Dear Friends, when I last wrote it was Sunday morning and we
were heading off for our usual activities. Aileen joined us at breakfast for a
while and we were pleased to discover that her mother, Dorothy, now has hearing
aids that fit & work and that she is feeling much better as a result. We
discovered that Margot is over Helen Mirren, Judi Dench & Lisa McCune – if
Warren had been able to hear what she was saying, he would have been horrified
by the first two, but in total agreement with the third.
After breakfast, I dropped Wes home and drove back to the
Wombat Gardens where Bilbo and I did a circuit. I was keen to do another but
Bilbo was very happy to go home instead. In the afternoon, in front of the
fire, we were able to watch Carlton record another win. The footy wasn’t
fantastic and Wes kept apologising for the standard, but at least the Blues won
even if their opponents are injury-ridden and bottom of the ladder. Afterwards
we had homemade pizzas for dinner and an early night.
Wonderful photo of
Danny & his family on his birthday. Clockwise – Danny, Lauren, Travis &
Rosie, Celia, Cory with Isla (hidden), Penny, Harry, Greta, Myles, Patrick
& Kate
When Wes got up on Monday morning he felt very giddy and
unwell, which gave him quite a fright. He came back to bed and I persuaded him
to lie on his back on two pillows until he started to feel better. Fortunately,
he fell asleep and only woke when I let him know he needed to get up for his
doctor’s appointment. We saw Adam Rouse, who is new to both of us, and he
confirmed that Wes had an ear infection and needed strong antibiotics to help
clear it up before having an ear syringe. So we made an appointment for that on
Thursday and started on the amoxicillin, which could be taken four times per
day.
Bilbo and I went for our walk after we got back home. It was
a beautiful day after another cold start, so we went up the back of our street,
along Queensbury Street and into the gardens, which were peaceful and quiet,
even though it is school holidays. When we got home, I heated up the rest of
the minestrone for lunch and Wes enjoyed sitting inside with the sun streaming
in as he read for a while. He spent much of the afternoon on executor matters
that just can’t wait, before agreeing to a relaxing small whisky before an
early night.
There have been a few things happening locally – both the
‘Farmers Arms Hotel’ and ‘Gracenotes Café’ have changed hands after quite a few
years under excellent ownership. We were horrified to learn from Janine at
breakfast that Chris Sinclair, co-owner & chef at ‘Gracenotes’ had
undergone a quadruple bypass last week. The timing for the sale of that
business couldn’t be better. Also, the large vacant area in Howe Street, that
used to be the bus terminal, is being redeveloped and turned into shops, shops,
shops, about 7 of them – what a surprise. God knows what new and exciting goods
are coming to Daylesford, but the shops are quite small, narrow & long with
very little, if any, natural lighting.
Fascinating
Japanese sculpture from Rob & Dene’s travels
We all woke feeling much better on Tuesday as Wes had slept
well and was starting to look more like himself although his hearing was still
poor. I dropped him off at the Daylesford Cinema to warm up the theatre and
took Bilbo for a walk before heading back to see the much-anticipated film
‘Inside Out’.
The cinema was well over half-full with lots of families to
see the film. I enjoyed it very much and thought it was the usual excellent
Disney fare trying to give kids a simple understanding of what makes up a
personality and how a person’s mood can be affected by joy, sadness, envy, fear
or anger. Wes said that most of the feedback he received was positive, but that
there was a dreadful mess to pick up after everyone had gone. The next film to
be shown was ‘Woman in Gold’, which would have attracted a very different
audience.
Afterwards I met Gail White for lunch at ‘The Food Gallery’
where we both enjoyed their seafood chowder, which is tasty and filling. They
were run off their feet, which was good to see. Gail updated me on their travel
plans, which include a South-East Asian cruise in October with Terry’s three
sisters & partners. Just before they leave there will be a 20-year
Anniversary get-together to remember their son, Matthew, who died in 1995. Most
of his friends have stayed friends and kept in touch with Gail & Terry
& their two daughters who live in the Blue Mountains. Gail assured me that
it doesn’t get any easier to cope with as time goes by and that they miss him
and regret the life he was unable to have because he succumbed to leukaemia.
On Wednesday, I went off to gym and on my return took Bilbo
for a walk around Jubilee Lake. It is a lovely stroll, although a little
slippery when it has been raining. Wes went over to spend time with Barbara
helping her get ready for her visitors and arrived back about 4 hours later
absolutely exhausted, as he hasn’t done much physical labour since he has been
sick. I fed him special fried rice and sent him to bed, both of which helped
his recovery. I had spent the rest of the morning putting our car insurances
with RACV. We have stayed loyal to OAMPS, but their new owner, AJG, didn’t
bother sending out renewals until I emailed them asking where they were, and
those renewals didn’t arrive until after 4pm on 30th June, when the
insurances were due.
Our lovely
waitress, Kerry, at the Food Gallery, showing off the vine-ripened tomatoes
that Wes received for breakfast for a change. He said they were very yummy
indeed.
Wes got up briefly but was easily persuaded to go back to
bed and slept well all night, which was good as he had a big day on Thursday.
First stop was Strathmore to deliver some good plastic
storage containers to Leanne, as well as 6 eggs from Gillie’s new chooks. Then
off to see Peter Russo in Brunswick before driving to Malvern to talk with the
estate agent chosen to handle the sale of Joan’s house.
Finally he drove back to Northcote where Danny Millman was
hosting a ‘Boys’ Card Night’ with Robert, Tom, Squiz, Fraser, Mike & Ged.
Wes laying down the
law to the boys – he might as well hold the floor as he couldn’t hear any
objections!
Meanwhile I went shopping early to Coles before taking Bilbo
for a wettish walk around Lake Daylesford. We arrived back home in time for me
to change clothes and get to EKO for a manicure with Alanna. I came back to
discover that our dishwasher was going to cost $700+ to repair and we were in
total agreement with Barclays that it would be madness to proceed. They decided
not to charge us for their services in return for us not pursuing them for the
repair of the downstairs ceiling that became discoloured and distorted when
Wayne, the repairman, didn’t turn off the tap fully; an oversight that I didn’t
discover for 24 hours, by which time the damage was done.
After lunch, I went to Bi-Rite where Tim spent about 30
minutes with me helping me choose a new dishwasher. We settled on ASKO, which
he and John highly recommend and I was able to buy an extended warranty, which
will give us 5 years cover. The new dishwasher has the flexible cutlery tray
that was a feature of our old Bosch and I much prefer it to the cutlery basket.
We should have the new one early next week and Garry Wilkinson, the plumber, is
on stand-by to install it for us.
Friday was a cold morning again with a beautiful full moon
above low-flying clouds, which cast an eerie light around 7am. Bilbo and I
pumped water at Leitches Creek before joining the Bushwalkers for the short
walk. There I heard the shocking news that Phil Walsh, coach of the Adelaide
Crows, had been murdered by his son overnight. Our walk was tinged with sadness
as we all tried to come to terms yet again with the fragility of life. We
traced some of the steps taken by ‘The Three Lost Children’, who died when they
got lost after going for a walk during the gold rush days. Two new walkers,
Andy & Jan, from Trentham, swelled our numbers to 8 and there were at least
20 doing the longer walk.
Footy scarves in
one of our bedroom windows in honour of Phil Walsh
In 1983, during the decade I was Treasurer of the Ladies
Committee, Phil came to Collingwood to start his VFL career and played every
game that year on the wing. I remember him well as a stunningly good
footballer, who was poached by Richmond the next year. These two teams were
busy hating each other and trying to attract each other’s stars to defect. The
best thing that came out of this period was the move of David Cloke from
Richmond to Collingwood & later he and his family decided that all three of
their sons would play for Collingwood, not Richmond, under the Father/Son rule.
Wes arrived home late in the morning after taking Danny to
breakfast at ‘Foxtrot Charlie’ in Brunswick to thank him for his hospitality
and allowing him to stay overnight. He was quite tired and slept on and off
most of the day before making us a yummy dinner and watching the first quarter
of the Collingwood vs Hawthorn game at the MCG. We were both moved by the AFL’s
sensible decisions to cancel Sunday’s game between Adelaide & Geelong, to ask
the other teams to play but to tone down their pre-game entertainments, abandon
the playing of theme songs & running through banners, and to forgo the
usual post-game singing of the song by the winning team.
However, I don’t think the AFL quite expected this to happen
after our game, when Alastair Clarkson, coach of Hawthorn, moved with Nathan
Buckley, coach of Collingwood, to bring all players together for another
minute’s silence after the Hawks had won a hard-fought tussle by 10 points. I
had turned off the TV and missed seeing it live, but was able to watch it
yesterday morning on Facebook.
Wes
seemed much better yesterday morning when he woke up and could even hear a
little better. I took Bilbo for a walk at 8am and we met Wes at the Daylesford
Farmers Market an hour later. We also caught up with Gillie & Judi with her
dogs, who had been walking around Lake Daylesford. We came home for a quiet
morning as we were off to Barbara Simpson’s 60th birthday lunch at
‘Mercato’ with 12 others. We even passed Barbara in the street as she pulled up
with her sister, Margaret, and husband, Noel, on their way to a light breakfast
at ‘Gracenotes Café’.
Outside the Rotary
Stall at the Farmers Market – Bilbo is looking for another snag in bread from
Alan, while Judi’s two dogs, Maddy & Major sit obediently at her feet
Lunch went well – Barbara enjoyed having her family & some
friends with her at Mercato’s best square table, while Wes, Glenn, Denise,
Janine & I were at a smaller side table. John & Jan Smith had driven up
from Sandhurst, while Gail White was on her own as her husband, Terry, was
working. We had a beautiful meal – those of us who had the soufflé entree were
in awe! The service was excellent and Barbara’s visitors from New Zealand would
have gone away thinking we are very lucky indeed to have such a wonderful restaurant
in this little country town.
Last night Wes and I watched the Carlton vs Bulldogs match,
which was an amazingly poor game of footy. Perhaps the players were all
affected by Phil Walsh’s death or maybe it was just one of those nights. We had
earlier seen the Gold Coast Suns play stunningly good footy to run all over North
Melbourne and record their second win for the season. What a difference it
makes when the captain and best player in the AFL is back in the side!
Interesting all game so far have followed the trend started by Collingwood
& Hawthorn and players & coaches are forming a circle on the ground
after the final siren.
This morning Bilbo and I are off to the Sunday Market
followed by Sunday Breakfast which will be a big one with 12 of us in attendance.
Anne & Eddie have to leave after breakfast to fly back to NZ, but Wes is
going to take Margaret & Noel on a tour of the Shire for a couple of hours
before coming home to rest as he is still not 100% and still can’t hear
properly.
Lovely photo of
David & Jane Knox freezing in the Blue Mountains this week. They are
getting ready to visit London for their daughter, Emily’s wedding to Alan, on Sunday,
26th July.
New Year’s Eve
Fireworks in Iceland – I know it isn’t that time of year but I have only just
seen this stunning photo and thought I would share it.
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