Daylesford Autumn Dispatch - Sunday, 4th May 2014

Dear Friends, we had a brilliant long lunch at the Massaros last Sunday with Peter & Cathy there as well. Nick had made vegetarian spring rolls, which were followed by barramundi wrapped in paper with stir-fried vegetables, pears in raspberry syrup with ice-cream and raspberry fruit cake. Thank God we all left the table for a tour of the property before sweets or we would never have fitted back into our cars! We arrived back home at 5pm to discover one member of the family was hungry.

Cathy O’Toole, Wes, Me, Peter Widdop & Robyn Massaro

On Monday we had an early walk, did some computer work then drove to Strathmore where we had been invited by Leanne to celebrate Smokey’s 6^th birthday. I had found a pair of cat stockings as a gift...they are bright green filled with catnip and you hang them from a door knob. Leanne had put balloons outside and we had whistles and poppers and lolly bags as part of the celebrations.

As Smokey spent Easter at the Lort Smith Hospital, came home before he was fully well and then spent another two days with Murray, the local vet, it was pretty good that we were able to celebrate at all. Things had looked very grim over Easter, but, apart from being extra sleepy, Smokey seemed very much like himself. Leanne produced two huge platters of antipasto, followed by a home-made lemon meringue cheesecake, so we waddled away from there as well and didn’t need any dinner for the second night in a row.

Leanne, Smokey & Karen with cat gift

Tuesday was wet and muggy, and by the time I got to gym I was quite asthmatic and it didn’t improve. I had planned to catch up with Rhonda for a cuppa at Gracenotes Café, in front of the fire, and enjoyed spending time with her, as always. When I got home I found I was quite tired, so lit the fire and spent the rest of the day keeping warm and reading.

The next day I couldn’t get up, and it was bitterly cold, -1°, so I was easily persuaded to stay in bed. Wes cancelled spending time with Barbara as is their usual pattern on Wednesday, while I had to cancel my involvement in Mah Jong. Ditto Thursday, where I missed gym, a U3A Piano Music class and a dinner invitation from Penny & David O’Reilly.

On Friday we woke to gentle rain and I stayed in bed until I had finished the Friday cryptic (DA) then got up, packed and got ready to go to Melbourne for the footy. My asthma was much better and I promised Wes that if I was feeling unwell at the game I would go straight back to Rydges, where I was staying overnight. Wes drove me to Ballan where I caught the train, changed at Spencer Street for Parliament and had only a short walk to the hotel. I spent the afternoon sitting quietly and reading. I decided to see Fading Gigolo with Woody Allen before the footy and found myself enjoying this delightful film much more than I had expected. As usual the shorts (far too long) had not done the film justice.

I arrived at the MCG in time to get a good seat in the Balcony, had an unsuccessful look around for Liz Smith, a Daylesford friend, who has been coming regularly to the footy this year, but did find Loud Gayle and spent a few minutes in her company...sadly not enough to discuss the Gibsons’ recent New York & Los Angeles holiday. Collingwood won the game easily although Carlton found some form in the last quarter when most of their supporters had left or the ones at home had switched off the TV. I found it hard to enjoy the victory as I knew Wes, in particular, and many of my friends, would be hurting as they hate losing to the Pies as much as we hate losing to the Blues.

The next morning I woke early and walked around to the European Café for breakfast, where I was greeted warmly and chose a new item from the menu – rice pudding with poached pears & toasted almonds to have with my Japanese quince tea. I caught the 9.40am train back to Woodend where Wes was going to pick me up so we could visit Spudfest in Trentham. There were only 3 carriages on the train and I was glad I was 20 minutes early as it was completely full by the time we left, mostly with young people going to a concert in Bendigo. The conductor apologised and promised to see what he could do – he organised two coaches to meet the train at Sunbury and that took care of 100 of them, and another coach at Macedon collected 50 more. There were still no spare seats on the train!

We had a lovely time at Trentham where we met up with Wes’s cousin Glenn Testro, who was just behind us on the road from Tylden. Glenn has bought a property just outside of Trentham and is wildly excited and keen to experience everything Trentham has to offer. We went to the Saturday Market at the train station, where both Wes & Glenn invested in beautiful new leather belts before heading to High Street and a hot drink at Chaplins. We sat at the big table and spent our time introducing Glenn to various local Trentham & Daylesford identities.

Then a walk down to the Lake where the festival was in full swing and Glenn was easily persuaded to buy a beautiful green hat from Wild Trout Downunder from the tiny hamlet of Gordon. We parted after three most enjoyable hours together – can’t wait until settlement in July when we can share many more fun times with Glenn, and his son, Tyson.