Dear Friends, I
left you last Sunday as Bilbo and I were heading off to the Sunday Market and
then breakfast at The Food Gallery. During the week, Toni’s father had died and
the café had been closed. Wes and I arrived early so we could go into the
kitchen to give our sympathies to Toni & her husband, Pasquale. They told
us they were closing the café this week for the funeral, but would be open
again next weekend. Conversations at breakfast ranged from the TV show ‘Utopia’
through Windows 10 updates to honey sticks, which I gave everyone courtesy of
Gail White.
Afterwards Wes
& I drove to Jubilee Lake Caravan Park as David Castles had left his
antenna pole (whatever that is) beside a tree, when he left his campsite the
previous day. I have never driven through the camping area before and it was
quite an education. Sadly, the pole had disappeared – David’s only hope is that
someone hands it in to reception, but that is now unlikely.
Bilbo and I did our
usual walk around the Gardens after that. Most visitors were either picnicking
or at ‘Wombat Hill House’ so we didn’t meet anyone on our stroll twice around
the path. We finished off with what has become the usual swim in the pool. The
temperature was 30° in the car so I didn’t blame him for wanting to cool down.
The rest of our day
was very quiet. Wes stayed up and even had a whisky around 5.30pm, his first in
days, and he enjoyed it very much and the good night’s sleep that followed.
On Monday, I went
to gym early, as I wanted to try for a Grand Final ticket, when they went on
sale at 9am. I was lucky enough to get straight into the website and picked up
an excellent undercover seat. Nick arrived shortly afterwards to give me a
massage, although Bilbo thinks he visits to give him a treat! Bilbo and I went
walking afterwards and were thrilled to see Wes out in the garden, where he did
some mowing and watering.
That night I was
glued to the Brownlow Medal count like the rest of the Aussie Rules world,
waiting to see if Nat Fyfe could get far enough ahead to keep the rest of the
field at bay when he missed games in the second half of the season. He
registered a wonderful win by 4 points from last year’s medallist, Matt
Priddis, and was a very popular winner indeed, after playing in Friday night’s
Preliminary Final with a broken bone in his leg.
On Tuesday, Wes went off to show ‘Oddball’
again at the Daylesford Cinema and there were 55 in the audience. He had a
double shift because it was school holidays and was very relieved to finally
arrive home around 2.30pm after another screening of ‘Blinky Bill’. Meanwhile I
had a manicure at EKO after first walking Bilbo around the gardens.
That afternoon, we
were visited by Moshe & Helene Goldberg, brother & sister-in-law of
Freda, a friend we met about 30 years ago in Brunswick when she & Wes were
on a committee together. They were staying at the Lake House and were keen to
meet us. We spent a couple of hours chatting over red wine and cheeses before
they left to have dinner.
During the night I
was quite unwell – whether I had too much cheese & wine or had picked up a
bug I am not sure, but I ended up cancelling all my Wednesday activities and
spending a very quiet day in bed, sleeping and watching old episodes of
‘Midsomer Murders’. After spending his morning working in Barbara’s garden, Wes
very kindly produced soup at lunchtime and a light pasta dish for dinner and I
woke up on Thursday feeling much better.
Wes took this stunning photo just
before dawn over Lake Daylesford on Thursday
We had arranged to
have breakfast at ‘Bocconcini’ with Phil & Faye Tagell & Paul & Jan
Collins – four people I had never met before. Wes was at St Bernard’s College
with Phil & Paul and had made contact with Phil when organising the recent
50-year reunion. We enjoyed a good chat with them before they set off – the Tagells
to explore Smeaton & the others to drive back home to Keilor East.
We went for a walk
along Vincent Street, where we said hello to a few friends and eventually found
ourselves at ‘The Magic Pudding’ buying a new cheeseboard to replace our much
loved but very chipped avant garde pottery platter, given to us by Teresa De
Fazio of ‘Shaping’ about 20 years ago. That
night Wes went off to the ‘Daylesford Seafood Bar’ to buy us fish & chips
and ended up in a long erudite discussion of hellebores with Ros Berry.
We only realised it
was a public holiday on Friday when we woke to find both Rob & Dene at home
next door. It was a beautiful day – lovely cold night, but warm by 10am. I went
shopping after spending time doing DA’s dastardly cryptic crossword and was too
late to go with the Bushwalkers who were exploring Bullarto. Wes got out with
the mower and clippers and did a wonderful job, while I caught up on phone
calls & computer work and walked back into town to pick up the mail.
Yesterday I was up
early and off to Melbourne at 7.30am. I had a good run and parked next to the
MCG by 9am. First stop was Gate 3 to collect my Grand Final ticket. That was
easy with no queues and very helpful efficient staff. Then I did a circuit of
the ground, a bit of a tradition with me, enjoying looking at the early
arrivals, the picnics and barbecues in the car park and watching the place come
alive.
I had decided to
try and get to the National Gallery of Victoria to see the ‘Catherine the Great’
exhibition and walked across Birrarung Marr past the huge crowds waiting to see
if any of the AFL players with the longest kicks could send a footy across the
Yarra. I was tempted to watch and missed a lot of fun, but I thought this might
be my last chance to get to the NGV, so had words with myself and walked on.
The Exhibition was
very interesting and varied and I particularly enjoyed learning all about
Catherine the Great via the audio programme, which was most informative.
This beautiful painting of the
Rest during the Flight into Egypt by Murillo was my favourite
After a refreshing
cup of tea in the Members’ lounge, I visited the Horse Exhibition. This traced
the history of the horse and included mythology, cruelty, pleasure and work.
There was wonderful footage of the 1930 Melbourne Cup won by Phar Lap and the
actual Cup, which had vanished for years, until someone worked out that the VRC
had reused it and given it to the owners of the 1980 Cup, Belldale Ball.
Then it was time to
head back to the MCG, where the crowds were much bigger. I walked along
Alexandra Avenue, which avoided the crush on Birrarung Marr. My seat was
undercover and out of the sun, which was good, as the temperature rose to 31°,
making it the hottest Grand Final Day ever.
Sadly, the West
Coast Eagles were no match for Hawthorn in front of 98,000+, and it seems
incredible to think that only 3 weeks ago, the Eagles had triumphed by 32
points. Cyril Rioli was fantastic and deserved the Norm Smith Medal. Hawthorn
have now won the last three flags and are easily the best team of this century.
I left before the
end and arrived home safely to a warm welcome from my boys. Wes had spent the
morning cleaning drains and the pond, and the afternoon with Barbara watching
the game. Bilbo had spent most of the day sleeping after his early morning
walk.
Today it is going
to be hot again, but not as bad as yesterday. We remembered to change all our
clocks before we went to bed last night and had a good night’s sleep. Bilbo and
I are off to the Market shortly and then breakfast. I suspect we will all be
pleased to have a quiet day with lots of newspapers to read.
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