Daylesford Dispatch - Saturday, 24th November 2012

 

Dear Friends, I’m finally feeling up to sending an overdue Dispatch. Both of us are taking longer than we expected to get our reserves of energy back, and launched back into normal life with too much gusto and are paying the price! When I last wrote we were about to host 16 Art Show Committee members & their partners to say thank you for all they had done. It went very well and we were in bed very early once the stragglers had gone home.

We played 10 holes of golf the next morning and had a late breakfast & chat at Mr Carsisi in Kyneton afterwards. The next day I started gym classes with Barry, who used to take the Strong classes I attended at 6.30am on Tuesdays & Thursdays. Strong has changed hands and Barry is no longer employed there, so he is offering more classes at his gym in the Scouts’ Hall. He is very casual and you pay per visit, not per term, which allows you to have holidays, be ill or just not feel like it, without being out of pocket. Barry knows of my chronic fatigue and is being very supportive. I must say it felt good to be doing some regular exercise again and I hope I can continue until he finishes in mid-December.

                                       

  Barry Spall

On Wednesday we had been invited to an information session by our Financial Advisors, so decided to drive to Melbourne late afternoon and be part of it. We arrived early so were able to pay Joan Testro a quick visit, which was lovely. She was looking good & delighted to see us both. The evening at Quaff Restaurant in Toorak was most informative and we were well looked after. However we were both very tired by the time we got home as I had played Mah Jong & Wes had played golf earlier in the day.

I went to gym, and then spent the rest of the day in bed, while Wes took his sister, Denise, to lunch at Gracenotes, where Denise told him that their aunt, Norma, was in palliative care and wouldn’t live much longer.

Early photo of Norma

Norma died the next morning and Denise was most upset as she had been very close. Norma had been a second mother to her. Wes had not enjoyed that same close relationship, and he & I had really only seen Norma & her husband, Bert, at Christmas, and not for some years as they have been in Ardmillan House for a while. Judi came to visit in the afternoon and shared a glass of wine with us which was a lovely antidote, especially as we haven’t seen much of each other for ages.

On Saturday we caught the train to Melbourne to see South Pacific at the Princess Theatre. We enjoyed yum cha at Westlake first, and as I didn’t want Wes to have to pay for anything, I had organised an interval package with our tickets, which meant we could have an ice-cream before the show & a glass of wine at interval. We both enjoyed it very much, our seats were good, Lisa McCune & Teddy Tahu Rhodes were an excellent lead pair, but the highlights were definitely seeing Kate Ceberano as Bloody Mary, and Eddie Perfect nailing the role of Luther Billis. Afterwards we easily caught the train back to Ballan in time to feed a few vegetables to a pair of bloated Labradors who had been chewing marrow bones in our absence.

The next morning, we set off early to visit Viva with Brian’s print to give her. We both thought she was looking good, although in some pain, while waiting for results from all her tests taken by the skin specialist. She subsequently was told that she doesn’t have a recurrence of shingles but something else that will hang around for 3-5 years, but can be treated with a complex regime of tablets. Today she tells me that she is starting to feel better at last.

After our visit, we headed to Burwood to catch up at lunch with Terry Borg, Victor Borg, Georgie Borg, Richard Tweddle, Ben Borg & his girlfriend, Nat Andrews from Port Isaac. Terry had made a sumptuous lunch and we enjoyed about 4 hours of memorable food & wine, while we caught up on some of the things that had happened over the past 20 years. It was wonderful! However, I fell asleep in the car on the way home – an unknown occurrence and didn’t get out of bed until Tuesday!       

Nat, Ben & Terry

Laura, Richard & Georgie

After gym I caught up with Judi for breakfast at Bocconcini, and then went home to spoil Bilbo & Frodo who turned 8 that day. We gave them edible footballs smeared with Vegemite at lunchtime & they were over the moon! Wes enjoyed a day of Ancestry interspersed with gardening.

He and Barbara drove to Melbourne on Wednesday as she had an appointment with a specialist, while I played Mah Jong with Carol, Dot & Valerie. Dot was looking good after her knee operation and we were amazed that she wasn’t in a wheelchair.

I have been loving the Second Test against South Africa at the Adelaide Oval, especially the fine innings by Warner, Clarke, Hussey and now Smith. It has done me the world of good to have an excuse to sit and watch & listen to the game while reading the Age, doing crosswords or playing Words with Friends on my phone.

Michael Clarke on fire

 Yesterday Wes drove to Essendon for Norma’s funeral, which was held at the funeral parlour with a very small attendance, as is to be expected when you are 97 when you die. We had decided I would not come and I was very pleased to have another quiet day. Wes bought some swordfish at Canals in Nicholson Street and cooked it perfectly last night.

Today it was his turn to sleep in and he is not long up after being served tea, toast & Saturday’s Age in bed. It is the local Show here, something we love to attend, but we are keen to have a quiet time at home again – I’m about to head upstairs to watch the cricket, he is going to clean out the pond, wash the cars & finally wash the boys. I have bought him a crown rib roast as a reward for his dinner tonight!

Birthday boys relaxing

One of the things I love about Daylesford is Saturday morning early in Vincent Street before the visitors take over. However there were no raffle tickets on sale, no stalls of local produce and I didn’t spot a single friend while I was out between 9 & 10am!!!

Daylesford Dispatch - Sunday, 11th November, 2012

Dear Friends, I’m having a break from post Art Show paperwork to let you know that we are both still alive (just) after an amazingly successful and exciting Show. We ended up with 114 artists providing 393 paintings, of which 56 sold. We had over 1,600 visitors including Danny & Kim; David, Helen, Jessica, Maya & Daniel Lazzaro; Andrew & Syd; David & Deanna Redfern; Warwick Leeson; representatives from at least 2 city Rotary Clubs looking for artists, and Chris Lazzaro and family. Thank you all.

Wes and I are quite exhausted after spending all day every day at the Town Hall, but we are very pleased with the support we received from nearly every Rotarian in our Club. Some were on holidays, a couple are quite unwell, but everyone else did something, with quite a few going over and above the call of duty. We were also helped by Barbara Simpson, Carol Bruce & potential Rotarian, Annemarie Borsboom. We are very lucky to have a brilliant President this year, Jan Pengilley, as she filled gaps when someone forgot to turn up for their shift, as well as being there for all the dirty jobs such as mopping, sweeping & cleaning. She was also there when the artists brought their works and when they returned them. She spent hours folding raffle tickets; kept her speech to a minimum on Opening Night; hosted a lunch for our two judges, who had never met and played God when the occasion arose, as well as buying paintings & sketches.

       Brian Nash painting screens pre Show

While Wes has been composing various reports to send to Artists, Sponsors, Rotarians and Committee, I have been writing cheques to pay the artists who won prizes and who sold paintings. Our study is still in some chaos, but we hope to have things back to normal by the time Sandra comes to clean on Wednesday.

We would have loved to have been at the Gabba with Jane, David, Norma & Terry, but our decision not to go have been vindicated as we could not have processed all the post Show stuff before we had to fly to Brisbane and I suspect we would have been very unhappy. As it is, we are being sent lots of photos of them all, and of course, we are listening to the cricket as well as occasionally just sitting and watching as well.

 David, Terry & Norma

This morning we enjoyed a lovely breakfast with everyone at The Food Gallery, where we entered from the back lane, tied the boys up and were seated at a long table just for us. We have given up on Harvest Café, as now that the Ice Cream Parlour side is turning into a Health Food Shop, there is nowhere easy for us to sit and in spite of all the time we have been eating there, no-one on the staff other than the owners, has bothered to learn anyone’s name or remember what they like to drink.

 

 Jan Pengilley

Last week, a small group enjoyed breakfast at Gracenotes Café, which we also love, but it may not be suitable to meet there as a large group on a regular basis. So next week, the Red Star Café is having its turn – one small problem – you can’t book a table there, so Judi & Gillie are going early to push a few tables together for us.

Wes and I will be missing as we have been invited to lunch with Terry Borg that day and we hope to visit Viva beforehand. Viva was disappointed not to win the Art Show raffle main prize of an original Brian Nash painting of Lake Daylesford, so Brian has framed a large print for her, which he will give us today. So even if Viva thinks I still shouldn‘t come near her, she is dying to receive her print!

Wes drove our friend, Marjorie, to hospital on Wednesday morning and popped in to see Viva & Lal on his way home. She reported they were both looking good and he spent a happy 90 minutes or so there, no doubt making them laugh. He has also looked after Barbara for three mornings when she had bathroom renovations & had to cancel her carers, as well as take her for a swim and help collect Bobby the cat from Eureka Kennels. I got to Mah Jong with Carol & Valerie, which was a lovely antidote to work!

Opening Night Barmen

Our dear God-daughter and cousin, Leigh Hoolihan, and her fiancé, Simon, have set 6^th April as their wedding date in London and we have decided to be there with her, which has pleased her very much. We were lucky that Qantas has been having a wonderful sale, so we picked up some very reasonable fares, after making sure that Eureka Kennels could accommodate Bilbo & Frodo, while we are away. Our fares don’t allow us to do much other than fly to London & back, so we have decided to spend some time in Wales after the wedding as we have never been there.

This afternoon we are hosting a thank you for all our Art Show committee members and their partners, with catering to be done by Bronnie & Lee (two Rotarians, who catered for the Opening Night with aplomb – they made 1,900 pieces of food for the 220+ who turned up). Wes found time between showers of rain to mow the lawns, and hopes to do some weeding in the front before everyone arrives. While we were at the Town Hall the garden took off – roses & irises leapt into bloom; spinach & silver beet grew so fast & went to seed, and the weeds took hold wherever they could!!

Some of the Opening Night food

I may not get a Dispatch to you next weekend as it is a very busy one, but I’ll be back in touch as soon as I can. In the meantime thank you all again for your support during this busy period in our lives. It’s been great to receive Facebook messages of support as well as the occasional email.

Finally a word about the Spring Racing Carnival – I picked Green Moon to win the Cup a couple of months ago, but jumped off after the Cox Plate fiasco and that just about sums up our Carnival. We had occasional bets which usually meant those horses didn’t feature in the winners, I managed to forget to print out what we had backed so we watched some races blind, and all in all, we learnt more about what happened by reading the following day’s Age newspaper.

Daylesford Dispatch - Sunday, 11th November, 2012

Dear Friends, I’m having a break from post Art Show paperwork to let you know that we are both still alive (just) after an amazingly successful and exciting Show. We ended up with 114 artists providing 393 paintings, of which 56 sold. We had over 1,600 visitors including Danny & Kim; David, Helen, Jessica, Maya & Daniel Lazzaro; Andrew & Syd; David & Deanna Redfern; Warwick Leeson; representatives from at least 2 city Rotary Clubs looking for artists, and Chris Lazzaro and family. Thank you all.

Wes and I are quite exhausted after spending all day every day at the Town Hall, but we are very pleased with the support we received from nearly every Rotarian in our Club. Some were on holidays, a couple are quite unwell, but everyone else did something, with quite a few going over and above the call of duty. We were also helped by Barbara Simpson, Carol Bruce & potential Rotarian, Annemarie Borsboom. We are very lucky to have a brilliant President this year, Jan Pengilley, as she filled gaps when someone forgot to turn up for their shift, as well as being there for all the dirty jobs such as mopping, sweeping & cleaning. She was also there when the artists brought their works and when they returned them. She spent hours folding raffle tickets; kept her speech to a minimum on Opening Night; hosted a lunch for our two judges, who had never met and played God when the occasion arose, as well as buying paintings & sketches.

       Brian Nash painting screens pre Show

While Wes has been composing various reports to send to Artists, Sponsors, Rotarians and Committee, I have been writing cheques to pay the artists who won prizes and who sold paintings. Our study is still in some chaos, but we hope to have things back to normal by the time Sandra comes to clean on Wednesday.

We would have loved to have been at the Gabba with Jane, David, Norma & Terry, but our decision not to go have been vindicated as we could not have processed all the post Show stuff before we had to fly to Brisbane and I suspect we would have been very unhappy. As it is, we are being sent lots of photos of them all, and of course, we are listening to the cricket as well as occasionally just sitting and watching as well.

Jane, David & Norma

This morning we enjoyed a lovely breakfast with everyone at The Food Gallery, where we entered from the back lane, tied the boys up and were seated at a long table just for us. We have given up on Harvest Café, as now that the Ice Cream Parlour side is turning into a Health Food Shop, there is nowhere easy for us to sit and in spite of all the time we have been eating there, no-one on the staff other than the owners, has bothered to learn anyone’s name or remember what they like to drink.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jan Pengilley

Last week, a small group enjoyed breakfast at Gracenotes Café, which we also love, but it may not be suitable to meet there as a large group on a regular basis. So next week, the Red Star Café is having its turn – one small problem – you can’t book a table there, so Judi & Gillie are going early to push a few tables together for us.

Wes and I will be missing as we have been invited to lunch with Terry Borg that day and we hope to visit Viva beforehand. Viva was disappointed not to win the Art Show raffle main prize of an original Brian Nash painting of Lake Daylesford, so Brian has framed a large print for her, which he will give us today. So even if Viva thinks I still shouldn‘t come near her, she is dying to receive her print!

Wes drove our friend, Marjorie, to hospital on Wednesday morning and popped in to see Viva & Lal on his way home. She reported they were both looking good and he spent a happy 90 minutes or so there, no doubt making them laugh. He has also looked after Barbara for three mornings when she had bathroom renovations & had to cancel her carers, as well as take her for a swim and help collect Bobby the cat from Eureka Kennels. I got to Mah Jong with Carol & Valerie, which was a lovely antidote to work!

Opening Night Barmen

Our dear God-daughter and cousin, Leigh Hoolihan, and her fiancé, Simon, have set 6^th April as their wedding date in London and we have decided to be there with her, which has pleased her very much. We were lucky that Qantas has been having a wonderful sale, so we picked up some very reasonable fares, after making sure that Eureka Kennels could accommodate Bilbo & Frodo, while we are away. Our fares don’t allow us to do much other than fly to London & back, so we have decided to spend some time in Wales after the wedding as we have never been there.

This afternoon we are hosting a thank you for all our Art Show committee members and their partners, with catering to be done by Bronnie & Lee (two Rotarians, who catered for the Opening Night with aplomb – they made 1,900 pieces of food for the 220+ who turned up). Wes found time between showers of rain to mow the lawns, and hopes to do some weeding in the front before everyone arrives. While we were at the Town Hall the garden took off – roses & irises leapt into bloom; spinach & silver beet grew so fast & went to seed, and the weeds took hold wherever they could!!

Some of the Opening Night food

 

 

 

 

 

I may not get a Dispatch to you next weekend as it is a very busy one, but I’ll be back in touch as soon as I can. In the meantime thank you all again for your support during this busy period in our lives. It’s been great to receive Facebook messages of support as well as the occasional email.

Finally a word about the Spring Racing Carnival – I picked Green Moon to win the Cup a couple of months ago, but jumped off after the Cox Plate fiasco and that just about sums up our Carnival. We had occasional bets which usually meant those horses didn’t feature in the winners, I managed to forget to print out what we had backed so we watched some races blind, and all in all, we learnt more about what happened by reading the following day’s Age newspaper.