Berry in July

Last weekend I caught the train down to Berry to stay the weekend with Roger (Rauri) and Janice.

Janice and I went for a flying visit to a Camellia garden that was open. I really liked the pink-on-pink theme of Janice with the fallen flowers.

Then there was emergency fencing.

It all looks as though we worked hard (which we did!) Sometimes there was a little head-to-head discussion.

But in the end I had some long sleeps, warm company and wide open spaces in which I could breathe.

Ruby kept us busy along with eBay sales and online finance discussions. There was even time to shed tears over our lost friend Surrey. Thanks Janice and Rauri.

Tuesdays with Kim

For some months now Kim has come to help me with my grand sort each Tuesday morning.

It is amazing the work you can get through when you share the job and chat as you go. Thanks a million Kim!

Here are some photos of the work Geoff and I did in the garage the weekend before last. If you see anything you want in either carport then please just let me know. We've made a huge mess again.

These lamp stands are up for grabs but have no lamp shades.

Letters to Juliet

Last night Elaine and I enjoyed a great dinner and chick flick - Letters to Juliet - at the Sutherland Entertainment Centre. It was great to catch up after Elaine's recent visit to her family in NZ and to enjoy dinner and a movie together. Thanks Elaine.

NB: Don't watch the trailer on the film website, save it till you see the movie.

Friends to Visit

Today I enjoyed having Karen & Alastair and Helen & Bob to lunch. Great company reminiscing about over 35 years of friendship and activities like hording and collecting, wine bottling, wine tasting trips to Mudgee and games of croquet on the back lawn.

Of course, no-one comes to my house without leaving with a car load so today I was lucky enough to find homes for more grog, bromeliads, Cliveas, and jam.

Thanks for your company, what a great afternoon together. We even lit a waterlily candle in Surrey's memory.

The Garage - Episode 1

Geoff and I spent most of yesterday starting on the Garage clean up. Wow! what a lot to go through. I think we'll have enough for a skip soon and then I would like to hire a large commercial vacuum cleaner and someone to push it to really clean it out. We have gone through all the things from Surrey's old car, his camping and fieldwork gear and the things that had just been dumped at the entrance. The next job is to take down some things to Underhill, give away 2 spare fridges, and get Rod to sort some things that look as though they belong to cars.

We now have piles of metal recycling, bags ready for the rubbish bin or skip, whichever comes first, and Surrey's two bikes. I know there are more bikes in another garden shed too. We havn't even started on the tools yet.

Maybe I'll be able to store my gardening tools in the garage when all this is finished? I can't put the car in there because I can't fit it up the side drive so this is going to be spare space for pottering and storing. Wow! I'll be a real Australian girl with my own 'shed'.

Underhill in July

Yesterday Pernilla and I drove down to the block to check it out and do some of the winter maintenance jobs. Here is Pernilla pulling weeds for the chooks.

The weather was fine and relatively warm for this time of year. The dams are still only half full. There just seems to be very little run-off when the rain comes. When we were weeding the pots the soil underneath the surface was quite dry.

We also leveled the beehive so that it no longer has it's distinctive lean. No burning off this time because we didn't want to stay down too long but we were able to spread a few bags of compost from home. We spent a bit of time pruning the berries and broken fruit trees in the yards and stockpiling the prunings ready to burn off next time.

I had heated some water and soup at home and taken it in thermoses so it was quite a quick task to put the thermos water into the chuffer to boil it and then heat the warm soup in a saucepan. The stove stayed hot enough for long enough to give us a warm and comforting lunch.

Grown Ups

Last night I needed to kill a few hours before choir practice and was at Miranda Fair anyway so I decided to catch a movie. The only one that was not 3D or M15+ was Grown Ups and I must say it was a good laugh. Worth seeing if you've got a few hours to kill. As you probably know I hate shopping and the shops and food hall were all closing up anyway.

Da Vinci Secrets - Anatomy to Robots

Yesterday Pernilla and I went to the Da Vinci exhibition at the Sydney Town Hall. It is well worth a visit but will not be in town much longer.

There are examples of his art works, models of his many anatomical drawings that look very life like, and interactive working models of many of his mechanical devices based on human and animal movement. 

The Big Sort

After Tuesday's efforts with my helper Kim we have now done major sorts in all downstairs rooms except the dining room which is an absolute mess. That is where we dump everything not needed in each room as we find it. The front hall has now gone from this:

To this:

A lick of paint and removal of stuff from corners, some reframed paintings and, hey presto! It is so much brighter and you can actually see when you walk into the house. When eventually I get Council permission for the new clear roof on the front porch outside there will be even more light.

I am slowly finding good homes for a lot of Surrey's treasures like his darkroom equipment, film cameras and botany books which is helping to make a little more space.

Underhill in June

Last weekend Liz G and I drove down to Underhill together and arrived at about 10 am to find Terry and Ellie enjoying their cuppa at the gate while they waited for us. Greg and Ev arrived by about 11:30 am. It was a fine, still day, a pleasant change after a week of heavy rain in Sydney. We all worked really hard on raking and burning off while Terry set to work chainsawing stumps and logs to tidy the area opposite the loos and at our end of the drive.

Lots of time was also spent stacking the cut firewood.

Before dark Terry helped me attach the 12V sockets to an extension cord and, joy oh joy, the lights in the shed and dining area work again, having stopped working when we sold Surrey's old car with the extra battery for our solar lighting. The power now comes from the battery in the caravan which is trickle charged by a small solar panel that we had set up for Surrey's CPAP machine a few years ago.

After an early dinner Terry and Ellie left for home and because it was dark and we were all so tired we had a very early night (8:30 pm!)

Up by about 6:30 am to another beautiful, still, fine day. Once the fires were alight and coffee and tea and breakfast made Greg was willing to try lifting the fallen bee hive while it was still quite cold. Wow! It worked! Some of the bees that later appeared were a little confused but plenty were getting back into the hive after returning from their foraging.

Greg and I spent some time clearing the dead blackberry stems from the dog yard and burning them off.

The whole clearing is now looking much tidier.

We then investigated the runoff line to the top dam and Greg cleared a 'creek line' so that the runoff from the block above us could reach the dam better. We'll see if it works any better next time if the dam fills a little better.

We all left after an early lunch, Greg taking home a very sick Ev who had the flu. Liz and I had an easy drive home but as soon as we pulled into the house in Sydney the rain started again!

Thank you Terry and Ellie, Greg and Ev, an Liz for all your work and for helping to renew my passion for our Underhill.