We started our week with a lovely breakfast at The Food Gallery, where Gail & Terry regaled us with stories of
their wonderful six weeks away overseas. We had all missed them and enjoyed
catching up and hearing all the highs and lows of their travel in Italy,
England, Malta & America.
One of the things I have been doing recently is rereading letters written
by me and to me during the early months of 1977. At that time we had just moved
into 246 Brunswick Road, Brunswick, and Wes was working in Paris and Frankfurt.
Squiz had arrived back in Australia from overseas and was living with me as he
was penniless.
Sitting at the front door of 246
During that time I got my licence to drive our dear little yellow Mazda
1300; Lib and I learned Japanese cooking, which we found disappointing after
the excitement of Chinese cuisine; I was feeding friends and family at least
three times a week; we were off to see David Castles in the group, Sidewinder,
at least once a week, and Jeff & Kev were moving to Melbourne from Perth
and house-hunting in the Mulgrave area. Greg & Pauline Delaney had moved to
Berkeley for Greg to study at uni there, and they wrote often. We haven’t seen
them in years, but Paun tells me they came into the café at Tathra recently and
sent their love.
Wes has been busy slashing & mowing Barbara’s lawn as her usual
gardener, Jonno, hasn’t been around lately and everywhere was getting too
overgrown. I envy him his energy as he mowed our lawns as well and has been
digging out 100 weeds per day during the week.
Jane and Liz from gym asked me if I would play Mah Jong with them on
Monday morning as they are learners and hadn’t been to class for a few weeks.
So I said yes and enjoyed it very much – they use the same book as the rest of
us in Daylesford, but their teacher has taught them to hide discarded tiles
which means you really have to remember what has been thrown out and can’t
frantically search to see if you can still get a Mah Jong.
Jane
& Liz at lunch
It had been too cold and wet for golf so Wes drove to Trentham anyway and
had brunch with Bob & Kirk at their favourite spot, Chaplins, which seems
to be the equivalent of Café 3460 and everyone’s favourite coffees are
remembered. They enjoyed catching up as Bob & Wes have been friends for
over 30 years.
In the afternoon we had invited Judi & Michael over for drinks to
celebrate his birthday. Wes had bought some yummy cheeses and nibbles from
Tonnas and we managed to demolish almost 4 bottles of wine between us over a
couple of hours.
On Tuesday after gym, Wes did some more mowing and gardening, while I had
a face rub with Emma at EKO Skin
Care. She is the most delightful beauty therapist and it is a pleasure to spend
time with her. Tuesday is my washing & ironing day so having a facial
really adds to the day. Wes made macaroni cheese for lunch and then had a rest
in preparation for the ALP meeting that night. He took Barbara and reported
there was a good attendance. We are so very proud of our local member,
Catherine King, who is the new Shadow Minister for Health, and she was there
and gave an excellent speech.
On Wednesday it dawned cold and wet and windy, so there was no more
gardening and we both spent time in front of our computers before I went to Mah
Jong and Wes took Barbara to Ballarat to go shopping and have lunch. I spent
the afternoon starting the Fair Isle jumper again and catching up on episodes
of Rosemary & Thyme, which are
lightweight but entertaining, especially Felicity Kendall’s acting.
Bobby, Fraser & Tom on a boys’
night out in 1999
Wes missed gym on Thursday as he was driving to Melbourne to visit Joan
Testro in the morning and Tom Tyrrell in the afternoon. He spent a very
enjoyable time with Joan, who is still on a high after her spectacular 90th
birthday celebration and they reminisced about her early days on the stage.
Then lunch with Tom and a long interview with him which covered memories of St
Joseph’s Primary School, before Wes set off home, arriving tired but happy with
his day.
On Friday it was too cold for golf, so we allowed ourselves a sleep-in.
Wes did some gardening at our place and Barbara’s then took her supermarket
shopping before making us a yummy lunch. When I spoke with Viva she was excited
to be having a visit from Peter & Anka yesterday.
Another cold morning on Saturday so we did our supermarket and butcher
shopping, replaced the mop which had broken, said hello to heaps of friends who
were also out early and then collected Nick & Robyn Massaro to take them to
a long overdue thank you lunch at Mercato.
For as long as we have known them, Nick & Robyn have kept us in jams,
preserves and jellies and all we do is provide the empty bottles! We did enjoy
spending three hours together chatting about all sorts of things, while eating
and drinking some of the finest food & wine Daylesford has to offer.
I watched the Cox Plate with
interest and admiration for the young apprentice jockey, Chad Schofield, who
lead from go to whoa and gave his 3 year-old horse, Shamus Award, every chance to win the finest race in Australia. We
hadn’t backed it, but that didn’t stop my enjoyment as I really appreciated his
brilliant ride.
Today we are off to breakfast after the Sunday Market, then we are driving
to Castlemaine to help our friend, Valerie, who can’t operate her new laptop or
phone. I am quite sure that both will be easy to get going, but as Valerie is 81,
she just needs a few pointers to cope with the latest technology. When we
return home, I think we will have a very quiet afternoon, as we have a busy
week starting with lunch guests tomorrow and finishing with shifts at the
Daylesford Art Show over the weekend.
Enjoy your week.
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