Starting to Get Out and About

We have been out of lock down since Monday 11 October, which has meant we can start to get out and about again.  However, prior to that, we were able to have a picnic with up to five people, as long as we didn't leave our Local Government Area.  Fortunately, our LGA is rather large, with some nice quite spots.

Our first little foray, on the Monday of the October long weekend, was to go for a ride on Olga the Old Girl with one of Mick's mates.  This is the first time I have been on a bike since August last year.  I used to have a monthly goal of going for a ride, but gave up on that ages ago.

It was a beautiful day, so we headed out the Turondale Road, which is a nice, quiet country road.

I love it when you come across a tiny country church in the middle of nowhere.

The new wind farm can be seen for miles.

Crossing the Turon River.  It is so good to see it running well.

Our mate was on an old bike too.  An AJS.  Both bikes poke along at a nice leisurely speed.

This old house is getting more and more dilapidated.  Under the weatherboards it is made of pise.  It won't be long until it falls down.

Another nice old bridge.

We ended up in the village of Sofala.  It is a famous old gold mining village, with some lovely old buildings.

Everything was closed, with not so much as a takeaway coffee available.  This pub is rather iconic.  Hopefully, it is up and trading again now.

We had our picnic lunch down by the Turon River.

It is really pretty.

Our ride home was via another quiet country road.  This section has only recently been sealed, thus creating another nice loop for motorcycling.

It was a very enjoyable day out, while still doing the right thing.  

What was particularly nice, was going for a bike ride.  Now that the weather is warming up, hopefully we will get out a bit more often.

Walkies

Now that we have daylight saving, Mick and I are trying to go for walks more often.

A couple of days ago we went for a walk up behind our place.

I think this is the only way I will ever have long, skinny legs.

As we started walking back towards home the evening light was beautiful.  So pretty.

What we did see was a freshly run over large, but fortunately very dead, brown snake.  It was a timely reminder that, now that the weather has warmed up, snakes are out and about and we need to keep our eyes open when going for a walk.

Another Walk Around the Block

A week after my first walk around the block I made use of my lunch break to take a walk around the block in a different direction.  The weather was even more pleasant than on my first walk.

On the left of this photo is the State Office Block, which was built in the 1970s.  Quite a contrast to the Uniting Church next to it.  This was formerly the Methodist Church.

On the corner is the Brooke Moore Centre.  The old building was the home and work place of Dr Brooke Moore, one of Bathurst's first doctors. This building now houses offices and a restaurant.  There is a small plaza to the rear with more businesses.

Diagonally opposite is the Cathedral of St Michael and St John, dating from the late 1850s.  This is the oldest catholic cathedral in Australia.  A major restoration has just been completed.  Works started back in 2016, with all standstone repaired or replace, brickwork repointed, extensive landscaping and a new entrance.  They have done a fabulous job and the building should now last for another one hundred and fifty  years.

Over the road is Machattie Park.  This is named after another of Bathurst's early doctors.  It has quite a Victorian feel, with rotunda, fountain, fernery and begonia house.  The trees are huge.

The centrepiece is officially "Lake Spencer", but everyone knows it as "the duck pond".  Until a few years ago there were always black swans living here, but they have now been rehomed to Mayfield Gardens, near Oberon, as it is much safer for them there.

I'm sure every kid who has grown up in Bathurst has fed the ducks here.  The other day, there was a lady feeding these half grown ducklings.  

Over the road from the park is this grand old building.  It is the "Webb Building" and was built as a rather grand department store.  It has had various incarnations over the years and up till the mid 90s housed a very old fashioned store, known as "The Paint Store".  It was hardware in one half and on the other side was homewares.  This is where you went to buy just about anything you needed for the kitchen, particularly if it was a bit obscure or old fashioned. Quite a few items in my kitchen came from there.  It currently houses a rather up market restaurant, Chinese restaurant and coffee shop.  By the way, it is for sale if you wish to purchase it.

I have now come back towards the Court House and see the work being carried out on the dome from a different angle.  There is a flash of orange, right at the top.  That is a workman wearing his high vis jumper.  Mick reckons it would be great working up there, as among other things, he is a scaffolder.

Which brings me back to Kings Parade from the opposite directions.  This is the Evans Memorial, celebrating the surveyor who planned out the first road from Sydney, across the Blue Mountains to Bathurst, thereby opening up inland Australia.

Finally, the other church in the centre of town, All Saints Cathedral.  In contrast to the other churches, this one is quite modern, other than one remaining wing from the previous building.  Due to our clay soil, the first cathedral became unsafe and was demolished.  The new cathedral was opened in 1971 and I can remember being taken in to watch the procession of dignitaries at the official opening.  The bell tower was a much later addition, only being built and opened a bit over ten years ago.  It is rather unique in Australia, as it has a full peal of bells and  group of bell ringers.  You can hear them practising each Wednesday evening.

I was rather surprised at how the blossoms changed in just one week.  All the white blossoms were finished, the cherry trees are in full leaf and flowering peach trees are now in full bloom.  

This was on Wednesday.  The sad thing is that, all things being equal, this was the week that Bathurst should have been full of visitors for the Bathurst 1000 car race and Wednesday would have been the pantec and driver parade.  Wouldn't it have been the perfect day for it.  Having said that, Sunday is forecast to be very wet, which wouldn't have been the best for the day of the big race.  Oh well, it is what it is.  They are going to attempt to hold the race at the beginning of December.  Here's hoping they can bring it off.

I hope you've enjoyed having a wander around just a small area of our beautiful historic city.  There are so many other lovely buildings I walked past as well, but we would be here for ages.  We are just so very lucky to live in such a nice part of the world.

A Walk Around the Block

Whenever we go travelling around I seem to share photos of the streetscapes of the towns we visit.

One day last week, while on my lunch break, I decided to take some photos of a few of the building as I walked around the block from my work and show some of the streetscape of Bathurst.

I started off by walking through Kings Parade.  This park features beautiful garden beds and blossom trees.  The carillon is a war memorial and last year, finally, after 70 years, had the last part of the workings installed.

The Bathurst Court House is probably the most prominent building in town with its domed tower.  There are matching wings at each side.  When I was a kid the one on the left was the Post Office and the one on the right was the PMG.  Now, the one on the left is the Historical Museum and the one on the right was the Conservatorium of Music up until earlier this year.

The building is undergoing a multi million dollar restoration, repairing the dome, roof, sandstone, the many chimneys and the clock.  The former Conservatorium of Music section will now be a part of the Court House as well.  It seems strange seeing it surrounded in scaffolding, but I am glad that there has been this investment in preserving such a significant building.

Some more of the garden plantings in Kings Parade, looking across to the Court House.  It is wonderful to see flowers in the beds again, as they were bare for a couple of years during the drought.

As I continued on my walk I passed the Presbyterian Church with its lovely spire.

This row of terrace buildings look so good, other than the one that was removed at some time in the past.

This fine old building used to be the Technical College.  My Mum taught dressmaking in this building, I learned typing here and Mick learned his trade in a building at the rear of it.  The building has been vacant for some years.  It is now owned by the local council and there has been quite a bit of debate about its future use.  Just last week, they have announced that they are opening expressions of interest from the public.  We do hope that it can be made use of in a way that complements the building, and is also of value to the community.

Here I am, back in Kings Parade, sitting under one of the spreading flowering cherry trees, eating my lunch.  The structure in front is the Boer War Memorial. 

It was the first day this spring that was nice enough to eat my lunch in the park.  My timing was ideal, as the following few days were wet and back to winter temperatures.

Finally, as I walk back to work, here is the council chambers.  It was built in the 1950s and during the 80s and 90s there was a lot of talk of wanting to tear it down, as it was an eyesore. This was at a time that everything was harping back to earlier times.

When I was a kid, the section on the left was the library, and upstairs was the art gallery.  They were moved to a separate building many years ago.   While Bathurst has a strong colonial history and many significant historical buildings, I'm glad it hasn't been demolished, as it is a fine example of the architecture of its time.  Council is running out of space in the building, so maybe one day they will move to a different site.

By then it was time to go back to work, after a nice little interlude.

Setting My Goals For October

I always look forward to a new month and thinking about what I wish to achieve in that time.  Sometimes they are quite obvious goals, whereas other months I have to have a bit of a think.  This month is one of those.  This is what I ended up deciding on.

STITCHING GOALS

1.    ONE MONTHLY GOAL

This was the hard decision.  It is quite possible to complete my Laundry Basket Mystery quilt, as I just need to add two borders, have it quilted and then add the binding.  There is one time variable, though.  What if it doesn't come back from my quilting fairy by the end of the month, as she is quite busy at the moment? I don't want to miss reaching my goal due to something outside of my control.

Therefore, I decided I should select something else for this goal.  In the end I have decided that to fill a 5kg post pack with Santa Sacks for donation will be my goal.  I already have five made, but there is lots more room in the bag.  I think I could fit another ten in.

I have quite a few Christmas fabrics and ribbons that have been in the stash for several years, so it is a good opportunity to make use of them.

2.    WOOFA CHALLENGE

This also took some thought this month.  I complete the quilt for Mum last month and I don't have any definite plan on what to work on next.  In the end I dug out a project that hadn't advanced very far and is from about 2013.

I started this baby quilt as a gift for a work colleague.  However, sadly, her little boy was still born and I just packed the project away in a tub.  When she subsequently had her second son I gave her a different quilt.

As I am now making some little quilts to donate to Ronald McDonald House, I felt it was the right time to bring out this project, finish it off and donate it.  It seems appropriate.  I should be able to get it finished this month, but if not, I will at least make some progress on it.

3.    CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE

I've completed my redwork stitcheries and now need to do something with them.  I still haven't decided what it will be.  I really need to get cracking, or Christmas will be here.

4.    MAKE A DONATION PROJECT.

All things being equal, there should be a few of these.  With a bit of luck I will have a batch of Santa Sacks sent off in the mail and in early November we hopefully will be able to deliver a collection of items to Ronald McDonald House.  That is a good incentive to be productive this month.

5.    FRIDAY NIGHT WITH FRIENDS

The first Friday of the month has been and gone and I was productive.  You can see what I achieved here.

6.    ONE PROJECT A MONTH

As always, I like to be able to report at least one finish to Kris each month.  I know I will have some this time.

7.    ZOOM  STITCHING

Fingers crossed there will be an opportunity to join in with some Zoom stitching.  It is such a wonderful time to catch up with friends and also be productive.  I have some hand stitching sitting, ready to go.

NON STITCHING GOALS

It's been fairly easy to predict what we would be doing over the last couple of months, as we weren't able to go anywhere.  This month will herald some more freedoms from 11 October, so we will hopefully be able to be out and about a bit more.

1.    READ A BOOK

 I've enjoyed sitting and reading, so should be able to read at least one book.

2.    TRY A NEW RECIPE AND REVISIT AN OLD RECIPE

I think the camp oven cooking falls into this category too.  I still want to try something new and look out an old recipe that I haven't made in years.

3.    FRIDAY FUN DAY

You know what?  I think there is a better than fair chance that this will happen.  We will give it a red hot go.

4.    HAVE A WEEKEND AWAY IN THE CARAVAN

This is still up in the air.  If possible, we will try to get the van out towards the end of the month.  We'll play it by ear.

Finally, it's my Mum's birthday this month, so we hope to see her on that day.  It still depends on the conditions set by the aged care facility as to whether she can come here to visit, or if we can just go and see her.

Friday Night With Friends and More Camp Oven Cooking

Friday was the evening, arranged by Cheryll, to stitch with all the other girls.  For a change, I was quite productive.

It was a good opportunity to make a start on some Santa Sacks to send to Jan Mac.  

I have quite a supply of Christmas fabrics and ribbons, some of which have been sitting there for a while, so this is a great way to make use of them.

Over the last little while, my Janome sewing machine has been giving me some grief with tension and being a bit noisy. it was a bit worse on Friday night, so in the end, I have packed her away until I can have her serviced.  Hopefully, that will be in mid October, when things start to open up again.  

I decided that Mum's Elna could do with a bit of a work out.  I haven't used this machine very much, as Mum and Dad gave me my little Elna Stella shortly after Mum bought this machine.  It was a bit stiff to start with, but after it warmed up, it ran like a dream.  It's good to get the old girls out occasionally and give them a run.  My Stella will be next in line.

I ended up with five Santa Sacks.  The sizes varied according to what fabric pieces I had.  My plan is to fill a prepaid 5kg post pack with as many as will fit.  I thought this may fill it, but there is still loads of room, so more to make.  Not a problem, as I still have plenty of fabric and ribbon.

We've been having a bit more of a play with the camp oven. 

I was going to make some rock cakes, so why not make them in the twelve inch camp oven?  

A trivet would be good, but the one we have is one Mick made for the ten inch oven.  I know, there is an old cake cooling rack in a drawer in the kitchen.  Let's try that.  Made to measure.  Bonus!

Now having the twelve inch oven as well is very handy, as the bigger size if much better for some things.  Best of all, the smaller one nests nicely in the larger one for storage.

Using the heat beads has been great, as we have been able to cook in the shed, out of the rain that kept blowing across.

The mix fitted perfectly in the oven.

Half an hour later they were ready to eat.

I think you could say that is another success.

Next, to try some roast lamb for dinner last night.

Rolled leg of lamb, ready to go, with rosemary and garlic. No water or oil.

One hour in, starting to brown and time to add the veges.

Done, after two hours.  The veges were cooked through, but didn't brown, so maybe add some more coals on the lid half way through.  The juices in the bottom of the pan weren't burnt on and made beautiful gravy.

The meat was melt in the mouth and the gravy was delicious.  Yet another success.  

We are really enjoying playing with the camp ovens.  A fun thing to do while we can't actually go camping.  I have a couple of other ideas of things to make in the next few weeks.  Watch this space.