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Dear Friends, this week started with a most enjoyable
breakfast upstairs at ‘The Food Gallery’. Glenn Mack joined us unexpectedly and
he seemed to provoke some thoughtful discussions about shellshock, footballers
& cherry pickers. We were all sorry to leave, but Wes and I had to get on
the road to Melbourne and Bilbo was feeling the cold sitting outside on his
own. He especially missed Margot who usually spoils him to death.
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My first Communion
photo at St Monica’s Church, Moonee Ponds in 1958
We drove through pouring rain until after Woodend, when the
weather seemed to improve markedly. Our visit to Leanne was very good – she had
made a fresh batch of her yummy biscuits, which we ate as we chatted about the
funniest Mothers’ Day lunch we could remember. This was a few years ago at
‘Ocean Blue’ a Greek restaurant at Port Melbourne. Leanne had booked a table
with a view, which turned out to be of the stairwell. All the men were doing
the cooking and waiting and it was a complete hoot from go to whoa. Our glasses
were frequently moved out of our reach so that more food could be put down;
‘are youse finished picking at that’ was the most common request from our
waiter; Viva’s longing for oysters couldn’t be met; and at the end of lunch,
the staff formed a guard of honour for us to walk out and presented Viva,
Leanne, & I with a wilted red rose each. We laughed until we cried for
quite a few weeks after that. Viva declared it her best Mothers’ Day lunch
ever!
In the backyard at
Morrow Street, West Brunswick, taken with my very first camera – me with
Leanne, 1962
We arrived home in time for Wes to fill Barbara’s car with
petrol, as she wanted to drive to Melbourne to see friends on Monday. He
cleaned the fireplace and settled down with a whisky to watch Carlton play the
Brisbane Lions. Like all Carlton supporters, he was disgusted with the lack of
effort shown by some of the Blues’ players and especially at the end of the
game, when very few of them seemed to be hurt by the loss.
We woke on Monday to lots more rain, which eventually blew
away and ushered in some very welcome blue skies. Everyone’s tanks are full to
overflowing, so it was good to have the clear skies. On my way to gym, I
noticed a car had left the road at the intersection of Vincent & Raglan
Streets and ploughed into a seat and then a tree before coming to a halt. This
accident happened about 50 metres from the police station, which was convenient
and there didn’t appear to be any injuries. On Saturday, I had seen the fire
crews putting out a fire in a car in Bleakley Street, near Lake Daylesford, and
hopefully no-one was injured there either.
Me wearing one of
my first hand-made dresses, standing in the front garden of Morrow Street, West
Brunswick, 1967
We both spent much of the day in front of our computers, as
it was too wet for outdoor activities. Attendance at gym was lower than usual,
but we all soon warmed up and enjoyed our session. Wes made a yummy vegetable
risotto for lunch and I caught up with back episodes of ‘Downton Abbey’ while
doing the ironing. That night was an ALP meeting, for which Wes had worked
hard.
Tuesday was another grey day – I emptied 50mls from the rain gauge and
dressed to walk Bilbo but was forced to postpone that pleasure until just
before 9am when it fined up. We walked around the back of our place (Argus
Hill) over to Cornish Hill (both sites of gold mines), along Orford Street to
the Wombat Hill Botanic Gardens. We made our way home along Raglan Street, down
Vincent Street and finally along King Street, by which time the rain had
revisited and we got a little wet. Bilbo found an apple on the walk, so he was
content.
Visiting Wes at
work at Federated Mercantile International, Queen Street, Melbourne in 1972
My dictionary suggested the Word of the Day was
‘bibliomania’, which is an excessive fondness for acquiring and possessing
books – something that Viva and I shared and I suspect Gillie does as well. It
isn’t enough to read them, you have to own them, so you can pick them up and
dip into them again when you feel like it. I have just read ‘Noah’s Compass’,
possibly the best Anne Tyler book ever... even better than ‘The Accidental
Tourist’, which has always been my favourite. Anne has a unique ability to see
inside us and understand the motivations and feelings of all of her brilliantly
delineated characters.
Judi & I met for lunch at ‘The Food Gallery’, and both
enjoyed Toni’s very yummy fish chowder, as well as catching up on each other’s
news. Wes had hoped to join us after he had shown the morning’s film, ‘Big
Eyes’, but arrived just as we were finishing up. Last Friday I had been to see
my GP, Greg Stewart, to make sure that my current batch of lumps, bumps &
spots were all OK, and although he thought they were, we decided that it was
better to be absolutely sure with one particular lump, so I drove to St John of
God Hospital for an ultrasound. The radiologist very kindly indicated that
there was nothing to worry about after she had finished looking, which was very
welcome news indeed.
We were expecting snow on Wednesday, but sadly, it never
arrived, although it did fall at Leonard’s Hill, about 10 minutes away from
Daylesford. It was bitterly cold early when Wes walked Bilbo, and when I went
to gym, but by the time I got back home the temperature was 6° and positively
balmy. I emptied 50mls of rain out of the gauge, changed clothes and went to
‘Muffins & More’, where Dot, Valerie and I had a fun morning chatting &
playing Mah Jong. The café was very busy with a constant stream of patrons
looking for hot drinks and hot food.
We had hoped that Wayne from Barclays in Ballarat would have
returned our dishwasher and Wes cancelled most of his activities, except
spending time with Barbara, because he was just across the road, to make sure
he was here if Wayne should arrive. No Wayne of course and so I continue to
wash up dishes. One of the downsides to the loss of our dishwasher is the
dripping tap under the sink, which we didn’t discover for 24 hours, by which
time the downstairs guest room ceiling had taken quite a lot of water. That is
slowly drying out, and we hope that Nick Massaro will be able to give it a coat
of paint when he paints the two spots where plaster has been repaired in our
bedroom & the kitchen.
Proud co-owner of
Maloney Manor, 246 Brunswick Road, Brunswick in 1977
We ended up lighting a fire mid-afternoon and Bilbo and I
relaxed in front of it, me reading and him zedding. When Wes joined us, we
watched the latest episode of ‘Wolf Hall’ before the ABC news & then AFL
360°, which I really enjoy.
Thursday morning had been earmarked for a serious discussion
of new wills. We last made our wills in 2003 and quite a lot has changed since
then, so we spent a good hour discussing them before Wes put them into some
sort of order to send to Peter Russo, our solicitor in Brunswick. On Tuesday afternoon,
I had visited the NAB, our bank of choice since 1968, and asked what would
happen to our joint account if one of us should die. We were very relieved to
discover that as we have an either/or signature clause on our account, it would
not be automatically frozen or closed on the death of one of us. Our credit
cards are in my name, but the debit cards are linked to our joint account,
which means that if I died first, Wes could still use the debit card in lieu of
cash until he got his own credit card.
At Circular Quay
with Wes & Brendan Kierce in 1979
The Bushwalking Group was off to the Lodden River on Friday
morning and staying for lunch afterwards at Caroline Bellair’s home, so I
decided to take Bilbo for the long walk around Jubilee Lake & the old
railway line. It was a lovely sunny crisp morning and, apart from a peacock and
a fox, we didn’t see another living soul on our travels. Bilbo was thrilled to
be able to swish through Autumn leaves and paddle through puddles and spent the
rest of the day fast asleep as if in a coma!
Yesterday Wes walked Bilbo early and we watched the mist
rise quickly to usher in a dry and sunny day. After scrambled eggs for
breakfast, Wes went off to Ancestry and I walked Bilbo into town to collect
some Scottish Glacier Mints from Jeannie at ‘Village on Vincent’, (a small
shopping arcade next to ‘Gracenotes Café’), which is on the market and about to
close down. It has been a useful way for a small business owner to see if there
is a market for what he/she has to offer. We are constantly amazed at the
number of businesses that just open up here and so often they are offering
nothing new. An exception is the Creswick Woollen Mills, which started off
about 3 years ago as a pop-up shop. It did so well that they quickly rented a small
shopfront in Vincent Street, and now they have moved into the vacant hardware
shop where Jenkin & Thomas used to be. They now have a spacious well-lit
area with plenty of storage space and excellent change-rooms. And they will do
well, because they know they have a market.
Wes, and all his Carlton friends, were once again very
disappointed with the poor showing by the Blues against Greater Western Sydney.
This is going to be a very long year for the Navy Blues. We also watched the
exciting Sydney & Geelong match, which Sydney won well in the end. This
morning we are off to breakfast after the Sunday Market, and then Wes and I are
going to watch Collingwood & Richmond at the MCG. We have reserved seats in
the MCC area. My sister, Paun, her husband, Brian, and their three sons, Liam,
Warwick & Rohan, are all in Melbourne catching up on footy games, so we may
find each other among the crowd this afternoon. They all visited Leanne
yesterday, which was a lovely treat for all of them.
This is in 1983
after a trip to the Strand Hatters in Sydney – love this red hat!
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