Holiday Tuesday

We decided that we would go out for lunch again on Tuesday. We had been to Webster's on Monday and had a lovely lunch. We didn't want to go there again, and we thought we ought to try somewhere different to Piper's. We didn't want to go too far afield for I was taking Stella home after lunch. Then I remembered the existence of a small coffee shop in Mount Clear, opposite the IGA.  I had never eaten in there but the menu looked alright and the only time I had looked inside it seemed friendly and vibrant.

So we gave it a go.  The staff were friendly. The cafe is charming. The menu is indeed alright. And the food was more than acceptable. I was also quite impressed that when I asked for a plate of chips with fried egg and bacon for Jim it was produced with friendliness and grace despite it not being on the menu (although a plate of chips was, and they do an all day breakfast so it wasn't too much of a push). We will go there again. And next time we'll take Stella to our local cafe. They spent the recent lockdown period installing disabled access from the car park so she will be able to get in.

Then I took Stella home and Jim moved up to Hill House for the night.

After a weekend of beautiful sunrises, this was what had greeted us at the dawn of Australia Day:

Almost autumnal!

I devoted myself to clearing out Stella's fridges and the freezer in the garage while I was at her place.  The drinks fridge in the garage hasn't worked properly for years. The freezer was throughly iced up, and had very little food left in it.  The drinks fridge had defrosted by the time I left yesterday. The freezer hadn't, not properly. There was still quite a lot of ice in it.  I stuffed it with towels and left it to it.  It will probably leak onto the floor, but the garage has a concrete floor so shouldn't be too problematic to clear up.

Then I turned my attention to the fridge in the kitchen. It is always full of food, but a lot of the stuff at the back gets forgotten and becomes inedible.  I emptied it, cleaned it and restocked it, plus I added plates of sausages, hard boiled eggs and smoked salmon and a big bowl of salad which Stella can graze on.

I've emptied the fridge

Stella is supervising

And here it is, all organised.
And Stella can see and reach
her provisions

I will consider the freezer in the kitchen the next time I am down. There are only so many white goods you can deal with in 24 hours.

We celebrated the tidying of the fridge with an egg and bacon sandwich at Fine Foods in Mount Martha and then we went and had a look at the beach. Stella had her take away egg and bacon sandwiches at this little car park during the Melbourne Lock Down when the cafes and restaurants could only do take away and people were restricted to a 5km radius from their houses.  Stella was very fortunate that her beach and local shopping centre are easily inside the 5km limit.

No restrictions at the moment.  We can come and go at will.

And then I went home. I rescued Jim from Hill House and we pottered on down to our place where Brandy and Whiskey were pleased to see us.  They hadn't starved.  Their biscuit bowls were still almost full!