When I left you last Sunday, I was off to the Food Gallery to have a catch up breakfast with Janine Hawker. We did enjoy our time together & it was 9.15am before we knew it. Janine was looking well & happy & has coped very well with lockdown by having lots of projects, all of which she has achieved. Meanwhile Wes & the boys were out in the garden, pruning roses & clearing up as best they could with the soggy ground. 
I led School on Monday, as we explored Google Docs, MyDrive & Blog & we both felt we learnt plenty. I think the hardest thing, coming from Word, is that we both are looking for the command, SAVE, and it is gradually dawning on us that work is saved automatically. We are both having trouble trusting Google when it comes to saving, but so far, we haven't lost anything! At the conclusion of our lesson, we decided that Google Docs wasn't versatile enough for us and that we would go back to Word, which offers so much more when composing.
However, Wes has really caught the Blog Bug & some of his wonderful writing can be found at https://warrenmaloney.blogspot.com/
Judi & I met up at The Food Gallery afterwards, and she was interested in all we have been doing. The cafe was busy with a steady stream of locals & visitors, but there were definitely fewer people in town than the previous week. I imagine quite a few had to return home to be in lockdown. We have our fingers & toes crossed that they haven't left COVID-19 with us, as our Shire has been remarkably free from the virus, apart from (months ago) two returning from overseas Trentham residents, who self-isolated & didn't need hospitalisation.
On Tuesday morning, Wes & Barbara had to drive to the outskirts of Melbourne, but they were back by lunchtime. I spoke to Leanne on Zoom, which worked well, before heading off for the Post Office. I chatted with Gail White, who, with her husband, Terry, has recently relocated to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains, NSW. We had plenty to catch up on & she was able to tell me that Terry will be able to have his thrice-weekly dialysis locally from next month, which will make life much easier for them both.
That afternoon, Wes was able to finish pruning the roses (all 118 of them) as it was brilliant sunshine & quite warm. Michael was gardening next door, which occupied Lewis & Morse. Their tails are wagging but they seem to have to bark as well, which is most infuriating.
The next day I was busy dropping off various items in & around Daylesford before having a manicure with Alanna at Spa + Beauty in Hepburn Springs. She is kept busy with locals during the week, but the Greater Melbourne COVID-19 Stage 3 lockdown means that her weekends are now very quiet again. I think she is like most employers who were worried about their exposure to the virus from our visitors and is grateful that we will have some respite from them as they seem to abandon all protocols once they are away from their own homes.
That afternoon I had a lovely long Zoom chat with Marilyn Preston & we hope to do it again soon. She looked very well & updated me with some of what has been happening with them, and their two sons. Wes had a Zoom meeting with the Reconciliation Committee & had to use the laptop and sit out on our decking, as Sandra was cleaning. Later in the day he caught up with his cousins again - clockwise from the top - Ronda, Amanda, Gary, Glenn & Wes.
With all 18 AFL teams out of Victoria for the foreseeable future, it has felt quite weird to be watching e.g. Collingwood play Hawthorn at the Sydney Showgrounds, as they did on Friday night, and Carlton meet the Western Bulldogs on the Gold Coast, as they will tonight.
Wes has been getting serious about doing home chores as well as his writing and on Thursday he scrubbed down both the dog decking & our main decking. He cleaned the glass and hosed everywhere down afterwards. Almost on cue, Lewis & Morse waited until we were sitting down debriefing over our pre-dinner drink, before pulling down a holder of bright green tinsel streamers I had placed up high to scare away the cockies from our herb pots on the decking. What had seemed like a small amount turned into a sea of bright green everywhere and took until mid-morning on Friday to clear up!
Gail White sent me this photo of their new lounge in Katoomba - looks very cosy indeed
We set off on Friday morning to socialise Lewis & Morse outside the Food Gallery, but it was closed, so we drove to Trentham instead & picked up some free range eggs & Dutch Cream spuds. We had hoped our Sunday Market would have re-opened today with the restrictions back on Melburnians, but it didn't. We were able to collect our usual order from Yvonne yesterday, but she doesn't have eggs or Dutch Cream spuds.
The Collingwood vs Hawthorn game produced a most unusual result with the Pies starting well & holding on to win - a rarity against the Hawks & a much needed 4 points. I somehow stayed up until the end & was praying for rain yesterday morning, so I could stay in bed with a pot of tea & The Age. However, it was dry early, and we were able to walk Lewis & Morse before the rain came tumbling down, turning our backyard into its Winter mud.
While Wes drove to Wheatsheaf to collect our provisions from Yvonne, I turned our remaining vegetables into a particularly yummy vegetable soup, which fed us at lunch & will continue to feed us at lunch for as long as we don't get sick of it.
Last night, Wes unearthed the Sunbeam Electric Frypan and made toasted cheese & tomato sandwiches. This reminded us of our very early days at 4/201 Brunswick Road, with Cheryl & Brendan living at Flat 2. They used to invite us in for toasted sandwiches on Sunday nights & we would luxuriate in their comfortable lounge suite & watch TV. We didn't have a couch or a TV, so this was a very special treat indeed!
Yesterday, we celebrated 52 years since we committed to each other in the Melbourne University Folk Club lounge. Wes has written a lovely story about it and his post on Facebook yesterday attracted heaps of comments.
Well done. Agree wholeheartedly about Word. Thanks for the promotion of the blog site. Wesx
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