Quick visit 15-17 July 2022

 Just a quick visit by me

I left Melbourne after 6, and got to Inglewood around 8.30 as I'd stopped for petrol in Ravenswood

Rustled myself up some leftover dinner, and then ate it on my lap watching Beautiful Lies with Audrey Tatou.  It was an ok movie - not as good as Amelie 

On Saturday, I indulged myself, and had breakfast in bed, and read the Age on my ipad.

Then got up, and had a coffee with Denise in Cafe 3512 - the cafe next to Denise still isn't open  

Then did a little bit of gardening 

Planted a replacement kiwi fruit

Took some mulberry tree cuttings - hopefully they'll strike

Admired my frilly jonquils, I have plenty of the other non frilly ones

And was also pleased to see that I had some cumquats

And a tree full of other citrus.  Because they were so orange, I thought they were oranges.  But they have a pointy end, so are in fact lemons

I also looked at the plastering work that Vic had done - first coat around the man hole, and the entrance to the garden room.  Looking good 

And Ihad a closer look at the large crack in the back downstairs hallway.  You can now see through to the kitchen.... - ie see light through it.  You don't normally notice this because the kitchen door is normally open and therefore covers the holes.

I stuck a piece of wood through the gap - and it seems to me as though the wall is only one brick thick.  I also assume not a load bearing wall, and that's why it cracked.  But Justin says not to assume such things - when I told him later.

Vic had also uncovered what I assume was the old electricity cable going through to upstairs  All disconnected now though - so safe to touch.

Went up to Terry's at 2.30 to work out the dinner for the Christmas in July

Another leftover dinner - and watched Like Crazy - quite enjoyed it

Sunday, and once again, breakfast in bed, reading The Age

It was dull and rainy for most of the day, so left for Melbourne after lunch

Mantle nearly reinstated 1-3 July 2022

 Not a Public Holiday, so Justin and I drove up to Inglewood on Friday after work.  

Justin had bought a Sri Lankan? curry with roti bread, and I made up some rice, so we had that for for dinner when we arrived

Before we left, Madeleine had asked me to do Dry July with her - and I said yes, as long as she didn't cheat

Must admit that I did feel like a Friday night glass of wine with dinner - but I abstained and had a Pepsi instead.

It was my turn to pick a movie, so I chose Dirt Music which I had read and very much enjoyed years ago.  Unfortunately I didn't think that the movie lived up to the book - there were some good parts to it, but ultimately disappointing 

Saturday, and Justin made me breakfast in bed - toast and a cup of coffee, as we didn't have eggs, was still very nice though

Read the ipads, and I went and said hello to Denise & Steve, and bought some eggs from David (after breakfast of course)

Chris E was here by the time I came back - and he and Justin started bringing in all the fire place mantle bits from the shed

They put up the verticals first.  I had told Mark from RA that Chris was coming in case they wanted to come and film - but not this time

And then had to use a piece of wood to make a form to hold up the heavy arch

And work out how to put the bits back together

So, pretty much all finished apart from the ledge.  Chris thought it better to have the wallpaper put on first - so it goes behind the ledge.  And at least now, we have better access to stuff in the shed

While they were doing this - I was potting up plants for Madeleine - and doing other stuff in the garden

Found a small bird skeleton

And Chris also brought his paints and paint comb to paint up the small boards for the servant bells in the upstairs bathroom and little yellow room

He experimented outside first, and so did Justin and I   

And up the ladder for the real thing

He even touched up the trim around the bee room door, as some white paint had got on it

And checked out the servant bells I'd bought some months ago - lined them up on the floor to see what size board we'd want

And also checked out the front door pull - to see what was behind it

But, it wasn't all work - on Saturday late afternoon we went up to Kingower for the 1st Saturday, and sat around the lovely warm fire with our friends.  Justin was pleased to have an automatic driver - given that I was doing Dry July

And we also had a couple of nice lunches in the rotunda, as the weather was lovely (but cold)