What a wonderful motto!
When I left you last Sunday, we were heading off to the Sunday Market in Brigadoon weather. It was misty there as well with light rain falling. Yvonne had organised all our food as usual & we were able to shop safely & speedily, although not everyone was wearing masks as requested, or using the QR code check-in.
There were 8 of us at breakfast, which made for a very interesting morning - whole table conversations were followed by small group chats & we didn't leave until 10.30am. When we got home, I washed & sorted all our fruit & vegetables, before making a big pot of vegetarian minestrone soup. Rob & Dene delivered New York cheesecake slices for our afternoon tea, which was a lovely surprise.
While Wes did a big clean up under the house & got his fishing gear together, I tackled a couple more library shelves in my effort to make a bit more room & donate a few more books to the Daylesford Primary School's Book Fair later this year. When he arrived back upstairs, I was watching the highlights of the Collingwood win over the Crows, much to his surprise 🤣🤣.
We loved this cartoon on the Labrador Retriever site on Facebook - it doesn't just apply to Labs, but they do have the saddest faces when you leave them
Sadly, Carlton couldn't spring a surprise win over West Coast at the SCG. Wes was as frustrated with his team as I have heard him in a while & was calling for heads to roll. He appears to have been heard as there is going to be an enquiry into the whole football department.
Above, Lewis is watching the Blues with Wes while Below, Morse luxuriates with the new bed all to himself
On Monday School, Wes requested a refresher course on electronic banking, so we had a good look at the NAB online banking app & discovered some handy tools that will give him information he requires without consulting Reckon, which is on my desktop. I headed into Vincent Street afterwards & discovered that every business is finally displaying a QR code, which is compulsory - now to get 100% compliance from us, their customers.
It was too wet to walk on Tuesday, which meant I could catch up with my aunt, Jeff Hoolihan, in Torksey Lock, at 6.30am our time. We chatted for an hour & I was pleased to see her looking & sounding well, if a little bothered by the English Summer heat, which is so muggy. Afterwards Leanne & I had a good chat on Zoom. She is being very sensible about the lockdown & understands we can't come to visit her until travel restrictions between Metropolitan Melbourne & Country Victoria are eased.
Latest crop of my knitted items heading for Daylesford Community Op Shop
Later that morning, we drove to Regent Cinemas at Ballarat to see the film, Minamata, produced by & starring Johnny Depp as American war photographer, Gene Smith, who is persuaded to visit the Japanese coastal town of Minamata to see the effects of mercury poisoning on those living there. It is a very powerful film, largely accurate, and also stars Bill Nighy. We are so pleased we saw it & remained masked throughout the film, as did most of the dozen patrons.
It has been very wet each morning & we've not been able to walk Lewis & Morse as much as we would have liked. However, we have made it up to them by purchasing two more of their favourite beds, which allow them to be comfortable wherever they are. Two are now in their bedroom for sleeping at night & the trampoline bed from there has moved downstairs into the study and has two mattresses & two pillows, which they much appreciate.
Judi, Dot & I played Mah Jong at Muffins & More, as we watched the weather get worse & worse on Wednesday morning. By the time I arrived home, the rain & wind were very strong & the noise was remarkable. This storm continued through the night & included thunder & the sound of tree branches cracking. We were very lucky to have not much damage ourselves, but there were big branches in the street the next morning & many roads were impassable. We had about 100mls of rain over the two days & nights & everywhere was saturated. The power was out overnight & late morning at our place, but neighbour, Glen, came to the rescue with a large thermos of boiling water to keep us going.
On Friday morning we were finally able to walk Lewis & Morse again, but we couldn't do complete circuits of either side of Lake Daylesford as the fallen trees blocked the path & they weren't the top priority of Council or the SES. However, it was dry enough for us to take the boys socialising at The Virgin Café in Hepburn Springs, where the staff made a fuss of them, and our friends, Jane & John gave them cuddles as we were leaving. We drove around the area afterwards seeing the damage, which wasn't as bad as places like Olinda, but many people had been impacted by the storm & been without power for much longer than us.
Great FB photo showing a small example of the damage on the Lake Daylesford walking tracks
Thanks to everyone who contacted us in some way to see how we were going - much appreciated. We are so pleased we had our gum trees cut down a few years ago - we miss them, but they would have fallen & done a lot of damage. Rob & Dene had some water damage & contacted a local person to clean their carpet. It turned out to be George Weiss, who with his wife, Juls, used to be our neighbours in that house. It was so good to see them both again.
Yesterday was our 51st wedding Anniversary & we had booked lunch at the Garden Room in Blackwood Ridge's Garden & Nursery on the recommendation of our other neighbour, Glen. We had originally planned to celebrate on Friday, as this Long Weekend is usually so busy. However, the roads were impassable & the chef contacted us to ask if we could visit yesterday instead, which we did. We were amazed to discover when we arrived that everyone else had cancelled their bookings, and we were the only guests for lunch. We felt very honoured, sat by the window looking out on the pond & gardens & enjoyed a 4-course Winter menu with a bottle of Heathcote Sparkling Shiraz. We'll be back after this wonderful experience.
This morning we've walked the boys around Victoria Park where all the tree damage has been cleaned up & it is still dark as I sit here looking out. We're off to the Sunday Market shortly & then breakfast with friends at Woodshed Café.
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