We're back! & there's been some progress

We're back from our trip to Bingara via Nundle. There's a separate [photo heavy] post [comong] about Nundle so I'll just tell you about Bingara and my knitting & crocheting progress.

It was very warm for this time of year [over 30*C/86*F]. The sun shone every day which I thought was wonderful. I spent my time knitting, crocheting, reading [Down Under by Bill Bryson] and, of course, talking to my parents. WM and DD worked around my parents house and yard. At the end of three days, a new fascia board had replaced the old one on the front of the garage, a small area had been levelled and paved and now houses pot plants, the evaporative air-conditioning unit had been cleaned, disinfected and turned on [I told you it was warm], rampant ivy and a rogue climbing rose had been ripped out, a quarter of an acre of grass had been mowed [they usually pay someone to do it but the guy's father was going into hospital in Newcastle - a few hundred kilometres away - so he wasn't going to be around for a couple of weeks] and garden beds had been weeded. Busy, weren't they? I helped with some of it but preferred to spend my time with my parents and my knitting! Having two frozen shoulders can be a good excuse!! LOL

So, what progress has been made? The second sock was started on 1st October [my first goal for Southern Summer of Socks] and is now down to the heel turning. The baby's blanket has gone from 30% knitted to 70% knitted. I had four crocheted squares when I left home, now I have ten - or about 30% of a blanket. No photos because, in themselves, there is really not much to see.

Friday was dad's 80th birthday and we took him to the local RSL club for dinner. The dining room isn't much to look at - just a few laminated tables and plastic chairs - but the size of the meals was enormous and the food was well cooked. The calamari we had for entree was the most tender I've ever had and the grilled barramundi I had for the main course was really nice too [not overcooked and dried out like some grilled fish can be]. I was pleasantly surprised because I didn't know what to expect and my parents hadn't eaten there in over ten years so they didn't know either! If you're ever in Bingara, I can highly recommend the food at the RSL - it's not flash, not nouveau cuisine, just simple, straight-forward, honest-to-goodness food with huge servings. It's not all seafood either; DD had Hawaiian chicken schnitzel which she said was very nice.