Daylesford Summer Dispatch - Sunday, 25th February 2024

 
I suspect it would Snoopy!

We had a wonderful Sunday morning - after I sent off my Dispatch, we headed to the Market, where Morse was well-behaved and ate all his pear. After I had washed all the fruit & vegetables and put them away, we drove to Daylesford Cemetery to meet Fiona, Les & Brodie for a run. Morse was delighted to see the first two, a little hesitant about Brodie, but once he remembered the dog, he happily played chasey around the outskirts of the cemetery, whlle we four humans chatted. We put Brodie in the back of our car to see how that went & both dogs were fine, making room for each other and quite content. How lovely for Morse that he now has a dog friend!

We tried to make toast for brunch, and discovered that our 18-year old toaster had died and was obviously the culprit on Saturday when the power went out. Fortunately it didn't do any more damage and I replaced it during the week. Zak from Fells arrived early on Monday morning to check everything out and made sure all the power points were working again. It was especially good to plug the fridge in on the wall behind it, instead of on the wall opposite, which gave the three of us plenty of opportunities to trip up.

We spent School redesigning one of our gardens, and are very pleased with what we decided to do. Wes has put in a small timber divider and we have now planted carpet roses on the lower side, with rose bushes & seaside daisies on the upper. 

At lunchtime, I headed back to The Convent for a long overdue catch-up with friend, Janine Hawker, to hear about her recent cruise and share other news. We spent 90 minutes together and promised not to let so much time elapse before doing it again. Janine was a regular at Sunday Breakfasts, which finished a couple of years ago as we couldn't find a venue post COVID. 

On Tuesday, I had an early chat with my aunt, Jeff, in Lincolnshire, where we discussed her upcoming move to Berkshire, which necessitates culling her belongings, which is not an easy thing to do. After that I Zoomed with my sister, Leanne, who is doing well this year, and we made plans for our visit today. Then it was time for my annual review with Jake at Springs Medical Centre, who is overseeing my home exercise programme. 

Stunning sunset photo taken by Fiona in their part of Duke St

In the meantime, Wes vacuumed and washed the cars, before watering the front garden. We were both exhausted by lunch time, although he had done more manual labour than me! He continued the vacuuming & washing on Wednesday, and when I returned from Mah Jong, everywhere was looking wonderful. 

We watched the first T20 against New Zealand in Wellington that night, where Australia won by 1 run on the last ball, after the Black Caps looked the better team for most of the game. 

On Thursday morning, Wes enjoyed a good Zoom with the Jackson Group, before I chatted with Old Friends, where the main topic, apart from the heat, was the success of the Taylor Swift concerts in Melbourne, which had been attended by family & friends of all of us. 

Our latest roses - Volcano, Twilight Zone & Spicy Parfuma

On Friday morning, we christened the new toaster with crumpets & local O'Toole's Orange Blossom honey, and were very happy with the finished product! While we were having this late breakfast, the tree-fellers arrived and started work on the oaks at #80. They eventually removed the huge branch from our backyard and mulched it along with all the other branches they cut down. 

Morse wasn't happy with any of this, especially as they brought two large friendly dogs with them, who were trying hard to get into our place! I took Morse out in the car with me to pump water at Leitches Creek, and do other chores, while Wes planted the new roses shown above, and three Golden Touch carpet roses.

We watched the second T20 in New Zealand, which Australia won easily and unexpectedly after posting a small target for the Black Caps to reach. The third match is today and hopefully it will be close and exciting.

Yesterday morning we took Morse to the Daylesford Cemetery, as he had lots of energy after our cool day. He loved running around the circumference and chasing the bunnies. I have been complaining that the moon has been invisible lately, but she was rather glorious when we were out.

We had invited our neighbours, Glen, James & Yoko, for drinks on the decking yesterday afternoon, and it was perfect weather for the occasion. Morse was in his element greeting everyone effusively and enjoying the company, as did we. James is still in a large brace after his knee reconstruction, but isn't suffering any pain, which is wonderful. Like everyone restricted in their movements, he is impatient to be back driving and living a normal life - he is hoping for good news from his specialist this week.