Daylesford Winter Dispatch - Sunday, 28th June 2020

Last Sunday, we woke happily after both our teams were successful the day before. The boys were tired after a late night and slept heavily after our walk around Lake Daylesford. Once again, we were the only ones out at that hour. After I sent off the Dispatch, we headed to the Sunday Market, which is getting busier each time we visit. I still wear gloves (leather, disposable or washable) everywhere I go – handling goods, opening & shutting doors, visiting the Post Office & shops etc. Wes is a little braver, but makes sure he sanitises wherever he goes & washes his hands thoroughly before & after visiting Barbara, or anyone else. 

Five bare-rooted Friesias & 8 Walkers Catmint for our Anniversary Garden Bed.

We enjoyed our afternoon of watching footy infront of the open fire, until Wes had his ALP branch Forum on Zoom. He was very pleased with the discussion on “Australia’s Relationship with China”.

We had this delightful visitor sitting on top of
Fawlty Towers over the weekend. Perhaps he

was looking for his mate

That night Wes had a lovely catch up with some of his old classmates from St Bernard’s College, Essendon. Most of them need their wives to set them up for a Zoom chat and are delighted to see their old friends & chat about footy etc. 

We were lucky enough to have a beautiful sunny day on Tuesday and Wes was able to spend much of it in the garden, both here & at Barbara’s place. Lewis & Morse are always keen to help, but they had to stay inside at first, so that Leanne could see them during our Zoom chat. Later, I had a lovely catch up with Jan Pengilley and we have decided to make it a regular thing. She has Skype on her phone & it was good to see her again.

Wes planted all our roses & catmint and has put up an elaborate structure to stop Lewis & Morse from wreaking havoc. So far it has worked brilliantly. Fingers crossed.  

On Wednesday, while Sandra cleaned for us, I drove to Porcupine Ridge to deliver jars & Epicure to Nick & Robyn; pumped water at Leitches Creek (the pump handle had been repaired); filled up with petrol; bought new gardening gloves; collected an order from Tonna’s, and had a haircut with Lyndal at The Cutting Studio. Wes took Barbara to an appointment, before coming back to her place to solve a couple of issues on her computer. 

In the afternoon, I needed to have a quiet time, while Wes visited the
local dentist, something he has been meaning to do for some time. It
was an excellent experience for him and he had nothing but praise for
his young female Vietnamese dentist. We moved our Health Benefits
plan from Medibank Private to Qantas Assure some years ago & have
never regretted it, especially their refunds on extras. They paid 3⁄4 of
the bill, which is very generous & encourages you to continue. So Wes
has another appointment next month & is very happy to go.

We had a quiet Thursday - I did the shopping early at Coles, where the
staff told me that there has been a rush on toilet paper again and they
have had to set limits on rice, paper towels, soap etc. There was no
fish either, which was a first. It had been too wet to walk the boys early,
but the rain had settled by the time I went out.

Wes was able to spend some time in the garden, inspecting the new
garden bed and doing pruning of yet more ivy, before making his
regular visit to Barbara. When I cleared the PO Box, I noticed how busy
Daylesford was - there seemed to be plenty of visitors and quite a lot
of them staying for the weekend. We are very pleased that the police
are going to be a more visible presence, making sure that spatial
distancing is observed by everyone.

Our backyard lemon tree finally having
some blossom & fruit

On Friday, it was cold, but dry, so we took the boys on an extra long

walk before socialising them outside The Food Gallery. Lots of locals
said hello & one visiting young boy asked if he could pat them and was
monstered in return. He has his own chocolate brown lab, and didn’t
mind the attention at all.

While Wes caught up with old friends, Georgina Meadows & Susan Riley
at Chaplins in Trentham, I made some long overdue phone calls before
tackling & finally finishing the change of passwords, pins & email
addresses I have been doing for the past two months. I have also
fallen in love with Google Keep, their equivalent of Outlook Notes, and
went Coles shopping without a printed list, using the Keep Note on my
phone instead. I only forgot one item, which is par for the course, so I
am very delighted.

That afternoon, Wes had a Zoom catch up with cousins - he invited one
from each branch of the family - Gary Testro, Ronda Smith, Glenn Testro &
Amanda Testro. Amanda couldn’t make it, but the others did & were
most excited with the experience. It was a big success & he is hopeful
it can be repeated.

That night we watched GWS be far too good for Collingwood, even after they lost a couple of players to injury. We lost by 2 points, but it could have been much worse. It was a late night & we were all slow getting up for our walk yesterday morning. Wes gave the boys an overdue bath and said he almost had to scrub them clean. After they had their bones, they played chasey incessantly through the mud & were almost as dirty as before the bath!

This very sad look is because they weren’t allowed back

inside until they had dried & some of the dirt had fallen off!

Although we are not big soccer fans, we were delighted that Australia & New Zealand have won the rights to host the 2023 Women’s World Cup. I remember going to the MCG in 2000 with Gayle Gibson, to see women’s soccer, as part of the Sydney Olympic Games. We were most impressed with their skills, but the timing of the World Cup is such that the MCG won’t be available for many of the matches.

Last night Carlton & Essendon played an exciting close game which resulted in a one point win to the Blues. Wes is very thrilled with his team. 

Daylesford Winter Dispatch - Sunday, 21st June 2020

We woke to a wet morning last Sunday, followed by mist & finally a dry day emerged. It was quite busy at the Market, with lots more locals out & about. We were able to get everything we needed, including Dutch Cream potatoes, pigs’ ears & Spelt bread – spuds for us, ears for the boys & bread for Glen next door. We came home & enjoyed croissants for breakfast with some of Nick’s plum jam, while Lewis & Morse tucked into the end of the celery with great gusto. It will be good when we are able to take them to Market with us again & they can have their second breakfast on shredded cabbage!

 A photo from earlier this year showing Lewis & Morse tucking into cabbage

We lit the fire in the afternoon & watched all three games of footy – surprise wins in Sydney by North over the Giants & Essendon over the Swans, and St Kilda had a good win over the Doggies in Melbourne.

Barbara rang Wes to let him know that our mutual friend, Gary Ashley, had died peacefully that day with his husband, Kim Lyden, by his side. We have very happy memories of fun times with Gary, especially back when Kim was running Café 3460 & Gary would feed Bilbo & Frodo with Vegemite toast on Sunday mornings when we turned up for breakfast. It started with accidentally burnt toast one day and very rapidly moved into toast especially for them & didn’t they love it!

Gary & Kim at Café 3460 back in 2007

We were able to walk early on Monday before the rain set in & Daylesford was shrouded in mist. At School this week, we decided not to watch any more Steve Dotto You Tube videos until we have sorted ourselves and Google out a bit more. Wes taught me a few tricks with numbers in Excel spreadsheets instead. I discovered I had forgotten more than I remembered and was grateful for his guidance.

We then had our first real outing, (since isolation) and took the boys on a trip to Ballarat. I had to return my bracelet to the jeweller as they had forgotten to remove a link when they repaired it back on 10^th March. I had hoped they could do it on the spot, but they were too busy & promised to treat it as a priority. Sure enough, they sent me a text late that afternoon to say it was ready.

Then we queued up at the big branch of our bank, NAB, as we needed to appear in person to allow Wes to have access to our credit card in Internet Banking. The card is in my name and he has a supplementary card himself. We had even taken our passports in case we needed lots of points, but our drivers’ licences & Visa cards were sufficient.

Finally, we stopped at Dan Murphy’s, which was quiet, and stocked up on Hendricks gin, Irish whisky & Bundaberg Rum. There were lots of roadworks along the way home and we felt sorry for the workmen struggling in the rain. Lewis & Morse behaved very well & only woke up when we pulled into the carport.

This stunning arrangement of yellow roses, from Wombat Hill Florist, courtesy of Mike, Linda & Lauren Kirby arrived late that afternoon – we’ll enjoy them for some time to come & the heavy square glass vase they are in will be put to good use in the future.

I woke up without a voice on Tuesday morning, so Wes had a Skype chat with my aunt, Jeff, instead of me. I am sure he entertained her, and she would have gone to bed laughing! Apart from early morning, when we walked the boys, it rained on & off all day and we were all happy to stay warm & cosy inside. Wes & I spent time sorting out Gmail & I changed our email addresses wherever I could.

Wrong season for us but I couldn’t resist this lovely Snoopy & Woodstock cartoon

It was a dry day on Wednesday, so after the walk, I did my longest drive since early March – started with a delivery of Epicures from The Age, plus empty jam jars to Nick & Robyn Massaro in Porcupine Ridge. Nick makes lots of jams & preserves & appreciates the jars, while Robyn loves to cook and reads Epicure avidly. Next stop was Leitches Creek to pump mineral water, but someone had broken the pump handle, so I had to use the pipe water instead. Not too much of a hardship, except that you have to be on hands & knees.

My final stop was Gems & Jewels, in Ballarat, to pick up my bracelet. The traffic wasn’t too bad & I arrived back home in time for a cup of tea before hosting the fortnightly Zoom catch up with Kathy Lazzaro & Karen Stevenson. We are trying to persuade Joyce Spiteri to join us, even for just a minute, but my emails to her, and messages to her husband, Manny, are falling on deaf ears to date.

That afternoon, Wes drove to Trentham, to catch up with his cousin, Glenn Testro. He hasn’t seen Glenn since Marilyn’s funeral, on 3^rd March. They had a lovely time together, with lots of memories & laughs. On the way home, Wes ordered fish & chips – our first this year I think – and we did enjoy the chips & blue grenadier cooked so well at Daylesford Seafood.

On Thursday morning, after our walk, it was time for Wes to have another chat with Cotswolds friend, Paul Jackson & his Indiana mate, Barry Hansen, so I did the shopping at Coles, which was quiet & peaceful at 7.15am. We had to put the car back into Howe Automotive for a couple of things that needed doing after last week’s service. The boys get to travel to & from the factory & are most amused by these short trips. Lewis had mislaid his collar & we were unable to find it in the dark – Wes tracked it down under the nectarine tree in the orchard when we got back home.

Wes & Barbara went shopping at Coles at 9.30am, when it was much busier, and indulged in hot chocolates at the Chocolate Mill afterwards. There were only 4 other customers there, so no problems with spatial distancing.

 

A collage of photos from our wedding – Top - me with my dear father, Perc; Wes & I: Bottom: Wes & I with Terry Gauci & Deane Wells, and mingling with friends & family. Thanks again for all the comments on the photos – much appreciated.

We were delighted to be able to take the boys out socialising on Friday morning and sat outside The Food Gallery with our hot drinks & toast. Both Lewis & Morse were very well behaved, probably because no little dogs came along to spoil their enjoyment and everyone who saw them smiled & said hello.

This wonderful cartoon has appeared on Facebook before, but I need to share it as it sums me up perfectly, as Wes pointed out. He finds making me a cup of tea a thankless task – there always seems to be something wrong with it. Of course, I think making the perfect pot of Jasmine tea is easy peasy.

Yesterday we enjoyed listening to The Coodabeen Champions in the morning, before settling down to an afternoon of footy. Collingwood was able to beat St Kilda at the MCG, and later that night, Carlton had an unexpected & very welcome win over Geelong at Kardinia Park. I only lasted until half-time & was thrilled for Wes when he told me they had won by 2 points in a nail-biter. The big news was the positive COVID-19 test of Essendon’s Irish footballer, Conor McKenna, and subsequent postponement of their game against Melbourne today. This news had the effect of the persuading the Victorian Government to reduce the numbers of people allowed in homes & restaurants, which is very sensible.

We are getting ready to go to the Sunday Market, after which we are celebrating our wins with breakfast at the Food Gallery. If the rain holds off, Wes might get into the garden, or even wash Lewis & Morse, who are quite muddy this morning after our walk & a post-prandial run around the back yard.