Daylesford Spring Dispatch - Sunday, 29th October 2017

We’ve enjoyed getting back into the garden this week – I’ve moved daffodil bulbs & put some punnets of extra hot chillies into the greenhouse to get them started. The tomato seedlings in there are doing well & I hope to put them in the garden this coming week. The tulips are just finishing & the roses are about to bloom. Each day I go exploring looking for the first one – not yet!

Wes tried everything to get my computer going again, but to no avail, so we’ve had to buy a recovery disk & start from scratch. Very frustrating indeed.

There has been a lot of work done at Lake Daylesford & the latest involves new seating & tree-planting, both of which are much appreciated. There are families of ducks & geese anxiously shepherding their young out of our way as we stroll around early in the morning.

As well, the roundabout is finally finished & we are all pleased with the design & the difference it makes to traffic flow when entering or leaving along the Trentham-Woodend road. We were hoping for some colourful & exciting plantings in the middle, but native grasses seem to be the current choice. Perhaps next year we could have some lavender or roses.

Apart from our usual activities, we spent Thursday in Melbourne, mostly at the Cinema Nova, seeing films. We started with breakfast at Brunetti’s, and finished with a cuppa at Strathmore with Leanne. In between I saw two very good & thought-provoking films – Ali’s Wedding, which is a true story set in Brunswick of a Muslim romantic comedy, with plenty of serious undertones. I highly recommend it if you haven’t seen it. Then I went to Suburbicon, which is set in 1950s middle class America, with frightening racial & murderous themes masked by a tranquil setting. Wes saw Bladerunner 2049 & was entertained & engaged by it.

There has been a demand for a Bilbo photo – here he is wearing my Greek fisherman’s hat

We have been worried about Bilbo recently – he can no longer jump into the back of the car & is slowing down on our walks around Lake Daylesford. When we got home on Thursday, he was nowhere to be found & he usually greets us at the door with his tail wagging, so we feared the worst. Wes eventually found him sound asleep on our bed (we had left the bedroom door open by mistake). It seems that he can still leap after all!!!

Yesterday morning we had breakfast with our lovely neighbours, Rob & Dene, to hear all about their wonderful trip to Japan & Hong Kong. They very kindly brought us back some Japanese chocolate, which we tasted last night – very rich & decadent.

We had a few bets during the Cox Plate & made enough on the first quinella to see us through a couple of meetings during the Cup Carnival. We actually had the trifecta, which would have been even better! Winx won her third Cox Plate, but it wasn’t in convincing fashion as Humidor nearly ran her down. There was a capacity crowd at Moonee Valley creating a wonderful atmosphere.

No breakfast with friends this morning – Janine & Margot are on their way to the airport & China; Judi & Gillie are off to Stawell to see an Open Garden; David & Sandy are moving from Box Hill to Port Melbourne, and that leaves just three of us, which is not enough to justify heating & lighting upstairs at The Food Gallery.