And at the weekend...

So on Friday it rained! After bucketing down it was just as well I took this photo cos the bucketing didn't last.
We got 1.5mm...
This is my front yard looking down the driveway. When I bought this place you could scarcely walk around (or in!) the house as there was so much rubbish. We took about ten tip truckloads to the tip. And had a big fire that burnt for a couple of weeks as well.

Bugger - I am trying to write BESIDE the photos and instead the type is going underneath and not anywhere I want it to....
On Saturday The Sweetheart and I went up to Lake Boga to the Longest Dinner organised by our friend Trish Pollard - we stayed at their luxurious bed and breakfast ( Burrabliss ). The Governor of Victoria with Mrs Governor and their entourage had just left that morning after staying for a few days .We had a blue theme for our table - for water. So blue frocks, blue candles and glasses and tablecloths and a swimmer in his board shorts and a towel and hat, and even some wines and beer with blue labels. We got second prize (but no prize) in the Best Table Competition (cos there was no Second Best Table...). The Judges probably told everyone else they came second...
Trish and her husband Bruce have fine wool Merino sheep - 600 of them in a shed where they live being pampered and cared for, growing 11 micron wool and listening to ABC Classic FM Radio. Lovely boys those sheep, I love going to visit them.
Here we are out on the edge of the now dry lake (first time for 100 years) about to tuck into our dinner. Lake Boga was used during WW2 as Australia's major flying boat base and my Uncle Ernie says the lake bed is now full of unexploded ordinance from when damaged planes limped back and had to jettison all unnecessary cargo so they wouldn't sink when they landed. There wasa walk across the lake on Saturday, Uncle Ernie was hoping nobody found any landmines, grenades etc. Nobody did...

And this is my cousin Judy with the gorgeous quilt her best girl friend made her - cos she got sick of waiting for me to make her one...
And Judy with her parents my Uncle Ernie, Auntie Pat and a girlfriend Casey.

Ernie is Mum's only brother - he will be 87 next week, and the smartest funniest bloke. There isn't much he doesn't know about electronics, and engines and telling a good yarn. I love him heaps! And Auntie Pat was always "the glamorous auntie" - always had groovy clothes and lipstick. And she smoked...

Below (or maybe above, left or right - I have no idea what this is going to look like when it is published... sigh) is my cousin Judy's 'boy' Danny and the hottie Cortina he has spent most of his life and all of his money restoring. it is immaculate! Next week (Easter) he is taking it to Mildura for drag racing. The red one is The Sweetheart's Little Red Car.

Today I made some "Pantry Cakes" - with whatever was left in the pantry (technically "pantry and fridge cake"). Cream cheese, cherries, chocolate and the usual stuff (butter, eggs, flour and milk). They are to take to Canberra for the National Folk Festival to keep us nourished whilst working midnight to dawn shifts as I do up there. (These are before they went in to the oven...)

And here is my stove, I fired it up so hot that I had to cook the cakes in the left oven because the right one got far too hot. The kettle boiled dry before I realised it too, but it is solid cast iron so it didnt worry it. This is the wonderful Rayburn stove my sister Noela gave me as a house warming present when I bought this home. If you look closely you can see the needle on the right hand dial is around to 450*. Lovely lovely stove!
I need wood for winter, I shall have to sell a quilt I think for $1,000 to keep me warm and washed until spring...