Dear Friends, we enjoyed a lively discussion at breakfast
last Sunday and Bilbo got lots of attention as he was wearing his knitted coat.
Although he doesn’t look all that fussed, he really was quite delighted to be
stylishly warm! In the afternoon, Wes drove to Ballarat to meet with Bill
Shorten who was spending a little time there. Bill knew who he was, but was
unable to satisfactorily answer his question, the first asked, about the ALP’s
refugee policy. I stayed at home doing some gardening – mostly rescuing the
chilli plants from the frosts, then watched a couple of very exciting games of
footy. Well done to the Demons and Tigers for very good wins.
Wes made us very yummy colourful pizzas that night.
Monday dawned cool and frosty so Wes and Bilbo decided to
have a little sleep-in. I went off to gym, Wes went to see his doctor and I
came back home to a massage with Nick Massaro. It turned into a beautiful day,
so Wes spent quite a few hours in the garden and I took Bilbo for a walk into
town to get refills at Daylesford Aromatherapy, where I buy all our shampoos,
conditioners, rosewater, laundry powder, dishwashing liquid and essential oils.
We came home to a beautiful risotto lunch and as it was still a glorious day,
warm enough for short sleeves, I took Bilbo out again for another long walk.
This time we went up the back of our place, through the gardens and the old
railway line, before coming back home via Cornish Hill.
The next day was cold again early, but Wes and Bilbo braved
the frost and ice and enjoyed a good walk until the torch gave out halfway
around Lake Daylesford. The TV Show, ‘Sunrise’ was broadcasting from the Lake
House that morning and Wes saw it all being set up. The film being shown that
morning was ‘Boychoir’ with Dustin Hoffman. I was so pleased I went as I
enjoyed it very much and was blown away by the music. It was a little schmalzy
in parts, but not enough to ruin the experience. This was the last film being
advertised as suitable for ‘Mums & Bubs’ and guess what, after months of
none of them, there was a mother nursing her very young and extremely
well-behaved baby in the front row.
Afterwards Wes had lunch at ‘The Food Gallery’ with John
Bohn, to talk about the swimming group that used to exist in Daylesford. I had
a quick bite of leftover pasta at home and walked Bilbo to ‘The Cutting Studio’
for a haircut and chat with Lyndal. My latest hairdresser is an admirable young
woman – she lost her mother to breast cancer when she was 18 and this year she
decided to do the Mothers’ Day run in Geelong, where she raised $2,000 towards
breast cancer research. Her father is a trotting trainer and they spend lots of
time together with the horses. Lyndal is the granddaughter of Pat Conroy, who I
met about 15 years ago when I first joined the Bushwalking Group.
Later that afternoon Jenny & Eddie Beacham came over to
hear about Wes’s meeting with Bill Shorten, so we put a couple of bottles of
Best’s Sparkling Shiraz on ice, lit the fire, found a yummy assortment of
cheeses and accompaniments and spent a most enjoyable hour and a half with them
both. I may have mentioned before that they have both been prominent in the ALP
and our paths have crossed for over 40 years. We never imagined back in the 70s
& 80s that we would enjoy each other’s company the way we do here in
retirement.
Wayne brought back our dishwasher on Wednesday morning and
it promptly shorted the house out. He discovered the lead from the appliance to
the power point was faulty, which hadn’t shown up in the factory, and once
again we got error messages and the dishwasher was full of water. So Wayne has
taken it back for one last attempt to get it working properly. We have had all
our power points checked and are 100% certain the issue lies in the dishwasher,
but it is out of warranty and we have to try every avenue before consigning it
to the scrap heap.
After gym, I played Mah Jong with Dot & Valerie and we
enjoyed a fun morning as usual. Wes spent time in the garden both here and over
at Barbara’s place. In the afternoon, he drove to Newlyn to interview Faye
Hungerford, partner with her husband John, in ‘Newlyn Antiques’. He spent a
long time there and is probably only halfway through. Faye has led an
interesting life and spent much of it on the amateur stage.
Frozen water in the
fountain
I had offered to drive Judi to the airport on Thursday
morning as she was off to Caloundra to visit her mother, Mavis, for about 10
days. We had a good trip and I deposited her at the Departures entrance in
plenty of time, then headed off to Strathmore to spend time with Leanne. We had
decided to sort out what was left in the garage as there is a hard rubbish
collection coming up. Apart from that work, we sat around chatting, admiring
Smokey and enjoying salad sandwiches for lunch. I had an easy trip back home
where things had been very quiet except for Wes accompanying Barbara to have
her stitches out at our local medical centre.
Friday was cold early, but it had fined up by the time Bilbo
& I set off for the Bushwalking Group just before 9am. Malcolm, George
& I did a good walk along Doctors Gully from Ingrow Lane to Fifth Street
and back again. We stopped at Malcolm & Ruth’s place for morning tea, which
was very civilised indeed. Our route took us past some mineshafts as well as
remnants of sluicing areas, which interested Malcolm & George enormously.
Bilbo was much more interested in the young wallabies and older kangaroos we
spotted along the way.
Yesterday was a cold morning followed by dense fog, which
was relieved by incessant birdsong – we weren’t sure what the birds were
singing about, but it was beautiful to hear. Perhaps it was a message to let me
know that stocks of birdseed were low in Fawlty Towers. We had received a most
unexpected letter during the week from Andrew Reynolds, an old friend with whom
we had lost touch over the past 15 years or so. He and his partner, Sue, were
spending the weekend in Hepburn and he wondered if we could catch up. We were
most excited and invited him to come around for a drink mid-afternoon. We lit
the fire, set out the wine and cheese and waited impatiently until he arrived
at the door. It was so good to see him again and we tried very hard to catch up
on all that has happened since our lives were intertwined all those years ago.
Later on, he and Wes picked up Sue, who had been walking around Hepburn and
brought her back so we could meet her. She is a lovely, interesting woman who
has recently walked the Comino and is heading off to Italy to walk around the
active volcano on Stromboli. We managed
to get them a booking at ‘Mercato’ for dinner and hope they had a lovely night
there.
Today Bilbo and I are off to pump mineral water before going
to the Sunday Market. Then there will be a small group of us at breakfast. I
have decided not to go to the footy this afternoon, as it will be dark by the
time I am driving home and I don’t want to have to drive through the sort of
dense fog we have been experiencing lately.
Salvia in the front
garden – doesn’t seem to mind the frost
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