More gardening - Thursday 20 - Friday 21st August 2026

Up again by myself - to do more gardening/tidying up

Came up on the Thursday, and left on the Friday afternoon

There has been a lot of rain, - the cellar was flooded - so I had to jiggle the sump pump float (yet again) to get it to empty.  The plumber wasn't available unfortunately

But at least with all the rain - the weeds (including the dreaded couch grass) are easy to pull out

The daphne and hellebores are heady with scent - which was really lovely

Given that nothing had still been done about the stumps etc - I decided to tackle them myself

Hardest one first - ie the large palm near the fence 

Actually, it proved too hard for me - I was able to get under it a bit - but not enough - so left it, and tackled some easier ones

Didn't take photos of them all - but pretty much got them all out except for the palm

It was a lovely sunny day - and those orange flowers that I don't actually like that much were out in abundance - and actually looked quite nice

And given that there was still more rain (previously) - the plants are growing very well - in fact the right hand path (facing the house) is getting very overgrown

  

And there was water on the back veranda - which I swept off

One of the tulips that I'd bought from the Melbourne Garden show has come into flower

And I checked on the 2 x passionfruits that I bought last time? from the Bridgewater nursery, and one of them is still definitely alive - yay, and the other still has a greenish tinge near the base

  

My self imposed tasks were to fill the bin  (which I did), and also to prune the roses.  

I replanted quite a few of the cuttings - who knows with a bit of luck they might strike

Whilst pruning the roses - I got a bit of a fright from a hibernating? lizard

I also dug out and replanted one of the lavender bushes from one of the tear drop garden beds.  Shane or one of his guys had trimmed it back in conjunction with the wormwood bush (they are similarly coloured - but very different leaves) - anyway, they were too similar to keep together - so I replanted it out the front - hopefully it will survive

And I pulled out all of the "weed" little palm trees from under the Hoop pine

And tackled more of that bloody couch grass - as I said earlier - at least its easier while the ground is moist

 

Quick haircut Friday 31 July 2026

Hmm, I hadn't organised myself very well, I had been wanting to get a haircut for a while - But whenever I called Michelle - she was booked out for when I wanted it (granted for later in the week)

Anyway, I was getting desperate - as we had a few events coming up that i wanted to look nice for, and were also off to Norfolk Island in about a week

So, I decided to go up and back to Inglewood for the day

Left after peak hour, and my haircut was at 2pm

Had a quick look around the garden

Hmm not many of the nominated plants / stumps had been removed

 

I sent Shane some marked up photos

I also noticed that it looked like they had removed one/some from the other side of the patch - that I hadn't even asked for - as the soursop was trampled down there

Anyway, off to my haircut - where I saw a photo of  Edwina playing in the keys of Gold Bach festival in the Inglewood Town Hall - and then back to Melbourne  

 

 

  

More Keys of Gold 25 & 26 July 2026

Given that I have been enjoying Keys of Gold so much I went again - this time by myself

And I am very behind...as it is now 11 September

Anyway, I drove up on the Saturday morning (Justin let me take his car), and drove straight to Bendigo - to St Killians Church 

We were told that this is the largest weatherboard church in the Southern hemisphere

This time the concert was with various trumpets - and it was called Flourish and Flair and started at 11am

Unusually - the organ was at the back - so we were advised to sit in the middle for the best sound, and then to watch the large screen at the front

Below is the back of the church - with the  huge organ

Anyway, it was lovely and then I drove onto Inglewood

On the way I stopped at the new Coles in Maiden Gully to pick up a few supplies - but for whatever weird reason the credit card on my mobile phone wouldn't work - tried it multiple times and with different cards also - nothing !  So had to leave my proposed purchases behind  - hmm

Anyway, got to Inglewood, and the car into charge - no problems at all - unlike a few weeks ago with Shona  

Had lunch, and then into the garden

I saw that Shane had extended the watering system as requested

I weeded, trimmed etc until after 5pm

And then it was getting cold, so I had a welcome bath with supplies (wine in a plastic glass)

 And I unfortunately broke the soap dish - it was at the other end and I moved something an accidentally pushed it off the edge

 

Sunday,  and some more time in the garden, but not weeding, as I didn't want to get dirty...

I picked a whole lot of olives for salt curing

And Noi was walking by and said she'd bring me some silverbeet - which she went home and got for me 

The last concert was "Lets Go to the Opera" at 3pm at St Paul's cathedral at 3pm

I got there early - parking was easy, and I went and sat at the front

Sat next to a couple of ladies who were nice and chatty, they said they would come along to our Arts trail event 

The concert was lovely, a couple of opera singers and Thomas on the organ - and then  afterwards there was a buffet in the supper room. It was terrific, I stayed maybe half an hour, and then home to Melbourne     


  

Keys of Gold with Susan & Mark - Friday 10 - Sunday 12 July 2026

Susan & Mark were able to leave Melbourne earlier than us - so Susan kindly suggested that she would organise dinner. 

Justin and I didn't leave til after 5pm - and there was the normal Friday night traffic in the tunnel and more traffic around Green Gully Road

And then for the first time EVER, I missed the Calder Alternative turn off - I was chatting with Justin and must have been just too distracted - obviously not thinking about the turn off - until Justin said - and by that stage it was too late - I'd missed it - felt so stupid...

As it was, we didn't have to go all the way into Bendigo, so it only added another 10 minutes onto our trip

Anyway, got to Inglewood after 8pm - Susan & Mark were cosy in the dining room with the heater on - and had laid out some cheese and dips etc - delicious.  And then for mains - a chicken pie with assorted vegie sides.

Lovely - didn't feel like dessert - and we all had an early night

Saturday - decided that we would have a casual breakfast - ie each have it when we felt like it 

That meant that Justin and I could have an earlier breakfast in bed - and do puzzles/read the paper etc - and then I got up at 9am and started my lunch prep

Also realised that we didn't have any hot water - so no showers (and advised Susan and Mark). Called John L in Bridgewater and asked if he could deliver a new tank sometime today, which he did - saw him as we were leaving for the concert.

Whisked up and added the wine and treacle for the Yottolenghi chicken/date/olive dish (which I had prepped at home).  

Cut up a selection of vegies ie eggplant, potato, sweet potato, capsicum, zucchini, onion etc and put them in a another roasting tray

And then put both the chicken and the vegies in the roasting oven

Walked up to St Augustine's Church around 10.30am for the concert at 11am  

Saw David out the front again - and he came and sat with us - 2nd row - as the first row appeared to have been reserved

The concert was magical - it was Vivaldi's Four Seasons with Thomas on organ and a Violinist on a baroque violin.  Mark noticed that the violin didn't have either a chin or neck pads - and the strings were gut, so it had to be retuned between seasons 

There was even an encore - which was nice

Quickly walked back to the house afterwards - as I wanted to check on the lunch - get some more things ready.

David walked with me - and brought out his esky with the chopped up lamb pieces - legs, chops, shanks etc.  He had given it to me in thanks for the concert tickets last week. They were all already frozen and bagged up, so I just put them in the freezer   

And I also put the pear crumble in the oven 

The others including Damo and Nicole arrived soon afterwards

We had cheese, pate, red dip and biscuits at the lounge end of the dining room to start off with  - and left the cheeses out when we went to the 2nd concert - as I thought we would eat them when we returned  (which we did)

And I don't mind saying that lunch was excellent

The chicken dish was a real hit (had had it before at the Danes and loved it) 

And the roast vegies on a bed of cous cous were also delicious

I thought I had made plenty of chicken - 16 thigh cutlets for the 7 of us - but they all went

David enjoyed it so much that he ate the last piece from the serving dish - as it had all the delicious juices and olives/capers/dates etc

Damo liked the name of the one of the wines - the old School House

Finished off with my pear crumble and cream.  The crumble was one of my best, as the some of the juices had caramelised, and the crumble was nice and crunchy

Walked across to the Town Hall around 2.30pm - for the 2nd concert - Bach

This time there was a baroque cello (no spike), a harpsichord and the baroque violin again - and this time Thomas and Simone were able to be in the audience

Was another lovely concert - I very much enjoyed the cello

Then back to the house - where we did indeed have more of the cheese and biscuits

I also enticed most of the cast and organisers back to the house for a drink - and we all had a rollicking good time - with ever increasing noise levels ....

Everyone had left by just after 6pm - so we the four of us had a quiet and early night - it had been a big day

Looked outside - and it was quite foggy

And below are a few photos of the dining room before I went to bed 

Had a late communal breakfast on Sunday - bacon, eggs and bloody Marys

Quite a lazy day (for me) - Susan, and David  had done quite a few of the lunch dishes yesterday - and then Susan & Justin and Mark had done a lot of Sunday also

Susan & Mark left before lunch, and Justin and I left soon afterwards