A visit from the past

A few weeks ago we were lucky to have a visit from a man who lived here at Candlestick Farm from 1958 to 1976. He lived here with his wife and raised 4 children. He still lives locally and we spent a very enjoyable few hours with him wandering around the property, hearing his stories and picking his brain on a few things! His wife recently passed away which was sad and his four children live across the globe and Australia. l think he enjoyed his visit back. We certainly enjoyed having him here! He brought with him a few old photos which was just fabulous. l took copies of them on my camera and they haven't transferred too badly! This is him with two of his kiddies standing in front of our Raspberry bush He thought the bush was there all those years ago and on closer inspection of the trunk it looks like it might have been. It's very old and has been cut right down to ground level ,so what we have today is its re shoot!

The exact same spot today!

One of his little girls on the lawn in front of the Walnut Tree and the old garage which no longer stands.

The Tree is a lot bigger now! Amazingly the garage we made last Winter is in the exact same spot. When the old wooden structure got old, Barry knocked it down and built a car stand which is what Geoff and l park our car in now. We were quite chuffed with ourselves when we changed that part of the garden to accommodate a car never realising that is always WAS  a garage from all those years ago!

This one l love. He still owns that same tractor today! 

Same view

The Apple Shed. Barry built this himself. And here is an amazing photo when it was in its heyday. He was pleased to see part of his old Fruit Grading machine is still in the shed. Now the legs of the workbench! 

 The same corner

This one is my favourite.  The huge pine in the background is now just an old grey stump. The shed as well is now bumpy foundations in Maxie's yard. The Apple Shed wasn't even there yet!

The only visible thing that remains today is the telegraph pole.

The huge tree behind Barry is gone as well and replaced with our Colorbond Shed.

A much smaller tree than today!!

His four children

The same hill line now. Lots more trees then in those days!

The house....how amazing to see this one!  

Hard to even see it today!!! The pole has moved slightly too!

And the last one is our Hay Paddock!! This shot was taken directly at the front of the house looking down towards the River.  

No trees left today. Even the Plum Tree left in there is not from this era. The whole orchard was pulled out in the 70's so this tree must be from the next plantings after Barry left

My job is to now track down the next owners who planted the it! !!! 

 

A Winter Fire

A warmish end of Winter's night so we decided to have a fire outside.

It was lovely sitting outside under the stars with the house looking so cosy and inviting up the path! Looking forward to being out here more!

Nearly Spring!

A few days to go and the amazing weather we have been having has triggered a bloom of early colour in the garden.

And bulbs of course.

Lots of beautiful bulbs..........

Eat My Hat!

Clips has 'a bit of a thing' about hats. Any hat! It doesn't matter if it's a baseball cap on top of Geoff's head or a straw hat ON my head or as in the case of this one.....sitting on the fence rail!

If it's designed to sit on someone's head.....................

He wants it!!!!

And by hook or by crook...............

He will get it!!

And wreck it!

This is the second hat of mine he has ruined. l would stop him if it wasn't so humorous to watch!!!!

New Phone!

Today l found (in our local Op Shop of course!!) this fabulous phone!!!! Isn't it great!!! It might as well have been MADE for Candlestick Farm and the second l walked in and saw it looking so.....................garish and glitzy on the shelf l knew it had to be mine!!!

Tack Room

Finished the tack room! Love it! Everything has a hook and a place. Walls are stained and floor painted.

It even has curtains to keep the Summer sun out!

We couldn't designate the WHOLE space to just harness so the end wall is paint, automotive stuff and other odds and ends

Wonder how long it will stay this tidy??? 

A few pieces to fill up the walls.

My old Harrods Grooming bag!!

And flowers..................

An old stained glass window that fills up the hole where the glass is broken!

And a few weird things............just because!!

Old broken hames hanging off the ceiling...............

And  a candle holder.....got to have candlesticks...........!!

l then got overly excited and extended the reno to outside the tack room! The shelving with the paint on it used to be out here, so now we were left with a blank wall. A few nails, some sheets of MDF and some lovely timber panels that Geoff rescued  from the bin at work (good thing Geoff is a hoarder!!)  and we made a nice little corner for our fire gear and excess gumboots!

We are getting there!!!

Hot Dog!

Last night wasn't particularly cold but Lilli for some reason wanted to sit right up under the fire. l put her bed there for a while and she snuggled in underneath the doors. Her head got almost too hot to touch!!!! Geoff put the thermometer right next to her paws to see how hot it actually was there. It got up to 35c (95F) before she finally moved away!!