Daylesford Dispatch - Sunday, 20th November 2011

Dear Friends, we’ve just had a lovely surprise visit from old friends, Kathy & Gerard Lazzaro, who were between Open Gardens. They had driven from Warrnambool this morning to see Paul Bangay’s Denver garden & were planning to see Stuart Rattle’s Musk garden and then drive to Geelong to catch up with their eldest son, David, his wife, Helen, and their three children, Jessica, Maya & Daniel. We were thrilled to see them – we’ve known each other for nearly 40 years and shared many happy times together.

This has been a busy day – Bilbo & Frodo’s 7^th birthday, which started with early morning bones, followed by cabbage leaves at the Sunday Market, then celery back here at home, toast & vegemite at Café 3460 & doggie shasliks as a special treat. They are now attempting to help Wes in the garden, but really they just want to sleep, digest and work up an appetite for dinner! Their Auntie, Leanne, bought them huge marrow bones yesterday, and we’ve decided to wait until tomorrow to give them those!

Breakfast at Café 3460 was very special. Kim outdid himself with treats, we even got the strap for not eating enough food, and then he and Gary announced that they are putting ‘The House Next Door’ on the market tomorrow, as they can no longer run two businesses and do justice to them both. We have been dreading this day of course, but can only be grateful to Kim for his concept and for offering us such a wonderful home away from home. With a bit of luck someone who loves it will buy it and continue it as a café, but equally it would make someone a good family home with a glorious garden within walking distance of everything. We can’t thank you enough and will make the most of the remaining weeks and days.

Yesterday, while the rain bucketed down all over Victoria, I drove to Melbourne to see Viva and give Leanne a chance to go out for a couple of hours. Viva was exhausted after the previous very hot, humid day, so she was asleep in bed when I arrived. She wasn’t strong enough to get out of bed, so I left her sleeping, answered the phone, and kept Smokey amused, so that he wasn’t terrified by the storm. We had a good chat when she woke up and I hope that she will be feeling a little stronger today with the cooler weather. Leanne is doing such a great job of caring for Viva – our family is very lucky that she is able to fill this role and enable Viva to be at home.

We’ve had quite a social week, starting last Sunday night with a lovely meal shared with Gillie and Glenn – Wes’s venison was cooked perfectly and he sent our guests home with a third of the leftovers. On Monday we were visited by Lovely & Malcolm. Lovely was very keen to have lunch at ‘Wombat Hill House’, in the Botanical Gardens, so we went there and spent about 90 minutes together. Wes and I feel that this cafe desperately needs a maître d’ or table service, instead of making us take a menu and queue up to pay every time we want to order something. It has a great position and is charging Lake House prices, without the famous service.

The Trentham Golf Course was closed to us this week, so we weren’t able to follow up our game of golf last week. Instead on Tuesday, while Wes spent most of the day with Barbara in Ballarat, I helped Jim Swatman with his computer, then had a massage with Ann Holden and did some gardening in the afternoon, before spending an enjoyable couple of hours with Judi at her place catching up.

Bird trying to get out of bird box in Glenn’s garden

On Wednesday we drove to Melbourne to see Viva and allow Leanne some time to do shopping. We had a good visit, but left after 90 minutes as we didn’t want to tire her out too much. Wes surprised me by taking me to Collingwood’s home, where we bought a new flag and the boxed DVD series of last year’s finals. Then we drove into town and enjoyed Yum Cha at Westlake, before coming back home. I gave Rotary a miss as I was tired after the big day, so Wes went and enjoyed the evening.

Wes had requested a quiet day with no visitors for his birthday on Thursday, so we had exactly what he requested and ended up with a lovely early meal at ‘Mercato’ that night. He received lots of cards and emails and a few gifts as well, which was great. When he gets a new phone tomorrow, no doubt there will be some calls there to catch up on. The boys and I gave him a bottle of Jameson’s Whiskey to accompany his painting and camera, which were early presents.

On Friday he and Jim went to Stuart Rattle’s place to help erect tents and put the Rotary barbecue in place and they will take everything down again tomorrow morning. I had hoped to walk into town myself to do a few messages, but it was too hot too early, so I washed Teddy and drove in instead, where I enjoyed bumping into a few friends and getting a new battery for my car keys which had died!

Enjoy the coming week and I’ll be in touch next Sunday for my last Spring Dispatch!