathroom) next door. More wallpaper stripping . Also had some help from Helen's kids