Daylesford Dispatch, Sunday 23rd October 2011

Dear Friends, this will be very short and sweet, but I’ll have plenty to tell you after the Art Show, which finishes on Cup Day with the big clean-up. We are very excited, as, after a slow start, we now have more paintings, more artists and more sponsors than last year. Danny will be staying with us next Thursday and Friday so he can be part of the Opening Night. As well David & Helen Lazzaro are planning to visit during the Cup Weekend with their three children, as the trip to Daylesford from Geelong is a pleasant and easy drive, and their older daughter, Jessica, has shown an interest in going to Art Shows.

Wes has just come back from a final session at the Rotary Shed painting the final screens. We now have 44 screens, which should easily accommodate the 200+ paintings in our Show. He is in the bath recovering from all the hard work, while I have spent the day on the computer, like every other day this past week. Today I have been preparing data for the Catalogue and the Titles to go under the paintings, as well as the People’s Prize voting slips. I’ve had a short break walking around the garden admiring the new growth everywhere.

Yesterday, we woke to heavy rain, which meant the boys couldn’t be walked for the third day in a row, so we settled down to our computers, missed the Swiss & Italian Festa Parade, but were visited by Jon Stephens, who was in Daylesford for 24 hours catching up with friends. Later in the day the rain turned into quite a storm and the water poured in through the dog-door much to the boys’ disgust. We interrupted our work to watch the races at Moonee Valley, had some bets but with no luck. I had picked Pinker Pinker to win the Cox Plate, but we only did quinellas and trifectas. We picked up a couple of quinellas, but mostly gave our money to the TAB. It was thrilling to watch Black Caviar win her 15^th race in a row and frightening to see how well Americain left his rivals behind in a very short space of time!

A few friends have asked about the Sleep Study and I haven’t made time to give a report so here goes. I checked into the Sleep Centre on Sunday night, got wired up and managed to not lose any of the wires during the night. The only drawback was the cold. I have not spent a night in hospital since I was born, and it never occurred to me that I would be expected to sleep under the light cotton hospital blanket! I’ll know better next time and will bring bedsocks and whole visit was that I couldn’t get out of the carpark as the machine refused to spit back my ticket.

                     Karen, Mike, Lauren & Linda- Gracenotes

When I got back to Daylesford, we met the Kirbys for a farewell breakfast at Gracenotes, where Linda got her wish to have a meal in front of an open fire. We left them to drive to the airport following our simple instructions. They, of course, got lost and haven’t told us yet how they managed to take an hour to get to Woodend.

The rest of the week was spent in front of our computers, especially Friday, where last minute entries were delivered, emailed and collected by me. I took short breaks to have my nails done, to get a massage and to have a haircut and henna. We attended the Opening of the Swiss & Italian Festa Landscape Award and picked up quite a few ideas of what not to do at our Show. We hope they will join with us next year, it seems mad to have these two Art Shows in competition with each other.

At our last Committee Meeting, we opened a bottle of champagne to thank our wonderful Committee members, as they have been magnificent. Then on Friday night after the madness died down, we had a lovely relaxed dinner with Jan & Warren Pengilley and drank champagne and decent reds until we collapsed with exhaustion and came home.

Karen & Wes at Swiss Italian Festa

Leanne has rung this morning to say that Viva has been taken to hospital, so we are on standby to go to Melbourne if her condition doesn’t improve. She has been in pain after breaking an eye-tooth and an emergency visit to the doctor and optometrist on Friday did not solve the issue. Leanne tells us that a number of tests have been taken and she is waiting for these results to see what will happen next. Viva had enjoyed a lovely visit from Paun earlier in the week, when she, Brian & Rohan made a quick trip to Lang Lang to help Brian’s parents who have moved into a unit.

Other news comes from Squiz who asked that the following be placed in the Classified section of the Dispatch – ‘If anyone is interested in how the Murray children have turned out so far, the three of them will be featured on a game show called Deal or No Deal to be broadcast nationally on Channel 7 on Wednesday 26th October 2011. It airs at 5.30pm in Melbourne - but as they say check your local guide.’

Finally, I don’t know how many of you are Letters & Numbers fans (6pm weeknights on SBS) but I love it and the Grand Final on Friday night was riveting. My two favourites, Jacob (19) & Jeremy (24), were opposed to each other, with Jacob the better credentialed of the two. With two games & the conundrum to go, Jacob was 27 points down and he won by 11 in a breath-taking finish.

Daylesford Dispatch - Sunday, 16th October 2011

Dear Friends, the good news personally is that I am on the mend. I went back to the doctor this week and she gave me another antibiotic to take concurrently with the antibiotic I was already on, plus 2 repeats of it and I woke on Thursday morning feeling like a person again. Yippee! I am trying not to overdo things as I have to be well for the actual Art Show, before, during and after, which involves a week. Wes has threatened to come down with something a couple of times, but he seems to manage to sleep it off.

We’ve enjoyed a lovely weekend so far with Nice Michael, Linda & Lauren. They arrived late morning yesterday and came to us first to meet Bilbo and Frodo before we set off on the tour. We drove around Daylesford & Hepburn Springs, explained the history, and ended up at the Convent Gallery for a late lunch. That night we had invited Judi & Michael to join us for a casual meal, as they have met the Kirbys a few times before and had last seen Lauren when she was a baby. Wes did his usual thing & we could have fed a dozen people with the lovely antipasto dish, a stunning roast lamb and more vegetables than anyone could manage, followed by apple strudel and jam doughnut roll. Judi & Michael provided good red wine and a big box of Belgian chocolates, so we all waddled into bed after a fun night of food & laughter.

Today Michael walked around the Lake with Wes and the boys, while I did emptied and refilled the dishwasher. Then we met for breakfast at Cafe 3460, where Kim outdid himself with a wide array of yummy dishes which amply fed 11 hungry souls. After breakfast we took them to the Mill Market which was a big hit with Lauren, then to the Sunday Market, where we caught the railmotor to Musk and back again, which was a good trip. Lauren particularly enjoyed seeing sheep and cows in paddocks. As her childhood was spent in Singapore, sheep and cows are a novelty item still.

After the Market, we drove to Trentham then onto Glenlyon, where we visited Ellender’s Winery, especially so that Linda could drink a red wine in front of an open fire! There was a local 40^th birthday happening there, so we caught up with Richard & Maree from Mercato and Chris & Wayne from the Peppers Springs Retreat. Then a final drive through countryside and off to the Chocolate Mill, where we overdosed in sweet things. We dropped the Kirbys back at their car and left them to enjoy themselves until 6.30pm dinner at Jasmine Thai.

Yesterday in-between activities we kept an eye on the races at Caulfield and especially the Cup. Wes and I had picked three horses in each races and backed them in a quinella & trifecta. We only missed hearing one race and that was the race where we picked the trifecta! We now have betting money for the rest of the carnival. We did no good in the Caulfield Cup as I was convinced Drunken Sailor would win and we couldn’t leave out December Draw, which was galloped on and dropped out.

During the past week we’ve spent most of our days on the Art Show and entries are starting to roll in, with most artists leaving it until the last minute. Wes did get a whole day in the garden on Thursday, where he mowed, weeded and pruned to his heart’s content all morning, and cleaned out the pond in the afternoon, much to the delight of the many frogs &  tadpoles we now have. The roses are about to bloom, the tulips are looking wonderful and any minute now the irises will come into flower. There are some other bulbs emerging and we have no idea what they are, so it should be fun when they appear.

Typical breakfast delights! 

I’m off to Ballarat to do a Sleep Study tonight at St John of God Hospital and will be back in the early morning in time to have a farewell breakfast at Gracenotes Cafe with the Kirbys before they drive to Melbourne airport and home.

Enjoy your week! 

 

Casper Cuddlepie looking comfy!

Daylesford Dispatch - Sunday, 9th October, 2011

Dear Friends, first of all, congratulations to Geelong for being the better team when it mattered. I was thrilled that the Pies lasted for three-quarters, but I think we peaked too early and the Cats timed it perfectly. I am sure the celebrations in that city will go on for weeks, if not months.

We didn’t have the quite the week we had hoped for in Melbourne during Grand Final week, as I was unwell with bronchial-asthma, which is taking forever to go away. I am on my second lot of antibiotics and suspect I may need a third. So instead of going to galleries & cinemas, meeting up with friends and enjoying umpteen meals we were restricted to very few activities so that I could get to the Grand Final. We did go to the MCC with Danny for the Coodabeens Brownlow Night, which is when I realised I was coming down with something and lost my voice; Wes had breakfast with Squiz, and he also attended Joan Testro’s 88^th birthday bash, where he gave the toast. I missed a wonderful afternoon and am very sorry about that. We did catch up for lunch with Lovely, Malcolm, Ron & Margo at the European, where we all enjoyed a stunning meal and we had yum cha before the GF with David & Helen & Helen’s mother, Anne.

If you are going to be ill and staying at a hotel, the Stamford Plaza was a good place to be. Their room service menu is good and they are very adaptable. It was great to have a kitchenette and separate lounge area, so Wes could relax and watch TV away from my coughing. I have already booked to go back there for the Boxing Day Test. 

 Mick Malthouse saying farewell to Heath Shaw & Daisy Thomas after the GF – he will be missed at Collingwood

Back in Daylesford everyone has been sick – Barbara, Gail, Michael and I from the Breakfast Group, Gillie is looking better than all of us even though she is on crutches! Jane Knox has been in strife since she had a bad fall and damaged her spine. Carol Bruce has been in hospital, but is on the mend at home now.

Viva is going well, although I am not allowed near her in case I give her any germs. When we have spoken on the phone, she sounds stronger and is enjoying watching DVDs most days. Leanne is looking after her brilliantly and I feel very guilty that I have been unable to give her a morning or afternoon off – hopefully that will happen soon.

We have been very busy with the Daylesford Rotary Art Show as I have previously mentioned. The entries are starting to come in and we expect to be very busy over the next two weeks especially. We have sent out invitations to the Opening Night, so our computers are working overtime. I work better in the mornings, so after reading the Age and doing the crosswords each day, I come downstairs and work until lunchtime. Most afternoons I rest, unless there is too much to leave until the next day. Wes has been doing all the dog-walking, shopping and cooking, which has been a wonderful help.

Yesterday I sat in Vincent Street with him for two hours selling raffle tickets in the sun – it was wonderful to be out and I did enjoy the interaction with locals and visitors. However, the afternoon was spent watching the races at Caulfield and especially Black Caviar’s 14^th win in a row. I was appalled to read on Facebook that Jane Knox had never heard of this filly before yesterday!!! What planet are you on? Even Judi, who is allergic to most sports, had watched the replay of the race.

This morning Wes went to the Sunday Market and stocked up on fruit and vegetables, carrots and bones for Bilbo & Frodo, and then we went to Cafe 3460 for breakfast. It was lovely to see Gillie and her sister, Wendy, who is over from South Africa looking after her, as well as Judi, Gail, Glenn & Barbara and to catch up on all their news. Wes has gone to the Rotary Shed to help paint the remaining screens for the Art Show and to get help putting backing on our wonderful signs which will be placed at the five entrances to Daylesford. The boys and I are taking it easy and when I have sent this, I will go back upstairs to read for the rest of the afternoon.

Thanks to everyone who has rung or emailed their good wishes over the past two weeks. I hope that I will be fighting fit again by the time I next get in touch, which may not be next Sunday, as we have the company of the Kirbys for the weekend. They will be staying at Lake Daylesford Cottage and we are looking forward to showing them our beautiful town.