As I have been
feeling better, I have been making occasional long overdue phone calls in an
effort to catch up with patient friends in Melbourne (mostly), who don’t ring
because they hope I will ring them. So far, I have enjoyed great chats with old
friends like Kathy Lazzaro, which resulted in a visit from Kathy & Ged this
weekend; Gayle Gibson; Shar O’Reilly, where I found out that her ex-husband,
Jamie, had died earlier this year; and newer ones like Jane & David Knox in
Sydney. I also speak with my sister, Leanne, every couple of days, and that is
usually 20-25 minutes.
Here is a lovely
photo of Marilyn & Robert Preston’s two beautiful granddaughters, Charlotte
& Ruby, which featured in Facebook during the week.
As well we received
emails from Genevieve and Ava Spiteri (daughters of Matt Spiteri & Sara
Lacey) thanking us for their birthday cards. Here is Ava making a wish before
blowing out the candles.
And just in case
you’ve forgotten what he looks like, here is Bilbo using his friend as a chin
rest.
We’ve enjoyed a
typical week – me doing gym twice, Wes gardening, each of us walking whenever
we can, especially with Bilbo. Wes spending hours on Ancestry.com seeking out
interesting information about members of our respective families, as well as
working on short stories about various members or events in their lives.
Views of the front with lilac in
bloom and the rosemary hedge in full flower – you can just see the dog decking
which is covered by Banksia rose, also in bloom
The film this week
was ‘Holding the Man’ which was attended by 19 patrons at the Daylesford
Cinema. This wonderful Australian film is a bittersweet adaptation of Timothy
Conigrave’s posthumous 1995 memoir about growing up gay in the 1970s and
falling in love with a schoolmate in Melbourne’s Xavier College. I don’t think
there was a dry eye in the house at the end.
Daylesford
experienced a power blackout just as Warren was about to begin showing the
shorts, so he, in consultation with the audience, decided to delay the film
until 10.30am start in the hope that power would be restored by then. It was,
but I had a 1pm appointment and the film went for just over 2 hours, so it was
a near thing to get to Emma at EKO on time for my relaxing facial etc.
Dot was well enough
to be back at Mah Jong this week and promptly won most of the games we played,
except for one where Valerie prevailed. We were asked by another couple of
patrons in the café whether there was a club they could join and we pleased to
be able to refer them to the U3A Mah Jong Club, which still plays at the Masonic
Centre.
I went along to
hear Jude Brown, former nun, talk about her experiences in the Convent, as part
of a U3A series entitled ‘Interesting Lives’ on Thursday. This was well
attended and we learnt quite a lot about the Loreto order, nuns in general
& Jude in particular. Afterwards I had been invited by my friend, Rhonda,
for a light lunch at her place, where we admired her beautiful garden, which is
full of flowering rhododendrons, and I met her lovely cat, Miss Sharon. Lunch
was wonderful as any meal from Rhonda always is, and we chatted for almost 2
hours, before it was time for me to come home.
The Bushwalking
Group travelled to Kyneton on Friday morning, which meant Bilbo, Judi & I wouldn’t
get back to Daylesford until nearly lunchtime, so we three, plus Judi’s dogs,
Maddie & Major, walked around the Botanic Gardens together. Afterwards I
drove us all to the Food Gallery, where we sat happily chatting and drinking
Jasmine tea and saying hello to all the friends passing by. Wes spent the morning
helping Margot with her computer again and she is very pleased indeed.
Later that
afternoon, Kathy & Ged arrived to spend the weekend with us. We opened a
bottle of Cofield Sparkling Shiraz to celebrate, Wes cooked porterhouse and
salmon on the barbecue, and we chatted over cheeses until we were all ready for
bed.
Kathy & Ged at breakfast
yesterday morning
Yesterday was one
of the most perfect days you could wish for, here in Camelot. The weather was
wonderful, with the sun shining, but not too hot, and we were able to open all
the windows and leave them open all day. After breakfast – Wes’s scrambled eggs
& bacon on muffins, we headed off in Kathy & Ged’s lovely new car to
visit the Leonard’s Hill Market. This is a tiny little affair, as befits a very
small community, but Kathy & I managed to find a few things to buy,
including some beautiful irises, which had been cultivated by Ken Rae’s son,
Chris.
Then we headed
through the Wombat Forest and past the Ashram to the Ballarat Road, where we
found David Dawson’s wrought iron showroom and gardens in Blampied. This is a
stunning display and his work is shown to much better effect than it ever was
in a small plot of land in town. On the way back to Daylesford we detoured into
Spring Park Nursery & Rose Gardens, where we bought a very pretty,
fragrant, climbing double red rose to go over one of our arches.
Next stop was The
Bookbarn by the side of Lake Daylesford, where we had tea, coffee and ANZAC
biscuits and enjoyed the serenity of the decking there far from the children’s
playground and the Boathouse Café.
We parked in the
main street and headed into David Bromley’s Gallery, which I am ashamed to say
we had not visited until now. We were amazed by what he has done with a very
long narrow shopfront. His work commands big prices and it is very cleverly
displayed with a judicious use of mirrors. He has opened up much further and
added stairs at the back of the shop and has even moved into behind the
newsagency next door. Kathy, Wes and I then popped into the Creswick Woollen
Mills shop, which has been further advanced by a boutique space given to Liz
Davenport designs. I managed to find a lightweight black vest for Summer, so we
all came home happy with our purchases.
The afternoon was
spent by Kathy & me knitting & watching the races, Ged walking around
the Lake & Wes working on Ancestry. We had a silly quinella on the
Caulfield Cup and it came home to the tune of $81. Wes cooked salmon pasta; we
demolished another sparkling shiraz and somehow fitted in Eton Mess in front of
the latest episode of ‘New Tricks’. This was a perfect day with old
friends.....
No comments:
Post a Comment