I think we mollydookers are allowed to do that these days!
While Wes was busy walking Morse and feeding him & the birds last Sunday, I was enjoying a delightful breakfast with friends - Karen & Malcolm Stevenson & Jane & David Knox joined me in The Windsor Dining Room for a long, leisurely catch up. It was ages since I had seen any of the four, and we had heaps to talk about while we enjoyed our meals & hot drinks. Danny Millman should have joined us, but he wasn't feeling well and very sensibly decided he wouldn't come.
Jane & David above, Karen & Malcolm below
After everyone left, I headed into Little Bourke Street and visited every Asian Supermarket looking for my Jasmine tea, but to no avail. I had decided to go to The Kino to see the French film, "My Brother's Band", and Jane & David joined me there. We all enjoyed it very much and debriefed over drinks afterwards.
Back at The Windsor, I had a rest, watched minis of the past two Tests and ordered an early dinner, as I was quite tired after all my lovely socialising. Jane & David had offered to drive me to Daylesford the next morning, so they could see Wes, and we were very grateful for their offer.
I woke on Monday morning to discover the Melbourne Stars had won their 4th game in a row this season at Manuka vs the Sydney Thunder. My sister, Paun, and her husband, Brian, who live in Canberra, were at the game. Like many of us, Paun is a big fan of Glenn Maxwell, and would have enjoyed seeing him take a great catch and score 39 from 20 balls.
After breakfast, where the maître d' recognised me from past visits - she had been on leave after working on Christmas day & assured me she needed all three days to recover, I went back & packed ready for my trip home. We three had a lovely drive to Daylesford, where Jane & David spent a couple of hours catching up with Wes and meeting Morse, who was thrilled to see me home again.
Predictably, I crashed at 5pm after preparing Morse's dinner and had a smoked salmon sandwich in bed with a glass of Wangolina Sauvignon Blanc. At least I had unpacked completely and everything was washed, dried and put away before I hit bed.
The next morning, it was already hot, but I did enjoy joining Wes & Morse on their walk at the cemetery. He & I spotted at least 3 bunnies, and Morse chased one of them. We came home - me to feed Morse & the birds before Zooming with Leanne; and Wes to catch up on the news before spending the morning in the front garden - snipping, weeding & watering.
By Wednesday morning the temperature had plummeted to 8℃, felt like 1℃, with a very strong wind. We only did 2 circuits of the cemetery as we were being blown away. We then spent an hour or so talking about our coming year and making plans to catch up with friends, go to films & events, and see how we pull up after our visit to Adelaide in April before booking any other holidays. Whatever else we do, we won't be having another Dog Holiday, as the dog didn't enjoy the strange surroundings, bedding, dinner bowl etc etc when we took him to Barwon Heads last May.
Wes went into Vincent Street to pick up our Coffin Bay oysters & hapuka for New Year's Eve Dunch, only to discover that there was no hapuka and we were given deep sea trevalla (aka Antarctic butterfish) pieces instead. The fish shop was in its usual chaos, but we were very happy with what we were received.
Later that afternoon, I could feel a head cold coming on, and went to bed in the hope of heading it off. That wasn't successful, so I started medications the next morning, and spent New Year's Day in bed. Wes had a couple of Zooms - one with Barbara in NZ, and the other with Wendy in Clifton Springs. As well, he had a couple of drinks in the Daylesford Hotel with one of his nephews, Leon, who was in Daylesford visiting his mother, and wanted to catch up before he drove back to Melbourne.
After being looked after totally the day before, I felt well enough on Friday to get up and do a few chores that were due, including changing the sheets and towels, and taking down the Christmas decorations. I do like to leave them up until 6th January, but our tree was looking exhausted, having lasted over 4 weeks and been an absolute delight. Meanwhile, Wes & Morse drove to Rob & Dene's place in Ballan to check everything was OK, and give everywhere a good hose. Fortunately Rob & Dene arrive back home before the 40℃ temperature we are expecting on Wednesday!
Alfie & his shy son getting stuck into the cashews daily!
We were very sad to learn that our dear friend, Brother Doug Walsh had died on New Year's Day aged 88, after 70 years as a Marist brother. We had exchanged Christmas emails with him last month, and he was hoping to get his annual letter out, but spent the last two weeks of his life catching up with family & friends in his hospice bed, where prostate cancer finally won the battle.
We first met Doug at Brunswick Rotary in the 80s, and were in awe of his kindness and compassion for his fellow man. His biggest project was Bagong Barrio in the Philippines, where whole families were living in rubbish dumps. Brunswick Rotary took on the challenge and Wes went with Doug and other Rotarians to see what they could do to help. Many years later, when we were members of Daylesford Rotary, Doug asked again for help, and Wes, with our good friend, Glenda Rozen, answered the call and flew over to help. The project is now finally self-managed and those families and their children all lead better lives because of Doug.
He was also a big believer in St Vincent de Paul's soup kitchens and worked in them until he could no longer do so. He taught for many years in Traralgon and Kilmore, where he was a popular teacher. He was also a passionate Collingwood supporter and told me he had attended every Melbourne game we played in 2025, and had been in touch with the MCG to find out if he could attend this year in his wheelchair.
RIP Doug Walsh
Yesterday morning I felt well enough to rejoin Wes & Morse on their early walk in the cemetery. We spotted 5 bunnies, but Morse's only sighting was a cyclist on the other side of the road, who he chased along the fence line until the cyclist had vanished.
The rest of the day was peaceful - Wes did some gardening & mowing in the back yard, while I washed dog bedding, read Saturday's Age newspaper, and prepared for today's start of the 5th and final Ashes Test at the SCG.
Neither of us knew anything about Wolf Moon until our neighbour, Glen, sent this wonderful photo taken in Daylesford yesterday. We did see the moon ourselves early this morning before walking Morse, and it is quite special.
