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Dear Friends, we
did have a lovely day at the cricket in the MCC last Sunday with Danny. Just as
we were heading to have a drink in the Terrace Café, along came Loud Gayle, who
was looking for us. She joined us and we quickly demolished a lovely bottle of
NZ Sauvignon Blanc, before it was time to get back to our seats and watch the
start of play. Gayle’s friend, Heather, arrived just as we were leaving. It was
good to see Mitchell Starc bowl so well, and Rohit’s innings of 138 was
inspirational. However, by 9pm we three were tired and decided to leave rather
than get home after midnight. We dropped Danny off at Northcote and enjoyed a
very easy run home listening to the exciting conclusion of the game, which
Australia won with an over to spare.
The next day we
were all bushed – I spent the day in bed; Wes made a yummy lunch & spent
some time on the computer as well as reading, and Bilbo slept right through
5.30am and didn’t even look for a bone! One of the reasons for this inactivity
was the power surge at 3.15am which turned on our bedroom light and woke us up.
Wes tried to turn it off using the remote control, but no go, and he eventually
went to the fuse box and turned off all the lights there. When he turned them
back on again, the bedroom light stayed off thank God and we all tried to go
back to sleep.
I took this photo
at 6am on Tuesday morning, when the sky suddenly turned a fiery red and the
reflection on the Lake was beautiful. After gym Nick Massaro came to give me a
massage, which was very welcome, and he offered to fix one of our dining room
chairs which has a broken spindle. I took him up on that offer with alacrity as
you can imagine – we have no hope of doing that sort of repair.
Wes went to
Trentham early for a game of golf, which he enjoyed and then caught up with a
friend, Judith McNamara, who wanted to chat over a coffee at the Glenlyon
General Store. He visited the nursery on his way home and brought me an
advanced pimento capsicum plant, which I have re-potted and placed on the
veranda in the hope it likes that spot.
In the afternoon we
had been invited to David Hall’s place for afternoon tea and he invited Barbara
as well. His home is not at all wheelchair-friendly, but Wes managed to get
Barbara up the various levels and in via the kitchen. We spent a couple of
hours chatting with David and his daughter, Natasha, who is living with him at
present after a couple of years spent as a nanny on a boat travelling the
world. It is lovely for David to have her company as he is understandably quite
lonely since Lorelle died, even though his friends in Daylesford have been very
supportive.
The next morning
Bilbo came around to my side of the bed at 5.22am, but I told him to go back to
bed until 5.30am and amazingly he did! It was another dark morning and quite
warm early, but we had a lovely walk and woke up a few of the ducks that were
sleeping in. Gillie told me that one mother duck originally had 11 ducklings,
which had dropped to 7, but the only mother duck I have seen has only 3
ducklings, which she is guarding very jealously indeed. I haven’t seen any
cygnets this year – our black swans usually have a couple of babies, but
perhaps they are in hiding or have gone elsewhere.
Flat leaf parsley, chillies and
nasturtiums thriving under the dogwood out the front – I am giving the
vegetable beds a break this year, hence all the potted produce!
There was no Mah
Jong this week as Valerie was unavailable, so Judi & I took the opportunity
to have a good catch up over breakfast at Gracenotes Café. Chris, the chef, has
decided on a career change and has joined the Victoria Police Band as a piper,
and he starts work next Tuesday. He has an excellent apprentice chef who will
look after the kitchen during the week, and he will do the weekend shifts for
as long as he can. Chris was the piper on Johnny Farnham’s hit, You’re the Voice, many moons ago, and
one of the driving forces behind the Daylesford Pipe Band. He is very excited
about his new job and even chopped off his waist-length grey plait for the
interview.
Meanwhile Wes
worked hard in our garden, picked a basket of plums from Rob & Dene’s tree
next door, before heading across the road to garden at Barbara’s place. I took
some plums for Judi and Wes poached ours in ginger syrup and they look &
smell wonderful.
In the afternoon he
& Barbara went to the Daylesford RSL to interview Bill Longley again for
Hepburn Voices and didn’t get back until late. We had hoped to go to Di &
Jeff’s Aperitifs, but were too hot and tired to get there. I hope I’ll be OK
when we have our turn, which is next month. We traditionally have a turn every
two years, and the last time, I asked the Daylesford Belles, Bronnie & Lee,
to do the catering, which made it a lot easier. Needless to say they have been
booked again.
On Thursday, Bilbo
happily waited until 5.30am before getting up with me, and we enjoyed our walk
around the Lake, especially his swim among the ducks. After gym I spent an hour
back at Gracenotes catching up with Jane Barrett, who has been busy this year
and only just back at gym. Her husband, John, has left his position as manager
of the Hepburn Bathhouse and taken up a job in Melbourne, based in Prahran.
Jane’s daughter, Beth, found him a little mouse-hole to live in, and the three
of them have been busy tarting it up as it dates back to 1848 and was
originally built as servant’s quarters at the back of a big home in Toorak.
Wes drove to
Melbourne for the funeral of his uncle, Bert Barnes, which was held in Mt
Alexander Road, Essendon. It was very small with Denise & Barry, John, Leon
& Shaun & Wes making up half the numbers. Denise was grateful for a
lift back to Daylesford and they stopped at Chaplins Café in Trentham for hot
drinks & scones.
In the meantime I
spent the rest of my morning working in the greenhouse and garden beds,
transplanting my spring onions, bok choi & chilli seedlings. I still have
to put more beans in beds and have my fingers crossed that the cucumbers will
eventually become big enough to transplant as well.
We all slept in
until 5.45am on Friday, which meant the walk was done in daylight for a change.
The only downside to that is that other dog walkers were starting to appear and
most of them thought it was OK to have their dogs not on leads, even though
there are plenty of signs advising this isn’t the case. It was a very muggy
morning, and after I had done the supermarket shopping, I decided that Bilbo
and I would give the Bushwalking Group a miss as they were travelling in
Sailors Falls which is quite hot and there was nowhere shady for a break. This
meant I could visit the Wombat Hill Nursery and buy some more potting mix for
us, as well as for Leanne.
Wes mowed the
lawns, which was a huge job, and everywhere looks much better for it. The roses
are blooming madly, the lavender is having another flowering, the seaside
daisies are indestructible and even the apple, plum, pear & fig trees are
bearing small quantities of fruit. Fingers crossed that we get to harvest them.
Figs, apples, rhubarb, pears
& plums under the watchful eye of the fruit thief
I rang the
Robinsons who were back from three weeks away in Myanmar, Delhi &
Singapore. Not only did they bring back summer colds, but arrived home to find
all the power out with the fridge urgently needing to be emptied. In spite of
this, they both sounded good and positive and Ian goes back to specialists next
week to see how his health is going.
Yesterday I drove
to Strathmore early to visit Leanne, armed with potting mix, rose food, punnets
of pleasure and all my gardening equipment – gloves, fork, trowel &
kneeler. We had a cuppa together first, then set about transplanting two roses
that weren’t happy where they were, putting seedlings in an empty blue pot by
the front door and making plans about future improvements, to be done when the
weather is a little kinder. Leanne gave me some stakes for our tomato plants
and a lovely cake to bring home to Wes. Lunch was leftovers from the day
before, as Wes has been cooking up a storm and there is too much in the fridge
for one little Labrador to demolish on his own.
We were shocked to
learn that our friend, John Smith, had been admitted to hospital last Monday,
when he woke up with no memory of the three previous days. Jan rang us to let
us know as we had made plans to catch up over the long weekend. John is now at
home and off all medication in an effort to see what may have caused this
malfunction.
This morning Bilbo
and I have been for a walk early and are off to the Sunday Market. Then we will
have breakfast at The Food Gallery, and Wes and I are planning a visit to the
Daylesford Cinema to see ‘Into the Woods’. Neither of us is particularly big on
celebrating ‘Invasion Day’, but we do rejoice in living in the Lucky Country. A
wonderful article in yesterday’s Age newspaper suggested Captain Cook didn’t
set foot on Australian soil until 28th April, 1770, and that we are
celebrating Governor Phillip raising the Union Flag & having a drink to the
King at Sydney Cove on 26th January, 1788 instead!
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