Dear Friends, after breakfast last Sunday, which was
well-attended and included some wonderful stories, including the news from
Barbara that she had played table-tennis at Victoria Park with friends, we came
back home so that I could make another batch of tomato pasta sauce, while Wes
went off to Daylesford Hospital to visit Warren Pengilley, who hasn’t been at
all well. It was a very successful visit and on his way home, Wes helped
Barbara, who was in strife with the strong winds blowing things off her front
decking.
During the afternoon we watched the Carlton vs Collingwood
practice game at the Queen Elizabeth Oval in Bendigo. Even though the Blues
won, Wes wasn’t happy with their performance and doesn’t think they have
improved enough for this year. The game was a sell-out and had a great
atmosphere as a result. Many years ago Wes, my brother, Peter, & I watched
Women’s Test Cricket there.
On Monday, we both had busy days – I started by walking
Bilbo, going to gym, attending a lecture entitled ‘From Smoke Signals to Photons’
which was given by Anthony Ash, who used to be on the U3A Committee when I was.
He is a very entertaining speaker and tries to make complex issues simple for
laypersons like me. There was a good turn-up to the talk and I enjoyed sitting
with Vera Killingback, who taught me (and many others) how to use an abacus
many years ago, and Clive Rutherford, with whom I attended poetry classes given
by Val Pyers, also some years ago.
Back home I had a quick yummy pasta lunch with Wes and then
spent a couple of hours with Emma at EKO having a facial etc. Meanwhile Wes had
spent the morning in the garden, where he had done wonders out the front and
filled a couple of bins in the process. His afternoon was spent in preparation
for the ALP Meeting which was held that night. It was a late night as he and
Barbara ended up having dinner with others at the Farmers Arms Hotel
afterwards. I was glad to see him arrive home as Bilbo was having trouble
breathing, but we decided he was just hot.
On Tuesday Wes did the early walk and I drove to the
Trentham Golf Club for 10 holes of not so impressive golf. On the plus side I
didn’t lose any balls or find myself in the undergrowth, just seemed to take
forever to get down the fairways and onto the greens! Afterwards I drove to
Tylden looking for horse manure, but there was none for sale at any of the
regular spots. Meanwhile Wes showed the 10am session of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’,
a film I have no interest in seeing. In the afternoon I took Bilbo for a walk
into town and back, while Wes answered an emergency call to show the 3.30pm
session of ‘The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’, which is getting great
audiences.
We are so very proud of our eldest nephew, Liam Fell, who
has raised over $5,000 for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Research by having a serious
haircut and shave. He says on FB that there was enough hair for two wigs, so he
is donating the hair as well as the funds he has raised. Well done Liam.
Wes had been feeling unwell all day and went straight to bed
after his shift at the Rex, cancelling all activities for the next day. He is
very rarely seriously unwell and he seemed to have picked up a rotten germ from
somewhere.
On Wednesday I walked Bilbo, and then went to gym, followed
by Mah Jong with Dot & Valerie. When I arrived home I discovered Wes had
tried eating some fruit salad, which hadn’t stayed down, so he was playing it
safe with iced water only.
We had planned to go to the MCG on Thursday to watch the
Quarter-Final between India & Bangladesh, but that was out of the question,
so I cancelled our lunch booking and offered our seats to Gayle Gibson. She and
her friend, Heather, decided to use them, especially as they could access the
Long Room as MCC Members. I walked Bilbo early, did the supermarket shopping,
some gardening, some cleaning, washed the cars and gave Wes have some lavender
tea, which was OK.
Jeff Hoolihan put
up this photo on FB of her grandparents, the Brosnans from Limerick, on St
Pat’s Day
One of my self-appointed jobs since we moved to Daylesford
has been looking after the bins of our little bit of Duke Street, Because so
many of the houses are not occupied permanently, I prefer to put the bins out
and bring them back in, rather than have the street looking like a dog’s
breakfast. My record is 24 bins, but most times it is 8 or 16, depending on
whether the Recycling Bins are being emptied, as they are only done once a
fortnight. The downside to this is that I have to arrange for someone to look
after them when we are away on holidays and very few friends really enjoy that
job! Judi has done it most of the time, although I gave her a break last year
when we were in Scotland, and took up Jeff Bain’s offer to look after them for
me.
This ‘neat freak’ streak in me also means I have to pick up
newspapers from the lawn or road and put them on top of letterboxes, and wheel
trolleys back to Coles if I find them while I walking Bilbo through town. He
doesn’t understand either of these activities and thinks the former is a chance
to give me a lick and the latter an opportunity to get the lead tangled up!
When Cheryl & Brendan moved in to the flat beneath us at 201 Brunswick Road
after they were married in 1970, I used to deliver their Sun newspaper to them
and sometimes they would get fresh marshmallows that Viva had made as well. In
return, Cheryl started a lovely tradition of inviting us in for toasted
sandwiches on a Sunday night, and we still think she made the best toasted
sandwiches ever!
Wes felt well enough to get up on Friday and he certainly
looked much better than he had. Bilbo and I walked early and then joined Josie
& Sue doing the short Bushwalk, which turned out to be around Cornish Hill,
up to Victoria Park and back home via Lake Daylesford. We stopped for a hot
drink at the Bookbarn and Bilbo scored two apples as well as a long drink of
water out of a proper dog bowl. Wes poached some cod for lunch which we had
with mashed potato and our own beans. Very yummy indeed!
Another photo
showing the strength of the mini-tornado that ripped up gums & pines around
Lake Daylesford on 28th February this year.
Yesterday Wes felt well enough to walk Bilbo early, so he
did that & I enjoyed reading a bit of The Age in bed before getting up to
share an exciting breakfast of prawn congee. Wes had found a recipe for it and
decided to give it a go and it was a big success, although it took a lot of
work, including overnight soaking of the rice. I’m not sure this will become a
regular fixture on our dining menu! While I made a boiled fruit cake and cleaned
the fridge, Wes spent an hour or so in the garden, which had missed his
attention while he was so unwell. He planted some of the plants he had been
propagating – seaside daisies and various mints. Then Josh Gilligan came around
for an hour or so to discuss next Saturday’s ALP Conference in Melbourne, where
Wes is a delegate.
Then it was my turn to spend an hour in the garden –
rearranging plants in the green-house, harvesting bok choi, beans &
tomatoes and planting some baby spinach, which seems to grown very well here.
Bilbo was under my feet the whole time, watching everything I did and
occasionally lying in the sun for a snooze.
Green-house with
capsicum, Lebanese cucumbers, chillies, baby spinach & dill seeds
germinating in the seed tray.
We were very sad to read of the sudden death of Malcolm
Fraser on Friday. We hated him with a passion when he used Kerr to remove
Whitlam, but in later years he seemed to turn into a statesman, and invariably
supported the better way of doing things, even forming Care Australia and more
recently resigning from the Liberal Party because it no longer represented his
beliefs. He and Gough even became friends, which was inconceivable in 1975.
The boys next door, Rob & Dene, gave me Molly Meldrum’s
autobiography to read when I was sick and I duly read through it, with many
memories of Countdown. Molly’s contribution to Australia’s music industry is
truly remarkable. One of our local friends, Sandy Breen, an artist, and
passionate St Kilda supporter, has always claimed that Molly asked her to marry
him, and sure enough, in the book, he states that she was his first love and
refused to marry him as they were having too much fun. They both knew the
marriage wouldn’t have lasted very long as Molly’s preferences are definitely
for blokes rather than sheilas.
Here are Molly
& Sandy in the mid-sixties at a St Kilda Football Club ball – Sandy was
President of the Cheer Squad and Molly was desperate to become a member!
Talking about footy, the least said about Collingwood’s
performance last night against the Western Bulldogs, the better, although I am
thrilled to bits to the Doggies playing so well – hopefully their new coach has
brought a greater sense of team to them and having Robert Murphy as their
captain can’t hurt either. We went to bed at half-time and are very pleased we
did.
The incredible sporting feat yesterday was the performance
by Kiwi, Martin Guptill, who carried his bat and scored 237 in his side’s innings
against the West Indies in the final Quarter Final of the One-Day International
World Cup. This included 11 sixes & 24 fours and he also took two catches during
the West Indies innings. I saw most of his time at the crease and it was truly
remarkable.
Bilbo and I have had our early walk around town, and now he
is lying at my feet waiting to go to the Sunday Market, and then Breakfast. It
is a cool morning, but promises to be a lovely day. From where I sit I can see
the trees across the Lake starting to turn yellow and red, which is the beauty
of Autumn here.
Castle Stalker in Scotland
– what a wonderful place it is – can’t wait to go back there again!
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