As David Bowie says, there are lots of ‘ch-ch-ch-ch-changes’ going on at ACC at the minute. Are you getting sick of posts about all the busy things happening? Sorry! We’ve got loads of projects that have been building up this year and we’re now 110% on the job and getting them going. Particularly our outside ones …

As previously flagged, earlier this year we were the happy recipients of a Yarra Valley Water grant, and we have a plumber who will be spending 3 days on site in the first week of December upgrading taps and toilets and making us as water efficient as possible … along with installing a water tank with pump and hose for our community garden.

The tank will sit against the back wall of the community shed. In preparation we’ve had Lily and Matilda working hard to empty and move the metal garden beds - I am sure they will be feeling fit and strong after all that shovelling! And today (Thursday) we’ll have Mark on site to start preparations to pour the slab for the tank. The pour will happen tomorrow.

Exciting times. And then there has been progress on the outdoor kitchen of course. Installation started last Friday, and Kalimna did some hard-painting-yards over the weekend (it is being finished in painted marine ply to ensure it is robust to the elements and to match in colour-wise with the mural and shed). Yesterday all the framing was completed and now we are just awaiting the stone benchtop - which has been measured up and ordered. We’ve got our fingers crossed that this will happen by the end of next week … ready for our first morning tea on the corner!

Hooray.

On Monday Jen made a special trip from Leongatha to drop off the first of our two old (but new) metal tables.

I think I may have told this story before … but anyway … 2 years ago I found the frames in hard rubbish (thanks to the kind people in Rushall Street who put the pair out) and made my teenage daughter help me carry them to my front yard (as you can imagine she was thrilled?!). After a few months of complaints from my husband about them being at our house I wrangled them onto a trailer and brought them round to ACC … where they sat in the garden here for about a year. Do you remember? I am sure out gardeners do. They were always having to move them to get to the tap.

Before Christmas last year Jen took them home. And now … they’re back … well the first one is anyway. Transformed!

I am not sure my photo does the table justice, But it is really gorgeous. Mesh and various bits of metal welded together. Old sleepers for seats. It is just lovely. Thanks Jen!

This week our neighbourhood roses post comes from Win’s garden. She hijacked the process and sent us an email with some photos of her stunning roses. I’m overlooking this breach of protocol because they really are beautiful aren’t they? Those dusky pink ones in particular are soooo spectacular.

I imagine that Win’s home not only looks wonderful but also smells heavenly with all these blooms on her table.

Thanks Win for sharing the results of all the love you put into your garden (and friends note that if you picked up a packet of silverbeet seeds from our seed library recently you can also thank Win for those).

The single bloom is “Fiona’s wish”. Named in honour of Fiona Coote and her tireless efforts to support the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute.