Daylesford Autumn Dispatch - Sunday, 24th March 2024

I can't resist this series of Snoopy with his broken leg!

What a wonderful St Patrick's Day we enjoyed last Sunday. After the Market, we drove to Brunswick to the old Sarah Sands Hotel in Sydney Road, which is now the home of the Celtic Club. It has been beautifully renovated and turned out to be the perfect venue for a catch up with old friends. There were 10 of us, and we all enjoyed the very Irish breakfast, which was good value at $25 head including tea & coffee. The staff were friendly & caring, and when it came time for us to vacate our table, we were invited to go upstairs to the members' area, where we sat around for another hour or so. 

Gayle Gibson & Squiz Murray

Gerard Lazzaro, Deb Fowler, Karen Stevenson & Tom Tyrrell

Gerard Lazzaro, Deb Fowler, Malcolm & Karen Stevenson

Karen Maloney & Kathy Lazzaro

Tom Tyrrell & Warren Maloney

Warren Maloney enjoying his first sip of Irish breakfast tea

We arrived home to find Morse sound asleep after devouring his bone, and we three watched footy and recovered from our big morning. I took longer than Wes, and found myself in bed early and missed the Monday morning walk around Lake Daylesford.

Meanwhile, Wes decided I needed cheering up after Collingwood had lost its first two games and presented me with the 2023 Premiership Team framed photo, which is now at the bottom of the stairwell, above the framed Nick Maxwell collage from Robert Preston. 

Wes has picked up his new hedge & line trimmers and has been having lots of fun in the garden with his three work-saving garden tools. We've just received our green garden waste bins, and I think we'll be keeping them full for the foreseeable future.

On Wednesday, while I played Mah Jong with Judi, and later had lunch with her and Fiona at Muffins & More, Wes visited Steve, who used to deliver our newspapers, in Daylesford Hospital, where he has been while the doctors try to solve his various health issues. 

We've had a busy week of Zooms & catching up - Wes has spoken twice with Barbara in New Zealand; enjoyed a stimulating discussion with the Jackson Group with a guest speaker who discussed the history of the European Union, and joined my fortnightly catch up with Terry Borg, who has her daughter, Laura, living with her for 3 months from Thailand. Meanwhile I chatted twice with Leanne in Strathmore, and caught up with Old Friends - Kathy & Joyce.

On Thursday, I was lucky that our neighbour, James, was returning to Melbourne in the afternoon, and he drove me to the MCG again, where nearly 80,000 fans gathered to watch St Kilda host Collingwood in the 4th Annual Spud Match, which honours St Kilda legend, Danny Frawley, who suffered mental health issues all his life and died in 2019 aged 56. His family has established a wellness centre in his memory. Once again, Collingwood was no match for their opposition, although we did show a bit more fight than the previous two weeks.

St Kilda & Collingwood players, umpires & reps from all other teams unite in a 2-minute moving tribute to Spud & to raise awareness of Mental Health before the game

Wes & Morse drove to Jolimont that evening to collect me from the match. We had a fairly easy drive home, but it was after midnight before we were in bed. The next morning Morse let us all sleep in until 7.30am, by which time his tummy was missing breakfast!

We had been due to have brunch at The Convent with an old school friend of Wes & his wife, who were in Daylesford for a wedding, but they contacted us to say they had COVID, so we cancelled that arrangement and hope to catch up another time.

This wonderful photo of our friendly juvenile kookaburra was taken by Glen with her new camera

Yesterday we went to Day 1 of the Clunes Booktown Festival, which was first run in 2007. This year there was free entry, and Clunes was full of people of every age wandering around the beautiful wide streets, grabbing book bargains and catching up with friends. We parked near the main area and went into the first book shop we saw, which turned out to be the best we visited, with good quality books all priced at $5. We bought so many that Wes took them back to the car and I wandered on to peruse books on the footpath that were being offered for a donation by the Make a Wish Foundation. By the time he returned, I had more for our library. We didn't find anything else in any of the shops, but there were tents dotted around and we picked up a few more there.

We had booked tickets for two events, both in the beautiful old Clunes Town Hall. The first was titled "Killing Women: Fact and Fiction" and comprised a panel of writers, who each approached the topic from a different viewpoint - policewoman, true crime devotee, teacher & professional moderator. Almost immediately afterwards we were treated to "Let Me Read to You" with Jane Clifton, Wayne Macauley & Helen Garner reading their choice of short story. This was hosted by Jacinta Parsons, who brought a sense of energy & fun to the hour-long event.