We started our week at the Daylesford Sunday Market, as usual, followed by a trip to Trentham for a bag of Bernie's Dutch Cream Potatoes, which are sold by the side of the road. I've never gotten tired of buying things like this - it really feels as though you are supporting the grower & the produce couldn't be fresher.
On Monday, we discussed Christmas as our School - we need to think about our letter, make sure we have up to date addresses & emails & plan our lunch with Leanne. We were amazed looking back over the year at all that has happened, even though we have been in lockdown for so much of it.
Not sure who is the more comfy - Lewis with his legs splayed or Morse with one of his in Lewis's ear
The next morning after lovely long chats with my aunt, Jeff, in Torksey Lock, Lincolnshire, and Leanne in Strathmore, I headed off to Muffins & More for a catch up with Judi. We spent a very pleasant hour chatting over tea & toasties & made a date with the owner, Kelly, to resume Mah Jong this coming Wednesday morning.
When I arrived back home, Wes had organised for us to watch a Scottish film called Sunset Song, which was made (with the help of Luxembourg) in 2015. It is quite long - 2.25 hours, but rivetting. It was a book, which was made into a play & now a film set at the start of the Great War and dealing with the hardships endured by a young daughter of a farmer. It is available on SBS On Demand if you are interested.That afternoon I spent at EKO, having a long overdue facial & foot massage with Emma.
On Wednesday Sandra cleaned, so Wes spent the morning in the garden - weeding, trimming & mowing. He found a rose that had flowered & another iris, as well as our carnations, Banksia rose (that now covers an arbour) and seaside daisies. The poppies are about to open & in the front, our bush peas are thriving. Meanwhile, I did deliveries, picked up 8 tomato plants at Spring Park Nursery, which has endless wonderful varieties, pumped water at Leitches Creek & arrived home in time to get changed for lunch at Larder with Gillie.
That was an interesting experience - haven't eaten there in a long time & I knew none of the staff, so had to produce my licence to show that I am a local. Gillie & I had nearly 90 minutes together in peace & quiet as density numbers still applied. I made the mistake of ordering scrambled eggs on crumpets (yummy, but filling) & wasn't really able to eat dinner that night. Wes cancelled the tuna steaks & we played around with cheeses, bread & butter cucumbers & steamed asparagus spears.
On Thursday, after Wes had an excellent Zoom on China with the Jackson 8 & I'd had an equally enjoyable chat with Kathy & Karen, we headed off to the Convent Gallery for brunch. We had booked the table in the window, which gives us a view of the gardens & were warmly greeted by Marija, who is front of house & Beck, who is an excellent & caring member of staff. Our breakfasts were beautiful & we enjoyed spending time together in a peaceful & quiet environment.
Wes took this photo as the sun came through the window
We woke at 5.10am on Friday as Lewis & Morse joyously found their way into our bedroom. We had experienced wild storms & strong winds & somehow Lewis had managed to slide open the heavy glass door that separates our decking from the kitchen. There didn't seem any point going back to sleep, so we got up, fed them their breakfast & rescued our copy of the Age, with a view to tea & toast & an early read. Suddenly at 5.30 the house was plunged into darkness, and we realised very quickly this wasn't just our house, but all of Daylesford. Later we discovered it was a lot of Victoria. Powercor sent us a message saying we should have power again by 2pm, then 3pm & finally by 8pm.
We got dressed warmly, lit the fire and cuddled the boys for much of the morning. Neighbour, Glen, provided us with a thermos of hot water & offered us a portable gas stove, but we decided the barbecue would be enough to make dinner if the power still wasn't on. At lunchtime, we had a brandy & dry, a glass of red wine & a cheese platter to revive us. I must confess to turning on the ceiling fans a couple of times in the afternoon to get rid of smoke from the fire & being quite perplexed that they weren't working 🤣
The power came on unexpectedly just after 4pm, when Wes had recharged our mobiles by sitting in the car with the engine running & the boys sleeping in the back. We checked that our computers & TVs were still working OK & around 6pm Wes started cooking our dinner (remember the 5.10am start). The power suddenly went off again, but came back before 8pm & dinner was rescued. Needless to say we were in bed straight after we had eaten.
Yesterday morning, Wes had suggested we have a trial run eating breakfast at Koukla, where the Breakfast Group is meeting next Sunday. We are so pleased we did, as there were a few things to learn. We wanted to sit outside, so checked in & went looking for menus, which are accessed by the QR Codes on each table. We duly found the menu, ordered & then waited. My tea only arrived after three requests for it - the staff were friendly, but not as helpful as they could have been. Fingers crossed it works better next Sunday - at least we are prepared for these issues.
Me again, sitting outside, masked & sorting out how to get to the Koukla menu
We spent the rest of the day backing horses, gardening & catching up on computer stuff that we couldn't do the day before. I planted all our tomatoes (10 in total - 6 different varieties) & some more chillis, while Wes filled up our green bin with weeds from the front garden. Derby Day is always a very special day on the racing calendar & we remembered many happy times we spent at Flemington with friends over the years. We decided to box four horses in a quinella in each race & were lucky enough to win in 4 out of the 9 races. We now have a nice little nest egg to spend on the Melbourne Cup races this Tuesday.
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