House-sitting in Artarmon - Dec 21 to Jan 13

House-sitting in Artarmon - Dec 21 to Jan 13

On Dec 21 we arrive at Artarmon - we are given a tour of the house and garden by Kerrie and Ross (with Travis popping his head around a door every so often and Tootsie and Layla also showing great interest) and introduced to the neighbours, particularly Peggy across the road, whose bins it is one of our dities to put out every week.  She is 92 years old and likes a chat.  One day we arrange to have morning tea with her, but she has been spirited away by her son to have her hip checked out after a recent fall.  Later she is spirited away again to recuperate for a few days in hospital and another few days up the coast, so we don't see her again.

The house - back yard, hallway and kitchen.

Duties include walking the dogs every day, although if we miss a day or so it doesn't matter. In fact, we miss two days while we are there - one when it is very hot and one when we are busy.  We walk to the local leash-free park about a kilometre away and let them run around for a while every day.  They are quite lazy, but if we run a bit ourselves they will chase us and run past us, so they do get at least a bit of exercise.

Tootsie top and Layla bottom.

Map of the walking track - we only go from the station to the reserve, top left.  This map adorns the entrance to the railway underpass.

Also, we have to mow the lawn, which turns out to be very lush and strong.  We have to empty the grass catcher 5 times even though the lawn is only pocket-sized and doesn't look too long.  Apart from that, we water pots every day and the garden if it doesn't rain for a while - we find that it always rains immediatley after we water and never for several days before.  Murphy's Law?

We have a lovely time in the kitchen - nice to be able to bake for a while!  Pat makes scones a couple of times and we invite family for meals - Greg and Lotte come, Katrina brings the twins but no toys so we drag out lots of plastic bits and pieces from the kitchen drawers and between those and meeting the dogs they keep themselves amused.

The grey butcherbird which sits in the tree out the back and sings the same three notes in endless repetition.  We hope it grows up and expands its repertoire but no such luck.

We spend Christmas Eve in Coogee with three generations of Pat's brother's family and Christmas Day in Rozelle with three generations of Fred's (Katrina's partner and father of the twins) family.  We play pakespil (Danish dice game with gifts) at the first and exchange $50 gifts in a Kris Kringle at the second.  We have a lovely time at both events, especially enjoying meeting all of Fred's family.

Another failure of the photographer!  Pat has omitted to take any photos of Christmas celebrations...

Between Christmas and New Year Pat has a mole removed and despite an infection, three weeks later the result is almost invisible.  A good advertisement for this walk-in no-appointments clinic in Chatswood which boasts a very competent general surgeon.

We also visit a very interesting exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW. It's about the life and work of Alfred Yeomans, the inventor of the keyline system of water management which we first encountered at Carisbrooke Station at the end of August when we did our dinosaur footprints tour with Charlie.  Despite the explanation given as part of the exhibition, we aren't quite sure how this relates to art; but neverthe less at least one of us (i.e. Pat) is fascinated by the exhibition.

We spend New Year watching the fireworks from Balls Head after barbecuing a boned leg of lamb on Ross's excellent barbecue with Peter and Anna.  The fireworks vantage point is quite crowded and the view is partially obstructed by a large building; nevertheless it's quite a worthwhile experience - at least for once in a lifetime.  And there are at least some photos this time!

Fireworks from Balls Head.

Pete's nephew Mitchell comes to visit for a couple of days en route from his parents place in Wonboyn to a wedding near Byron Bay and we go to a T20 cricket game with him.  Pat takes photos but they are very poor as she doesn't have the million dollar baby with her and the mobile phone isn't good at night.

Finally it's time to move on - we take the dogs for their last walk, do a final clean-up and hand the keys over to Kerrie's mother Robin before heading off for Brisbane via Newnes.  And we only forget one thing - Pete's day pack, which remains lying on a chair in the dining room until next time we land in Sydney.