Inglewood Alive (and Justin's birthday) 4th & 5th November 2017

The plan had been to take up the bathroom vanity, however it had rained overnight, so Justin didn't want to load it onto the ute's wet tray.

Given that I wasn't taking the vanity, I decided to drive the passat, as it's more comfortable, but it also meant that I wouldn't be taking Helen's floorboards to her.

I left around 8.30, and got there around 10.30, was very interested to see the progress that Ben had made

He had been sending me update photos via text during the week.  He had also said that he would start last Monday, (23rd), and that he would keep the place nice and tidy and clean

Below are his photos

fixing up the loose tessellated tiles

fixing up the floorboards at the entrance to the green room

Green room - replacing bad floorboards

green room adding in new floor boards

replacing bad boards in dining room

cellar stairs

fixing up sunken and cracked hearth in our room

in preparation for the hearth stone

 He and his blokes (his son Charlie) and mate Andrew had done a great job, and it was nice and clean and tidy - I was very impressed (as was Justin)

They had also taken the awful yellow lino out of our room, plus the lino from the back hall.  The kitchen lino defeated them for the time being, it was the like the stuff in the bathroom - in effect glued to the floorboards and very difficult to get off.

Given that our room was empty (in preparation for stripping the wallapaper), he had re-set us up in the green room.  We ended up taking the red room, and Fraser had the green room, which is his normally anyway.

Anyway, true to his word, the house was nice and tidy and clean (where he'd been) - so I was very pleased.

green room set up for us

goodies that Helen left behind for us in the Sep school holidays

Dining room with the lino rolled up carefully, and some boards replaced

I should also add that the dining room boards were lovely and pristine, possibly never even walked upon. Ben had removed a central spine of boards in order to  get rid of the bounce in the floor.  And he had discovered that there was no central joist, so he is going to make one.  

dining room

reinstated hearthstone

bits of the mantle undercarriage (that fell on Andrew's head)

our room - with the lino taken up

Back hall with lino gone

I forgot to take a photo of the fixed cellar stairs, however they no longer pull away from the wall, and they now touch the ground.  They had also cleaned out the cellar ie removed the wooden venetian blinds, and also cleaned out the back hallway ie removed the shower screen, foldup table etc

I rang Justin and advised him how good it was all looking

Went up the street,  and saw a lot of yarn bombing on bollards, light poles trees etc .Nice and colourful



Bought a leg of lamb for dinner, and dropped in on the Op Shop ladies and Denise & Steven.  Denise showed me her magnificent red roses, and then brought me around a gorgeous bunch.

Did an inspection of the garden and saw that the central trunk of the plum tree near the vegie patch had snapped.



Also my single asparagus spear had disappeared - not sure if eaten or disintegrated (not happy about that) - as Justin had put in a new watering computer last time, so it should have been watered every 2nd day.

The pecan and persimmon don't seem to have survived either (had bought these in the tree drive)

And the cumquat and orange in the front - have shrivelled, and that was after them looking so good 2 weeks ago.  I'm assuming frost - as they're pretty in the open there.  I gave them a good watering.

Justin and Fraser arrived around  12.15, ( Fraser told me how they had been driving behind a motor cyclist, who had an open pannier - items were flying out it - gloves etc.  Justin flashed his lights to try and alert him.  Given that it was lunch time, and a little cool, we had hot pies under the tree   Fraser came as a favour to Justin, for Justin's birthday tomorrow.  Fraser was also revising for his VCE exams, as he has one this Monday, another on Wednesday, and the last on the 15th.

Justin went and had his haircut after lunch, Fraser went up to study, and I donned my coveralls (too cool for overalls) and weeded out the back.

Felt like a break around 2.30, so suggested we go to the Royal for a coffee.  Denise had told me that the lady had set up a pop up coffee shop for the weekend (still waiting on liquor licensing to come through, as the previous proprietor had let it lapse)

Introduced ourselves - Marg- ie (hard "g", and Sharon her bridesmaid from some time ago).  Both are very ncie and friendly.  So, had our coffee, and took a choclate milkshake back for Fraser who was studying upstairs.

Fraser enjoying his milkshake

Back to the weeding for me, and Gordon also dropped in to say hello

Fraser and I also did a bit of shopping at the IGA, dips, hash browns etc.  Saw Noi on the way who insisted on giving me some lovely curly lettuce, coriander, dill etc

Started cooking around 4.30 or so, went and peeled some potatoes, and put the them and the lamb in the oven.  Prepared a salad and a nibbles platter for the veranda - cheese, dips, pizza shapes, G&T etc

Got a little cool, so went inside to wait for dinner

The boys played some virtual "ice hockey"

Had dinner upstairs, as the dining room was dis-assembled.

Fraser then went on to study, and Justin and I watched 48 hours with Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy, hadn't seen it in years, and quite enjoyed it.

Relatively early night - in the red room

Sunday, and Justin's birthday.  I made breakfast with a little help from Fraser (he cooked the eggs) :-bacon, eggs, hash browns, tomato, baked beans, coffee

Had it outside at our normal breakfast table

Justin taking a birthday call

We also moved our cars which were parked out the front, otherwise we would have been parked in by the bouncy castle people who were setting up literally out the front - for Inglewood Alive

I couldn't resist having a go at the archery - releasing my inner Katniss from Hunger Games.  I was pretty good if I do say so myself, came very close quite a few times, and at the end knocked one of the balls off also (that's what you're supposed to do)

view from the town hall

So, had a wander in the Town Hall, saw the art gallery, Justin quite liked one of the paintings. 

And then wandered down the street, saw Maile & David ( a few times) Bev, Gordon's wife, Jamie and family, etc.  Also went inside one of the shops on Brooke street that we hadn't been in before.  Had been an old garage

The Morris Minor club was there with lots of old cars on display, plus other old cars and motor bikes. Lots of people milling around, and just a perfect day weatherwise

this bike can apparently go 60kph

Our woodchopping event was on at 12.30.  Jan, her brother Ken and I as sponsors were invited into restricted areas.  Stupidly exciting for me. I was thrilled.

Took a photo of one of the boy's foot/calf to show the protection that they have under their cricket whites/volleys - just in case they slip with the very sharp axe

So, our junior event ran, and the winners and runners up came and got their cash prizes - and then had the official photos taken (the below photos are from Justin)

 

Met up with Ben after this (Justin hadn't met him before) and we went around the house talking about priorities.  Upstairs bathroom, veranda (Ben has ordered wood for the veranda), flywire screens  etc.  Justin also wants decking for the back veranda, I would prefer an under stair toilet.  Anyway, we'll see what Ben's plumber has to say.

Justin left for Warrnambool soon after this, and Fraser and I got a late lunch - from the smoke house brisket van. 

Planted some vegies, did a little bit of watering. 

Tidied up, did dishes etc, and left with Fraser around 4pm

Medieval night #2 20 - 22 October 2017

Got to Inglewood early afternoon and was assailed by the smell of what seemed to be rotting lemons when I opened up the front door.

Searched around for the suspect lemons, but couldn't find them.

Also went and inspected the Victorian windows and floorboards that we had retrieved from the old Ansett House.

Forgot to take photos of these - oh well...

Anyway, Helen had purchased the windows, and  "rafts" of floorboards for her upcoming "She shed" that she plans to build in her back garden.

And of course she expects us to cart this all back for her on our ute - bit of a nuisance really, particularly as she won't even be there on the Sunday to help offload the windows, nor has she organised anyone to be there to do so.  I ended up getting Clare and Rory to assist - so all was well.

But at least one of the rafts of floorboards is too long to carry ie approx 3.4m, and the ute tray is 2.4m Justin wasn't happy!

Anyway, I had also invited Terry, Arlene, David and June for dinner - so wanted to get started on the basics for that.

Made a shopping list, and walked up to the IGA to get a few key ingredients - thought I would make a red dip, pate, and a chicken caesar salad.  Also thought I would make some sort of dessert with the plums that I had in the spare fridge (from Enzo) freezer.

Anway, it was soon after this that I discovered the source of the rotting lemon smell, except it wasn't lemons, but plums.... Yep, Helen had mistakenly turned off Enzo's fridge when she was here a few weeks ago over the school holidays.  The fridge component just had drinks, plus an experimental yogurt - which was originally 2L of fresh milk.  However the freezer part had 2 large bags of plums, which had in effect liquified, and now stunk, plus some previously frozen pies, loaves of bread, and left over lasagne.

Was quite a mess in the freezer, and we suspect some of the juice had trickled down the front grill.  Not sure if we'll ever be able to get the smell out.... Was really cross with Helen at this stage.


So, had to clean this out, and then got to cooking.

First the pate, as I had to fry up the chicken livers/onion/garlic etc - whizz it up, add the cream/port and have time for it to set in the (other) fridge.

And then onto the bacon which I planned to cook in the oven while I did other things.

Heated up the oven and found a plate with very dried pie remains and knife and fork in the oven.

Really, really cross with Helen now - was also sending her photos of the offending items via text messages (which she didn't receive for some days later as she generally has her data turned off). 

Soldiered on with the cooking/cutting - made red dip, croutons, caesar sauce, cooked and cut the chicken, cut up cucumber, tomatoes, shaved cheese, tore lettuce etc.

Set the dining room table, organised the tray to take upstairs to the veranda for drinks etc. And just finished by 6pm.  The cleaning of the fridge had slowed me down...

Anyway, was all good, Terry, June and David were in the forward brigade, and we went up stairs for drinks.  I tried to tempt them with summery G&T's or campari and lemonade, but no interest, they wanted white wine which they had brought.  That said, I wanted my first G&T of the season (so had one)!

Sat on the veranda in the early evening sun, and it was delightful - lovely and warm, not hot, but rather bright, so I doled out a few spare hats.

Arlene arrived within the 1/2 hour and had Alvin with her - so we all sat up here.

The sun dipped below tree level, and it started to get a little cold, so we went inside to the dining room.

I had originally thought that I would assemble and serve everyone's plates individually, however this would have taken a little while, so l subsequently thought that I would serve up "deconstructed" chicken caesar salads - ie all ingredients were in bowls/on platters in the tables, and we just served ourselves.  Much better idea.

Given that Justin wasn't here, I assumed head of the table - with Alvin at the other end.

The wine and the conversation flowed freely, and we had mini magnums for dessert.  David and Alvin left first around 11.30, and then called Terry to advise that police were on the Kingower Road.  They left soon afterwards, and I went to bed.

Got up around 7.30, had a quick breakfast, and also went to the IGA to see what I could find for Terry's birthday, - got a nice bunch of red tulips and a bottle of Mumm champagne.

Drove up to Terry's and surprised him by remembering his birthday, he made me a coffee, and then the others ie Arlene and June showed up, and we started our preparation for the Medieval night dinner.  Basically just chopping vegies ie carrots, onions etc for a chicken soup.

Terry also gave us a delicious lunch - homemade sausages with a green salad

Home after lunch - and started weeding out the left hand side of the front.  Lots of people walked past and had a chat - as there was a family reunion across the road at the Town Hall.  A stumpy tailed lizard also made an appearance on the footpath

Given that I didn't want it to escape onto the road and potentially get squashed, I moved it onto the garden bed

Justin arrived late afternoon, unpacked, and then took a breather

I went up to the veranda and had my 2nd G&T of the season

Had a quick shower, as I was feeling a bit grimy, and then up to the Village Green for the Medieval night.

We didn't get dressed up this time, although I did wear the coloured jester hat that I'd got for Justin last year, but that he didn't like, so didn't wear.

Had nuts and dips to start, followed by our chicken soup, beef on the spit, jacket potatoes, salad, honeyed carrots, and then trifle & apple crumble for dessert

Another good night

The Maypole had also been set up - don't think they got as tangled up as last year (maybe because I wasn't doing it).  Luckily wasn't as cold as last year either.

The crowd thinned a bit as it got later

Justin drove home, with no kangaroos accompanying us

Sunday,and we loaded the ute with Helen's bloody windows (too busy and annoyed to take photos)

And they were heavy and cumbersome, Victorian sash windows with the weights - 3 of them....

And Justin had a sore back also, not impressed

Anyway, he left soon afterwards, as he had to go to Warrnambool.

June had also advsied me yesterday that the the pests eating my rhubarb/mint could be earwigs, and had suggested that I put out a jar filled with a combination of water and oil

I was thrilled (and a little surprised) that the jars were full of dead earwigs when I checked later in the morning...hopefully the mint and rhubarb will thrive now

I put my overalls back on and did some more weeding out the front - this time the right hand side.  Finished that, and ventured into our actual garden for some more weeding.  Gordon dropped by and saw how full his trailer was, Jan also dropped by and I gave her the sponsorship money for the upcoming wood chop competition, and finally Ben dropped by to have a look around.  I'd met him a few weeks ago, and he came around to see what the condition of the house was, how he'd be able to assist etc

Thought he could start with replacing the bad floorboards in the downstairs green room and dining room, and to also fix up the cellar stairs.  Said he had a team of workers we could call on ie plumber, electrician etc.  Discussed the proposed bathroom upstairs -  fingers crossed, we might even get it before Christmas!!!!


Below is the work sheet that i left out for him