First things first, it was Justin' birthday on Saturday, so we had a splendid antipasto lunch for him
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| huge spread with Madeleine and Dylan on the sidelines |
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| Dylan now in frame |
Way too much food, with plenty of leftovers - but that's the way we like it.
Left for Inglewood around 3pm - so got there 5ish.
Just in time to sit on the veranda with Helen and the kids for their dinner
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| baked beans for Helen, and beans and franks for the kids |
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| cheeky grin |
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| a bit more serious |
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| Helen rugged up |
Given my large lunch, I had a small dinner later - but did enjoy a G&T on the veranda while they had dinner.
Sunday, and a bit of watering the garden, as despite all of the recent rain, it is starting to dry up a bit. Was pleased to see that the asparagus seeds that Maile had given me were sprouting and looking good. The ones that I had planted in Melbourne had started off well, but all eventually withered and died.
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| asparagus ferns |
One of the strappy plants I planted some years ago, was also developing a flower. I'll be interested to see what it looks like once open
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| Michaela and the flower stem |
And then onto Inglewood Alive. Helen and Michaela had already gone up earlier to prepare for the fashion parade.
Xavier and I went up a bit later, had a wander around, and ran into Helen and Michaela at the apple spiraller
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| apple spiral |
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| apple spiral X 2 |
This time they closed the street off. Had old cars and motor bikes, the wood chop of course, various stalls (saw Kanon again from St Arnaud), and the vintage fashion parade that Denise had organised, and asked Helen to model for (there were a few other models also)
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| some souped up hotrods |
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| walking down the street |
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| Xavier bought himself a scooter |
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| another street view |
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| look at those horns |
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| There were more motor bikes here earlier |
A red carpet was laid, chairs provided, mood music, and they were off, with Denise providing the commentary for the fashion parade. Was really good, although started to get hot in the sun. Was hard to take photos, as because it was so bright couldn't really see what was on the phone screen.
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| Denise in 40s garb |
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| Helen waiting to come out |
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| not my favourite skirt |
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| front on |
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| quite loud #1 |
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| quite loud #2 |
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| geometric #1 |
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| geometric #2 |
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| funky |
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| floaty |
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| my favourite #1 |
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| my favourite #2 |
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| This was very smart too #1 |
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| This was very smart too #2 |
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| cute |
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| mellow yellow |
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| 60s #1 |
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| 60s #2 |
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| 60s #3 |
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| fanta |
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| purple rain |
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| gingham |
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| hawaiian |
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| cracked bowl #1 |
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| cracked bowl #2 |
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| stylish #1 |
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| stylish #2 |
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| pretty |
The parade took about an hour, so then I was off back to the wood chop
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| ooh the drama |
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| he was putting on shin guards |
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| get ready |
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| go #1 |
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| go #2 |
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| good seat |
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| go #3 |
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| sawing |
Given that some of the events were sponsored by businesses/individuals, I'm keen to sponsor a wood chopping event for next year. Justin agreed, could be via the Inglewood Yacht Club!
I enjoyed lunch in the shade under the hoop pine. Had got myself a smoked brisket on a brioche bun, and washed it down with a cold beer. Very nice
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| lunch |
Back to the festival, and there were jumpy castles and inflatable slides for the kids
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| Xavier climbing up |
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| and coming down |
Mystery steam engines
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| might have seen this one before |
They also unveiled a bronze bust of Sir Reginald Ansett (as he was born in Inglewood). His nephew gave a speech.
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| Reginald Ansett's nephew and our house #1 |
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| Reginald Ansett's nephew and our house #2 |
At the other end of the street was a large truck (maybe even a semi trailer) with one side open and a band playing - was a pretty good stage. Forgot to take a photo of it
So, a pretty good day, and saw Helen make her modelling debut. I also had to take down the fairy lights from the house, a leftover of our let there be light party. - was quite labour intensive.
My last chore was to measure the space between the bedroom/bathroom door and the floor - as we want to soundproof that doorway. Justin wants to buy some wood and have it cut to the right size. Was quite tricky to measure it, was different heights also - crooked. So took some photos, and Justin can interpret them. Lot of dust/dirt/spiderwebs.
So Helen and the kids left first, and I closed up after them. Found a note for me on the kitchen table
Looked suspiciously like Michaela's writing - so I turned it around and found a happy picture
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| a lovely picture |
It was also the last time that Helen and the kids will be in Inglewood for quite a while, as they're moving to NSW, which is lovely for them, but a little bit sad also, as we've had lots of good times here together. I'll certainly miss them, as they were always up for a challenge, and very happy to do things with me.
