Daylesford Spring Dispatch - Sunday, 27th November, 2022

 
Dog owners can all relate to this!

It was wild & woolly last Sunday, but Wes managed to walk Morse & we both went to the Market without getting too wet. We did feel sorry for the stall-holders, who lose lots of customers when it is cold & raining unexpectedly in November. 

On Monday, Wes & Morse managed a walk before the rain came back down and I did the grocery shop at Coles - an inexpensive one as the shelves were bare of quite a few of the items on our list. Later I had a massage with Sarah, which did me the world of good & I felt more energised than I had since COVID struck us. The rain squalled around all day, punctuated by moments of sunshine. 

Wes & Morse tucked up for the afternoon

It was wet again on Tuesday, but Wes & Morse got a lap of Lake Daylesford done before it started pouring. I had Zoom chats with Jeff, Leanne & Jan & finished the morning with a lovely facial at EKO. 

On Wednesday, Wes & Morse had a moist walk early, and while I played Mah Jong with Judi, Wes vacuumed & washed the floors. Morse doesn't enjoy being locked out while this goes on, so he was pleased when I arrived back home & we were both allowed inside. 

In the afternoon Wes participated in two Zoom meetings - firstly Hepburn Matters, followed by our local ALP Branch Meeting. Two of the movers & shakers had come down with COVID, so there needed to be some tweaking of the duty roster for yesterday's Victorian State election. 

The next day I enjoyed a good chat with old friends - Kathy, Karen, Lib & Joyce before going in search of large Christmas serviettes in Daylesford for Leanne - I had no luck whatsoever & am only hoping that she has some tucked away in a cupboard that we find this morning when we visit. 

Friday was spent making Christmas puddings. Wes came up with the brilliant suggestion that I turn the mixture into two puddings as we don't really need the extra large size anymore, especially when there are only three of us having Christmas lunch together this year. 

Luckily, Judi had given me quite a lot of unbleached calico a few years ago & I could easily produce two pudding cloths. Morse didn't know what to do - the Sunbeam Mixmaster was going strong in the kitchen & Wes was mowing outside - he really doesn't like loud noises & ended up in the laundry, wishing he had ear-muffs I am sure.

Yesterday was the Victorian State Election. Along with lots of others we voted early, using the postal vote facility. However, Wes really enjoys handing out How to Vote cards, so he did the 10-12 shift at Daylesford Primary School and 2-4pm at Yandoit. He caught up with lots of friends & came home with news from them all. I visited the Daylesford Farmers' Market, but didn't fit in the Daylesford Agricultural Show. If you were a visitor here this weekend, there was so much to see & do, you were spoilt for choice. 

Busy afternoon at Yandoit - above Steve, the Liberal, tucking into homemade sausage rolls brought by a local for Ian Tinetti, who wasn't there. Below, Verna met up with a couple of friends, which made for a very hectic time outside the Yandoit School!

We sat glued to the ABC Election coverage last night & were delighted when Antony Green declared Labor had won their third successive team, with the loss of very few seats. There had been very little aggro at polling booths, leading us to feel that Premier Dan Andrews' message "We're all in this together" had struck the right chord. 

This morning, after the Sunday Market, we are off to visit Leanne in Strathmore. We are heading to Adelaide next Friday, via Beachport & Kingston SE, and will be away for her birthday, watching the 2nd Test against the West Indies. We are taking gifts for her & will have an early celebration. 

Our most prolific rose at present - the lovely climber, Fourth of July, which covers one of our water tanks in the backyard

Daylesford Spring Dispatch - Sunday, 20th November 2022

Snoopy sounds like a Labrador 🤣

We started our week with a visit to the Sunday Market, followed by a trip to Strathmore to spend time with Leanne. When we arrived, she served party pies & tiny vegetarian quiches with our coffee & tea at the dining room table, which was lovely. We had a great visit, lots of chats, fixed a few issues & helped each other with advice. 

That night we watched the Poms be far too good for the Pakistan T20 team in the Final at the MCG. We had bought tickets for this match back in January, never dreaming we would be recovering from COVID & not have the energy to go. 

On Monday, School was getting ready for Christmas - we fine-tuned our letter, printed it & bought cards & stamps. We even posted our 4 overseas cards in the hope that they would arrive before Christmas this year!

Wes has spent time in the garden now he has more energy, as well as washing some of our windows (a never-ending job); washing & vacuuming the floors, and cleaning the cars, which were grubby after the rain. I've stewed rhubarb & pears, picked roses & irises, and nurtured all our seedlings in the hope that insects & snails stay well away.

Stunning detail of our foxgloves

We both had appointments that we had rescheduled because of COVID. Wes visited the optician, where he was pleased to discover his eyesight hasn't deteriorated since his last visit. I went to see Dr Ellie with another suspicious growth, that turned out to be benign & was able to be frozen off. I also had my nails done by Juls in Hepburn Springs, and played Mah Jong with Judi at Muffins & More café. On Friday I had a check-up session with Jake, my exercise physiologist, who was happy with my progress & agreed with my post COVID strategy of easing back into it. 

We also had a few Zoom chats - I spent time with Leanne; with Terry Borg, who has just returned from a month in Thailand with her younger daughter, Laura; and with Old Friends. Wes chatted with Barbara twice, and caught up with the Overseas crew to discuss the American mid-term election. 

On Thursday, we celebrated Wes's birthday with lunch at Bad Habits Café @ The Convent. When we arrived, Marija explained that the café was unexpectedly full, even though there had only been four bookings, and suggested we sit in the parlour, which was perfect. We enjoyed grilled calamari salads, followed by raspberry teacake slices.

Warren & Karen about to hoe into teacake after he blows out his candle!

We made an unexpected trip to Ballarat on Friday to get shoes. Wes had bought a new pair of walking shoes from Nicole at Daylesford Clothing, but she doesn't stock Rockport, which meant I had to visit Faull's, which specialises in all sorts of shoes, including those for people like me with orthotics. Jackie didn't have my size, but arranged for a pair to be sent from their Geelong store & posted to me. Wonderful service!

On a sad note, we were sorry to read of the death of Gael Shannon, who we first met when we moved here in 2000. Gael was the partner of Danny Spooner, whom we had known well at Melbourne Uni, and she was a mover & shaker in the Daylesford & District Horticultural Society, which is where our paths first crossed. During my recent bout with COVID, she & I had exchanged emails & I knew she was terminally ill, but her death came more quickly than we expected. 

Lovely photo of Gael taken a few years ago

Australia & England are playing three One Day games of cricket, hot on the heels of the T20 tournament, and so far, the Poms have been unable to beat us. I suspect they are still nursing hangovers after their stunning T20 win, but it is good to see the Aussies playing with skill & spirit again.

As far as AFLW goes, Melbourne will meet Brisbane in the Grand Final next Sunday afternoon in Ipswich, after both teams comfortably won their Preliminary Finals. We're hoping Daisy Pearce can captain the Demons to their 1st Flag, after being such a leader of women's footy for so many years. 

Daylesford Spring Dispatch - Sunday, 13th November 2022

 

We feel bad any time we have to leave a Labrador, let alone for a few days!

Thanks again to everyone who has kept an eye on us, sent messages, wished us well & generally empathised with our plight. It was strange not to be visiting the Market last Sunday, and we spent a very quiet day, enlivened by a close victory by the Collingwood AFLW team against the brave Bulldogs, which meant we got to play Adelaide yesterday, where we were beaten by a better side that coped well with the delays in play because of lightning!

Each morning this week, we woke feeling a little better than the day before, but not quite well enough to venture out in the world. We were very grateful for our neighbour, Glen, who posted cards, checked the PO Box, put out the bins & went to Tonna's for us when rations were getting low. The weather was lovely, and I wandered around the garden each day, noticing the odd rose & iris in bloom, as well as the lavender, carnations & petunias. We have lots of herbs doing well on the main decking, and some bush peas & radishes too. 

I planted these gazanias last year as seedlings & nothing happened. They've just flowered & I swear they are foxgloves!

Finally on Wednesday, we had both stopped shedding the virus, were negative when we did our RATs & went to Coles to do our supermarket shopping. It was a strange feeling being out & about after so long, but lovely to be back in control. I returned a library book, checked our PO Box, had a fringe trim with Lyndal & collected the latest issue of The Local. Wes went to Mitre 10 to get a plunger to unblock the downstairs bathroom sink & some new gardening gloves. He also stocked up on whisky & gin as we started to feel like drinking spirits again. 

Another gem from FB

We both enjoyed getting back into our Zoom chats, although we started slowly. Wes chatted with his Godson, Danny, in Queensland, as well as his friend, Barbara, in New Zealand. I had a couple of short sessions with Leanne, who had been very understanding & patient during the past fortnight. As well, I was able to catch up with old friends - Kathy, Karen, Lib & Joyce, who were all pleased to be back to normal with our weekly Zoom.

First small vase of roses

Yesterday, we woke with more energy & Wes spent the morning weeding the front yard. He filled three huge orange garbage bags & was very pleased with his work. Meanwhile I visited Wombat Hill Nursery & came home with punnets of cucumbers, basil & gazanias (?), as well as a stunning hydrangea. I planted the seedlings as well as some more bush peas, and I was thrilled with my work too. 

Red hydrangea

This morning, after the Sunday Market, we are off to visit Leanne and hoping the thunderstorms stay away while we are travelling. It will be good to see Leanne again & chat about Christmas plans, as well as do a few jobs to help her.

Daylesford Spring Dispatch - Sunday, 6th November, 2022

There's not much to report this week as we've both been lying low waiting for our COVID symptoms to pass. We have been isolating, of course, as we wouldn't want to give this to anyone. Thank God we were able to access antivirals, which probably diminished the degree to which we were attacked, but neither of us wants to go through this again.

Thanks to everyone who responded when they read the news - we were inundated with well-wishers by email, text, Messenger & What's Ap. I cancelled everything that was on this past week, but Wes, who was three days ahead of me with recovery, was able to handle a couple of Zoom chats. He also made meals when the soup ran out, produced hot lemon drinks at the drop of a hat & looked after Morse, who was very happy to be spending all his time with us.

Here is Morse yesterday, fresh from a bath, celebrating his 4th birthday

We watched Melbourne Cup week races at Flemington, put on some bets, won some, lost some, as you do & ended up square over the week. The win by Gold Trip of the Cup itself was most exciting & well-deserved & the crowd to see him was amazing considering the wild, wet & not so warm weather.

I went for a walk around Maloney Folly yesterday to see what had been happening in the garden while we were in bed & was delighted to see our weeping Japanese maple had done its thing. As well our only rhododendron now has a single flower & it won't be long before there are roses in bloom. The lavender & seaside daisies are going crazy & the banksia rose is climbing over the arches in the back.

We do hope to be back on track this week, although I have cancelled or postponed most activities as we have been warned about doing too much & suffering a relapse or just being too tired.