Dear Friends, we
were a very good group at breakfast last Sunday with Jon, Aileen, John &
Jan joining Judi, Janine, Wes, Barbara and me at our big round table. We non-J
people felt quite out of it I can assure you. Bilbo was thrilled to see Jan
Smith again as she always spoils him, and Judi had a large piece of toast to
share with him, so he was a very contented boy. Conversation was fun and varied
with Wes telling everyone about the RSL interview he, Barbara & Eddie had
done; Jon wanting to know about the changes in Daylesford; Aileen, Jon &
Judi sharing thoughts on films they had seen recently, and the Food Gallery
staff kept busy providing hot drinks and raisin toast (most popular order by
far) with our usual waitress, Kerry, on holidays in NZ.
Wes walked Bilbo on
Monday because he felt his ankle was much better. They enjoyed a peaceful walk
in the dark and cool of the morning. Meanwhile I got loads of washing done, and
went to gym at 8am. Afterwards Nick Massaro came to give me a massage while Wes
was working in the garden. We sat outside for lunch with barbecued steak &
fish and leftover salads I had made for Jon’s lunch on Saturday.
That evening
Barbara drove Warren to the ALP Branch meeting, where they had an excellent
turn-up and discussed all the hot topics, of which there are plenty. After the
meeting, people moved to the Daylesford Royal Hotel for food & drink.
Smiling faces at the ALP Branch
meeting – Barbara is sitting next to our local MP, Mary-Anne Thomas
On Tuesday I walked
Bilbo early and met my hairdresser, Lyndal, who was trying to get back into
shape after spending 5 days in Sydney drinking it dry as a way of celebrating
her 29th birthday! Or that’s what it looked like on Facebook. Wes
had a doctor’s appointment at 9am, so couldn’t play golf, but I decided to give
it a go and was the only person on the course until 9am, when a large group of
men arrived. I hit some good shots and some not so good and one or two
absolutely terrible shots, but it was a cool and windless morning and the
Trentham course was looking a picture. Meanwhile Wes got the good results of
his blood test and then visited Aileen at her home with a container of
blackberries from Barbara’s garden.
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View of the 2nd green
(par 3) @ Trentham
Afterwards I met up
with my hairdresser again for a fringe trim, before going to a U3A Monthly
Lunch at Daylesford Healthfood & Organics (previously the Harvest Café). There were 25 of us and we all
enjoyed healthy, mostly vegetarian food, with lots of yummy salads. I came in
with Judy Filshie, who has been a member almost as long as I have. She is now
dependent on a walker, so we manoeuvred her up the single step into the side of
the café that had been earmarked for us. We were joined by Graeme Stuart,
another long-time
member, and Ann Milton, who is a fairly new person to the
Daylesford area. She and her husband bought the beautiful property previously
owned by Roger & Val Roberts (artists) and have grand plans for its
redevelopment.
In the afternoon
Nick Massaro came back to fix a lovely old Jacobean chair that had suddenly
decided to come apart at the top, and he also tried to fix a bathroom tap that
had come loose, but that is a job for the plumber, as parts need replacing and
we have a small leak. Bilbo was delighted to see Nick, but very disappointed
when he didn’t get a treat. Usually when Nick arrives to do my massage, he has
a dog biscuit in his bag and Bilbo gets very excited indeed.
Wes walked Bilbo on
Wednesday and I went to gym, before having another lovely morning with Dot
& Valerie playing Mah Jong. Dot’s hand was swollen and she was in some
pain, but winning all the games of Mah Jong we played, helped take her mind off
it. The café was very busy all morning and we had to sit at a different table
from our usual one.
I arrived home to
find Wes relaxing after a big morning of gardening. Then he left to accompany
Barbara to Springs Medical Centre for a procedure, before they went to have
ice-creams at the Sugar & Ice shop and watched the world go by, until it
was time to do another RSL interview.
On Thursday, I took
Bilbo out early for a dark walk and later we pumped water at the Sulphur Spring
at Hepburn Springs Reserve. Our local fruit shop, Tonna’s, opens at 7am on
Thursdays, so I try to shop there before 9am to encourage them to keep doing
it! We are so lucky to have such a wonderful place, as it stocks everything
under the sun you could need to make meals from all around the world, and if
they haven’t got it, they’ll get it for you.
Beautiful roses from the garden
including Black Caviar, Big Purple, Freesia & St Patrick
I had a completely
free day and earmarked the morning to sorting out my filing cabinet, which
needs to be relabelled every now and again. That was a very satisfying task and
I even found the Tudor exercise book that I used to write down everything about
our wedding, in amongst poetry. I was earning $32.50 per week & Wes $40 per
week, and we budgeted $250 for our honeymoon, which was a week in Sydney, by
car, primarily to see the stage show, Hair.
Wes walked Bilbo
early on Friday and I did the supermarket shopping, which cost $17 courtesy of
$100 worth of Flybuys points. Bilbo and I then joined the Bushwalking Group,
which took us on a very pleasant walk in the bush between Leonard’s Hill &
Bullarto South. There were 7 of us on the short walk, including two old
friends, Martin & Patricia Atkinson, who usually do the long walk.
Patricia
is a diabetic and wasn’t feeling up to the long walk this morning, so I did
enjoy catching up with them both. Martin & I learnt Cryptic Crosswords
together back in the early days of U3A, and I will never forget Patricia
arriving for Warren’s launch of his campaign, Hepburn First, to get onto the
Hepburn Shire Council, in the beautiful grounds of Anderson’s Mill in Smeaton –
she had a large marrow bone with her for Casper, as she knew he would be in
attendance and thought he might get bored and hungry!
I arrived home to
discover a huge bouquet of Oriental lilies, allegedly from Bilbo, who had made
known his wishes during the walk that morning. They are just beautiful and I’ll
take a photo of them as soon as the blooms open.
That night Wes had
another lesson as a projectionist, this time with good friend, Bron Lamb, and
the film was ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’ which was made 40 years ago and occurs on
St Valentine’s Day, 1900. There were 14 in the audience, mostly mothers
bringing their daughters who hadn’t seen the film before.
Sunset on Wednesday night
courtesy of Frank Page
Yesterday it was my
turn to walk Bilbo and after 10 mls of rain overnight it was a very pleasant,
if also very dark, walk. About halfway around the heavens opened again, but as
Bilbo was getting a bath on his return, I decided we would just enjoy getting wet,
which we did.
I rang Leanne, who
sounded very chirpy, read Saturday’s Age, and then we hit the road around
11.30am heading to the MCG for the Australia vs England game in the ICC World
Cup. We had gone in a ballot for lunch in the MCC Members’ Dining Room, and
were successful. Lunch was lovely, we had a table for 2, and it was a great way
to prepare for the game. Our seats, bought in December 2013, when MCC Members
had first choice, were perfect. We were on Level 2, the Balcony, slightly to
the right of the pitch and five rows from the front.
It was exhilarating to see
Australia play so well, and especially good to see Aaron Finch & Glenn
Maxwell perform on their home ground, as well as the three Mitchells, who took
all the wickets between them. The
difference in attitude between the two teams was marked – England were sloppy
in the field and the Aussies were sparkling from the word go. Apart from James
Brown’s excellent innings of 98 not out, they must have been very disappointed.
We left at the fall
of the 6th English wicket, feeling quite rightly that nothing would
be better than Steve Smith’s acrobatic catch to dismiss Jos Buttler. It was a
good decision, and we were home just after 10pm, where Bilbo greeted us with
open arms and a demand for dinner. I discovered some Sweet Decadence chocolates
by the side of the bed, so we polished them off with cups of tea, made a
decision not to get up early to walk Bilbo this morning and fell asleep. Bilbo
appears to be fine with this decision as he was given his bone as usual and he
is now waiting impatiently for us to go to the Sunday Market.
Wes enjoying lunch in the MCC
yesterday
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