Easter with Michaela Thur 2nd - Tues 7 April 2026

I'm still behind....

I drove up in Justin's car on Thursday - more comfortable/safer than the ute, and Justin worked from home 

Got up there around 1pm - and got stuck into the garden.  It was my mission to clear out the street side garden beds, too many euphorbias etc 

Dropped into IGA and picked up the Loddon Herald - to see what our coverage was from last week

Pretty good  

I also christened my beautiful new William Morris gloves, but showed them off in front of the wallpapers first

And I planted yet some more (self sown from home) passionfruit vines in front of the garage 

Sadly these didn't end up surviving either 

And I noticed a crack in the kitchen window - I assume from a stone when they were mowing the grass - as it looks like the sort of star shaped crack that you can get on your windshield

Can't really remember what else I did on the Thursday - pottered around I suppose

Friday, and out at 9am 

Here is the before photo - lots of euphorbias, very high rose canes etc 

 

Getting started

I also noticed that a plant that I had bought from Taralgon (which I thought had died) has been resurrected

Here's another shot of the path looking very wild with soaring rose canes, and a cottoneaster -red berried 

While getting rid of some strappy leaved plants I found this glass button - looks deco

Look how entwined the cape honeysuckle is - in our lovely cast iron fence

I was using the pruning saw, secateurs, and loppers - was hard work.  At one stage toward the end of the day, my right hand cramped up - with the fingers bent forward - I literally couldn't move them - I had to unfurl them with my left hand!

And I basically worked all day - and rewarded myself with a gin and tonic at knock off time at 5.15pm - was pretty tired

Had some dinner, and I guess pottered around until Michaela arrived.  She had caught the replacement coach to Bendigo, and then the coach to Inglewood.  I met her at the bus stop around 8.10pm

I told her that she could have any room to sleep in - but she chose her little yellow room with the single bed - she likes that

Saturday, and back into the garden - Michaela helped also. I cut, and she picked up in the wheel barrow and added to my pile on the driveway at the garage 

And another G&T at the end of the day

I had spoken to Terry during the day, and he told me that he was going into Bendigo on Saturday night to see the lantern Easter parade from the Wine Bank.

Michaela and I ended up going too - planned on meeting up at 6pm, but parking was very difficult.  Ended up parking quite a distance away - hated just cruising around for a park

Anyway got to the Wine Bank around 6.30pm

As per last time, platters of wood fired pizza and other tasty treats were handed around at intervals

The parade started while it was still light - initially a lot of fire trucks - some decked out with tinsel and sparkles.  They were presumably there because of the recent bush fires

Then big mining trucks, community groups, schools, marching bands, and of course numerous Chinese dragons etc 

There were also fireworks at the end 

  Sunday, and more gardening - this time Michaela was picking out pesky little bulbs that I didn't want

I was getting quite a few scratches over my arms - made sure I disinfected the cuts after my shower each night 

Now that we can see the edging bricks - they need to be straightened up.  I also hope that the citrus trees will do better 

All clear - yay - this is what I wanted to achieve, so we can go to the Rheola Fair tomorrow 

Monday morning, and we got to Rheola just before 10am.  Weather was a bit iffy, so we had spray jackets, sunglasses and hats with us.

I went straight to the plants, and bought quite a few and put them back in the car

Then we went and had a look at the old cars

There was a chainsaw display (haven't seen that before)

 

The wood chop

A singer - actually hung around here for a while, and Greg Champion came on and played a set (didn't take any photos of him though).  It was actually getting quite warm sitting in the sun - good thing we had hats on

 

Sheep dog trials

Had to guess the weight of that gold nugget to win a prize (we didn't get it right)

We also spent quite a lot of time at the vintage tractor pull - although I didn't take any photos of them...

Saw a few people we knew, and left around 2.30pm

Came back and noticed this orb spider - with I think a wrapped up bee

I planted the Rheola Show plants 

and also the rest of the Garden Show plants/bulbs 

Below are 2 x kangaroo paws and 2 x paper daisies

A selection of seeds from Diggers Club at Cloudehill - where I had lunch with Susan 

A selection of tulips, lillies, freesias, daffodils etc 

And some more lovely bulbs

I also gathered up some loose bulbs from under the mulberry trees.  I was was surprised when I counted them to find that I had 75!

And the Japanese anemone flowers had opened - I was surprised when they turned out to be pink

To mix it up a little bit, we had some drinks and nibbles on the veranda

Tuesday, still a bit of gardening

Took photos of the stumps/palms I wanted Shane to get rid of

Planted the lupins in the container - it said to do so - as opposed to sowing them in situ

Michaela did a bit more bulb removal

I planted those 75 x found 75 bulbs - jonquils

I also deadheaded the roses

By the end we had a huge pile of cuttings/weeds for Shane to get rid of  - you can't really tell how much there is 

Looking good - a number of people had said how much they like being able to see the old wrought iron fence again.  Although the plan is to grow plants on the inside to make it a bit more private again.  But not to let it get too overgrown again

And a last photo of Michaela

We left after lunch some time, and Helen came and picked her up from our place