Greta, Lauren, Danny & Karen in Devonport showing our allegiance & in Greta’s case a little more than is necessary! Danny assures me Pat still wears this jumper.
Dear Friends, thanks for the phone calls and messages wondering if I was alright as there was no Dispatch last weekend. I have spent most of this past week in bed fighting off the first Winter cold and seem to have won the battle. Sadly we had to postpone a luncheon we were hosting yesterday and hope to we can reschedule it in July.
When I last wrote, we were heading off to collect Hanna, have lunch with her at Café 3460 and drive her to Melbourne, all of which went off without a hitch. Kim was delighted to see Hanna and lots of familiar faces stopped to stay hello to her as we had our lunch. When we got to the National Gallery, we were worried that Hanna’s friend had not arrived to meet her, and eventually discovered she was waiting in the foyer of the Arts Centre next door. Wes and I left them and walked to Federation Square to see the Eugene von Guérard Exhibition and the hour we spent there wasn’t anywhere near enough time to appreciate it and him fully.
We had a delightful casual meal at the Curve Bar at the Arts Centre, before going to see “Next to Normal” an American musical play supposedly about schizophrenia, but more about grief and misunderstanding. Wes was completely underwhelmed by it, and I enjoyed the music, but was annoyed by the schmaltzy feel of the play.
We played golf on the Tuesday morning early, just the two of us, and once again, although we weren’t brilliant, we had enough good shots to keep us interested. In the afternoon I had a massage with Ann, while Wes drove Barbara to Castlemaine where they picked up Bobby, her new cat, who is about 12 months old and very playful.
Carol, Dot and I played Mah Jong on Wednesday and shared out the honours and that night we had an enjoyable Rotary Meeting where we were addressed by a police Inspector who has been mentored by Rotary. He was most interesting and impressive.
On Thursday I finally caught up with Judi at her place, where Maddy and Major greeted me like a long-lost friend. We had a good chat and lots of cups of tea. They have a beautiful view through their lounge window and it makes the most of the morning sun. In the afternoon Wes drove to Woodend for a dental appointment, while I spent some time in the garden getting the vegetable beds in the back ready for Winter planting with enormous help from Bilbo and Frodo.
We were out early on Friday having breakfast with Jim Swatman again to talk through our role in his year as incoming President of Rotary. He has some great ideas, which mean we keep having to change the template of the Rotary Bulletin, but I think it is finally agreed on.
Warren & Barbara drove to Melbourne to see Carlton play Geelong. I don’t know about Barbara’s feelings, but Wes came home on quite a high, convinced that Carlton are not only Finals material, but potential Grand Final participants. He was disappointed that they couldn’t win the game, but pleased with the fight and the skills shown by most of the players.
We had volunteered to be on the gate for the local footy on Saturday – Daylesford vs Buninyong and had an early start of 9.30am in the cold. We both enjoyed the shift, especially with a cash register tray to put the money in and thermoses of tea to keep us warm. I went home and collected the boys at midday and tied them up to the gate, where they attracted lots of attention and pats.
John Goullet relieved me at 1pm and I went to watch the seconds have a close win, while Wes joined me just after the start of the firsts. Daylesford was never in the hunt and we left for home at half-time as we felt we had already spent enough time at the ground. When we saw the final result we were pleased with our decision – much nicer sitting in the heated lounge with a glass of wine and a plate of cheese and biscuits.
There was a lovely moment in the morning when I recognised Nathan Cummings, a handsome young man that I first met 6 years ago when he was about 10 and the boys were puppies. He sat in the gutter outside Sweet Decadence playing with them, then went over the road to the $2 shop and bought them combs and proceeded to comb their fur. We met often over the next 3 years and he used to walk the boys around the boundary line at the footy during half-time. I haven’t seen him for 2 years as he has been playing footy for the Under 18s and now he is taller and slimmer and when I greeted him by name as he came through the gate, he smiled and gave me a hug! He found us later during the game much to the delight of Bilbo and Frodo.
1987 in Peter’s jeep in the Seychelles
Sunday was the usual busy morning – I walked the boys, then after a shower and fresh clothes, took them with me to Leitches Creek to pump mineral water for the week. Then we went to the Sunday Market, collected our fruit, vegetables and dog bones, came home and put everything away, then off to breakfast, where there was a cast of thousands or so it seemed. The weather was cold and wet, so we decided to take the boys back home rather than tie them up on the veranda. I went inside to tell Kim and Gary, whereupon Gary grabbed their toast and vegemite which he had ready for them and fed them in the back of our car – talk about Meals on Wheels!
After breakfast we drove to Melbourne to see Collingwood play Adelaide at Docklands Stadium. We had good seats, were surrounded by good-natured supporters of both sides and endured a pathetic first half from the Pies in which they scored 2 goals 10 behinds. Fortunately we got our act together in the third quarter and finally ran away with the game with an 11-goal last quarter.
We had been invited to Kathy & Ged’s place for a Sicilian meal after the footy, so drove to Burwood and had a wonderful few hours catching up with them and eating a feast of fine food with equally fine Italian wines. It was lovely and relaxing to sit at their dining table listening to stories about their travels in Italy. I think all four of us would have happily caught the next flight out – we have never travelled around Italy and it seems as though we have missed out on some great experiences.
Wes with Kathy & Ged outside the Wolseley in London March 2010
As we were driving home I could feel I was coming down with a cold and by the next morning I was confined to barracks. Wes has been wonderful, cooking lovely meals and allowing me to stay in bed and try to sleep my way back to health. He was able to play Chess with Barbara on Monday, take her to an orthotics appointment at Ballarat on Tuesday, attend Rotary on Wednesday, walk the boys and keep the home fires burning. I gave my ticket to the opera “How to Kill Your Husband” to Judi, apologised for missing Mah Jong and Rotary, cancelled appointments with the dentist and beauty therapist in Ballarat (even if I hadn’t been coughing all over them, I couldn’t have driven there and back) and finally emerged on Friday morning to have morning tea with Gill Murray at her home locally. Gill made pikelets aplenty and we had tea and lots of chatter, mostly about her experiences as a Civil Celebrant, as well as Family Trees. Wes had hoped to meet his cousin, Glenn Testro, at the footy that night, but Glenn was unable to come and Wes saw Carlton down Melbourne on his own. He arrived home very tired around 12.30am.
Yesterday, after visiting Barbara early, Wes did a Rotary shift collecting for the Salvos, before having an early lunch with Glenn Mack, who dropped in to chat, and then caught up on some sleep. I made soup, did the ironing, answered emails and spent the afternoon and evening watching footy and knitting.
We’ve just come back from a lovely breakfast with Judi, Michael, Gillie, Glenn and Barbara. As Gail was away, we got a chance to send the conversation in some different directions and enjoyed a spirited discussion about imprisonment, battleships, Gillie’s impending trip to South Africa to look after her sister etc, while demolishing mountains of food & hot drinks, courtesy of Kim & Gary. We are shortly off to Melbourne, where I will find a warm spot to watch the footy and Wes will visit Joan Testro, who is in Cabrini at present for a rest.
Lovely photo of Denise Anderson with Joan Testro 2008
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