Daylesford Autumn Dispatch - Sunday, 2nd April 2017

Dear Friends, we’ve said goodbye to daylight saving this morning with an extra hour’s sleep. For a while, our early walk around the Lake will be done in partial light, but before long, we will be back to needing the torch for the entire time we are out.

Once again, we have enjoyed some lovely highlights in our week. We had an unexpected visit from an old insurance friend, Mark Silviera, who was here with a bunch of motor cyclists who were doing their annual tour of part of Victoria & finished up with a weekend in Daylesford. He was sporting leathers & a very fancy bike, and we enjoyed sitting out on our veranda over a cup of tea catching up on news.

I’ve been able to pick lots of produce lately and am very proud of growing a handful of cucumbers & dwarf scarlet beans, as well as our best crop of zucchini ever & more tomatoes than we know what to do with! We have two varieties of chives, mint & parsley, as well as pots of French tarragon, spicy rocket, basil mint, Greek oregano & lemon thyme.

All the roses are in flower again & we both particularly love ‘Hot Cocoa’, which is prolific. This arrangement came from one of our two bushes & there are already enough blooms on it again to fill another vase. Not only is it a stunning colour, but it also has a lovely perfume.

                                                                                                                     The 4^th & final Test in India has been riveting and we are finding it very hard to stay awake until stumps each night, which is 10pm. We just didn’t have an answer to their bowlers, especially Judeja, who was a very worthy man of the match.

                                                                                                                                            

I’ve had a couple of unpleasant health experiences this week. On Tuesday, I went for my bi-annual eye examination at our local optometrist. Like most people, my eyes really don’t like stuff being squirted into them & resist as much as they can. However, after three lots of liquid and the usual tests, Sarah suggested she could spot a freckle on my left eye & wanted to photograph it, just to be sure it wasn’t something sinister. This involved a squirt of something numbing followed by some blinding flashes as she took 4 photos. The good news is that it was purely a change in pigmentation that is nothing to worry about; but the bad news was that I couldn’t really see very well. I had hoped to see the 10am film, ‘Patriot Day’, but walked along the street to let Wes know I would have to go home. Luckily, I ran into Brian Nash, who was looking for Wes as well & he drove me home, where I sat quietly with a pot of jasmine tea & a Labrador for company. It took 2 days before the dizziness disappeared & the feeling of bruising subsided.

The next morning at Mah Jong with Dot, I had a severe asthma attack, probably caused by a strong perfume and we had to finish early, so I could go home. I was quite exhausted from the coughing & wheezing, so went to bed after feeding Bilbo & was waited on with a G&T & yummy stir-fry.

We had planned a trip to the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show at the Exhibition Gardens & when I realised that Collingwood was playing Richmond that night, we decided to have a very quiet morning, visit the Show in the afternoon, have dinner & see the footy at the MCG.

We did all that & enjoyed our time at the Flower Show. This was our favourite exhibit in the small garden section (the Hobbit Garden if you don’t recognise it). 

   

                                           

We had parked at the carpark on the AFL side of the MCG & caught trams to & from the Flower Show in Carlton. We arrived back at the G in time to have a meal in the Hugh Trumble café downstairs. As usual, two friendly staff members greeted us at the door & asked if we were happy to share a table, which of course, we were.

Lovely photo of Wes tucking into a huge parma – never again I believe!

We had great seats & the only downside to the match was Collingwood’s inability to capitalise on their opportunities in front of goal. Richmond thoroughly deserved their win, but weren’t top 8 material by any means.

We escaped from the carpark quickly & were home & in bed before midnight. We had left Bilbo tucking into a huge dried marrow bone & he wasn’t looking for dinner when we walked in the door!

The next morning, I was absolutely exhausted, so we decided it would be best if I spent the day in bed, which was the right thing to do. I spent my time reading, doing DA’s cryptic crossword, sleeping & eventually watching a most exciting rematch of last year’s Grand Final between the Western Bulldogs & the Sydney Swans at the Docklands, which was narrowly won by the Doggies.

Yesterday Wes volunteered to show the Lego film at 3pm, so Bilbo & I went to see Daylesford play Beaufort at Victoria Park. In spite of the wind, the kicking for goal was excellent & when I left at half-time, Beaufort had 9 goals, 1 point & we had 5 goals, 1 point. We lost by a larger margin in the end.

Bilbo looking relaxed with his back to the action – not worried about balls coming over the boundary at all!

Now I am sitting looking out into the garden at the parrots & magpies waiting for me to scatter seed. Bilbo is at my feet to make sure I don’t go to the Market without him, so I’ll try to remember to take him with me. Ditto with Sunday Breakfast – hopefully we won’t leave him behind at home then either – as if!!!