Daylesford Spring Dispatch - Sunday, 6th September 2020

We started Sunday with a lovely walk around Lake Daylesford, followed by a successful trip to the Sunday Market, where we picked up all we needed & Glen's bread. We enjoyed croissants after we had unpacked, and then I had a Zoom chat upstairs with Leanne, so she could see Lewis & Morse asleep (for a change). 

We had organised a Breakfast Group Zoom chat with those of us who know Jan & John Smith, to celebrate John's birthday. They were in Tweed Heads at the time, heading for Coff's Harbour on Monday. It is the biggest Zoom chat I have ever experienced - we had 9 screens going with 13 participants in all - us, Judi & Michael, Barbara, Jan, Gail & Terry, Janine, Jan & John, Gillie & Aileen. Thanks to everyone - the general opinion is in favour of another one next month & we hope that David & Sandy & Glen will be able to join it. Sorry we don't have a photo to show you - next time!

We did some gardening afterwards before settling down to read The Age & get ready for the big game between our teams. I watched from the bedroom with a G&T & knitting, while Wes was in the lounge with a rum & coke & the boys. At half-time I suggested to him that the Rosary beads were duds, but the Pies got their act together in the second half & we were able to get a win - most unexpectedly.

These little cuties are Isla & Olive, daughters of Celia & Cory Durie - Olive seems to have found everything under the sun to wear for the Blues

We started Monday with a lovely walk around Lake Daylesford before School, which involved sorting out what needed to go into our new safe. We are quite thrilled with it & have all our important papers, money and back-ups in there - labelled and with an inventory. Like most safes, it is so dark inside, we've positioned a torch next to it so we can see the contents! We've also collected all our keys, labelled them & have them sitting in a Key Container, so we just have the one spot to look for keys of any description. 

We had decided to have another COVID-19 test as we both had runny noses & coughs. This time we were able to have it done locally in Daylesford, which was wonderful. We then went into isolation until we received our results, which meant that Glen Tandberg had to take over delivering The Local. However, we knew that we had tested negative within 27 hours, which was great service & a big relief. 

Beautiful big camellia courtesy of Marjorie Atkinson - this flowers in the last week of August without fail

Wes was able to spend much of Tuesday in the garden with his assistants - so much to do and enjoy with daffodils, hyacinths, lavender, rosemary, daphne, camellias & daisies in profusion. Our snow peas & baby spinach are growing well in the greenhouse & our potted herbs on the main decking are coming alive after their Winter hibernation.

One of my projects this week was to stain our original dining chairs, and possibly the table as well. I use the table as my desk in the study, but the chairs are in use most days, as we never got around to buying chairs to match our beautiful English Oak dining table. Those of you who remember coming to 246 Brunswick Road for dinner parties will recall that you had to bring your own chairs, as we only had four!

On Wednesday, which was cold, but sunny, I did my usual deliveries & pumped water, while Wes worked in the front garden, where the daffodils are in abundance. I continued staining chairs, made some pumpkin soup & relaxed before it was time to catch up with the Kirbys for our fortnightly chat just after lunch. This didn't happen for various reasons, but we were ready as you can see in the photo below!

Karen & Wes with our footy-themed Labrador masks 

That afternoon, Wes hosted another Zoom get-together of Past Players - former Mayors & Councillors, and it was a big success. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and want it to continue. 

We ordered dinner from Jackie's on Vincent as this week's takeaway meal & it was very yummy indeed - I had coconut prawns in a chilli sauce & Wes enjoyed his usual Mongolian beef. We had Grandma's dumplings for sweets. Glenda & Joe Rozen were also having a Jackie's meal to celebrate Joe's birthday, and our neighbours, Rob & Dene, had a Jackie's meal on Thursday night as it was Rob's birthday. 

Wes had a project putting sleepers in front of our newest rose garden - to protect the roses & catnip from Lewis & Morse. We both went out briefly on Thursday morning - me to the Post Office, and Wes to Mitre 10 to get tent pegs, and we returned home to this.

Lewis taking advantage of our absence to explore between the sleepers & the wire!

By Friday, it was apparent to both of us that I had overdone things & needed a rest. I stayed up as long as I could but ended up with dinner and bed and was ordered to stay there yesterday. This was the right thing and I feel much better today, after a day spent doing crosswords, reading Agatha Christie books & finishing series 1 of Rosehaven on TV. Wes was wonderful - looked after the boys, cooked breakfast & dinner & produced a G&T at just the right time.