Kitchen Capers, Part 3.

We are slowly getting things sorted and back to normal. Everything is working well although Di is a little afraid of the new oven, too many programs, different cooking times etc. but I'm sure she will get the hang of it. There is sooo much storage space and of course Di is thrilled with the pantry.





All the glass has been put away, and the big collection of cookery books are now housed in the island bench, behind closed doors.



I have just finished the tiling behind the cook top and sink unit. The bright red lifts the overall colour but I will never again lay such small mosaic tiles. Although they come on a backing sheet, approx. 300mm square, it is very difficult to maintain a true horizontal line.

The electricians are back later this week to relocate the light over the island bench, fit a spot light over the sink and fit a light in the pantry.

We have finally decided on a new floor. We are going to use cork again. We like the comfort of it, the warmth of it, both in texture and colour but unfortunately we are going to have to wait until just after Christmas.

Another lovely colour at this time of year is the blue of the Jacaranda trees in the garden. We have had very good rain but it has knocked a lot of the flowers of the trees but they form a lovely blue carpet under the tree.

Kitchen Capers, Part 2.

We are under way!!


The carcass for the pantry, ovens and sink unit are in place. The base for the island bench is going down under Di's watchful eye.



The island bench being fitted with drawers and doors. The bench tops are extremely heavy.



The end of the first day.




Nearly done! All the appliances are installed, oven, microwave, dishwasher, cook top and exhaust hood just leaving the refrigerator to go back in. I seemed to spend most of my time under the house sorting out the plumbing and drainage, also relocating one of the air-conditioning outlets. The relocation of this outlet gave me plenty of headaches. We decided to fit the outlet close to the end of the island bench so I drilled a hole through the floor to miss the floor joists. When I put my hand through the hole I found that I had selected a position between two of the closest set joists in the whole building. To get over this was no real problem , just time consuming. A new piece of timber was bolted to the old joist to strengthen it which allowed me to cut part of it away. The hardest part was that I was working in a very confined and muddy crawl space !

Still a few things to do, final lighting to sort and decide what sort of floor to lay, still it will give us something to do!!!

Kitchen Capers, Part 1.

Di has been wanting a new kitchen for a few years, especially a pantry, and she finally won me over! I will be doing the project management, ripping out all the old kitchen and making good, plumbing,tiling etc. The joinery work is being made locally and will be installed by the manufacturer.



Some of the units in Michael's workshop. All the new appliances were delivered here so that they could be trial fitted.



Di getting her hand in already and showing off her new wall oven with side opening door.






The last couple of photos of how it used to be. Its amazing how much stuff is in kitchen cupboards. When the cupboards were emptied most of the pots, pans etc found temporary homes in a bedroom and the dinning room.



Doors coming off and bare wall cupboards.



Some of the cupboards have been removed, and all the brickwork has been removed from around the work bench, back to just below floor level.



The existing stud wall being extended out and up to suit the size of the new units.



Cork floor coming up and the repair work to the floor getting under way.




Floor and walls patched, with some of the pre-wiring installed.



Tomorrow it all starts to go back in!!

Saturday 4th September, continued.

Following on from our disastrous, canceled Heritage trip of the 4th September.

We were rescheduled for the 13th November but in the opposite direction. The weather was perfect, sunshine with a forecast temperature of 26C. We are heading out through the Heads and then south down to Wollongong and a return trip by steam train.

We picked up Alex on the way into the city and arrived at Circular Quay just after 9.00am. A strange start to the day as when we arrived at the underground car park there were no lights on, only emergency lighting.



A walk around the quay to pick up our boat near the Opera house.





We are the little one on the right!



A beautiful morning in the city and a photographers sky.



Heading for the open sea.



There was about a 1.5m swell running and we were quite a way out to sea so no interesting photos for a while.



Wollongong Harbour.



Nice fish and chips overlooking the beach.



Our transport for the return leg of our trip.










Back at Central Station and the end of a long day for a little man.

Its that time of year again!

Christmas is upon us and its time to mix the Christmas cakes.



A lot of heavy mixing went into these two cakes. One for us, a 280mm dia, and one for the boys and their parents, 230mm dia. I'm not sure if Ben and Alex really like them or its just the icing.



Wrapped and ready for the oven.



Cooked and looking good! In the next few weeks they will be spiced up with various alcohols and then iced.



These will be the last Christmas cakes to come out of this kitchen! Yes, at long last we are having a new kitchen installed so watch this space.

A shed make over.

Its needed doing for a long time and now I have finally done it, the shed has had some TLC.



Beneath all this vegetation is the maintenance department and workshops of No1 Robert Street. The shed is generally a hive of activity but I have noticed lately that I have needed the lights on even during the day as the shed has become overgrown.



So it all had to go!! Any bushes or vines touching the shed were cut right back. The vines had got onto the roof and into the gutters so the gutters needed replacing.



With this make over, came the end of an era. If you look closely at the photo above you will notice above the windows what appears to be a vine. It is, but a painted one to camouflage the copper gas pipe leading to my pottery kiln. This work was done by Becky when still at school but sadly will now get painted over.



Before..........



and after..........



When I cleaned the doors back I found that they were lovely old cedar ones.



A job well done, even if I do say so myself.

Car Club day out.

It was unusual to have a club run on a Saturday, but 16 cars, plus a few 'tin tops', still turned up at the old toll gates at Berowra on the 23rd October. It was a nice warm day but the forecast was for thunderstorms later in the day, but we should be home by then.





Jumbo standing guard!!





The conga line starting to move off, heading up the Old Pacific Highway to Central Mangrove.



Our destination was the Vintage Motor Garage at Central Mangrove. A couple of cars turned back due to other commitments but 14 cars still lined up.

These old sheds house a wonderful collection of vintage vehicles from all over the world in various stages of restoration.


Check out the web site:- www.vintagemotorgarage.com/



Not just cars but a number of motor bikes being worked on. An old Indian.




The photos tell it all! A Speed Six Bentley undergoing a mechanical overhaul.









A beautiful Alvis.






My only claim to fame is that I have a copper headed mallet like that one in the engine bay of the Alvis. Mine has seen more hard work though. It was part of the necessary tool kit for my first car, a 1934 MG PA, for the removal of the wheel retaining wing nut.





Most of these old vehicles are being built from old photographs as obviously no drawings survive.





This is the wood machine shop. The frames are made from Australian hard woods and the smell of the timber was to die for!!



Not only vintage vehicles are worked on. Next door there was an Alfa Romeo, a Triumph TR5 and the chassis in this photo is for a Morgan V8. The engine is to the right of the chassis.



A lovely old Bentley. This is just a few of the photographed vehicles we saw but I am always reminded that only a few of us like cars!

When it was time to leave we all split up to find our own ways home. As there were big black clouds building up in the direction of Wisemans Ferry, I decided to head for home, and joined a group of 4 clubbies and an MX5. The road through Mangrove Mountain and Spencer, following the river, is a great 'clubbie' road full of twists and turns. The closer we got to Wisemans Ferry, the darker it got but I was assured by my navigator that he had spoken to the weather gods and we would stay dry. He must have spoken to the wrong god as just as we arrived at the ferry, the heavens opened!! On a ferry there is no where for an open car to go so despite a mad dash for wet weather gear, we all got saturated. It had its funny moments though..... Jeff and Marie sitting in their car trying to console themselves by repeating the mantra, its only water, its only water, its only water. Joe in his 'hairdressers car', the MX5, couldn't help but crow as he put up his hood and boasted about the radio, heater, demister etc. Once across the river we headed for the Wisemans Ferry Pub to dry out and have lunch. As is Murphys Law, the remainder of the journey got dryer the closer we got to home. Still it was a great day out!