Slack weekend 26-28 February 2021

Well, Justin went and practised/played guitar with Chris on Friday afternoon, and thought he wouldn't be back til 8pm or so.

So I had some leftovers by myself for dinner

As it was, he got back around 6.30 or so, we were able to leave for Inglewood around 7pm

Justin had some dinner once we arrived, and then bed soon after

Saturday, and I scored breakfast in bed (which is now our custom ie Justin get me breakfast in bed on a Saturday, and I get him breakfast in bed on a Sunday)

Read the Age, and then went and had my haircut with Michelle at 10am

Justin came and got his done at 10.45

Was a cool start to the day, but got a bit warmer and sunny later on

Saw a lifesize puppy statue in one of the shops  that I thought Karen might like - but on closer examination it was made in China, and probably fibreglass - so we let it go

Sandwiches at the rotunda for lunch, and then at 2pm we had our first lot of visitors - Reece, and Sarah for a site visit to see about painting a mural in the back hall/up the stair case

Showed them around, and told them what we liked.  I had also made up a bit of a list with flora and fauna of the area/our garden ie olives, grapes, pomegranates, artichokes etc, and cockatoos, magpies, wrens, yabbies, lizards etc.

We also thought it would be amusing to have some bees painted in the bee room

We like the look of Sarah's work - and think she'll do a fabulous job.  

We need to give her rough measurements of the area, and she'll do some mockups to make sure we're all on the same page.  But it realistically won't happen for months.- as we need to get the scaffolding up, strip the wallpaper, fix the plaster, and then paint it to create a  primed surface.

I guess they stayed for an hour or so, and it wasn't worth putting on my overalls and working, so I went and set up the hammock and read my e book in there

Justin came out around 5, and gave me a lovely gin and tonic

And then dinner in the rotunda

Sunday, and another lazy sort of day, and once again no overalls....

Breakfast in bed for Justin, and then late morning Shane the landscaper came over - and we discussed all sorts of things, ie clearing the site, putting in grass, and my long awaited rose garden, fixing up the sprinkling system etc.  Sounds good

I also wanted to put up curtains in the little yellow room.  Justin didn't like 2 of the rods I'd suggested (granted one was a bit long), and then the curtains that I'd picked up at an Ocean Grove op shop were just a little bit too short (so back to an Op shop for them).  I had some others though which are lovely (but had thought that I'd put them in the Garden Room (as I have two pairs)

But anyway, we needed some brackets to hold the rod, and we didn't have them - so - that was that no curtains for that room (yet) 

We also discussed our proposed new bathroom, and thought that we might possibly have an attractive lean too - accessed via the scullery window being made into a door. But not so sure about that...

 

Justin was also suggesting splitting the current bathroom in half, and accessing one half through the scullery where the dishwasher is, and then the other half from our room, and blocking off the hallway entrance.  But then our half wouldn't have any natural light...so not thrilled with that idea either   

So, still percolating through ideas

I did however take a photo of the front hedge and bin area that I tidied up the previous weekend - pretty pleased with that

 

 

  

 

p 

yhe g  

5 day lockdown 12-18 February 2021

Whew, another Victorian Covid lockdown for 5 days because of an outbreak at the Holiday Inn at Melbourne Airport

Once again 5km radius from home, out for only 4 reasons - food/essential shopping, exercise, work/study, and compassionate care

But this time there was no ring of steel between Metro Melbourne and regional Victoria

We had already planned to go to Inglewood for the weekend, but then Justin was a bit snowed under, and decided that he couldn't go, so I had already planned to leave on Friday before the lockdown was announced.

I arrived on Friday afternoon, and didn't leave the house/garden for 5 days....

Brought plenty of supplies with me - so I didn't need to

As always I did a tour of the garden when I first arrived

Was pleasantly surprised to see that the kiwi fruit plants had regenerated (after having been fried to a crisp last time we were there)

I was also surprised to see that the grass was green (where we had grass).  Normally it's dessicated in Summer.  And Gordon had just cut it, so it actually looked pretty good

Had brought a sushi bento box from Melbourne for dinner.  Had it on the back veranda with a cheeky glass of rose

And was very surprised to see a huge green stick insect on the opposite chair

Given that the days pretty much merged into one - I weeded, tidied up around the garden, tidied up/cleaned part of the house etc

I had once again brought some cuttings/excess plants from Melbourne to plant

The pebble paths were full of weeds/calendula/euphorbia seedlings - so I cleaned them up

There was a leak at the kiwi fruit watering system - so I tried to fix that. Changed the barb, but it still leaked, so had to call in a professional  - hopefully it will be fixed by the time we go back

The apples from Helen's tree are ripe - so I had one - pretty nice (but small)

I also managed to harvest a few ripe almonds - that the cockies hadn't destroyed

However, the yellow cling stone peaches are ruined - bloody fruit fly.  It's apparently struck the whole of Inglewood, mainly the stone fruit.  Basically you need to gather up all of the fruit, put in a secure plastic bag and leave in the sun for at least 5 days to kill them - which is what I did 

It was so disappointing - I was looking forward to those peaches

I also wanted to organise some kiwi fruit mulching, but wanted to get rid of the pebbles that had been mixed in with the soil there.  The pebbles had been in a pile (left over from the path pebbles) - but what with the trellis fence being made, and the disruption of the underpinning digging etc - the pebbles had been spread out all over the place

So, I got my old trust colander and sieved out the pebbles from the soil.  Pretty boring work, but....

I had borrowed some audio books from the library - and listened to them while I did this and other work around the garden.  

The first book I listed to was Where the Crawdads sing - which was mesmerising.  From memory it was about 11 or 12 hours, and I listened to it in a day and a half 

My second book was Harper Lee's Go set a Watchman - read by Reece Witherspoon

This was  written before To Kill a Mockingbird - although set after it chronologically.  It was never supposed to be released, in fact, it was a sort of draft for to Kill a Mockingbird

To be honest, I found myself drifting off - as it wasn't anywhere near as engaging as the Crawdads book, but that said I'm glad that I "read" it, and there were some great parts to it 

 I also trimmed the front hedge and tidied up around the front.  Below is the before shot.  I thought I had done an after photo too, but obviously not 

But, I do have an after shot of the kiwi fruit area with mulch - except around the leak area

Also contacted Chris to see if his cabinet maker mate might be interested in making up some more cupboard doors for the scullery.  Justin has already made 3, but we need more

I would also like some of them to have glass inserts, and would also like some further cupboards on the other side (above the dishwasher/washing machine)

And speaking of the dishwasher - looks like we can get a new one at 30% of retail - yay. Because  this  one is part of a recall batch

And this good news is offset by some not good news.....looks like we might need to do the underpinning on the kitchen side of the house also.  As I had contacted the original engineer's company who had said that the cracking on that side was superficial, and could be left alone.  However I was a bit concerned as the crack has gone through into the kitchen.  and we're planning on a new kitchen - would hate for that to be compromised because we hadn't fixed up the house properly.... 

On the Wednesday Dan Andrews announced that the lock down would end at midnight, and that we would be free to move around again after that - but still wear masks

I went and had a  coffee with Terry on Thursday morning, and he gave me some tomatoes and plums etc - yum - and not effected by fruit fly 

  

 

Vahland and Nectarines Fri 29 Jan - Sunday 31 Jan 2021

Haven't been to Inglewood for a little while....it's Summer, so I've been going to the beach a bit

Anyway, it was decidedly unsummery weather on Friday - basically raining all day

Justin and I drove up in the afternoon and it rained pretty much all the way there

Had a quick inspection of the garden, only a few weeds had poked through the mulch, but - the kiwi plants leaves were all brown and dry - looked somewhat dead

I trimmed off the leaves, and luckily the stems are still green

Got Justin to investigate - and seems as though the watering system tap was turned off - grrr

Given that the stems were still green, I crossed my fingers and also snipped off a few and planted them (where other kiwi plants had actually died)

Anyway, had a nice leftover dinner with Justin  - and a quiet night

Saturday, and a leisurely start, as we were by ourselves.  Justin brought me breakfast in bed, and then joined me also.

Did the crosswords and sudoku, read The Age - very pleasant

Given that it was such a dull and miserable day yesterday, it was surprising that today was so lovely and sunny and blue - but not too hot - just nice

Got up eventually, and put on my overalls - and got rid of those weeds coming through the mulch

Also transplanted some 4 o clock plants - which had self seeded in the path

This is what they look like when in flower -photo from the internet.

And they're called 4 o clock plants because of the way they bloom.  The flowers open in the late afternoon, typically around 4pm or so, and then remain open til the next morning.  Then they wilt, and won't reopen 

Some of the cuttings that Clare gave me at New Year have also survived - yay

And the naked ladies were also in bloom

Given my lack of success with tomatoes this season (they all fried), I was surprised to find a self seeded tomato plant near the grape vines.  I carefully moved it to the vegie bed - and also got Justin to make sure that the water timer was on.  With luck this one will survive (although it might be a bit late in the season)

And the grape vines were looking very good, had grown quite a bit (must love being mulched, and also the rain), and all of the citrus trees are looking happy.

The orange tree that Cheryl and Andrew had given us years ago already has about 6 little green oranges on it, and most of the other ones have blossoms

Had a visit from a Bendigo author who is writing a book on William Vahland - a famous 19th century Bendigo architect.  Showed him around, and he was very nice.  Told us that the veranda columns are concrete with tin wrapped around them 

After this I went back out into the garden and pulled the tall weeds out of the "lawn".  Having had so much rain in the last 24 hours or so - the ground was nice and wet  - and the weeds were relatively easy to pull out by the roots

Made piles of these all around the garden - had planned to pick them up and put them in the trailer, but didn't get around to it 

 I made a nice dinner for the 2 of us tonight - eye fillet, caramelised onions, cream mushroom sauce, salad. Yum     

Sunday, and I made Justin breakfast in bed (and then I joined him). Had bought 2 dozen eggs from David yesterday - so did some scrambled eggs on toast

After breakfast I persuaded Justin to measure up the kitchen and bathroom for me - with the new laser measurer that I'd bought in Bunnings a while back

Worked pretty well 

Terry dropped in while we were doing it - and we had a cup of coffee and a chat.  He came to tell us about the upcoming Music night in March, and to also see if I'd like any nectarines.  And of course I would, so I said I'd drop by with a bucket after lunch

Terry's nectarine trees were incredibly laden, I filled about 1/2 a bucket - and could have taken 10 times that amount without making much of a dent

Once I got back to our place, I also pickled some of my yellow peaches from my so called nectarine tree (these were the first ones to get ripe).   

Left for Melbourne late afternoon, and Madeleine, Hughie and Fraser made us a delicious roast chicken dinner - which we ate out the back - lovely!

Mulch, lost pets, painting, kayaking and New Year Dec 27 - Jan 3 2021

We hosted Christmas this year, so had a slow day on Boxing Day, tidying up, taking down the gazebo etc 

And because of this we had decided to go back to Inglewood on the 27th, and left after lunch

Was incredibly windy, on the drive to Inglewood, and also very windy once we got there

There was a container of large luscious looking apricots and one zucchini - a gift from Terry. (He'd given me a zucchini from his garden a few weeks ago - but I forgot to take it )

I had also asked Terry to come around for dinner tonight - Christmas leftovers.  Justin was a little aghast - can't give Terry leftovers.....but they were good Christmas leftovers, and Terry had missed out on Christmas dinner as he had been self isolating on Christmas Day.  He'd developed cold like symptoms on Christmas Eve, so went to be tested in Bendigo.

And as it was, all good, false alarm, but better safe than sorry 

Anyway, he came over around 6pm, and we had G&Ts in the rotunda - where it was still very windy.  Alex had also joined us by this stage

The sky was also darkening, and becoming quite gloomy

And then the power went out.....and Justin had an alert from the power company saying that it would be back on by 11.30pm

So, I went inside to find and set up candles.  A lot of the candles were in the sideboard in the dining room.  However this was inaccessible as the doors were hard against the bookshelf.

Luckily, I had another stash in the kitchen - mainly tea candles, but they did the trick

I set out the food on the kitchen table - turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, ham, green salad, and a cucumber, sugar snap pea, fetta and avocado salad

It was actually darker inside than out - but the candles made it cosy, and it was still warm

I went upstairs with Alex to look at the sunset - which was lovely

The power eventually came back on around 10, and  a good night was had by all.

Monday, and the power went off again in the morning, as it was still very windy

There was also a lot of palm carnage on the Kingower side of the garden.  At least 15 fronds had been ripped off by the wind and fallen into our garden

I wore my Christmas present from the kids while I moved the fronds and did other other jobs.  Those head phones are terrific, working very well

 Alex fixed up a wonky weatherboard on the shed

Justin had some work to do - so set up in the rotunda

And then after lunch did some filling on the front door

I trimmed and weeded the right hand front beds

Before shot

After shot

During dinner last night Justin had cheekily invited us to go to dinner at Terry's.

And to Terry's credit, he rang and invited us the next morning.  Justin was a little embarrassed at having been so forward

Was a bit tired, so had a luxurious afternoon nap 

Got to Terry's around 6pm, and had champagne and an antipasto platter in the garden with his sister Carolyn and her partner Sean, and David & Arleen.  Was very pleasant, although a bit bright in the early evening sun.

The cockatoos were very loud and flying in large circles.  Sean mentioned the old Hitchcock movie the Birds, and it was a little bit like that

Went inside for dinner - lamb with vegies, and then a creme caramel for dessert. Very nice

Alex must have also snuck out and taken a photo of the sunset

Alex drove us home - and we saw a kangaroo sitting by the side of the road - luckily just stayed there, didn't dart out

Tuesday, and it was still very windy, Justin and Alex went into Bendigo to get some essential electronic supplies (after doing much research)

And Justin started painting the rotunda

 

I cut down some rather spiky palms around the Kingower side of the house

 And was also caught deep in thought looking at the mulberry tree

And Alex tidied up the shed

There was also a stray? cat roaming about our back garden at times. seemed a bit skittish.  I saw it under the mulberry tree I thought relaxing in the shade, and pointed it out to Alex

Alex, being much more of a cat person than me - saw that it was hurt/sick, rang a Bendigo vet, and bundled it into a box, and took it into Bendigo.  He'd thought it might have been bitten by a snake

 Turns out it had spinal injuries, and unfortunately had to be put down.  

Nin and Clare arrived while Alex was in Bendigo, and Mark also arrived later

I was busy getting the weeds out around the orchard trees, and also watering them, while Mark got the wheel barrow and put heaps of mulch around them.  I then watered the mulch in again

Nin and Clare brought their kayak, and we thought we could go to Bridgewater - with Clare and I kayaking, and the boys having a cleansing ale or wine in the Bridgewater Hotel beer garden.  No such luck - they were booked out - but Nin, Clare and I went to Bridgewater anyway.

Clare and I paddled around and had a lovely time - while  Nin waited on shore (he also had a quick swim in the river)

Clare and I were a little miffed that the Bridgewater waterski and slalom club seemed to own the river on the left side of the bridge (facing towards Inglewood).  We did creep along the banks there, but another kayaker told us that we shouldn't really be there, and when we took the kayak back in (on the opposite bank to the Hotel) saw a sign with the relevant rules

After our paddle, we sat a picnic table in the grassed public area and had a nice cold beer each.  And then back to Inglewood for dinner in the rotunda with the others (I was still in my kayaking gear)

And then into the kitchen later

New Years Eve, and Mark and I bought 6 bags of potting mix and mixed it up with the mulch and re- filled the vegie garden boxes - as the soil level was getting very low.  I guess it had compacted over the years

I also planted the various cuttings which Claire had brought for me (lets hope at least some of them survive)

We had a very nice lunch at the Bridgewater hotel (inside).  Claire and I got changed afterwards, and then we went with Nin to the boat ramp a few km away and had another kayaking adventure.  It was lovely.  

Also saw a large splash about 20m away, and then again. I was sure it was a large fish.  Most of the fisherpeople we saw were not having much luck.  But we did see a woman and her daughter who said they'd caught a murray cod which was too small (45cm), and so had to throw it back 

And this time, Claire and I had a swim afterwards back at the swimming hole in Bridgewater - very refreshing - with some surprising warm spots

Got back, showered, and got ready for the get together at Pauline & Jerry's at the motel

Mark drove us (and we assumed we would walk back)

Pauline had organised a number of games for us - ie guess the number of maltesers in a box, Australian Citizenship quiz, last man standing pool with secret pool ball number, and of course beer pong - which we had to consult Fraser about on the phone for the finer details of the rules

Was a lot of fun, and we met some nice new people ie Mary - Pauline's sister.  Clare was feeling a bit tired, so she slipped away earlier, but the rest of us made it to midnight, and then walked the 2km or so home

We hadn't quite finished the bottle of French champagne that Mark had bought - so we took it as a traveller

I took a while to fall asleep, so had a late start on New Years Day.  Nin and Clare went running separately, and came across a stray dog - which they brought back to our place (strange after the stray cat)

We finally reunited it with its owner - took a bit of doing

The others left before lunch, and Justin and I did a few more odd jobs outside ie Justin did more of the painting on the rotunda, and I put mulch on all of the front beds

I also picked 2 large buckets of plums - one for me, and one for CWA jam making

The plum tree still has plenty of plums on it 

And picked a lunchbox of mulberries - as there may not be any by the next time we come back 

Stained my hand as always