Dear Friends, we have enjoyed a few days that were almost Spring-like this week, but it is a cold day, like an English Winter this morning with Brigadoon all around and the cold coming up from the ground. I am going to be busy all day tomorrow, so I thought I would send this out today. We have just arrived back from our shift on the Farmers’ Market. Not only did we have little Rotary sandbags to hold down all our pamphlets, but we also had a new Rotary tent to keep us sheltered. Very exciting – it will so useful not just for the Market, but also for the Art Show. Wes and Barbara have driven to the MCG to see Carlton play Melbourne, while the boys and I are hoping the weather improves and we can go to Daylesford’s last home game.
Last Sunday we had a most enjoyable Breakfast which I left early to drive to visit Viva and let Leanne get out and do some shopping. After that visit, I drove to the MCG, parked at the Arts Centre, walked through the MCC to meet up with Loud Gayle very briefly, and spent the afternoon with David Lazzaro. David and I were most impressed with Essendon’s endeavour in the first half as they had so many injuries. In the second half we turned the tables as the Bombers got tired and couldn’t keep up their fierce tackling and running. I left early in the hope that I would get a good run home, which I did until I was 1 minute from Daylesford being suddenly tailgated when a cat ran out in front of me and froze in the middle of the road. I successfully braked to avoid hitting it and the car behind avoided hitting me, but continued to tailgate until I turned off onto East Street. I had hoped that our cat experience would have suggested to the tailgater that leaving a little space between cars is a good thing!
(Perc, Viva, Dot & Ray at the Bullboar & Yabbie, Castlemaine, 1978)
(Jane and friends at the snow this week)
In the meantime Wes had invited Barbara to come with him to the Glenlyon Fine Food & Wine Fayre where he was on Rotary barbecue duty in the afternoon. Her help as cashier was much appreciated and I am sure Wes and Jim did a great job on the barbecue.
Monday was very busy with lots of computer work in the morning, followed by a visit from Nicole to cut & henna my hair, which was barely dry before Gillie arrived to pick me up for a Baroque Triple Bill at the Melbourne Recital Centre. We parked at Ballan, caught the train, had dinner at the Malthouse and met up with Irene and some other friends of Gillie just before the show. We all enjoyed the music, especially the final item, which is called ‘Coffee Cantata’ and is a most amusing piece by Bach. We caught the train easily and arrived home safely at 11.30pm.
(Lovely photo of Wes)
On Tuesday it was Wes’s turn to be out and about – he had a meeting with Pierre and Simone Niclas to discuss marketing the Art Show and in the afternoon he went with Barbara to Bendigo to get her wheelchairs fixed. I was so tired that I went to bed early and felt much better as taking some time out. I had planned to visit Viva, but desperately needed a day at home, and discovered when speaking with Viva that my brother, Peter, had dropped in unexpectedly as he was in Melbourne for the day for a funeral. I felt so relieved that she had received a visit from someone in the family.
It was lovely to play Mah Jong again with Carol, Dot and Valerie on Wednesday and it was fine enough to walk there and back. Meanwhile Wes and John Smith did a second interview with Frank Page and then Wes had lunch with Rob McDonald at Gracenotes Café. That evening we had a good Rotary meeting with an excellent talk by our District Governor, Keith Ryall. Wes stayed up when we got home finishing off the Bulletin, while I went to bed in preparation for an early start the next morning.
After Strong on Thursday I edited and proof-read the Bulletin and we got ready to welcome three visitors from Nimes. Alan Austin used to live two doors down from us in Brunswick Road, he now lives in France with his French wife, Chantal, and her son, Vincent, and daughter, Cécile (who isn’t on this trip to Australia). They arrived from Ballarat mid-morning, and after a warming coffee, we all piled into our car and Wes took us for a drive around Daylesford, Hepburn and Shepherd’s Flat. We ended up at ‘Wombat Hill House’ for lunch and sat around for ages chatting and catching up with Alan. He is a Swans supporter, but took his new family to see Collingwood & Essendon on Sunday so they could get an idea of the game. Both Chantal and Vincent were amazed that supporters of different clubs could go to the game together.
We arrived home in time for our fortnightly Rotary Art Show meeting, which was well-attended and everyone had something to contribute. We are rapt with our committee and feel confident that we will have a successful show again this year. By the time that was over we were exhausted and glad to relax in front of TV for a while.
Yesterday I was lucky enough to be Ann Holden’s first client at her new premises in West Street. We had a good time together, she gave me a lovely massage and I was able to help with some suggestions to make the experience even better. Wes and I then drove to Melbourne to have lunch with Norma Hutchins, who was over from Fremantle visiting her son and grandson. We met at Westlake for yum cha, sat upstairs and had a long leisurely time together hearing about her recent trip to China and her upcoming visit to Vietnam. We had hoped to see ‘Harry Potter’ afterwards but there was too much gap between the finish of lunch and the next session, so we drove home instead and shared cheese and biscuits with wine while watching ‘Silent Witness’.
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