Dear Friends, our
week started very well indeed. After a trip to the Sunday Market, we joined
Barbara, Judi, Janine & Margot for breakfast at the Food Gallery, where we
shared funny stories and overfed Bilbo, who was able to see clearly in through
the window as all the obstructions had been moved. He spent his time eyeballing
Margot, who usually spoils him rotten and she didn’t disappoint.
Wes and I had
bought tickets to see the film of a live performance of The Importance of Being
Earnest, starring David Suchet, which received rave reviews last year in
London. So we headed off to the Regent Cinemas in Ballarat and joined the queue
of like-minded early birds all determined to sit in the back rows. We were
totally entranced by this production, which starred some very accomplished
young actors as well as Michelle Dotrice, as an unforgettable Miss Prism. David
Suchet was wonderful, but not as good as Ruth Cracknell, who remains the best
Lady Bracknell we have ever seen. Wes reminded me that we went to Mietta’s for
a drink after seeing her in the play in 1988 and were delighted when she turned
up there as well.
We had hoped to
partake of afternoon tea at Craig’s Hotel afterwards, but we were too late, as
it had already started when we arrived there at 3.15pm. So we came back home,
opened a bottle of sparkling rosé and had fish & chips instead!
On Monday morning, I
ventured to gym for the first time in 4 weeks. Barry had thought about what I
could do and most of my programme now concentrates on legs, with a little manageable
arm work. I found I was exhausted after an hour and pleased to come home for a
rest. Meanwhile Wes planted this beautiful rose, Father’s Love, in the Labrador
cemetery at the bottom of our garden.
That afternoon
& evening, the cricket was very exciting and NZ fully deserved their
victory and retention of the Chappell-Hadlee trophy.
I was very
disappointed to miss out on seeing ‘He Named Me Malala’ on Tuesday morning as I
had an appointment with Andrew Lowe and couldn’t get one early enough to allow
me to do both things. However, I was very thrilled that Andrew was pleased with
my progress, which is slow, but good. I popped into the Daylesford Cinema to
let Wes know, but he was watching the film, so I left the car keys with Lauren,
who had already seen the film and was manning the desk and walked back home,
where Bilbo was delighted to have company again.
I think I must have
been more anxious than I had expected as it wasn’t long after lunch that I went
to bed for a rest. Andrew had told me to go back to taking 2 Panadol each night
and that certainly dulls the pain.
Valerie, Dot &
I played Mah Jong again on Wednesday morning. The staff at Muffins & More
had moved all the tables and we were able to sit right in the middle instead of
against the wall. We had a fun morning with quite a few interested onlookers,
most of whom had never heard of or seen Mah Jong. Wes spent the morning helping
Barbara to pick fruit from her trees and encouraging her to do what he did with
our nectarines – stewed them, so we can enjoy them on our breakfast cereal or
muesli each morning.
On Thursday, there
was a fund-raising showing of the film ‘An Affair to Remember’, so we went
along to the 10am session along with 90 others and were plied with a generous
morning tea as well. We loved the film, which neither of us had seen before –
Deborah Kerr & Cary Grant – two great actors who obviously enjoyed working
together.
Lovely photo of Michelle
Marazakis with her two children, Mikaela, who has just turned 10 & Michael,
who is nearly 8, at Mikaela’s birthday party.
After lunch, Wes
took Barbara on a big shop at Coles and arrived home just before Margot came to
have her computer fixed. She wanted to come to our place – we suspect to spend
time with Bilbo and he was delighted to see her until he realised she hadn’t
brought anything for him to eat.
When her laptop was
working again, Margot took her leave; Wes sat down for a quick drink and then
headed off to the Daylesford Hotel for the first ALP meeting of the year. Bilbo
and I were in bed by the time he arrived home, stimulated by an interesting
meeting.
The next morning we
all slept in. I went shopping at Coles early and then at Tonna’s as we are
expecting David & Helen Lazzaro & their three children, Jessica, Maya
& Daniel for lunch today and we needed to make sure we had plenty of
provisions. I watched most of the first session of the First Test at the Basin
Reserve in Wellington, where the Aussies were able to get some good early
wickets, before leaving to join over 20 others at one of Anthony Ash’s U3A
talks – this one entitled The Five Elements. Judi arrived after hosting her U3A
Book Group, which had met early to allow 4 members to get to this session.
Anthony is always entertaining and interesting and we enjoyed his talk very
much. I left before the end as I had promised Wes to be back by 1pm in time for
lunch and the last session of cricket.
Yesterday we were
up early and on the road to Melbourne by 7.30am armed with provisions, roses,
herbs and produce from the garden for Leanne, as well as gifts for Ben, Leanne,
Jack & Olivia Lazzaro. Wes dropped me off at Strathmore and headed to
Brunswick to see them all before arriving back in time to have a coffee with
Leanne as well. We left her and were back home in good time to see Adam Voges batting
magnificently and he was unbeaten on 176 by the end of the day.
Bilbo enjoying new pillows
courtesy of Auntie Leanne
I am sitting in the
study looking out into our garden, which is full of roses in bloom – especially
red, yellow, orange & pink. It is a still dull morning and we are very
pleased to be expecting a top temperature of 22°, which is 10° lower than
yesterday. Bilbo is by my side waiting for the invitation to hop into the car
and join me on my trip to the Sunday Market.
Perc in 1944 in RAAF dress – aged
25, and 22 years later with Viva & four of his five children at 1 Morrow
Street, West Brunswick – Leanne, Karen, Pauline, Perc, Viva & Peter
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