Bendigo Sheep & Wool Show and a judge for lunch Thur 17 - Sun 20 July 2025

Well it's really Winter now - was pretty cold in the house when I arrived on Thursday afternoon - thank goodness for the split systems!

I met up with Kirsty at the bank at 2pm - to close the Town Hall accounts, and then went and had my haircut and coloured at Michelle's at 2.45

I also invited Kirsty and her Mum Kim to come over for a cheeky drink at 5.30pm - as Kim was interested in seeing the house, and Kirsty was keen for a catch up

We had a pleasant time  

On Friday morning I got up early and drove to Bendigo for the Annual Sheep and Wool Show - this was to help out the Bendigo Group

I parked a few streets away - and was well rugged up as I walked to the Showgrounds - once I was in the Pavillion - I peeled off some layers as it was warmer in there

Our stall had lots of knitwear, baked goods and jams and preserves - was pretty busy - and we were very competitively priced 

I knew some of the CWA gals - ie Marilyn from Bendigo, Deb from Mitchell group etc 

And I was very surprised to see my Melbourne neighbour Peter B there 

Not so surprised to see Deb the Butcher from the Inglewood Fat Butcher, or Carol S from Inglewood 

My shift was from 10am -1pm, and when I left I had a wander around 

I was looking at a lovely stall with beautiful mugs and artworks - when the woman/artist said she knew me ...yep, she had recognised me from Restoration Australia.  I was flabbergasted, I have seen all of the shows, but wouldn't necessarily recognise any of the people from them...

I must admit I was a bit tickled by this

But back to wandering around - I saw some sheep shearing 

And also spinning on spinning wheels (no photo)

Lots of wool skeins, clothes etc for sale

Some superfine merino wool

And also food offerings ie artisan gins/wines, whiskies etc, honey, olives, biscuits, homewares - there was heaps of stuff!

And I bought some goodies too

Firstly some fingerless gloves from our CWA Stall

And then some delicious jumbo kalamata olives - I had told the vendor that I don't like it if my family buys olives, but it's ok if I do - as these olives were better than mine.... 

And lastly a lovely showercap - made from bee patterned (perfect for the house) material

Anyway, left the show, and drove back to the house - and thought I would trim the new flower beds of the old flowers - the sages were looking particularly scrappy - but I couldn't cut right back - as there are still a lot of heavy frosts

Before 

And after

It took a while, I filled the bin, and I was pretty cold at the end of it 

So, off to have a lovely hot bath 

Saturday, and I got up relatively early after having done my puzzles

We were having one of Justin's judge mates to lunch with his partner 

I had written myself a plan of attack the night before 

ie Bread dough first (was using another internet cast iron pot recipe - and I set it to prove in the warming oven (but I reckon it was too hot in there, as the bread didn't work out), then the sticky date pudding and sauce

Once I'd finished with the sweets - onto the savoury

Chicken liver pate, red dip, a thermi  shredded lamb ragout with sliced potatoes on top, and a pumpkin soup - quite a lot for lunch ....And, as it was we didn't eat it all (didn't even have the dessert - oh well)

Justin arrived from Morwell (via home last night), around 11.30am - and set the table etc 

I was still doing the soup when the guests - Marcus and Susannah arrived  - bit it was under control (thermi)

Justin wanted me to give them a tour of the house - so I did so, and then went back to finish off the soup  

I had already set up nibbles in the dining room - fancy olives from the Show, pate, red dip and crackers - and we polished this down with some delicious sparkling rose that they brought.  We didn't eat much of this though

And then onto the main event - the lamb ragout - with a green salad accompaniment.  It was delicious - so I'll make it again 

Some time during lunch I saw Connie, Rhonda and Kaye (CWA gals) troop past the window - and went and saw them at the back door.  Connie had sent me a text yesterday to ask if they could visit - and I said yes of course - but after 3pm, as we were having guests to lunch

Well, it was 4pm - and we were still lunching....

So I excused myself from the lunch guests (we had finished our main meal) and showed them around (Kaye hadn't been there before)

While I was spouting forth in the hallway, there was a knock at the door, and it was Maile and David - we hadn't seen them for ages -  they saw the cars out front - so figured we were home.

I ushered them into the dining room for a drink with Justin, Marcus and Susannah, and continued on my "tour" with the CWA gals 

Finished the tour with the gals, and they left, so I rejoined the dining room - where Marcus and Susannah were getting ready to leave...I persuaded Susannah to take some sticky date pudding and sauce with her to have at home

So they left, and then back into the dining room with Maile & David.  They stayed a little bit longer, and then left, and Justin and I then had an easy evening after a day full of visitors

Sunday, and back to the Bendigo Show.  Got up at 7am, did my quizzes etc, and intended to leave to pick up Rhonda in Bridgewater at 8.15am

However there was very heavy frost

I could hardly even open the door of the ute - it was sort of frozen shut, so I was unlocking/locking etc - didn't know what was happening.  Ended up using the key

The pattern of the frost seen from the inside of the windscreen was quite beautiful - although the photos don't really do it justice

I put on the windscreen wipers and water - but it didn't really do anything - the ice/frost was too thick

So I had to go back inside and get something to scrape it off - chose a plastic kitchen spatula.  I knew better than getting a kettle full of boiling water..

 Once completed, there was a lot of ice on the sides

So, finally went to pick up Rhonda - and there was a LOT of fog - especially once I got closer to the Loddon River

The GPS put me on a tiny back road this time to get to the Show - and it was a little hair-raising at times, as visibility was pretty poor - but we eventually made it 

The Show was a lot quieter today - so there wasn't all that much to do - sat and chatted with Marilyn for a while

Was also very surprised when a woman (Kitty) came over to the stall saying "hello Lisa" and clutching the new Inglewood brochure with our house on the front - so we talked about the house and the show for  a little bit, and I told her about the upcoming Garden Party in October - she seemed quite interested 

Marilyn told me afterwards that she had been across talking to Deb the butcher, and that Kitty had taken the brochure and was saying "oh Inglewood, that's where the show was etc".  So Marilyn pointed across at our stall and said I was there, and she could come over and have a chat!

Anyway, my shift was til 11am, so I left soon after that - and went back to the house

Justin had left already - was going back to Morwell for his circuit, and he'd done the first round of dishes ie glassware etc 

I did the rest, and also tidied up

Took a photo of my daphne plants - a few little flowers have opened - not enough to get the perfume yet though. 

 The port wine hellebore flowers are also close to opening 

 I hope they'll be open for this coming weekend and the Keys of Gold festival

 

DC Gals and no Helen & co Fri 4th - Wed 9th July 2025

As always, it took me longer than anticipated to leave Melbourne for Inglewood on Friday

George helped me load up the aloe veras - as they were too big to put in the cabin - and we put the net on top

I was having my old Data Connection gals up for the weekend - they hadn't been there before - but had seen the show 

Linda and Nancy were coming up, unfortunately Lisa couldn't make it 

Linda said she was planning on leaving around 1.30pm, and so anticipated arriving around 4pm - allowing time to get lost 

I barely got there before Linda at 3.30pm... 

Had just unpacked the car and put stuff in the fridge 

Gave her a very quick tour, and we went up to the veranda and waited for Nancy to arrive 

Nancy arrived, and I gave them both the "tour", and put Linda in the red room, and Nancy in the green room

We also walked up to the pub to check it out - as we were planning on having dinner there tomorrow night - and I wanted them to see what it was like - manage their expectations...

We went in the front bar and ended up staying for a few drinks - Kahlua and milk. Saw a few people that I knew - we had fun, and stayed for about an hour.

Went back to the house - and Linda brought out a delicious plater of cheeses, meats, biscuits etc which she had brought up - and we had some bubbles to go with it in the kitchen

It was all a bit too delicious and too much of it - so we didn't feel like any of the dinner that she had brought - we just grazed on all of this - including some of my pate which Linda loved

So, a relatively early night and a slow start on Saturday

Staggered breakfast in the kitchen - I had kept the aga and heater on overnight - so it was nice and warm in there  

The Quasair people and Chris's brickies that he recommended came at 11am to measure up again - and to bring the cardboard model to check that it would fit

And then outside to see how many bricks needed to be removed and where the hot water service would need to be moved to

Terry and Peter the brickies thought that the back wall looked a bit like a dog's breakfast - with electric cables, water pipes all over the place. - so we'll try and tidy that up also

Basically what we're going to do is remove 2 or 3 courses of bricks at the back there, and insert the rectangular rangehood from the back.  The fan and engine will be outside on the back wall - which is why the hot water service will need to be moved. (unfortunately the plumber and electrician couldn't be here at the same time - so I've only spoken to them about it)

Terry & Peter will need to put a lintel - to support the brick hole - and they'll also repoint the bricks there at the back.  Coincidentally Terry also knew David P and Stuart B who did the previous rendering/plastering

Anyway, once they left, the gals and I went up the street, and had a wander through the shops

Found a wooden canoe oar at Denis' that I thought Justin might be interested in (he wasn't)

And a couple of candle wall sconces

An anchor

And surprisingly some more wooden canoe oars at Fuss Pots  - but we left them too

 
Back to the house for some late lunch - Aga cheese, ham and pickle toasties - yum

And because it was such a beautiful day we went to Melville Caves after lunch and I was surprised to see quite a few kangaroos there

Came back and sat on the veranda and had some afternoon tea - but not too much as we wanted to be hungry for dinner

Because they had been  saying how much they liked open fires - I decided to set one up in the dining room

Justin had taught me years ago how to set a fire - and it was very successful

Had a few drinks in front of it before dinner

Linda had also given me a lovely fire irons set - from her auntie's place in Tassie - she knew if would go well here

And yes, we had Linda's delicious massaman beef curry and Indian carrot and rice fritters - yum

I also put a lot of candles around the room  - and of course we all look more beautiful by candle light

Luckily we went to Melville Caves yesterday, as Sunday was overcast and dreary

We stayed inside and played some cards after breakfast - which was a lot of fun

And then the gals packed up, and we went to the Bridgewater Pub for lunch - which Nancy generously shouted us 

They then continued on to Melbourne, and I went back to the house, as Helen and Michaela were coming tomorrow 

I did some tidying up - including in the cellar where a bottle had popped (some time ago) ...red wine dripping onto the spare bathroom tiles  

it was from a very old bottle of port - 1981!

I also did some vacuuming and mopping etc 

 

And of course some more gardening - planted those aloe veras from George

 

As it was, Helen and Michaela didn't come - as Michaela had a bad cough - and felt like staying home

I stayed til Wednesday, had a coffee with Pauline one morning and another with Terry another morning, and did lots of gardening/tidying up

Generally stayed out til around 5pm, by which time I was pretty cold, so came inside to have a nice hot bath 

Also responded to the postcard and letter that we had received because of Restoration Australia - sent them our Nimmitabel postcards. In also picked up a new Inglewood brochure from the Post Office 

The plumber also came on Wednesday morning - and I showed him what needed to be done re the hot water service.  Also got Terry the brickie on the phone so they could talk to each other 

Saw this new brochure with a lovely photo of  David & Arlene

Also saw this brochure re Enzo's karaoke night

Took a photo of the new King Charles 3rd sign on the Royal Hotel

 And a photo of the jonquils and the flowers that Nancy had given me  

Left for Melbourne on Wednesday afternoon