Girly weekend - Friday 30 August - Sunday 1 September 2024

Well, I twisted Justin's arm to let me take the hyundai for the weekend - got there around 3pm or so

The hyundai was a dream to drive, nice and quiet, very spacious, great technology.  My ute is so primitive in comparison

Was terribly windy - actually really quite awful weather 

And speaking of awful, David Oakley's shop on Brooke Street burned down on Thursday night.  There was a suspected fire in the flue - luckily he wasn't hurt

But the whole front shop had to be demolished - as it wasn't deemed safe.  

So this is what it looked like on Friday when I went past - just a pile of bricks

Garden beds had been filled with soil

And some beautiful irises

Anyway, Karen was coming later this evening, so I prepared some dinner.  I made salmon patties with potato wedges - sort of a healthy homemade takeaway

I also prepared some thermomix vanilla pod icecream for Saturday dinner 

Had a very pleasant night with Karen - just chatted all evening

Saturday, and did the usual  - ie wordle, quordle and now connections etc too - in bed

Had breakfast in bed, and once Karen got up she came downstairs and sat on Justin's side of the bed, and had breakfast and read her mobile also - very companiable

Zoe was picking up Madeleine and they drove to Inglewood together - they arrived in time for a late lunch - ate inside as the weather /wind was still pretty awful

Looking at my google photos, I think the last time that Zoe came here was in 2014, after that time she wasn't really that interested in coming up, and neither were our kids really.  So Justin & I, and Karen & Mark would come up together

I was keen to show Zoe all the improvements - ie upstairs bathroom, wallpaper, heating/cooling etc - she was suitably impressed

I organised the dinner after lunch

Lamb Boulangere - from the Aga website - shoulder of lamb sitting on a bed of sliced potatoes onion/garlic - cooked in chicken stock

And I made up a butterscotch banana sponge for dessert

Also did some twinning photos of Madeleine and Zoe

Below are  3 from this weekend 

And then some older ones

These two from 2021

This one from decades ago - which started the whole Zoe cuddling little Madeleine meme

This one from 2014

And this from 2012 - with a Christmas in July

 

And 2011 ( google photos is pretty good at searching out faces)

I also recharged the car (first time I've done it at a public charger)

Anyway, this all kept me busy, and the others went and had a nap

By the time I'd finished and wanted a nap - the others were up... I tried to have a nap, but didn't really work, so Madeleine suggested making us all martini espressos

She and Zoe went to the IGA to get the necessary constituents - ie Kahlua, Vodka etc 

They made them in the thermomix, and we had them upstairs in the bee room

Delicious!  

Karen wanted to watch one of her ex students run the 5000m race in the para Olympics.  He came 3rd, but then was unfortunately disqualified because he let go of his guide's tether

Some pre dinner reds 

 

The aga recipe said 5 hours for the lamb, but I reckon it was ready in 3 or so

Had dinner in the dining room

Was delicious!, had some greens to go with it 

And then the butterscotch banana sponge with vanilla icecream 

And lots of wine - hey no one was driving....

Also - during dinner at some stage we got to talking about surnames etc - and we worked out that Zoe's partner Aiden is descended from Jim Secombe who was the builder who purchased Nimmitabel from the Tiveys.  We were all gobsmacked by the sheer coincidence of it all.  

At some stage, we went outside to the rotunda

We had a pretty late night

Madeleine was annoyed that I didn't have a sore head in the morning 

I organised a fab Aga fry up - bacon, eggs, chipolatas, hash browns, tomatoes, mushrooms, avocado etc 

We also continued with the twinning photos

vs 2014 - in the red jumpers and black pants again

The pink peach blossom in the orchard was pretty, and there was also a colourful butterfly 

More photos of the girls with the mural

And by the fireplace

Anyway, Karen and Zoe left before 12, and Madeleine and I left around 1.30  - going via Dunolly to give Rachel back her red carpet and box of candles etc from the Restoration Australia weekend 

Had a cup of coffee and a chat, and then back to Melbourne

Was such a lovely weekend - didn't really do that much - weather was too nasty to go outside, but was so nice for the four of us to catch up