Dear Friends, we
enjoyed a very chatty breakfast last Sunday. As well as Kathy & Gerard, who
were staying with us; Mary Goodall is in Daylesford again, dog & house
sitting for the Anglican Minister, Jeff O’Hare, and Janine Hawker brought her
son, Paul. We talked in small groups early on before breakfast arrived. Then we moved to table topics, such as the
superiority of Labradors as a breed (surprise, surprise); dairies &
Clydesdale horses, and other delights of our childhoods, and finally, Margot
amazed us by telling of her friend, Adrian, who feeds a magpie family with
pieces of meat every day and has been rewarded with three witchetty grubs from
the father magpie!
After breakfast,
Wes met Barbara at Coles Supermarket to help her do a large shop, while Kathy,
Ged, Bilbo & I all walked around the Wombat Hill Botanic Gardens, where the
azaleas and rhododendrons are in full bloom. Kathy & Ged then headed home
via the Garden of St Erth at Blackwood, and Bilbo and I strolled home to spend
a quiet day with Wes after a very busy couple of days.
Ebb Tide - our very first rose to
bloom this Spring
We both had busy
mornings on Monday – I set off for gym, but was home again shortly afterwards.
Poor Barry had mistakenly put on his very best aftershave, and I was so
asthmatic it was impossible to continue. Instead, I collected Bilbo and we went
for two circuits of the Botanic Gardens, which got plenty of fresh air back
into my lungs and exhausted him for the day.
We were back in
time for me to have a massage with Nick Massaro, who doubles as our handyman.
After the massage, while I washed the Mazda 6, he mended 4 chairs and fixed our
bedroom door, which hasn’t closed properly since the floating cork floor was
replaced when we had the fire in the dishwasher three years ago. It wasn’t an
issue until Bilbo started opening the door and getting comfy on our bed whenever
he felt like it! Meanwhile Wes went off to a meeting of an informal Writers’
Group, which meets at ‘Wombat Hill House’ in the Botanic Gardens.
Margot had invited
Bilbo to lunch with her at ‘The Glenlyon General Store’ and we were allowed to
tag along. We picked Margot up at her home in Hepburn Springs and drove the 10
minutes to Glenlyon, where we found a table with umbrellas in the shade. Margot
had brought a big bowtie for Bilbo to wear and surreptitiously fed him titbits
from her lunch. We were pleasantly surprised with the quality of the food we
ate and I was especially thrilled to discover they stocked jasmine tea.
We sat chatting for
a couple of hours before returning Margot to her home and the three of us to
Daylesford – Bilbo without his bowtie, which will no doubt emerge on another
occasion.
Yummy meals & lovely teacups
The next day Wes
got up early to walk Bilbo around Lake Daylesford before heading in to show the
immensely enjoyable film ‘A Walk in the Woods’ based on a Bill Bryson true
story, starring Robert Redford & Nick Nolte & Emma Thompson. We laughed
and cried our way through this with about a dozen other patrons. Afterwards we
came home to special fried rice and Wes put in another afternoon writing, while
I did various household chores before settling down with The Age and cryptic
crosswords.
On Wednesday, Wes
drove to Brunswick to have lunch with Kyahl Anderson, oldest son of his nephew,
John, at our favourite Sydney Road eatery ‘Foxtrot Charlie’. He also visited
Peter Russo before driving out to Malvern to meet with his cousin, Amanda, at
Joan Testro’s home to see what needs to be done before settlement next month.
Meanwhile I went back to gym, where no one was wearing perfume or aftershave.
Valerie, Dot & I met for Mah Jong at ‘Muffins & More’ until Dot left
early when her husband, John, wasn’t feeling wonderful and decided he needed to
see a doctor. Fortunately, he was diagnosed with a throat infection, so we are
all relieved.
Back home, I
collected Bilbo and we went for a long walk in the Botanic Gardens before
settling down to a quiet afternoon with ‘The Age’ and crosswords. It was a
lovely day, not too hot, with a pleasant breeze that removed the sultriness of
the previous 24 hours. We even got 3.5 mls of rain, which was very welcome
indeed. Wes arrived home while it was still daylight – one of the very good
things about Daylight Saving.
Thursday was cold
and windy, so there was no early walk for Bilbo. He was very happy to come back
to bed after his bone and kept me company while I did the crosswords in The
Age. Wes and I headed off to Ballarat through the rain and mist to see the
Archibald Exhibition. We were most impressed with the way the Ballarat Art
Gallery showed these finalist portraits for the Archibald Prize and Wes had no
hesitation in voting for the Michael Caton study, while I loved the painting of
Jenny Kee. We both thought the winning entry was much more impressive than it
had seemed in the media. Afterwards we sat and chatted over cuppas in the
coffee shop before driving home.
On Friday, when I
woke, I realised I wasn’t able to cope with all the walkers who would be doing
the Swiss Italian Heritage Walk that morning, so was very grateful that Wes
took Bilbo for an early stroll around Lake Daylesford. I did the shopping and
came home to struggle with DA’s Friday Cryptic, (which I was pleased to solve
by mid-morning) before we drove to Trentham to have lunch with Jane Barrett
& her husband, John Webster, at ‘The Plough @ Trentham’. We enjoyed a
three-hour lunch together where the service was excellent and the main courses
even better. I had skate, which was perfectly cooked and served on a bed of
asparagus and couscous with tahini pillows on the side. Wes and John raved
about their slow-cooked goat, and Jane tucked into a perfect duck dish.
From left to right – goat, duck
& skate with another goat in the background
We drove home via
Kyneton and spent the rest of the day very quietly indeed with glasses of water
and nothing to eat!
Yesterday Wes got
up early again and walked Bilbo. He then spent the rest of the morning doing
weeding and clearing the gutters, as well as planting our new dogwood &
placing our new Japanese Maple, which we have bought in honour of Joan Testro.
Bilbo and I drove to Hepburn Springs, parked near Second Street and walked down
to ‘Bellinzona Grange’, where we settled in the shade to watch the Annual Swiss
+ Italian Festa Grande Parade.
Four town criers leading the
parade & Bilbo sitting patiently watching it all go by.
The rest of the day
was spent quietly watching the races from Moonee Valley on Cox Plate Day. Sadly
we gave back our winnings of the previous Saturday, but enjoyed some great
racing, including a stunning win in the main race by Winx.
Bilbo and I are
heading off shortly to pump water at Leitches Creek, then to the Sunday Market
and after a short impatient interlude at home putting our fruit &
vegetables away, we three will get back in the car and go to breakfast at ‘The
Food Gallery’.
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