Spoilt Snoopy
Once again, we were very sad to learn of the death of a friend, this time John Scarffe, from Porcupine Ridge, who has been unwell for some time. He & Bronwen became our friends when we met at Daylesford Rotary, and we have stayed in touch after their move to Moonee Ponds. John was good company and he will be missed.
This lovely photo of Bruce Bavin, Wes & John Scarffe was taken on a wintry night when Daylesford Rotary took the train to Musk
We were shocked to learn that another local friend had died - "Bloody" Bob Kennedy, unofficial Mayor of Glenlyon. He & Wes met in the early 2000s, when Wes was Mayor of Hepburn Shire. Bob always told him that it didn't include Glenlyon. They enjoyed each other's company, and Bob worked hard to harmonise Glenlyon which was split at that time. When he came to Daylesford, he could usually be found at Muffins & More café, where we would exchange a few words and he would ask after Wes.
After a dry, sunny weekend, we had a deluge of rain on Monday, mostly in the morning, and everywhere looked so green and healthy & happy. Daylesford was still full of visitors spending the Melbourne Cup Long weekend here, and it was best to park your car & walk to wherever you wanted to go, as cars were crawling along the main streets.
After I did the supermarket shopping, Wes & I tackled cleaning the study, which was well overdue. I got the easy part - dusting & polishing, while he did the floors. The windows were going to be done as well, but it was pointless while the rain was around.
We had a wonderful Melbourne Cup day. It was wet & cool here, so we decided to just sit and watch the races on TV, having a bet on each race. Of course, the focus was the Cup, and we were both very keen on Half Yours with Jamie Melham in the saddle, and my roughie was Middle Earth, which ran third. We had quinellaed 4 horses and were hoping Middle Earth could run second, but Goodie Two Shoes finished better. We were in tears, so thrilled for Jamie, who became the first female jockey to win the Caulfield/Melbourne Cup double. This photo shows her after the race with Michelle Payne, the first female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup back in 2015.
That night, Wes had a lovely long Zoom chat with our friend, Paul Jackson, in Oxford. We had cancelled dinner, as the cheese & tomato toasties Wes provided at lunch were so filling, we didn't need another thing.
We woke to more rain on Wednesday, and we both think we have never seen our garden looking so good. A couple of roses have bloomed, but we'll need some more sunshine, before we get a proper showing. Morse turned 7 and we celebrated by singing Happy Birthday, while he waited patiently for a dog biscuit covered in Vegemite, which he loved!
Wes did his usual thing of vacuuming & washing the floors, while I played Mah Jong with Judi. We both tried some different hands, which was easy to do as Muffins & More was very quiet, with just a few locals and no big groups.
Oaks Day was much better weather than the Cup. Wes & Morse had a lovely walk together early, before I had a Zoom with Terry Borg, which had to be aborted as she was quite unwell and coughing. Then I caught up with Old Friends - Kathy, Karen S & Joyce. We chatted about the races, eyes, gardens & books, and the time flew by. Once again, Wes & I enjoyed watching the main races, having a few bets, and even making a small profit on the afternoon.
That morning, Wes & I had headed to Muffins & More, for a long overdue catch up with John Smith, husband of Dot, who died last year. John hasn't been in good health since we last saw him, but he was thrilled to be out, seeing us, and wore the Fair Isle jumper I knitted him back in 2014.
After we had finished brunch with John, we drove to Ballarat, as we needed fish, spirits, smoked salmon pieces, and wanted to visit some furniture shops to find a chair for me for our bedroom. We stopped at Christies Furniture in Howitt Street, where we were the only customers, and the co-owner listened to my needs. We bought a lovely chair & almost matching ottoman, which will be delivered on Tuesday.
The next morning, after a good chat with Leanne, we put Morse in the car and drove to Ballan to spend time with Rob & Dene. We had our usual lovely visit, with a beautiful morning tea, and plenty of treats for Morse. Their garden is looking good, and we had lots to talk about & share.
Morning tea, Rob with Morse, & flowers from both our gardens at our front door
Yesterday was wild & woolly, so we stayed inside, read The Age, and watched the final day of the Flemington Cup Carnival, previously called Stakes Day, but now renamed Champion Stakes Day. We managed to get 1st & 3rd in the main 4 races, but no collects, as I had taken our horses in quinellas! Still we've had a good carnival, enjoyed some wonderful racing and are only $20 down on our original outlay.
Carlton's AFLW team had a resounding win over West Coast at Princes Park in dreadful weather, and now face Hawthorn next weekend. Wes was delighted with their win.
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