Whew, this weekend was a blur....
Arrived on Thursday night with Justin - he was working from home in Inglewood on Friday
Had a late dinner, watched some TV, and then bed
Friday, and had a modest breakfast in bed, and then went out and had a quick inspection of the garden
Shane had mulched the new garden beds and spread some more stone around
He'd also mulched the olives and the kiwi fruit
And he put the stones up around the garage - so that we should be able to drive in now
And, I was thrilled to see that there were some tiny pears (from the suspect suckers)
Right, and after this it was "action stations"
Kingower Mel's Mum, Dad, brother & Mal came over at 10.30am to have a look around the house. They had wanted to book on the Arts trail website, but every session was booked out - so I told them today at 10.30. That said, I thought I'd told them Saturday morning at 10.30 am, so was surprised when Mel texted me on Thursday saying they were looking forward to tomorrow....And of course I'd told some other people that they could come on Saturday at 10.30 also
That meant that instead of 5 official sessions ie 2 on Friday, 2 on Saturday and 1 on Sunday, that we now had 3 each on Friday and Saturday, and still one on Sunday
So, showed Mel's party around, and also asked the blokes to roll out the carpet in the green parlour as it was still rolled up, and a bit of an eyesore.
I was glad that that was done- had been bugging me for a while, and we needed more than 2 people to do it
Right, so they finished up, and then there was the first of many unsolicited door knocks, a couple asking if they could come in for "open house" I hopefully kindly told them that this was bookings only, and that it was booked out. I guess they left a bit disappointed
The next knock on the door came soon afterwards, and I gave them the same spiel, except they dejectedly said they had driven 1.5 hours just to see the house - they'd come from Riddels Creek - so softy that I am, I let them in ....and gave them an abridged tour
By the time knock number three came I was more than ready - and just asked them to come back for an official tour, I told them that it didn't matter that it was booked out, but that I would be asking for gold coin donations - for my time.
So the guy got out his waller and put a $100 note into my tarnished silver coffee pot - I was stunned, and told him no it was just supposed to be a gold coin donation - but he insisted - said he was very happy to do it, and was pleased to see what we have done here. And then he and his partner left, and came back for the 1.30pm tour
Anyway, Justin and I had a quick lunch
And then they came....
Had about 15 for the first tour, and about 22 for the 2nd tour. So what with the first lot it was approximately 43 people
I started in the hallway, explaining how/why we'd purchased the house, then into the very original front parlor (downstairs green room), then into the back hall and the mural, and finally the dining room
Rachel came and helped out a bit, and there were also some relatives of Elsie Parry. In fact, over the 3 days there were three lots of relatives, and some friends who used to play with Elsie's daughter when she was a child.
I took this photo of my first official tour
Rachel took some photos (and videos)
Marilyn and Lyn came from Bendigo CWA
Right, so I completed the 2 official Friday sessions (took about an hour, rather than the advertised 1/2 hour)
Caught my breath, and then Rosemary came and picked me up to go to Tarnagulla around 4.30 - for the Opening night BBQ. The reason being was that Justin had a soundcheck up in Kingower at 5pm - and so needed his car
Quite a good number there - including Bev and Suzi from St Marys in Inglewood
There was a retro caravan with a duo playing music
And various artworks displayed inside
Had a sausage in bread, and sat down and talked to a couple who had bought the old Tarnagulla Court House years ago, plus a local councillor and Mel another artist
Was very pleasant
Rosemary drove me back, and we passed Justin standing in the street, waiting for his takeaway pizza. I got out and waited with him, and had a couple of slices with him once we got home
I think that Justin took this rather good photo of a truck, and the pile of David's bricks while waiting for his pizza
Saturday - and it was almost rinse and repeat.
Another modest breakfast in bed, and then up and at em for the unofficial 10.30am session
I took the below photo from the stairs
Had about 30 then - Shaun and Sara arrived during it, and helped corral everyone, did a head count etc
Given that there were so many - after the hallway introduction, I took approximately half the crowd into the green room, while the other half went with Shawn into the back hall and listened to him talk about the mural commission/creative process etc
Then another 18 or so at 3.30, so about 80 for the Saturday
Alex also arrived sometime during the day - it really was all a blur
And then onto Kingower - Sarah and I went up there around 5.30pm or so - saw some cheeky kangaroos right in the middle of the road
Nabbed our usual table (front left) - and helped set up.
Irene and Neil from Bendigo were there too - so it was nice to catch up
There was delicious pate to start with and some cucumber rounds and mini quiches
People were supposed to get there at 6pm, but Justin, Alex, Shawn and Michelle got there later - as they had waited for Michelle to arrive in Inglewood.
Main course was beef cassoulet and green salad, and then dessert was apricots with custard
Music started at 8pm
First up the Boozy Brothers - David, Mark, Justin, Peter & Alex
Then they did some individual sets, and Dermot came on also
Justin & Alex did one song with Shawn
And then for the last song which was the crowd pleaser - The Gambler - Justin called up Sara to be on percussion, and then me also to assist with the chorus (no photos of this, will just have to live in our memory)
And Shawn also sprung up to assist with David - and some Ricky raccoon lyrics
Anyway, another good fun night, and we left around midnight - pretty much the last ones left apart from Terry and Dermott
Sunday, and a modest breakfast
After breakfast I thought I'd be civic minded - and went to visit some of the other exhibitions
First off Bill up the road, then off to the Goods Shed near the old railway line where I saw Chris E's photos, and had a bit of a chat
Then back home for it all to start again - was only supposed to have one session at 11am, but one sort of rolled straight into the 2nd one - I'm a glutton for punishment
People waiting out the front
And some more CWA gasl dropped by - this time from Charlton (Cabaritta branch) and Wedderburn
Chris E and the council photographer came for the 1st session and were busy snapping shots from the front door. we were pretty full.... Shawn counted about 45 across the 2 sessions
Had a quick lunch, and then Alex dropped me at the Eucy Museum to hear Sophie Cunningham (author) and Damien Wright bespoke furniture maker talk about eucalypts. they were very interesting, and hats off to Rosemary for curating such a great pairing. I could imagine the same discussion happening at the Wheeler Centre
After the talk it was the end of the trail wrap up party - which was very nice
Justin came to pick me up, and we went back to the house, tidied and packed up
Also, little did I know, but Justin continued to do further torus of the house, as even though we were only supposed to have one on Sunday - people were still coming at all hours. So Justin took approx 15 people through
So, all up we we figured on approximately 183 people through - whew! and it was only supposed to be 50 max ! (ie 5 sessions x 10 people) - so almost 4 times the number. There was a lot of interest
Anyway...
Michelle had left me a lovely plant
And the 183 tour attendees had been very generous ....donating close to $500! I'd like to buy something for the house/garden with this money
Lastly, here are photos/article re the Arts trial from the Loddon Herald
