Child free and succulent garden May 25 & 26 2013

School hockey duties over, and Justin and I escaped to Inglewood, footloose and child free.

And yes, the weather is definitely colder, it was warm enough in the afternoon with the sun out, but certainly not balmy like two weeks ago with Mum for the Mother's day weekend.  Saturday night and Sunday early morning were COLD!

I've already seen what I assume is frost damage on some of the plants, I've mollycoddled the citrus trees after last Winter, so I hope they'll be OK this Winter.

The olive trees are looking very good after all of the TLC we heaped on them last time, and the strawberries are still ripening

luscious strawberries

And, given that there was a bit of rain on the Sunday of that Mother's Day weekend, the grass is finally starting to grow again, and there is even some green showing through!

Green green grass of Inglewood

As is our habit, we went and visited Steve and Denise after we had a late lunch.  And then back to potter around a bit.  Watering of course, and I chatted to Steve who was on the roof of his place fixing leaks.  It was quite amusing calling out to him over the lane

Steve action man on the roof (me chatting to him from the "orchard"

We also carefully checked the work of Orgin Energy, as they had replaced our old electricity meter with a new smart meter. It seems alright.  Justin had been concerned that it would be an eyesore, but it's no worse than the previous old one.

new smart meter below old switch board

Given that Justin was starting a new trial on Monday, he needed to do some pre-work.  It's a little ironic that he's set himself up a good study, but prefers to spread out his books on the bed!

The bed desk

Around 4pm I decided it was down tools for me, and time to get social again.  Thought we'd drive up to Kingower and see if Damien and Nicole were home given that they've tried dropping in on us twice and missed us both times.

Unfortunately, no one was there, so this time we left a note

Damien & Nicole's place 

Drove back home without any kangaroo misadventures, and assembled a modest tasting and drinks platter around 5pm which we planned to have under the portico at the front, as it was nice, sunny and relatively warm.  Well lo and behold, Damien and Nicole dropped in - as they were on the way to their place, and were most surprised that we had already been there and left them a note an hour before hand.  We asked them to join us, pulled up a couple more chairs and had an enjoyable time chatting, eating and drinking  until 7 or so - by which stage it was well and truly dark, and I had brought the lanterns out. We also gave them a   tour of the house and garden as they were interested to see what it was like, what we had done, and what still had to be done.  After they left, J and I toddled off to the pub for a shared parma for dinner ( we didn't need one each), and then back home to a roaring fire in our bedroom and a couple of episodes of Breaking Bad.

As I said earlier, Sunday early morning was cold.  Cold enough to have frost on the car when I went to get the newspaper around 7am.

After thawing out, helped by my fire in the wood stove in the kitchen we both went into the garden todo some work. Justin wanted to finish off painting the back veranda, but then he noticed that the bricks over the kitchen window seemed to be bulging out more, so he had to fix them first

Propping up the bricks 

Once this was done to his satisfaction he started painting

painting at last

As to me, I wanted to do my succulent bed outside the dining room, next to the jacaranda.

Before shot

First step was to outline the area with bricks

outlined with bricks 

Then I dug up /loosened the soil

dug up soil

Added horse manure, and dug that in

horse manure

 The impetus for this succulent bed was this huge rather old beauty which I would love to be able to move there, but am unsure if I could do so successfully

it's a monster!

I did manage to move a few bits, and had been propagating other varieties too, so planted them all,  covered them with mulch, watered them and hoped for the best.  At the moment it looks rather sparse, but I'm constantly on the lookout for new and unusual succulents that I can include.  Clare, my sister in law was able to give me a bag full of cuttings which I hope will strike when we're there next.

Mothers Day Weekend May 11 & 12 2013

Had another lovely weekend here with Mum again - this time celebrating Mother's Day.

We arrived around 11am, and went for a wander and chat around town, and then back home for lunch.


Saw a notice saying that there was going to be a "Glamour Ball" at the Town Hall for the local football and netball teams.  We hoped it wouldn't be too raucous.  I peeked in and took an unfortunately blurry  photo of the set up.  It wasn't too noisy, so we were able to sleep just fine.

Town hall gussied up for the ball

Unfortunately while we were out, or in the back garden, Damien and Nicole (from Kingover) dropped over and left a note.  So this is the 2nd time that we've missed them.  Maybe we should try and drop in on them next time?

Given that last time we'd planted the olives, this time I wanted to put bricks around them, and of course do some much needed watering.  Mum helped with that too.  Didn't do a whole lot more though, as this weekend was for Mum, so we did what she wanted to do.

Bricks around the olives, and Mum watering 

Mum also enjoyed herself reading up on the veranda

on the veranda #1

on the veranda #2

The weather was unseasonably warm, about 25 degrees and sunny, just lovely, however it was quite cold in the house, especially the kitchen.

That said, we had a comforting roaring fire in the dining room on Saturday night.  The fire had been expertly set by Justin when Jan and Peter came up a month or 2 ago  - so it caught very quickly.

roaring fire

And of course, given that it was just Mum and me, we played many games of scrabble.  I blitzed in the first game with a massive score of 517.  I'd never even broken 400 before, so I was very pleased.  Of course having all the high scoring letters and a 7 letter word helped.  I won the 2nd game too, but this one was much closer

scrabble with Mum

And finally on Mother's Day, I "let" Mum win one.  Well actually, she won fair and square.  My excuse was that I had shocking letters.

And so, Mother's Day, we started off with some delicious bread that I had made in the bread maker - a sort of made up concoction :- potato, onion, rosemary and chilli.   It was heavier than normal, I suppose because of the potato.  Very nice though.  And we started late, Mum normally gets up around 7.30, but because it was so quiet, she rose at 8.45.  It didn't worry me, I was snuggled up reading in bed, and so finished the last book in the Stig Larsen Millennium triology. Mum was astonished that it was so late, she initially misread her watch, thinking it was 7.45, not 8.45.

Steve and Denise had mentioned yesterday that the RSL was putting on a Devonshire morning tea, so I went off to investigate.

The RSL was open, and set up with tables and chairs, but no one was around.  I went in and called out, and a bloke came out.  I told him I'd heard that the RSL was putting on a morning tea, and asked whether that was so.  (It reminded me of about 6 months ago when I invited myself to the Kingower end of year Christmas dinner film night).  Anyway, this was open to anyone, for a gold coin donation, so he told me to come back in 1/2 an hour and bring my Mum.

Mum didn't initially want to come, as we'd had a late breakfast already, and the main event for the weekend was the special Mother's Day lunch at the Empire.  But I convinced her that how could she pass up proper country scones, and we could always just only have half a scone each.

Well, we came back around 10.40, and were the only ones there.  Thank goodness we came.  The same bloke was there with apron on.  Turned out he was a local policeman, and had made the scones using of course flour, cream and lemonade.  They were delicious!! Light and high

many scones for us

my 1st scone and cup of tea

Mum enjoying her scone

Robert, the local Lions president was there too, and his wife Colleen came a bit later too. As did a few other people, so we at least had a full table.  But I'm sure that there were some leftover scones.

Ended up having a chat with most of the people there, which is always enjoyable.  Introduced myself to Mick (the policeman) and said that we would join the RSL to support it.  He'll drop the paperwork off at the house.

So after 2 scones each, and a couple of cups of tea, we waddled back home to fill in time before our big lunch.

And a big lunch it was.  The Empire was full, and Mum and I decided on the lamb as opposed to beef option.  A glass of champagne was included in the price, so I went up to the bar to get them.  Enzo being his usual generous self made me take a bottle as opposed to 2 glasses.  Luckily we weren't driving off immediately after lunch.

So, we somehow managed to eat our lamb and vegies, polish off the champagne, and finish off with a pudding with custard.  This time we really did waddle home.  And it was raining!  Or at least spitting when we left, it had been overcast and windy, and the weather bureau had forecast rain for the evening, so we were surprised that it was raining.  That put paid to doing any more work outside, so we sat in the dining room and read the papers.  Very relaxing.   We were pleased that it was raining also, it became a bit heavier, and was good solid rain great for the garden and the farmers.

"Concrete" soil and 9 olive trees

Lovely Autumn weather, still warm enough for t-shirts, but getting cooler at night, and certainly in the mornings.

Justin, Fraser and I were here this time.  Mad had gone to a school camp on the Gippsland Lakes.

The first thing that I saw when we arrived was a small plastic container with dried dill in it and a note. Damien and Nicole had dropped in presumably after I'd left  3 weeks ago.  We'd chatted with them at the Babette's Feast dinner and they said they had dill growing madly at their place, and would bring us some.  Pity we missed them.  The dill was unfortuately a "gonna" I said it was dried, but really it was just plain dead, and a yellowy white colour.

What wasn't dead (surprisngly) were the globe artichokes that I had transplanted out the front.  Both of them had survived.  And there had hardly been any rain.  Steve said 2ml in the last 3 weeks

Sprouting artichoke

The jerusalem artichoke that David had given me wasn't so lucky.  The plant seeemd dead, although I'm hoping that the tubers will sprout new plants in the Spring.

The broccoli is looking vey healthy, And I even cut a few heads to take home.  So were the chilli plants and strawberries

broccoli in my vegie patch

Justin was feeling a little tired, so I suggested reading a book in the hammock.  That was quite well received.

engrossed in Donna Tart's "Little Friend"

pretending not to realise I'm taking a photo

Given our roaring success of yabby catching last time, Fraser and I tried our luck again.   This time we aimed to go prepared.  We had gum boots, chairs, bait, string, gloves, a bucket, and a  knife.  On the short drive to the reservoir we came across a large goanna basking dangerously in the middle of the road.

the kamakaze blue tongue and Fraser's foot for scale

We tried to move it to safety, but it was rather difficult, especially seeing that neither of us actually wanted to pick it up and risk being bitten.  We tried to nudge it along with some bark, but that was largely ineffectual.  It did move a bit, and passing cars gave us all a wide berth, while probaly wondering what we were doing in the middle of the road.

Anyway, got to the reservoir, found some sticks, attached the bait to the string and realised that we had forgotten the net.  We cast out anyway.  I pulled mine in after a couple of minutes, felt a bit of a tug, and actually saw a couple of nippers attached to the meat.  I called out excitedly to Fraser that I had 2, but then they let go...Fraser didn't believe me, said that was my "lying voice".  Ah, that's my curse for frequently telling tall tales, well, at least I knew I was telling the truth, and rushed off home to get the net.  Saw the goanna both ways, and luckily not squashed!

Returned to Fraser and he said he'd seen one too, but sadly those were the last and only yabbies we saw for this expedition.  The wind had increased, and there were small muddy waves/ripples on the reservoir now, making it very hard to see where the lump of bait was when we were pulling it in.  I'm sure that we had a couple more on the string at times, as I had felt a definite lightening of the load, but no luck.  That time we did much better without the net.  Oh well,  this season is practically finished as the butcher boys said that yabbies are available any month with a "r' in it..It's the tail end of April now, and there officially wouldn't be any more until September (but you never know).

Our yabby reservoir

Given our lack of luck, I decided to circumavigate the reservoir by foot. Not surprisingly, it wasn't very big and shrinking due to evaporation, so it didn't take that long.

Fraser decided to meet me at the end by trying to walk across a narrow finger of water.  However, even with gum boots, it looked like he might get wet, so he wisely retreated.

the crossing begins

thinking about turning around

When we returned I gave some selected trees and plants in the front garden a good soaking,as they were looking rather dry.

I also spied a coloured ball near the Storm Lane fence and was very surprised to find the missing easter egg, unfortunately a little the worse for wear.  And not so edible anymore

Fraser with the missing egg

Steve and Denise came around for drinks and nibbles after they closed up in the afternoon, and we then went on down to the pub for dinner.  Outback parma as usual.

You may think that Sunday is traditionally the day of rest, but not for us.  It was olive planting time. But first we had to dig the holes, and it was hard, very hard....

According to the garden plan, the olive trees  are supposed to be planted 2 metres from the fence, and at intervals of 3 metres.  Thus we calculated 9 trees.  We started with shovels, but they almost bounced off the soil, it was that hard.  We then had to up the ante, and Justin got out the heavy guns, or rather the fencing bar, that we'd bought when J and Mark were fixing up the front concrete path.

fencing bar photo from the internet

So, Justin, being his normal perfectionist self, measured out from the fence for each hole and then started off with a cross shape for the hole by ramming the fencing bar into this concrete like dirt, and then trying to pry little clumps of it out.  The loose dirt was then removed with the shovel.  It was a long and tiring process, particularly given that the fencing pole was very heavy

starting off a hole

now he's getting somewhere

We found that it was good to work as a team.  Justin would ram, and I would remove the dirt.  But we also swapped at times.  And we even managed to coax/coerce Fraser from inside to do some manual labour.  Once he got going, he was a gun, and worked quite hard, unfortunately without gloves at times, so he got blisters

Fraser being camera shy

After a few hours, we certainly deserved some lunch (and a beer) so went to the Blue Eucy Cafe (where we'd had the "big breakfast" a few weeks ago).  Cathy makes the pies there, so we sampled them.  They were rather good, but we were sadly beerless as the cafe isn't licensed.

Finished up the holes and planting after lunch, and Fraser and I went pomegranate scrumping (oh yes we knew a place) 

look at our new olive grove (can it be a grove if it's only a line?)

Our olive line from another angle

Last year with Alex's help I was able to lift Fraser up on my shoulders to pick those delectable pomegranates out of arms reach

photo from last year

look at those pomegranates just out of reach....(this year)

However this year, either I had gotten weaker (possible), tireder, (likely - after the ramming/digging) or Fraser had gotten heavier (likely - as he's grown).  Anyway, I squatted down, he sat on my shoulders, and I couldn't budge.  Plan B was that I gave him a leg up via my joined hands.  That worked at least, but was a little precarious.  Luckily no falls.  And we scored ourselves a nice bag of pomegranates

pomegranate spoils

Easter and beyond :- Wednesday March 27 - Sunday April 7 2013

Yet another delivery by me in the ute on Wednesday evening - this time of a handsome desk made from an old organ which Justin had spied on Ebay

new desk (photo from Ebay)

Steve kindly helped me unload it, and luckily it hadn't rained too much on the trip there, so there was no water damage.  It's ironic that it had been completely dry for weeks, and then on the afternoon that I wanted to go, there were occasional showers forecast.  Only really sprinkled a bit on the Monash, and then again  over the great Dividing range

I also brought up the scenery boards for the old model train set that we had displayed in the study.  I reckon it looks great, Justin is more critical of his own work

work in progress - courtesy of Justin the artist

completed scene

in situ

the artist and his creation

As I was by myself, I pottered around on the Thursday, doing my "homework" for the ABC television program "Who's been sleeping in my house"  They had wanted me to see what sort of soil there was in the garden in case they "x-ray" it to establish once and for all if there is a tunnel between our place and Tivey's old store as per pervasive and possibly wrong rumours.

So I dug a small hole for them - as you can see quite sandy and dry, with some pebbles also (remains of old path?)

sandy soil

I also took some other photos of the assumed surface route that the tunnel would take

from the back gate looking back to the house

from the back gate across to Tivey's old store,
now Steve & Denise's  Inglewood Emporium

Storm Lane drain - tunnel would have to go under this 

I also fired up the Christmas frying pan, as I wanted to do some Easter "baking"

First up were some Hot cross buns which I had started in the bread maker, ie mixing, proving, resting given that they use yeast.

hot cross bun dough

I then hand formed them and put them in the electric frying pan to "bake"  The crosses proved trying, as I didn't have a piping bag, so ended up not really doing them. Unfortunately the buns didn't work out that well, sure the taste was good, but they were very heavy, more like rock cakes.  I don't think that they rose at all.  Better luck next year.

hot cross buns baking in the frying pan

Next up was an apple cake/pudding (no recipe) - which worked much better

apple cake on the right

 And finally a loaf of onion, rosemary and cheese bread, and an Inglewood Tomato tart (actually I made the bread on the Friday). And I also made a batch of potato and brocolli soup

My Easter baking delights

After all of this cooking I thought it only right to make myself a nice dinner.  Went to the butchers and bought yet again a delicious piece of pork which I cooked up with some vegies.  And once again that first bite was so tasty.  James and Pat really do have the best meats.

Good Friday was warm and sunny, and I waited, reading the newspaper on the veranda for the others to arrive.  Karen and Mark were planning on getting here around lunchtime, while Justin and the kids had initially said they'd get here then, but had to revise due to extenuating circumstances.....

....a  slight hiccup occurred when Justin called on Thursday afternoon, and he was not amused.  My car had got a flat tyre in the back lane, and Justin couldn't find the specialised widget to undo the tyre nuts.  He thought I'd lost it, and he was on the way to the dentist and was late....Anyway he finally found the widget, put on the crappy little spare tyre, but was too late for the dentist.  This tyre can't be driven at more than 80 kmph so he thought they wouldn't be able to come here for Easter, as it was too late on the afternoon prior to Good Friday to have the punctured tyre fixed.  What a disaster!!  Anyway, Peter saved the day and lent Justin  his car, but this added to the time, and they arrived well after lunch.

Anyway, while waiting, I also listened to 501 who were playing across the road at the Town Hall at the Good Friday fish BBQ

They were pretty good, and no one was clapping, so I did from the veranda. Even gave them some standing ovations so that they could see me.  They said afterwards they did hear me and appreciated my feedback.

I went down there around 12.30, and saw Steve and Denise and got myself a fish burger.  I also had an interesting conversation with Alex and Joy who said that Ian P was selling his church in Maryborough, as he was heading off overseas

Ian's Wesley church up for sale :- photo from the internet

And of course we were interested to know if the contents were also going to be sold ie the old servant bells etc.  They didn't know but took mobile number and said they'd try and find out more.

Karen and Mark arrived around 12.45, but but that time the food had unfortunately run out, and they were packing up, so they went to a cafe for lunch.

Afterwards Karen and I went to the Inglewood Emporium to have another look at their cellar and take some photos of the outline of the blocked up door to the tunnel ( for Who's Been Sleeping in my house).  Actually, when we looked more closely, we didn't really think that we could see an outline of a blocked up doorway, it was probably just a change in the lime render.  Anyway, I've passed on the photos - so we'll see if they want to investigate any further.

where we thought there was a doorway outline

In preparation for our feasting, the boys went on a healthy run.  While Karen and I supervised from the veranda with a gin and tonic

heading off up the road

Madeleine also came up on the veranda and played with Basil, who enjoyed luxuriating in the sun.

nice and sunny

The boys came up and joined us on the veranda also, after showering and changing following their run

after the run

And then, it was dinner time...

First course - my potato and brocolli soup with onion/rosemary bread

home made soup

home made bread (it's the crust that looks yellow)

Followed by salmon -as it was Good Friday after all

main course

 And me looking quite happy...

big grin

...maybe that was because we were conducting some scientific taste tests - of 3 different wines we had bought from Jill (used to be Old Loddon Wines) as well as the other wines we had selected to have with dinner

tasting goblets :- Merlot, Shiraz, Franc (bit of cork in that middle one)

and the accompanying bottles

Wrapped it up with my apple cake/pudding for dessert

My apple pudding/cake

looks good and tastes good with a dollop of cream

finger licking good?

what a smile

the rapture of a good meal

a little blurry

the candles are getting shorter

 Afterwards the kids and Basil escaped upstairs to their limited electronics

Fraser being shy, Madeleine not

not so shy now

Basil curling up

his and hers pcs

Of course I woke up early the next morning and was sorely tempted by the delicious bacon smells wafting from the cafe near the IGA when I went to buy the newspaper.

The others were still in bed, but once up thought it a good idea to go and sample the "Big Breakfast" on offer.  Fraser even came and joined us later, as we hadn't woken up him or Mad, rather left them a note to say where we were.

pre breakfast

enjoying breakfast

But after all of this eating, we needed to get down to work, and decided to clear the area to the right of the dining room bay window.  This is where the planned succulent bed will go, and the planned rose garden close to where Justin is standing in the below photo

working hard - look at the huge pile of refuse next to the very full trailer!

photographer being given the look ie get back to work!, and stop taking photos

dig!

rake!

all clear

Meanwhile Karen had decided to demolish that fence with the red flowering succulent creeper on it.  Unfortunately there were spiders, so this dulled her enthusiasm somewhat.  She did however manage to christen her new very white overalls with some respectable dirt.  Eventually we were left with just the star pickets which were incredibly hard to extract as they had been dug in so deep.

contemplation

And Mark cleared around the old oleander, unfortunately I didn't take a before photo, but take my word for it there was a lot of rubbish around it, weed trees etc.  During this time I had christened Mark "dirt boy" and I re-christened myself "stump queen", as I took a lot more out.  Mark preferred to call me "Stumpy"!

hard at work

cleared view from the veranda

And after a hard afternoon's work, Karen and I went down to the pub to book a table for dinner, and ended up staying for a cheeky beer, given that it was quite a warm day, and we deserved it!

a well earned thirst....

We had some visitors by the time we came back, Michelle from Ballarat and her kids came for a late afternoon tea (unfortunately I forgot to take photos of this)

After this, pub for dinner and by this time Alex had arrived and joined us there

toasting at the pub

walking home from the pub #1

walking home from the pub #2

walking home from the pub #3

walking home from the pub #4

And ended up back on our veranda, and some singalongs....

concentrating

celebrating

listening

shining

Easter Sunday, and sure there was an egg hunt....

internet Easter egg photo 

I had also found these real eggs earlier (remember chicken chasey from a year ago?? I guess the runaway chicken had roosted in the corner here)

And, we also had a gold /relic hunt.  Frank the prospector came and visited us again, and showed us some of the things he had found.  He also asked if he could dig a little in our garden, so we said ok and Fraser was asked to join him.  They found a few bits and bobs ie an old buckle, some horse shoes etc.  Luckily nothing too exciting, as how would we have shared it???

Fraser, Frank & Kevin

Frank & Fraser prospecting

And afterwards, we  went on a yabby hunt.  Yep those darn yabbies  had eluded me for 2 seasons thus far, and it was on my "bucket list" to catch one.

First up we went to the dam where Elise had caught 40 yabbies in 20 minutes a year ago.  Well, things change, and what had been an expansive dam last year with a good rainfall, was now not much more than a bath tub

look at all of that cracked dry mud

We assumed there was no hope of finding any yabbies there, so we went back to the "reservoir" where I didn't really think we'd find any either.  There were however a couple of guys fishing 100m away, so I went up to chat and ask them what they were catching.  Red fin and yellowbelly.  And on the way back I came across some dead yabbies

found dead yabbies

So that meant that there were some there (or at least there had been....)

Given that we had no nets, we used the old fashioned stick and piece of string method

Mark yabbying 

Karen being a yabby spectator

Mark had the first excitement, he'd seen that there was a yabby on his line and so he slowly pulled it in.  However it was quite shallow, and it broke the water surface, so let go and escaped.

Next up Justin had one on the line, Fraser nearly scooped it up with the wire basket attached to a twig, but that one got away also

Justin yabbying

wire basket on branch (back at home)

Finally, third time lucky, and it was me!!! I felt the string move slightly, so very slowly and carefully started pulling it in.  We could see the yabby below the surface, and by this stage we had attached the basket to a longer branch.  Fraser stepped up again (and into the mud) and yes we caught it!! I was so thrilled.

Mark lifted it up first - behind the nippers #1

Mark lifted it up first - behind the nippers #2

me - looking delighted #1
(and holding it very carefully after Mark showed me how)

me - looking delighted #2

me - looking delighted #3

Well, after this ripping success, and posing for many photos (I had my mobile/camera, so did Karen and so did Alex) - we quit while we were ahead, let the yabby go, and returned home triumphant!!

Mum, Helen & kids were there by that stage, so we exchanged chocolate eggs and re-lived our yabby adventures.

And here's a few photos of Karen and me in our winter house/laundry (haven't settled on a name yet)

enjoying each others company #1

enjoying each others company #2

enjoying each others company #3

Given that it was another foody day, Justin, Mark & Alex went for a run up the road again (for J & M)

Alex took this photo (of course) 

Then we invited Steve. and Denise around for pre dinner drinks and nibbles which we enjoyed outside under the hoop pine

pre dinner drinks #1

Pre dinner drinks #2

And then a mini calamity.... The cork screw/bottle opener had disappeared. We'd had it to open up the ciders/beers for the drinks, but then couldn't find it for dinner. So of course we rang Steve and Denise and borrowed theirs.  I eventually found ours a few days later on top of the food plastic box on top of the kitchen cupboard.  I think I had probably put it there. Oh well, it was a mystery for a few days, and we got a new one from the op shop (surprisingly they didn't sell them at the IGA??)

But, back to our wonderful Easter Sunday dinner.  Karen and I had made roast pork for our Christmas in July last year, and Karen had bought some Inglewood pork for dinner tonight.  Once again we did it in the BBQ, and once again we somehow stuffed up the crackle....(we can both do it perfectly in an oven however)

Anyway, the pork was absolutely delicious.  So tasty and tender.  Mark declared it the best pork he had ever eaten.  And of course we had various accompaniments, a green salad with tomatoes from the garden.  roast potatoes, gravy and a trifle for dessert.  Given that we were 11 people, to cut down on washing up we used plastic plates - which detracts a bit from the photos. But who cares?

looks good doesn't it

dinner is served #1

dinner is served #2

dinner is served #3

blurry trifle

Mad loving the camera

serving the trifle

enjoying some wine #1

enjoying some wine #2

Easter Monday and it was Rheola Show Day!  We had gone to this last year and enjoyed ourselves immensely.  Mad also went with high hopes as she had scored 24 Agatha Christie books last year at the bargain price of 20c each, but hadn't bought them all.  This year she hoped to be able to buy the rest.  I told her that they probably wouldn't have them anymore.  But I was wrong!  She bought another large stack of them and was in crime genre bliss

photo from the internet

Once again there were the sheep dog trials, 

sheep dog trials #1 

sheep dog trials #2 

Photo from the internet #1

Photo from the internet #2

Photo from the internet #3

Photo from the internet #4

Photo from the internet #5

Photo from the internet #6

The vintage tractor pulls (Justin was particularly taken by the Oliver tractor  (in fact had a t-shirt made up with it )

tractor pull in action

sizing up the competition

tricky looking back wheels

driving above tractor

line 'em up

Justin's favourite

 We watched some skeet shooting

skeet shooting #1

skeet shooting #2

And marvelled at the weird and wonderful mystery vintage steam machines

mystery vintage steam engine #1

mystery vintage steam engine #2

mystery vintage steam engine #3

mystery vintage steam engines #1

mystery vintage steam engines #2

Admired the equestrians

rider #1

rider #2

Likewise admired the very capable axe men.  Helen thinks I have an unhealthy obsession with these guys, but I just really like the way they swing their axes, and get through those logs in no time

Photo from the internet #1

Photo from the internet #2

Strolled over and looked at the old cars

not quite vintage cars

Wondered at how many local businesses there had been (via the old hessian sacks)

old hessian sacks #1

old hessian sacks #2

Thought about entering the Rheola Gift (not really - Fraser didn't want to run), but Michaela did.  Unfortunately my mobile was playing up at this stage, and although I took photos they weren't being saved.  So I don't have a photo of her running

Fraser in front of the track

Enjoyed the food

Xavier munching on a sausage

And ultimately entered Little Miss and Master Rheola - once again I took photos - but they didn't work.

However, I did find a photo on the internet of the little Miss Rheola competition

photo from the internet

Unfortunately, my cute niece and nephew didn't win, but there's always next year...

Alex and Mark & Karen left on Monday after the show, and Justin & kids left on Tuesday leaving me with Mum, Helen and her kids.

Our first port of call was the local op shop where we found some curtains which we thought might go on one of our many windows.  As it was, they were too short, but there were two pairs, so we decided we could add to the length and make the join a pleat and therefore a feature.

Mum being a dressmaker from years ago was assigned this task, but first we had to find a sewing machine.  Asked the ladies at the op shop, but they didn't know anyone.  So I of course asked good old Denise & Steve, and lo and behold they had an old machine which they weren't sure worked or not, but we could borrow it and try.  Well, it didn't work that well, I had to manually turn the handle? which makes the needle go up and down in order for Mum to direct the material through.

manually sewing with the sewing machine

It was quite time consuming, but hopefully a bit faster than hand sewing.  The machine ultimately packed up, and Mum had to sew the last bit by hand.  But she preferred this to taking the curtains home and sewing on her machine.

The end result was quite good, and we hung them in the downstairs green room.  Madeleine had complained of the street light shining through the window and making it hard to sleep, so this should be an improvement.  Mum is currently sleeping in that room, but she said the light didn't annoy her

the finished curtains

 I also pottered around the garden a bit more.  As per below I managed to extract those pesky star pickets and pipes which had been denuded by Karen pulling down that fence.  Gordon had suggested that I fill the holes I had dug with water, and then to just agitate the pickets.  They ultimately came out and I was very pleased. (Justin had also tried to get them out "scientifically".  He had gone to the IGA and bought a shackle and then had used that in conjunction with a heavy chain and a crow bar to try and lever out the poles.  All it did was break the shackle.  The poles were just too deep, and too entrenched within the ground.  The below photo is an after shot (remember my stupid phone was playing up with taking/keeping  photos - so I've already pulled them out and filled in the holes. As to my mobile, I think I just had too much stuff on it so deleted some apps etc that I wasn't using and it seems to be ok for now...)

extracted star pickets

Gordon brought over 12 bales of pea straw and I put some of that around the garden as mulch.  But it was more compacted than the last lot and so was a lot more time consuming to break up and distribute.  Suffice to say, I didn't finish it..

pea straw bales

We also had a visit from David who brought me some goat/sheep manure for my strawberries and chillies

my very vigorous chilli plant with lots of chillies

And he also gave me some jerusalem artichokes to eat

And then a plant complete with a few tubers - which I planted in the front garden

Jerusalem artichoke plants - photo from the internet (my photo didn't keep) 

Mum and Helen also shamed me regarding my shabby t shirt that I wear under my overalls for gardening.  I protested that it was for gardening, so it didn't matter that there were some small holes in the back.  But they would not be deterred, and marched me to the op shop to get a new t shirt.  They then demanded that I throw away the old one, but I managed to grant it a reprieve by saying that it could be used as a soft rag for polishing/dusting etc

So, how did we fill our days?  Lots of games of scrabble.  Helen and I went for a few walks.  There was of course the ongoing curtain saga. Played with the kids. Went to the pub for dinner (Mum's favourite) Read the papers, cooked, ate, and was merry (but no bike rides)

Anyway, they left on Saturday morning, and Justin and Karen came back Saturday afternoon, as well as Lana an old friend of J's from work.

You see, there was another Kingower film night.  But this was a special one, as there was also a meal of locally caught yabby ravioli in a cream sauce, followed by slow cooked lamb in a tomato, wine and herb base with baby potatoes, and finishing up with chocolate hazelnut cheesecake.  Byo drinks and seats!

There was no way I was going to miss this, and I'd mentioned it to Karen who was interested to come up. (Mark unfortunately had football)

It was a perfect evening (stupid mobile played up again as a few of my photos didn't keep, but luckily some did, and Karen also gave me some of her photos)

as Karen said a "Narnia lamp post" - prior to the meal

Unfortunately the seats that we'd brought were quite short for the table, and  made us look like we were children sitting up at the "big table"

J eating the ravioli

and me with a mouth full

There were just under 40 of us, and it was a very festive, sociable evening.  It started out warm, but I had been prepared and brought little blankets, and warm jackets.  It didn't get that cold, but I was glad of a jacket

the lamb and potatoes - delicious

The dinner in action

And the film was the old art house foody favourite Babette's Feast - which we all enjoyed.

 Karen and Lana left mid morning on Sunday, and I was determined to do one last thing, and that was to fix the puncture on the bike - which had been out of action since last year.  Now this wasn't for want of trying.  I'd bought a new inner tube, but it was the wrong size (non standard), so I had to return it and get a proper one.  This all took time.  Then I put the tube in the tyre, pumped it up, but it deflated pretty much immediately.  So that was the end of that for a while.  I figured I had done something wrong, or the tube was faulty.

I tried to fix it again some time later, and repaired the puncture, but it deflated again.

Made a third repair and was completely flummoxed.  But then I spoke to some locals who said that there were probably bindi thorns still embedded in the actual tyre, and that I should run my hand/fingers along the inside.  Well, what a revelation, there were actually 5 thorns in there.  No wonder I kept on getting new punctures!

Got rid of them with Justin's help, and finally finally fixed the tyre, pumped it up and went for a quick celebratory bike ride.  Hoorah!!

Justin putting the inner tube in the tyre

me - prior to my celebratory ride!