Daylesford Winter Dispatch - Sunday, 10th July 2022

 
All the labs we've been lucky enough to know would agree with Snoopy 100%!

After all the rain we've had, it has been quite nice to have some dry days. The mornings have been cold, even frosty, but we've had sun most days & temperatures getting as high as 12°. Wes has spent most of his days out in the garden, finishing off the stacking of firewood & pruning roses (122 at last count). Morse goes out to join him, but gets bored quickly & retreats inside to the comfort of one of his many beds.

I've been improving slowly - getting up & dressed each morning & lasting as long as I can before retreating to bed. I've been able to honour my Zoom commitments, as well as do the shopping & keep on top of computer work. 

Nurse Morse

The co-ordinator of my exercise programme, Millie, finally got me into the earlier Daylesford class, which starts at 11.30am. I find it easier to make that time, even if I'm not feeling 100% & am very grateful. On Thursday, there were only four of us, and all bar one was wearing a mask. 

On Friday we had a lovely catch up with Bronwen Scarffe, who used to live in nearby Porcupine Ridge. We met her via Daylesford Rotary & were very sorry when she & her husband, John, moved to Moonee Ponds. Bronnie had come back to Daylesford for the Rotary Changeover, which was held at The Convent's Altar Bar, the night before. We met her at Bad Habits café for brunch - she & I both tried their mashed avocado on sourdough with red pepper, feta cheese & poached eggs, while Wes had his usual tomato, eggs, bacon & tomato sauce. 

Wes, Bronnie & I - thanks to Beck Walker, who was our waitress & took the photo. 

I forgot to mention last week the Tests in Sri Lanka that the Australian men are playing at present. All three are at the beautiful Galle Stadium with water lapping the boundaries - almost! The 1st Test was wrapped up in under 3 days, which was a shame as we have been enjoying the scenery courtesy of a drone which flies above the Stadium & Galle Fort. As well the Fox feed is showing some of the many lovely parts of this wonderful island & I am getting quite nostalgic.

We first visited Sri Lanka in October 1979, when Jane & Judi were living with us in Brunswick Road, and we decided we needed a holiday. We saw an ad for an inexpensive month in Sri Lanka & jumped at it. We have never regretted it and have many memories of that month - getting used to "Sri Lanka time" (slow); drinking Arak, tasting short eats, hoppers & seer fish; having massages in an old colonial hotel in the tea plantations of Nuwara Eliya; climbing the rock at Sigirya; fleeing from a snake charmer; wearing sarongs & thongs all day every day, and being invited home by the local bank manager, who had to rescind his invitation after speaking to his wife!

At the top of the rock at Sigirya - yes, Jane, Judi & I are all wearing thongs!

My favourite sign in Sri Lanka

Ws, Jane & Judi enjoying cool drinks & short eats

In 2011, Wes & I returned, as part of a One-Day World Cup tour to Sri Lanka & India. We spent extra time on our own with our driver, Neel, looking after us & taking us to many of the places we had visited before, as well as some new ones. We taught him that Aussies use the word "chook" for chicken, and once he trusted us, he loved it & said it all the time. As part of our cricket tour, we once again climbed the rock at Sigirya, this time I was wearing sensible shoes.

Me in the Kalawana Rain Forest - I emerged with more leeches than we could count!

Elephant nursery

Sharing short eats with Neel

On top of the rock - Karen with the late, much loved Norma Hutchins

The 2nd Test is going well for the Aussies, because quite a few of the Sri Lankan team have come down with COVID, although their batsmen rallied yesterday after the early loss of an opener. I did enjoy seeing Marnus Labuschagne make his first century outside of Australia & Steve Smith was spurred on by Joe Root's batting to make 145 not out, his best score in quite a while. 

Yesterday Wes & I tackled cleaning our bedroom - we shifted every stick of furniture & he vacuumed up every bit of dust, dog hair & cobweb we could find. While he did vacuumed the rest of the house, I polished all the furniture, brushed the lampshades and replaced everything. You need sunnies to enter that room now 🤣🤣.

Collingwood played North Melbourne in the afternoon - I had intended going to the match, but I hadn't visited Leanne for a month, mostly through lack of energy, and it was more important to see her than go to the footy - I couldn't do both in the one weekend. We won, but not until North had run out of energy in the last quarter. I felt very sorry for this bottom team, who played their hearts out & deserved to win for a change.