What a lovely Sunday we had last week - after the early walk around the Wombat Botanic Gardens, we headed to the Daylesford Market to stock up on fruit, vegetables, eggs & dog bones. We hadn't told Morse that Rob & Dene were arriving & his joy when the doorbell rang knew no bounds. They came bearing yummy pastries, which we had for breakfast, before setting off to walk up the hill to Vincent Street for the ChillOut Parade. It was the happiest, longest, and most-watched parade we can remember in all the years it has been going.
There were small hiccups - the organisers had decided to lengthen the course, by describing a figure 8, but the first two participants - Dykes on Bikes & the Melbourne Bike Club hadn't gotten the message & complicated matters by trying to complete the shorter course twice. There were hold-ups, stuff ups, loss of concentration by the onlookers and the participants, which all contributed to a fun hour or so. We walked back home after it finished, and Rob & Dene visited Glen next door before returning to Ballan.
ChillOut "Find Your Wings" photos - 1/ Daylesford Brass Band, 2/even dogs were wearing wings, and 3/a Toddler Train
We have had a problem with our main TV, which has been ghosting & getting progressively worse, so School on Monday was devoted to fixing it. Wes spent a good hour on the phone to TCL's helpline, but when resetting didn't work, the person on the other end of the phone decided that she could do no more for us, especially as we were out of warranty. She gave us the names of two technicians in Ballarat who may be able to help, but as Monday was Public Holiday, Labour Day, in Victoria, we had to reset the TV settings ourselves. In fact, I went off to have a remedial massage with Sarah and left Wes doing the hard yards.
There were still plenty of visitors in Daylesford on Tuesday, probably because of the wonderful weather & the great atmosphere generated by ChillOut. I had an early chat with Jeff in Lincolnshire, and encouraged her to tell me more stories about her time in Hong Kong in 1966; followed by a lovely Zoom with Jan in Maleny, who was interested to hear about Daylesford's weekend's activities & the recent sale of The Rex, among other topics.
In-between, I provided Glen with a chai latte, and had a quick chat. She is looking better each day & especially that morning as her dogs, Nellie & Willow, had spent the day & night with her for the first time since Glen broke her leg.
We woke to very sad news on Wednesday with the death of our dear friend, Fraser Gibson, after a short illness. We met Fraser, through his wife, Gayle, when I was Treasurer of the Ladies' Committee at Collingwood Football Club during the 80s and we've enjoyed many happy times together. I think Wes's greatest joy was when he & Fraser & Sam Esposito shared a beautiful wooden ketch, HMS Collingwood, and they spent hours together with this boat. Our hearts go out to Gayle, their daughter, Gabby, and their grandson, Fraser.
1998 - Fraser at sea on HMS Collingwood
Lovely photo of Gayle & Fraser with his unforgettable smile
We had planned to go to Ballarat that day, which was a good thing to do after such news. The sun shone on us everywhere we went. We started at Faull's Shoes to get new walking boots for both of us & walked away very pleased with our purchases. The woman looking after me asked what we were doing next & I said I needed a pot of tea, so she sent us down the street to Wen & Ware café, where we enjoyed hot drinks & biscuits in a lovely atmosphere surrounded by beautiful homewares.
After our break, we walked to Rebel Sports & bought 2 x 4kg dumb-bells - I've been searching for them for months & this was so easy. Next stop was Bunnings for Wes to get some gardening gloves and we weren't ready to go home, so drove to the beautiful Ballarat Botanic Gardens to admire the Begonia Display, along with quite a few others. Across the road was Pipers by the Lake, so we strolled over for lunch & enjoyed our interesting salads. On our way home, we detoured to look at Ballarat's New Cemetery, which is very European in design with evergreens planted among the graves & feature garden spaces.
Great photo of Wes with his Greek salad at Pipers by the Lake
Wes drove to Melbourne on Thursday, mainly to visit his long-time friend & school-mate, John Hardwick, who is in Epworth in palliative care. He had a good visit & was able to give Johnny a shave, while they shared some laughs & great memories. Afterwards, he drove to Fitzroy to give Gayle some flowers from us, and then to Essendon to say hello to John's wife, Carole, who is confined to home with vertigo at present. On his way back, he stopped at the Maltese restaurant for some pastizzi, and at the Brunswick Seafood shop for tuna cutlets & a whole trout.
That night Carlton played a draw with long-time rivals, Richmond, in front of 88,000+ at the MCG. Wes was relieved to escape with the 2 points, but not thrilled with the standard of footy.
We caught up with our friend, Bob White, at Chaplins in Trentham for breakfast on Friday morning after my Zoom chat with Leanne. The specialty meal was baked eggs, Jewish style, which we all had & enjoyed very much. On our way home, we stopped at Bi-Rite to get a new washing machine, as our current one was leaking water & shorting the fuse box!
Bob looking good in St Patrick's Day green
That afternoon, the TV technician arrived & declared the screen couldn't be repaired. He was a Collingwood supporter & happy to chat footy instead. I ran out of energy & had to watch the footy from bed, where I lasted until half-time before falling asleep. I couldn't believe the final score, when I read that we had just managed to beat an injured Geelong, which had looked the better team while I was watching.
Yesterday was very quiet. I still had no energy, so settled down with Saturday's Age to read and the replay to watch, as well as live AFL games in the afternoon & evening. We had to call off brunch with our new neighbours and lunch today with Marilyn & Robert Preston. I'm feeling better for the rest, but am still like a balloon with all the air out of it, so will be back home taking it very easily after the Market this morning.
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