Lovely photo of Wes taken at the Ballarat Races
Dear Friends, what a magic week it has been in Daylesford. The weather has been perfect and we have made some use of it, probably not enough. Anzac Day was very special – Wes and Judi went to the Dawn Service and were joined by John Smith. Then Wes and I went to Eganstown for the 9am service, picking up John on the way. It is a very special service there and a new plaque was unveiled to commemorate the 50 or so from Eganstown Primary School, who went to war. 15 of them were killed and their descendents remember them all with pride. Wes laid a wreath on behalf of Catherine King, our local Parliamentarian. Winsome Menadue had her usual trailer of thermoses of hot tea and coffee, with ice-cream containers full of Anzac biscuits, all homemade – some with golden syrup and others with treacle.
After that Wes dropped me home to get ready for the footy and I walked back into town to join him at the Cenotaph, where the Brass Band and the Pipe Band accompanied the marchers. Wes laid a wreath there on behalf of Daylesford Rotary Club and Dr Jon Barrell, resplendent in suit and hat, gave a lovely address, reminding us that all over the world, Australians were remembering Anzac Day. There was a healthy crowd of locals and visitors in attendance. Afterwards he caught up with John, Jan and Barbara and they all had lunch at Gracenotes Café, as headquarters (Café 3460) was closed.
I walked back to where Michael was picking me up and he drove us to Ballan Station in time to catch the 11.48am train to Southern Cross Station. The train was nearly full and we weren’t able to sit together until someone got off at Melton and we quickly changed seats. When we arrived in town, we had to catch a train to Flinders Street, then another train to Jolimont, which was most frustrating. It took nearly as long to do that as it had taken to travel to Melbourne. By the time we arrived at our good seats in the ground, the pre-match entertainment had started.
We both thought the Anzac Service was very well done and quite moving, especially the drummer and the bugler. The game was fantastic, a very high standard, exciting and full of highlights. The two Essendon supporters who have emailed me were very pleased with their team’s endeavour and so they should be. They are a young side and need to get used to each other and to the different game plan under James Hird.
On Tuesday morning we played golf with John & Jan Smith – our first game in 7 weeks, so we were a bit rusty. I decided not to score, which was a sensible move and took much of the pressure off me. Wes got into the swing more quickly than I did, Jan hit some good shots and John played very well as usual. We had toasted sandwiches and cuppas at the canteen, the first time Wes and I have been in the Clubhouse. John has joined the competitions, so he knows the ropes.
In the afternoon, while Wes worked on three of his main projects I met Judi for a lovely 3 hours of wandering around town. We started at the Convent Gallery, looked at the latest exhibitions, lit candles, and when the café was clear of the lunch crowd, enjoyed interesting teas and biscuits. Tina, the owner, was there and thrilled to see us both, as was my favourite waitress, Tennille, who dropped everything to say hello and catch up. We had a good chat, then walked back into town, via Howe Street, looked at teapots in Magic Pudding, chatted to Victor Szwed, whose home is on the market, and ended up in the newest café in town – Daylesford House. We had some more interesting teas, Judi had a White Russian biscuit and we made ourselves known to the owners.
Wes went off to his meeting at Mooltan and I heated up some leftover soup and watched a replay of the footy, followed by a Doc Martin while I did the ironing. The meeting went well, and there are plenty of people keen to get involved in the projects of 1 / Street Beautification; 2 / Heritage Badging of Buildings and 3/ Oral Histories.
On Wednesday, we parted company – him to spend the morning in the garden, and me to spend the morning at Café 3460 playing Mah Jong with Carol, Dot and Valerie. Valerie was running late, so we played lots of goulashes – could get used to having the blanks in to help get a difficult hand! We all won games and had a fun morning. In the afternoon, Wes and I both worked on our computers and Glenn dropped in with a loaf of freshly baked bread and received a red wine for his thoughtfulness. Afterwards we went to Rotary and John Smith joined us again.
Lovely photo of Glenn
It was very hard to go back to Strong Classes on Thursday morning – I couldn’t remember half of my programme, let alone be able to do them all. It was weeks since I had been to a class as we arrived back from our holidays just as the term break occurred.
We had a lovely day with Judi, Michael, Gail, Terry, Jan, John & Barbara at Ballarat Races. I had booked a table in the Members, found enough Guest Passes for everyone and it was a perfect day. Barbara was probably the most successful punter, but we all had fun and Terry and Jan are going to join. Typically, the Turf Club Membership secretary, Michelle, has offered them free membership until 31st July, provided they join for 11-12.
Front L-R – Gail, Barbara & Jan
Back L-R – Judi, Wes, Michael, Terry & Karen
We had a very busy day on Friday – Wes started by walking the boys early, and then got Barbara going for the day as she didn’t have a carer. He and I went to Trentham to play golf and although we started slowly, we got a bit better as the sun came out – Wes hit 3 pars and my best hole was a bogey on the 9th hole par 5. After a late breakfast at Café 3460, Wes took Ascot back to the vet for Barbara. He and I went to Retravision to buy a new vacuum cleaner – John suggested we check the filter – I brought the cleaner in, he took the filter out, it was clogged of course, so we ended up with a new filter which was much cheaper than a new cleaner.
In the afternoon Wes drove to Ballan to collect Deane Wells, who was staying with us overnight. It was lovely to see Deane again after quite a few months. Wes took him to the Farmers Arms for dinner to allow me to watch the wedding. They had a big night, after the hotel, they moved to Horvat’s Wine Bar for some jazz and more red wine with Michael. I spent the evening watching the wedding and sending scores of the footy to Wes, as the Blues overcame the Swans and recorded an historic win in the rain at the SCG. Wes and Deane poured themselves in the door around 11pm and settled down to some coffee before bed!
Today the boys all slept in, then after breakfast on our balcony, we took Bilbo and Frodo for a long walk around the Lake, meeting up with friends, Bill & Sue Longley, and Margie McConville. Wes has taken Deane to the airport and I am about to pick up Michael and go to see Daylesford play Hepburn in Hepburn, which should be an exciting event as everyone barracks for one or other side.
Tomorrow after breakfast I am driving to Melbourne to visit Viva, then go to the footy with Danny and stay overnight. Wes and Barbara, Judi and Michael, and Gillie are all off to Williamstown for a play. I thought it would be better to send this off today as I may run out of time tomorrow.
Karen attracting leeches in the rain-forest
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