Kingower Music night 26 - 28 November 2021

Justin and I arrived on Friday evening, while Alex decided to work from there for the day, so arrived around 9am

Our other guests - Val and George (and Ziggy the dog) arrived around 5

Given that Justin and I were battling Friday afternoon traffic, we weren't sure if we would arrive before the pub kitchen closed, - so George kindly went to the IGA and bought a couple of bbq chickens and salads etc 

That meant that we didn't have to rush, and we would get fed

Arrived around 7.45, and was surprised by how much the plants had grown in the 2 weeks that we'd been gone

We ate in the dining room, and had a lovely time

Val also gave us a large box of delicious cheeses - some of which we enjoyed after dinner

I had to get up "early" on Saturday as I was helping out with the cooking for the Music night, and had to be at Terry's at 9am.  We normally have these Music Nights in March and September, but because of numerous covid lockdowns  - we had it now in November

George was the only one up when I left, as he had taken Ziggy for a walk

Got to Terry's and had a customary coffee, and then straight into it 

Laid sheets of paper towel on the table, and then put the wet chunks of beef on them (they'd been marinating in red wine overnight), and then more paper towel on top.  Dried the beef

Then browned the beef in batches, in two frying pans (there was a lot) 

Following this we fried up the marinated onions, and added them to the browned beef, then bacon batons, and then cooked up mushrooms in the bacon fat.  Lastly fried up a lot of garlic til it was just this side of golden.

Then fried up the Mediterranean vegies for Val's meal

And peeled the skin off the grilled red capsicum

All of this took a surprisingly long time 

Then made a "red" dip and filled celery sticks with it as a type of appetiser

Had some lunch  - and by this time two of Terry's sons and families had arrived, so it was getting busy

While I was at Terry's Alex sent me a photo of my lovely cherries - and said something was eating them

So he then kindly netted the tree

Was leaving just as Justin and Alex arrived to do a sound check

Got back to the house around 2.30. Pottered around a little and had a bit of a nap

Left for Kingower again around 5.30 and got to the Church, but no one else was there, and it was locked.

Arlene arrived about 10 minutes later, and Terry, June and others soon after that

I was excused from handing out the trays of appetisers - as I was on one crutch

I could however help out at the serving table

First course was a terrine with a side of lettuce and grilled red capsicum.  Both looked and tasted terrific 

Given that we had arrived first, we had the pick of tables (except the front right, which is where Terry sits with the sound desk)

We took the front left table - and had us 5 ie me, Justin, Alex , Val and George, and Maile, David  & Rachel to make it 8

The main course was Beef Bourguignon with mashed potato and sugar snap peas.   Delicious

Terry had wanted us to be finished eating by 8pm, and we were, so the music started then

David and Mark were up together first - and did a great job - starting off with a Spanish sounding instrumental

Next up were Justin and Alex 

They had about 6 songs in their set and also called up Mark and David to help with the chorus in a few of them

I filmed quite a few of the songs with my mobile phone - and they had some good audience participation with some of the songs

Dermott, got up next and belted out some powerful songs - both with and without musical accompaniment

He called up ones of his sons, and Justin, David and Mark to sing the Weller man song all together

And then David and Mark came on again separately 

After this it was time for dessert - a very delicious mulberry cheesecake with strawberry coulis

And then the all star band - playing greatest hits

 Was a great night and everyone very much enjoyed themselves.  We were 37 people this time - which is a respectable turn out, and I was pleased to see Rachel, and also Irene and Neil

And it was quite warm in the Church also, as I said we're not normally in there at that time of the year, we certainly didn't need jackets.

It had been a nice warm day ie in the mid 20s, and the night cooled down a bit with lovely stars

I guess we left around midnight or so (Alex kindly drove).  Val and George had left earlier, but George was still up when we got back, and stayed up and chatted with him for a while

Took a while to fall asleep, and stupidly woke up early, and couldn't get back to sleep, so was a bit tired all day

Had some delicious olive bread toast for breakfast

Got George and Justin to measure the jarrah/mahogany bits of wood that we plan to use for the island bench counter top.  Should be enough, and some left over for the vanity top in the powder room.  Needs to be sanded back a bit

 Not sure when Alex took this photo

Alex and I went up to Terry's  around 11 or so - to get the key for the Church and go and pick up the equipment.  Poor old Justin was working hard in the dining room.

Afterwards I suggested a quick detour to the secret asparagus spot. I must admit I was prepared with knives, hats and a bag.

There were plenty of plants and plenty of evidence of harvesting, but we still did manage to pick some - enough for a few spears each at lunch time

So yes, got back and Val and George were preparing lunch, yesterdays chicken, cheeses, dips olives etc.

Ate out in the rotunda and was very pleasant

Alex, and then Val and George left soon after lunch

Justin made sure that the watering systems that the watering systems were on as the last kiwi fruit had shrivelled up 

The grapes were still looking very good though

And one of the mulberry cuttings had more leaves on it, while the little mulberry plant that I had actually bought didn't look that crash hot

There were also flowers on the guava - first time ever, and they looked just like feijoas.  I subsequently found out that they are closely related 

I had thought I would get stuck into the weeding, as it really is quite wild out the front, but it was a bit too  hot and sunny, and we also had guests, so I didn't end up doing anything useful really.

I'll come back later by myself and get down to it 

Our drive back to Melbourne was long....3 lots of roadworks - the worst on the Tullamarine where 4 lanes eventually merged into one before the Bolte Bridge.  Took us over 3 hours to get back

   

 

Birthday weekend 12 Nov - 14 Nov 2021

Well, it was my birthday weekend - so I was going to be spoiled....

Firstly, I wanted to leave on Friday night - so we did so, and had a left over dinner of home made Korean sausage rolls, with kimchi sauce and greens

Feeling decadent, we had a negroni and dinner in bed on trays - watching a rather strange movie called Catfight

In the morning Justin brought me breakfast in bed - avocado on toast, coffee, and birthday bubbles.  I didn't want a big breakast, as Susan and Mark were coming for lunch.

And then it was present time - Justin gave me a lovely necklace that he had bought from Joels

And then brought in a poster tube - but it wasn't a poster, but a portrait of me that Justin had had commissioned from an artist in America

I was flabbergasted.  It was from a photo taken at Queenscliff a few years ago.  We had ridden our bikes on the rail trail  from Drysdale, so my hair was scrappy and in a pony tail.  It was also blonder .  Anyway, I think it's quite fun

So we lazed around and read the digital Age.  Justin also picked some garlic from the garden to prepare the slow cooked lamb

The slow cooker wasn't big enough, so Justin put it in a very low oven 

Cam our builder came around 10.30 to do some further measuring up of the kitchen etc - and I also showed him the wood from Jan & Peter that we might use as a benchtop

Damo and Nicole also dropped in, so we showed them around too, and we also went and checked out the house opposite from the IGA as one of our Melbourne neighbours had asked us to check it out

The roses were lovely

And the house itself was pretty good too

 

Susan and Mark arrived around 1pm - and we showed them our improvements

Susan's reaction to the dining room was fabulous - she was very effusive in her compliments - saying that William Morris would be pleased, this wallpaper was made for a house like this, and that she also loved the dark trim

We thought that Restoration Australia would have loved her response, because although we were pleased, we had chosen the wallpaper, and seen photos, so somewhat knew what to expect.

Susan had also brought some lovely lunch ingredients - smoked salmon, cheeses, olives, dip and bread etc.  We ate out in the rotunda - and of course more birthday bubbles.  

I guess lunch went on til 4 or so, and given that we were in holiday mode, we all went for a late afternoon nap - which made dinner  a bit later.

Got up and Justin and Susan went to the kitchen to prepare the dinner,

 while Mark serenaded me with beautiful violin arias

Then some pre dinner champagne and a few nibbles

 

Dinner was slow cooked lamb, roasted asparagus with pecorino sour dough crumb and roast potatoes. and then apple crumble with cream/icecream - delicious

It was quite cool, so we had the heater on - which once again warmed us very nicely

Was a great night - and Justin got his guitar out and played and sang also

Had a slow start in the morning, and decided to have a slap bang breakfast - with no need for lunch

We had bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, mushrooms, toast, tomato juice, coffee and more bubbles (it was my birthday weekend after all)

I thought we could put the food on the dumb waiter and serve ourselves.  Worked  out well

We also had a game of Pictionary - which was a lot of fun

I also remembered to take photos of my towering roses, healthy kiwi fruit, flowering yucca, and abundant grape vines  that I had forgotten to photograph last time 

 

 

Out of lockdown and Melbourne Cup unofficial long weekend Saturday 30 October - Thursday 4 October 2021

Well, Victoria became whole again as of 6pm on Friday 29th October - as the government had anticipated us getting to 80% double vaccination rates around this date.

We contemplated driving up on the Friday night, but thought there would be a lot of traffic, given that it was an unofficial long weekend - so we decided to go up on Saturday morning

Left around 9.45, with me driving

Took the ford ute for the first time, and found out the hard way that the air conditioner doesn't seem to work.  It wasn't a hot day, but the sun was out, and I was roasting, and we couldn't even seem to get cool air in from outside.

Anyway, got there fine, and Mark and Craig from RA were waiting out the front for us.  

Given that most of the wallpapering has been done - they wanted to film our reaction to seeing  it for the first time.

So, we did a few takes - had to clap first so that they could synchronise the sound on the 2 cameras.  I did it wrong by clapping twice (not twice as good).  Justin did it right

As anticipated, the hallway was absolutely chockers, and at first glance - inpenetrable.  But we could squeeze around the bedhead, and did make it into the middle part of the hall - which had the door to the dining room closed. (unfortunately didn't get a photo of how full the hallway was)

No peeking! 

And yes, we were impressed

We had seen the photos before - but it's obviously better in real life, and Ian had also done the quad around the skirting boards, so that the grit and dust wouldn't escape from the behind the walls onto the floor.

And yes, the floor was looking lovely also - the Fiddies oil was much better than the tung oil that we had used previously.

So, they filmed us chatting about our reactions to the dining room, and then we had some quick lunch (Alex had arrived by then).  And Justin went and had a long awaited haircut (I was going to also, but changed my appointment to Wednesday)

We set up for filming again - this time removing the slate pieces from the fireplace and taking them out of the dining room.

This took a few takes....Justin had taken some rubbish pieces of skirting - which they didn't want, and Chris had chosen the largest heaviest piece - which he had to unfortunately lug back and forth a number of times.  I wisely had chosen a couple of smaller pieces.

Waiting between takes...

Anyway, eventually got them outside onto a few trestles that Chris had set up 

And more filming of taking the pieces to the trestles, and then of cleaning the pieces - scraping off bits of plaster etc, then using rags dipped in methylated spirits to wash them, then filling them with car filler, but not too much, as this then had to be sanded back, and then filling again if necessary - whew took ages to just do a few pieces, and there were 21 to do!

A filled piece

And lastly the black spray epoxy that I had bought from Bunnings

The pieces looked marvellous - as shiny and glossy as a grand piano - but they will have to dry for a few days

Note, Chris taped off the "faux marble" painted bits

Next, they filmed Justin and I walking through the overgrown garden path 

They also filmed Chris just talking to the camera

And they asked me to do another chat to camera also 

While this was going on Justin and Alex cleaned out the dining room - vacuuming/washing windows etc - and then putting some (not all of the furniture back in)

They also had to shake out the rather large and rather heavy rugs

 

And the end result in the dining room was lovely - as the extension table was made smaller, so didn't encroach in the room as much, so the chairs and couch had a proper separate area

The boys set up our bedroom our bedroom also

Which meant that the hallway was now nice and clear again

Mark from RA also filmed Justin and I disagreeing in the kitchen - me wanting an island bench, and him wanting a central kitchen table. Justin also wanted wood benchtops, and I prefer stone, but I could possibly compromise with an inset bit of stone for my pastry making etc 

It was a long day, (but I had fun) and we had dinner at the pub, and the meals were brought out pleasingly quickly

Anyway, it was so lovely to have a functioning and beautiful dining room - which just needs a little bit more work....

And our bedroom has been transformed! as we can now almost use the bathroom as an ensuite.  And the bedroom is now beautiful, as opposed to having the ugly pink and blue cornices and patched walls which it had suffered through for years as per below 

 

Got back from the pub, and it was a bit cool now, so tried out the new split system in the dining room - with the heater on.  Warmed up surprisingly quickly and well, we were very impressed (although it wasn't off a very cold base) 

Sunday, and more work around the house

Chris put the refurbished locks on the door into the kitchen, and also put a new old lock and door knob on the front door - which he called "life changing"  - and it was!

He also installed the servant bell triangle thingy in the dining room 

 

I was busy outside - trimming back overgrown bushes and weeding, and therefore filling up Gordon's trailer 

I must say that the garden despite being overgrown is looking pretty good, as there has been a lot of rain

The roses are abundant - even the wild dog roses, and the irises are also lovely - with some yellow and white ones that I haven't seen before

  and some other lovely flowers too

There were also some self sown roses (probably the wild ones) in the path.  I mesant to transplant them - but didn't get around to it, maybe next time

And the grape vines were looking very vigorous, the kiwi fruit had all survived and were looking pretty good, and the mulberry cutting that I had planted also had a small leaf (near its base)

While having lunch in the rotunda, we noticed some of the blooduy birds going in through the new yet chewed out vent into the roof space.  we were not happy about this.  Alex took a photo of a parrot going in - actually through yet another hole

We had a bbq for dinner which the boys organised, and a relatively early night

Monday, and both Justin and Alex had to work

While Chris and I did more good deeds (more Chris actually)

The back veranda chairs had gotten a bit saggy - and they were very expensive to replace the rattan (we'd done one and it cost about $400) - so I bought 2 x sheets of marine ply from the IGA, and Chris made a template, and then cut out 4 new bases

He also fixed up the broken leg of our bedhead -screwed a piece of wood on it to strengthen it

The backdoor flyscreen had come off one of its hinges - so he fixed that (no photo), and he also fixed the upstairs shower screen which had been rubbing against the adjoining glass wall 

Chris really was amazing in what he could fix and how quickly and skillfully he could do so.  He is a very handy friend to have.

But, he had to get back to his partner Lesley - so we sadly saw him off

Tuesday - Melbourne Cup day, Justin, Alex and I went and bought a coffee from Charlie's and drank it in the little park adjacent to the town hall

Alex saw that Terry had parked his car and was going to go into our place, so we called him over.  He wanted to organise a Music night for later in the month

Justin and Alex left for Melbourne after lunch and I stayed and did more work in the garden, and also bought some sealer to try and seal the veranda roof, as there were gaps and water was coming through when it rained

And I cleaned up the dining room fire surround

On Wednesday I had a long due cut and colour with Michelle, and then Terry invited me to have lunch with him.  By this stage it was pouring with rain

Had a lovely chicken pie, and we then went to visit Damien and Nicole.  

Terry and Damo have built Nicole a home office - which looks like a little homestead, looks really great.  Because it was raining pretty heavily, I didn't take photos

Damo and Nicole told me about their renovation plans for the school house - sounds great.  If we thought it was raining steadily before, it really started to bucket down while we were there, some thunder and lightening also.

There was a lot of water over the road on the way back to Inglewood   - in fact, I counted 10 "'rivers" rushing across the road - and at times visibility was very poor, but got back ok

Storm Lane drain was also raging - I've never seen it like that before 

And of course I got soaked just getting out of the car, and into the house

So much for my beautiful blow dried hair from earlier today

Thursday and I wanted to clear out the downstairs green room- putting books etc back in dining room

I also rearranged our room a little bit - moving the brown chair back in, and putting the wire basket drawers in the corner behind the wardrobe

I also had a long awaited coffee with Denise at Charlie's again - and it was a lovely having a catchup

Steve then helped me move the organ and the red chair in the downstairs green room, so that they weren't in the way so much.