Although there hasn't been much activity in the garden lately we have enjoyed some lovely autumn colours.
Alex built the kitset barn this April. He managed it entirely on his own except for a little help lifting and positioning the clearspan beam in the middle. It wasn’t much of a kitset though, considering quite a few pieces were missing and the engineer’s drawings were not very accurate. Kitset barns arrive as piles of wood, bolts, and brackets so everything still needs to be cut and angles need to be measured. The drawings tell you where things go but they don't tell you how to go about it. He got there in the end but I may have pushed my luck a little too far this time. He says: "no more large scale building projects". I quietly add on "for a while".
The next budget problem to solve was what to do about a floor. My dream choice was an insulated wooden floor ready to use once we have doors (stage 2). My 'compromise' floor was concrete. My realistic solution was to try crushed (or 'track') lime, evenly spread and compacted. Hopefully this will form a solid flat surface that we can cover with temporary flooring such as rugs depending on the style of party being held. We hired a truck and made two 1 hour round trips to the lime quarry. We still need to hire a compacter to finish it properly but the whole flooring job will cost a little over $300 compared to 1000s for a concrete floor.
The building was completed in time for Alex's 50th birthday party in May. (His actual birthday is mid July but we thought it might just be too cold by then) We positioned the new barn on the south side of the barnyard so we now have a nice enclosed space for barnyard parties.
The plywood waves are a left over from the yachtie themed lunch decor at our wedding (Alex is a mad sailor) The 'hors d'oeuvres' served before the BBQ were mostly yachtie/sea themed.
...as were the desserts (the crab is a pavlova)
We continued with tea parties until the last week of April. I discovered that 12 people can fit comfortably in the dining room with an extra table added to the end of the dining table. This tea was served on the side board to ensure plenty of elbow room for seated guests.
At another tea party - the first 2 photos below were taken by the lovely ladies themselves.
With the help of Mum, Lisa, and Sinead I catered a birthday party for 80 people on the last Saturday of April. The theme was Hawaii Five-0. It wasn’t at VdV however and the logistics were a bit tricky since our van ‘Bumble’ - a yellow and black Renault - was still at the mechanic. (There was a long drama series of wrong parts arriving or being sent to the wrong address) Alex had a running joke with the mechanic: who would get their missing parts and finish first, Alex and his barn or the mechanic and the van! The van was finished first, the Monday after the Hawaii party! :-(
Some of the savoury fare from the party~ pork belly with rum and banana, bacon wrapped prawns, Japanese devilled eggs, cream cheese pineapple dip, duck and mango fresh spring rolls...
...and some of the sweets ~ Piña colada cake, chocolate and mango volcano cake, lemon-lime bitters jelly, banana and lime cheesecake, chocolate coconut shells.
Since we always seem to run out of time for Christmas in summer I've decided to have a mid winter Christmas instead. We wanted to have this last year but Covid had other ideas. This time it will be held on the 27th of June. Details here...
Dad grew lots of chillies again this year so we made some sweet chilli relish. My sister Lisa also made jelly and paste from our abundant quinces.
We had the occasional fig from our little trees in the courtyard.
I planted some saffron bulbs, hopefully they will multiply over the next few years but we should have enough for a paella or bouillabaisse in the not too distance future.
Meanwhile back in the kitchen: An Easter bunny and a pineapple encore amongst the blooms are just some of the many cakes this season.
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