Dear Friends, according to the calendar, we are expecting
Spring next weekend, but the weather doesn’t seem to have gotten the message
and we have been deluged with rain, hail & sleet accompanied by cold winds
during this week. We did enjoy one warmish day on Wednesday, but the sun
disappeared again under a foggy sky.
We have not been able to play golf or even walk the boys
very much as the rain has been too heavy, and the fog too dangerous to be
walking in. So we’ve been working on the Art Show, Wes has been indulging in
Ancestry.com and spending time on Hepburn Voices – training new interviewers
and encouraging new interviewees.
On Tuesday as he and Barbara were on their way to
hydrotherapy in Ballarat, her car began making a funny metallic noise, so they
decided to visit Mazda instead and one of the young boys worked out that one
side of the roof rack, which holds her wheelchair, had come loose. He very
kindly fixed it, checked the other sides and sent them safely on their way at
no charge.
That night Viva rang to say Leanne needed to go to hospital
as she had broken her little finger and asking if one of us could come down the
next day to take her and to mind Viva. We decided Wes would go, as I had
arranged a small lunch for Valerie’s 80th birthday and she would be
less disappointed that Warren missed it, than if I missed it. So he drove down
on Wednesday and took Leanne to John Fawkner Hospital, where they tried to fix
her finger but decided she would need an operation instead on Friday.
In the meantime, we
four played Mah Jong, then Dot’s husband, John, joined us and we shared a
celebratory lunch for Valerie, much to her delight. Wes arrived back home in
time to have a late lunch and a rest before going to Rotary, where he took the notes
for the Bulletin.
Rotary Working Party
On Thursday we enjoyed a long leisurely lunch at Gillie’s,
where we admired her freshly painted walls and new flooring. She cooked a yummy
pasta dish and served a salad made entirely from produce in her garden. While
we were there Jason Olver came to quote on cleaning her windows – we had
recommended him and she was pleased to meet him in our company.
It was my turn to drive to Melbourne on Friday as I had
only to postpone a hair appointment, but Wes had visits to make to the vet and
the optometrist. It was very Brigadoon in Daylesford so I drove via Kyneton and
admired the mile of daffodils on the way into Piper Street. I took Leanne to
the hospital, then spent some hours with Viva until the operation was over and
I could collect Leanne, who now has two fingers bandaged together and in a
sling. She won’t be able to drive easily, so we have agreed to do some
supermarket shopping for them and drop it in tomorrow on our way to a Cricket
Lunch at the MCC.
I arrived home on Friday night to a yummy meal that Wes had
prepared and we watched Richmond easily beat Essendon as the rain and hail
rapped on all our windows.
Yesterday we had been invited to lunch in Flemington by
Josephine Ward & her partner, Tony. We drove there and the weather improved
the closer we got to Melbourne. It was a fun lunch party with a couple from
Tylden (shame we hadn’t known as we could have picked them up on our way), plus
Tony’s daughter, Isobel, and Josephine’s daughter, Siobhan and best friend,
Carolyn. We were served a feast and somehow waddled into our cars to go home
around 4.30pm.
We arrived back to
find two little fat dogs who had spent the day chewing huge marrow bones and
even they couldn’t eat the celery and cabbage we offered them for dinner! Sadly
our two teams were badly outclassed and we spent a frustrating evening watching
our separate games and getting very annoyed with our teams’ lack of endeavour.
The good news was that Daylesford beat Hepburn, which had been the best team
all year, so we now go straight into the Preliminary Final and Hepburn has to
play for its life next weekend.
We were a very small
group at breakfast today – us, Kim, Gary and Barbara. It is Gary’s birthday, so
we made a fuss of him and enjoyed a few good conversations, before it was time
to take the little fat dogs home. They did manage to eat their toast &
vegemite, but I have had to sweep up the cabbage and celery, as they showed no
interest in them at all. When John gave them big cabbage leaves at the Sunday
Market, they promptly sat on them instead of eating them with gusto.
Lucy’s brother Oscar
Our friends, Ian & Robyn, have had some very bad news
as their lovely labradoodle, Lucy, as cancer and her situation is not good. She
has started on chemo and they hope she will have a few months of quality life
with treatment. We all know when we feel in love with our pets that we will
outlive them and that losing them is intolerable, but we so value their
companionship that we can’t bear to be without them.
Another friend, Hanna, who was born in Austria and who now lives in Sydney,
after some years in Daylesford, sent me a long email and some of you might
enjoy this particular extract - The Simone Young weekend was memorable, the
concert on Saturday, an all Wagner program, was absolutely wonderful, even if
Wagner was not your favourite composer, the chosen pieces were for any music lover.
On Sunday at the Wagner Society, we had a packed room over 100 people, to hear
and see her. I had the courage to speak and ask when it was question time,
first about her success In Vienna since 1993 and that I was in Vienna last December, when
she conducted Richard Strauss ‘s “Daphne”, a most difficult Opera, and
that she had set a new standard for this opera. And I had the glowing
article with me. She was thrilled to hear about that and then I asked her what
it was like to have been the first female conductor to have been accepted by
the Vienna Philharmonics. She had a most interesting story to tell and
that she will be lecturing there again in their Autumn and conducting
Wagner’s “Mastersingers “in December. Afterwards quite a few people
complimented me for asking her just about that and Vienna. I had the
opportunity to speak to her later and she suggested we could speak German, it
was very special. Hanna
will be in Daylesford on Grand Final weekend & we
look forward to catching up with her and her daughter, Rebecca.
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