Daylesford Dispatch - Saturday, 25th February 2012

Dear Everyone, it is a very hot day here in Victoria, and even worse in South Australia, so I guess we will get that tomorrow. Yesterday afternoon we had a big scare when there was a bushfire at Blampied, about 10 minutes away. Our dear friends, Kim & Gary, live right in the path of this bushfire and Gary was able to evacuate with his two cats into town. Wes noticed the bushfire was on the ABC website, so he implemented an impromptu phone tree & spoke to everyone in our street, while I posted notices on Skype, Facebook & Twitter in the hope that those affected by the fire would be made aware of it. After about an hour it was obvious that the fire wasn’t coming our way, so we didn’t evacuate. This happened one day after the 3^rd Anniversary of the fires here – quite uncanny.

Kim & Gary’s accommodation at Blampied – The Signal Box & The Governor’s Carriage

 Last night we had dinner at A Taste of Spice, the Indian restaurant we are enjoying, with John & Jan, who have been in the wars recently. John has removed his moon boot & Jan has had her knee cleaned and repaired and they were both thrilled to experience a different restaurant with us. We enjoyed an early meal with lots of good conversations.

Today Wes has driven to Cohuna with his sister, Denise, to celebrate Malachi’s 10^th birthday. Teddy went off filled with Carlton paraphernalia for a change. As far as I know the trip went well and they will now be enjoying a 10-year-old party with the company of 10 similar aged boys! John & Dannielle, the parents, will be thrilled they made the effort, especially in this heat.                                         

We’ve had a big week of golf again – I played on Monday & Wednesday with Wes & on Friday with Leon Anderson. Leon has only recently taken up the game & he approaches it in the same laidback fashion that he does everything. We enjoyed 10 holes together & he loved the Trentham course – the only other course he has played on is Royal Park where you have to keep an eye out for trains & trams. Wes stayed home as we were expecting men to come and replace our cork flooring at 8am. Of course, they didn’t arrive until 9.30, but they worked hard & well and we now have new flooring. The only drawback to the new improved floor is that we can’t shut our bedroom door, but we will ask the carpenter to fix that when he returns with a new kitchen cupboard door.

Wes and Barbara drove to Ballarat on Monday for rehab, and again on Tuesday for hydrotherapy. On Friday I had a long meeting with Jan Pengilley, the incoming Rotary President, who wanted to discuss the Art Show and her thoughts for her year with me. She wants Wes and me to do the Bulletin again, but we are quite burnt out after doing 2.5 years of it. We get very dispirited when members don’t read it properly and forget to turn up for their duties at Rotary meetings. I’m not sure what the answer is – I’ve tried reminders and even that doesn’t guarantee they will arrive. Perhaps we are all losing our short-term memories!

I found myself quite tired this week after the very busy time we had the previous week, so I went to bed early on Monday & Tuesday and felt much better by Wednesday. This was fortuitous, as Wes was exhausted and spent much of the day in bed catching up on sleep and things he had taped on Austar. By Thursday we were both OK and I enjoyed a morning of Mah Jong with Carol at Café 3460.

It is lovely to have the house looking so good again, although we haven’t put back our paintings. Wes is going to ask Glenn to help him, as Glenn did the original hanging of them seven years ago and it is much harder to put them back than it was to take them down. Our bedroom is full of paintings, but now that the other furniture is back where it belongs, we can easily manage.

Viva is going well. She received good news from the eye specialist that the ulcer on her cornea is part-healed and he expects her to eventually recover full sight in her left eye. She is on antibiotics for it. I had hoped to visit again tomorrow, but this hot weather means she won’t be up to a visit & won’t want me driving all that way and back in the heat.

Daylesford Dispatch, Sunday, 19th February 2012

Dear Friends, I had some complaints after my last Dispatch that there were too many photos from 1990 (this from a St Kilda supporter), so I explained that Wes had just scanned a set of photos & I was keen to use them, even though it was so long ago. I just loved looking at photos of us all looking a little younger!

I’ve just returned from visiting Viva, Leanne & Smokey. Viva is looking good, although she is suffering in the heat of course. Leanne has been busy redoing the garden with weed mat and mulch & everywhere looks great. Wes has gone to see ‘Midnight & Magnolias’ at the Williamstown Little Theatre with Barbara, Judi, Michael, John, Glenn & Gillie. I arrived home just as he was leaving.

This morning we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast – special treats included garlic scallops, spinach pancakes & zucchini fritters, in addition to poached plums & pears, baked bananas, pikelets, 2 types of snags, bacon two ways, mushrooms & tomatoes. We shared some lovely stories over the meal with lots of laughs.

I had gotten up early to walk the boys and it was quite hot & dry as we made our way through town & back; then after I had showered, I took them to the Sunday Market, by which time the rain had started to fall; then to the supermarket & it was quite heavy rain. Back home, where they demolished as much of the celery as I discard. By the time we drove to Café 3460, the rain was easing and Kim brought out toast & vegemite on a willow-patterned plate, which I quickly rescued before rewarding the boys for their patience.

Last Sunday after doing the Dispatch, Wes, Norma & I went on a lovely tour of Hepburn Shire including places we didn’t visit the previous time she was here – Creswick, Clunes, Newstead, Sailors Falls, with our main destination of Ballarat. We discovered that Norma had not explored country Victoria, so took her to see the Eureka Stockade, then to the Ballarat Art Gallery to see the original Southern Cross flag and the display celebrating the Lindsay family, who lived in Creswick. Then the stunning Prisoner of War Memorial in the Gardens.

Norma at Lavandula in July 09 & with me in Feb 12 below

On Monday, Norma had a lie-in and we played golf with John Smith after Wes had walked the boys. Norma went for a walk around town & met Gillie at the Post Office, as well as enjoying coffee at the Gourmet Larder. Wes & I had a late breakfast at Café 3460 with John & Glenn, and then in the afternoon, Norma & I climbed into Teddy and drove to Kyneton to walk up & down historic Piper Street. I used to love doing this and it was fun to explore with Norma’s company. We were blown away by the Stockroom, an eclectic gallery on the site of the old Kyneton Knitting Mills; intrigued by some of the interesting shops, bought some goodies at the greengrocer/deli; ran into old friend, Fran Wigley; peered into windows of closed shops & restaurants & spent quite a while at the amazing Emporium. The only thing we didn’t do was stop for a cup of tea as absolutely nowhere open appealed to us at all. The only place we liked the look of was closed for February.

That night Norma & Wes cooked venison with sweet potato and we watched the most recent episode of ‘The Accused’, which I hope everyone has been glued to – absolutely riveting TV series written by Jimmy McGovern. On Tuesday we took Norma to the Red Star Café to experience a Hepburn breakfast, detoured to Jubilee Lake to enable her to buy honey from O’Toole’s stall by the side of the road & spent an hour at Lavandula Swiss Italian Lavender Farm. There were only a few of us wandering around & we enjoyed wallowing in lavender and exploring the gardens.

Then it was time to take Norma to Ballan Station for the train back to Melbourne. I took the boys with me as I was dropping them off at Eureka Kennels where they were staying for a short trip while the painters finally repainted our smoke-damaged walls. After delivering the boys, I then spent an hour trying to find Vic Roads in Wendouree and finally went to Drummond Golf shop, which is the only place I know in the area & asked for directions. Once I found it, my experience was wonderful – a short wait; a smiling person behind the desk; I was congratulated on my good driving record & given a hefty discount on my licence fee; then asked if I liked my photo, which I did and it all took 10 minutes in total. My final activity in Ballarat was an appointment with Sarah for a refreshing facial. By the time I arrived home I was exhausted and a long tonic water with lemon & a yummy dinner were both very welcome.

We had a busy morning on Wednesday moving furniture and getting everywhere ready for the painters who were due the next day. Then off to Melbourne for our first Melbourne Theatre Company play this year – ‘Tribes’ by Nina Raine. Wes wrote it up on Facebook thus – Tribes is certainly worth seeing with outstanding acting by Allison playing Sylvia. The set, the use of a vast stage by the director, the multimedia and the essential plot are excellent. It needs 20 mins cut from the 1st half and tighter writing (less sub-plot) in the 2nd half. But we came away talking and thinking about all aspects of live theatre - so it is a winner.  

We caught up with Ian & Robyn briefly during interval & afterwards, which was lovely. Wes very kindly did the driving so that I wouldn’t be too tired & could finally get to Rotary, which I did that night. It was fun evening with a Valentines theme, and I did enjoy catching up with all our Rotary friends & their partners, even if our table was pretty hopeless in Jan’s trivia quiz.

1997 – Robyn & Ian with Tom

On Thursday the painters arrived about 8.30am and proceeded to take over upstairs, relegating Wes & me to our study downstairs. I played Mah Jong with Dot & Carol, and Wes went to a lovely long Men’s Lunch at the Bowling Club. The next morning, only one painter returned to do the cupboards and the feature wall. Wes stayed at home, while I played 12 holes at Trentham, as early morning exercise is definitely helping my energy levels.

Yesterday Wes collected the boys early – they were delighted to be home again and to be given big bones, as we were off back into town to see another play, ‘The Seed’ written by a young WA actress turned playwright, Kate Mulvaney, about a family named Maloney. Wes posted the following on Facebook - The acting performances by Tony Martin, Gleeson & Max Gillies were very good, very compelling. The play, which is driven by and drives the themes of Ireland, war, family, genetics, Australian lifestyle, apprehension of violence and desperate self-reality, hit home to us on many of its layers. The 1st act is excellent. The 2^nd act needs a bit of rewriting & tightening of direction. Loved the set. We were so glad we saw this play & the drive home to Daylesford was full of theatre conversation. Before our preview session started the young female director addressed the audience and craved our indulgence as she had given her cast a big list of new instructions this morning following the previous night’s first preview performance. Before the play we enjoyed a yum cha at the ‘Red Emperor’ in Docklands.

Last night I was delighted to finally see the Magpies playing footy again in a round Robin match with Footscray & the newest AFL club, Greater Western Sydney. We are going to be very spoiled this year as Fox launched a dedicated AFL station on Friday night with 24-hour footy. All their live games come ad-free, which is such a bonus. Their commentary teams aren’t as appealing to me as the ABC radio, so if I am watching a game on TV, I’ll be listening on the radio, just as I do with the cricket. Bliss.