4 months post covid lockdown Monday 9 November - Sunday 15 November 2020

Back!!!

First time in over 4 months.....

Covid is getting under control in Victoria - so the premier reunited Victoria (Melbourne Metro and country Vic) as of midnight on Sunday 8th - so I set off for Inglewood on Monday morning

Our local friends had kept an eye on the house and garden for us, but we were told that the garden was getting rather over grown

So I was prepared for a lot of weeding/trimming etc 

That said I had stupidly gashed the palm of my left hand the previous week with some secateurs, - 4 stitches, and had only got the stitches out on Monday morning before leaving for Inglewood

Was healed enough, but still a little tender

The drive was uneventful, apart from 2 idiot impatient drivers

Got there around lunchtime - and yes, it was overgrown 

The entrance was closing up

And the paths were overgrown also

As was the orchard

The triple pear tree with a lot of sucker growth

there's an apricot tree under there

happy cherry tree

plum

guava and lots of weeds

youngberries and weeds

laden peach tree

peach with weeds taller than me 

Vegie garden was pretty overgrown also - mint was very happy though, lots of artichokes, and even a few little feathery asparagus ferns again

Only 2 of the 5 kiwi fruit plants managed to survive - but they look pretty good

I was also pleasantly surprised to see that 3 of the little grape cuttings that I had planted over Winter had survived and had a few tentative leaves

And, it was a good year for the roses

Also looks like I'll get my first bird of paradise flower

And only found a few bindis - and got rid of them rather quickly

Anyway, had my walk around, a bit of lunch, and then got into it - weeding and trimming

Terry, and Maile and David also dropped in to say hello - as I obviously hadn't seen them for 4 months either

Weeded the vegie garden, the orchard, and the front bed, part of the paths etc  - made it look a lot better and certainly filled up Gordon's trailer

Had a coffee with Denise one day at the butchers, and another coffee with Terry another day in Kingower

Bought and planted some seedlings - basil, wallflowers, strawberries, a chilli and mixed Asian vegies

It was pretty stormy on Wednesday, rain, thunder, lightning - in fact, I drove the car to get my haircut - didn't want to risk getting soaked and or buffetted by the wind on the way back

Was in the garden afterwards - just stormy, no rain, and there was lightning, and then almost immediately afterwards - a very loud crack of thunder seeming so close that it made me duck and cry out

But, all good, I could also see where the leaks were on the back veranda (at the corner joins)

And also in the joins of the top veranda

Given that it was hot and steamy, I treated myself to a lovely G&T on the back veranda

Was also making lots of phone calls trying to organise tradies for quotes etc 

Two came out to look at heating and cooling, and organised another couple of kitchen people to come in a couple of weeks

For heating, I had discovered the Heatcharm I600 - which was a glass fronted fire box within a Victorian like cast iron fascia

I thought it was perfect, as it would be much more efficient than the fireplaces,and would cover 28 square feet.  However that calculation is based on a room with an average ceiling height, ie not 4 metres

However, of course, it wasn't as easy as that

Our fireplace mantles are actually curved

Therefore we would need to change mantlepieces in order to to get one of these units

Obviously, we didn't want to do that  - so the another option is to get a different heat unit, (glass fronted box with fan) and build a cast iron fascia around it.  Either option would require long flues up through the chimney for greater efficiency 

This is possible - and Justin isn't against the idea (I thought he might be).  We also have a steelworks literally up the road, so I called them to come and have a look, and yes they could produce fascias measured to fit exactly.

The other bloke suggested maybe reverse cycle heating and cooling through the roof - but he'd have to talk it over with his boss.  And I also spoke to him about evaporative cooling - but he was a bit concerned about getting up on the slate roof. 

As it was - I was also in contact with our original roofer - as with the Wednesday downpours  - the roof was leaking in the hallway....

The roofer remembered me (the house) even though it had been years.  And reminded me that I had suggested that we might get evaporative cooling - and get him to place the box up there in the roof valley - at the same time as fixing up the narrow/shallow gutter 

However the 2nd quoter came back to me and said that due to the perceived complexities of job - that they wouldn't be quoting....

The 1st bloke quoted around $10k for the 3 x fire boxes, (our room, dining room, music room), but it didn't include installation, the fascia or cherry picker .... So who knows how much it would end up costing

And I was also in contact with our very handy friend Chris from Bunninyong to see if he might like to do some jobs for us  ie etched glass windows for the bathrooms, hall door handles, reconnect servant bells, flyscreens, outside laundry,  etc etc 

He suggested that it would be best to come up and do a bit of an audit - as to what he could/would like to do - so we've organised that for the first weekend in December

And, I had been in touch with an Artist's group in Bendigo to see if they might have someone to do a mural in the back hallway - up the stairwell...  I was thinking of something botanical - creeping up, and then merging with the proposed marble like painted top hallway (in a nod to the previous wallpaper). And to also incorporate small personal touches that would mean something to us (but not look out of place).  Like an easter egg in a computer game

And speaking of wallpaper, Justin and I had been to a wallpaper shop on Cup Day to look at wallpapers for our room and the dining room,  We liked a whole lot of William Morris wallpapers, and also some Sanderson.  It was very difficult to make a decision, and we bookmarked many designs 

I finally feel as though we're getting somewhere, - which is very gratifying, and given that I'm not currently working, I can really throw myself into researching/organising/doing this renovation/restoration.

Anyway, I stayed til Thursday afternoon, and then zipped back to Melbourne in order for the kids to spoil me on Friday - my birthday - (Friday 13th this year) with the customary glass of bubbles with breakfast, lunch and dinner

Anyway, back to Inglewood  with Justin in Friday afternoon - and a bit of traffic also, as it was the first weekend after Victoria unification was declared, and there were a lot of Melbournites who wanted to escape beyond 25km and get into the country/go to the beach etc 

And, as a birthday treat,  I had bought a seafood platter from Costis - 1 dozen Sydney rock oysters, 1 dozen SA Coffin Bay oysters, smoked salmon, prawns, tuna sashimi, and a fresh NSW lobster to share.  Delicious, and some icy cold prosecco to wash it down - we ate in the rotunda

 It was a lovely evening, and I stayed out there til dark (Justin was getting a bit cold so went inside)

Alex arrived around 9.30, and the kids, Hughie & Basil  around 10pm.

Got them settled, and I went to bed, as I was tired (hadn't slept well the night before)

Saturday, and another lovely day - a leisurely breakfast out in the rotunda, 

and then a walk in the scrub with Alex (with masks on of course)

Saw some nice wildflowers

 

Back via the IGA/bakery for lunch

They unfortunately got our order wrong - so I didn't get my favourite Butter chicken pie, but a comparatively bland chicken mornay pie - was a bit disappointed

Was disappointed to find that the wallflowers and basil that I had planted had all disappeared - fried in the sun after just one day???

After lunch all of us except Justin (and Basil) went to Terry's for some yabbying.  Had asked first

Used both the string and net methods - but was much more successful with the string method

Fraser was the best - and caught the most this time - seemed to have the knack of pulling them in on the string and then scooping them up with the net

Madeleine and Hughie enjoyed themselves a lot also - Madeleine had been on some unsuccessful yabbying expeditions in past years, so it was good that we caught lots - 22 all up.  Terry came and joined us also

Although we caught a fair few large ones we decided to let them all go

Terry invited us back for a drink when we'd finished up. (we did leave the nets there overnight, so planned o come back tomorrow)  I opted for some nice light red wine - perfect for a warm day.  The others had water

And then back to Inglewood.  Had a refreshing G&T, and then to the pub for the 7pm sitting

Given covid, had to sign in and provide contact details.  Opted for the special, chicken with hollandaise sauce, asparagus, and potatoes.  Was ok, but nothing really special, especially given that we weren't actually given our food til 8.30!  Although we wouldn't have actually ordered at 7pm, we would have ordered by 7.15 or so, therefore over an hour wait was pretty poor

Didn't linger after the food, and came back and christened my 2 board games from the kids and Hughie

Telestrations

Both were lots of fun, and we all had a good laugh

Had wanted to watch a movie outside in the garden, but we finished so late, and hadn't set anything up, so maybe next time

Bit of a sleep in on Sunday, just a normal breakfast out in the rotunda (our new favourite place) and I noticed that the clouds looked quite strange

Turns out that they were Mammatus clouds 

Mammatus, meaning "mammary cloud", is a cellular pattern of pouches hanging underneath the base of a cloud, typically cumulonimbus rainclouds, although they may be attached to other classes of parent clouds. The name mammatus is derived from the Latin mamma.

They didn't last long, but looked unusual

Around 11, Madeleine, Hughie and I went up to Melvilles caves - and had a wander around, 

and then dropped in on Terry to check on the nets.  

However both nets were completely empty - and all of the food was gone!.  When we' left yesterday there were 2 yabbies in one of the nets, so they were obviously able to escape - oh well 

To compensate, had a cup of coffee and some delicious ginger cake

Back to the house, pottered around and shared a piece of peach pie with Alex that April had made