Daylesford Dispatch - Sunday, 27th November 2011

Dear Friends, there is never a dull moment with us it seems. The big drama this week has been the ‘Great Fire of Daylesford’ to rival the famous ‘Great Fire of Essendon’, which occurred on 26^th February 1973, the day Tom arrived running up our driveway to announce the arrival of Becky. Not to be outdone, we promptly caused a fire in the chimney which necessitated the fire brigade and made for some wonderful stories.

This fire was a little more dramatic. Our dishwasher was playing up for 24 hours and refusing to complete a cycle, so I thought I would teach it a lesson and turn it off at the wall, to give it a chance to reset itself. However when I turned it back on, it got its revenge by making that expired noise that appliances do when they have burnt out. So I opened the door to let the contents dry before taking them out and went downstairs to tell Wes we would need a new dishwasher. Five minutes later the smoke alarms started blaring. We raced upstairs into a thick wall of black smoke and discovered a small intense fire in the door of the dishwasher. Wes smothered it with bath sheets (we both forgot about the fire blanket and fire extinguisher within easy reach), I put the boys in the car and then rang 000. The fire brigade arrived quickly, told us we had done the right things and checked downstairs to see if the guest bedroom was alight (something we had overlooked). It wasn’t!

We are very lucky as we weren’t injured apart from some smoke inhalation. The electrician arrived within 30 minutes and confirmed the fault was in the dishwasher. We had to wait until the next day for a plumber to come and remove it. In the meantime, Wes rang Andrew Mengyel at OAMPS and he organised an assessor, who arrived that evening from Ballarat. She authorised cleaning to be done and quotes for repairs. We had 4 cleaners all day on Thursday and they will be back again tomorrow for another full day. Sadly the paintwork in the kitchen hasn’t cleaned up as well as they would like, so it may have to be repainted. The lounge suite has been steam-cleaned, but will need another go as it is still marked with soot. Our floating cork floor is still available, with a similar pattern, but the whole of the upstairs of the house will have to be replaced, as well as some carpentry work on the island bench and probably the bench top.

We are hopeful that at least the floor can be done & the dishwasher replaced before Christmas as we have 12-14 friends for lunch on Christmas Day. We will probably be able to stay put while things are being done (we can sleep downstairs & use that bathroom), but Bilbo & Frodo may need to go into kennels while the floor is re-laid.

We found ourselves quite shocked by the suddenness of this and have nothing but sympathy for anyone who experiences any kind of fire. We can still smell the smoke whenever we come in the front door, and I imagine it won’t leave us until the old flooring is gone. Needless to say, we decided not to tell Viva about this little drama as she has enough to worry about with getting her strength back, without being worried about us.

I visited Viva on Wednesday, the day after the fire, so that Leanne could spend a couple of hours out of the house and I was pleased to see that Viva was a better colour, her voice was better and she seemed to be physically stronger as well. One of the young carers, who shower her, has had shingles earlier this year and is very understanding and sympathetic.

Sunrise 25/11/11>      

We’ve had to eat out quite a bit as we had no access to the kitchen on Wednesday and Thursday. We ended up having a lovely dinner on Thursday night at the Farmers Arms with Judi, Michael, Gillie and Glenn and it did us the world of good. Wes went to a Men’s Lunch on Wednesday while he really enjoyed and he also went to Rotary, but I was too tired after driving to Melbourne and back.

Wes has spent quite a few hours with Barbara getting the ‘Hepburn Voices’ laptop operational and helping her with other computer issues. He has his new phone, which is a Motorola Atrix, the newer version of my Motorola Defy, so I have been showing him how to download apps, how to get his home screen working for him and how to use Skype and Viber. Our only problem is making sure we have different sounds for all the messages, calls & reminders that arrive on our phones!

Yesterday was Daylesford Show Day and we had so much rain, as well as a strong wind, that it was washed out. Such a shame as it is fun, like any country Show. I stayed in bed all day, as I was absolutely exhausted. Wes didn’t do too much computer work and enjoyed catching up on recorded programmes and spending hours reading The Age. I even got DA’s crossword out before lunchtime, thanks to the Anagram Solver & Dictionary apps on my phone!

Today we had a wonderful breakfast at Café 3460, where Kim outdid himself as usual with a huge variety of dishes. The boys and I had been to the Sunday Market early and they were very keen to see Gary and get their toast and vegemite, to say nothing of leftover smoked salmon & corn fritters. It’s a beautiful day here and we each hope to spend some time in the garden, as weed pulling out is very easy after a deluge, as you would know.

We are not sure what this week holds as far as kitchen repairs are concerned, but no doubt our assessor will be in touch soon. The first Test against NZ starts on Thursday and it will be interesting to see how our new boys fare – 5 changes is such a big thing for our Test side.

Gillie’s magical garden

Enjoy the last few days of Spring!

Daylesford Dispatch - Sunday, 20th November 2011

Dear Friends, we’ve just had a lovely surprise visit from old friends, Kathy & Gerard Lazzaro, who were between Open Gardens. They had driven from Warrnambool this morning to see Paul Bangay’s Denver garden & were planning to see Stuart Rattle’s Musk garden and then drive to Geelong to catch up with their eldest son, David, his wife, Helen, and their three children, Jessica, Maya & Daniel. We were thrilled to see them – we’ve known each other for nearly 40 years and shared many happy times together.

This has been a busy day – Bilbo & Frodo’s 7^th birthday, which started with early morning bones, followed by cabbage leaves at the Sunday Market, then celery back here at home, toast & vegemite at Café 3460 & doggie shasliks as a special treat. They are now attempting to help Wes in the garden, but really they just want to sleep, digest and work up an appetite for dinner! Their Auntie, Leanne, bought them huge marrow bones yesterday, and we’ve decided to wait until tomorrow to give them those!

Breakfast at Café 3460 was very special. Kim outdid himself with treats, we even got the strap for not eating enough food, and then he and Gary announced that they are putting ‘The House Next Door’ on the market tomorrow, as they can no longer run two businesses and do justice to them both. We have been dreading this day of course, but can only be grateful to Kim for his concept and for offering us such a wonderful home away from home. With a bit of luck someone who loves it will buy it and continue it as a café, but equally it would make someone a good family home with a glorious garden within walking distance of everything. We can’t thank you enough and will make the most of the remaining weeks and days.

Yesterday, while the rain bucketed down all over Victoria, I drove to Melbourne to see Viva and give Leanne a chance to go out for a couple of hours. Viva was exhausted after the previous very hot, humid day, so she was asleep in bed when I arrived. She wasn’t strong enough to get out of bed, so I left her sleeping, answered the phone, and kept Smokey amused, so that he wasn’t terrified by the storm. We had a good chat when she woke up and I hope that she will be feeling a little stronger today with the cooler weather. Leanne is doing such a great job of caring for Viva – our family is very lucky that she is able to fill this role and enable Viva to be at home.

We’ve had quite a social week, starting last Sunday night with a lovely meal shared with Gillie and Glenn – Wes’s venison was cooked perfectly and he sent our guests home with a third of the leftovers. On Monday we were visited by Lovely & Malcolm. Lovely was very keen to have lunch at ‘Wombat Hill House’, in the Botanical Gardens, so we went there and spent about 90 minutes together. Wes and I feel that this cafe desperately needs a maître d’ or table service, instead of making us take a menu and queue up to pay every time we want to order something. It has a great position and is charging Lake House prices, without the famous service.

The Trentham Golf Course was closed to us this week, so we weren’t able to follow up our game of golf last week. Instead on Tuesday, while Wes spent most of the day with Barbara in Ballarat, I helped Jim Swatman with his computer, then had a massage with Ann Holden and did some gardening in the afternoon, before spending an enjoyable couple of hours with Judi at her place catching up.

Bird trying to get out of bird box in Glenn’s garden

On Wednesday we drove to Melbourne to see Viva and allow Leanne some time to do shopping. We had a good visit, but left after 90 minutes as we didn’t want to tire her out too much. Wes surprised me by taking me to Collingwood’s home, where we bought a new flag and the boxed DVD series of last year’s finals. Then we drove into town and enjoyed Yum Cha at Westlake, before coming back home. I gave Rotary a miss as I was tired after the big day, so Wes went and enjoyed the evening.

Wes had requested a quiet day with no visitors for his birthday on Thursday, so we had exactly what he requested and ended up with a lovely early meal at ‘Mercato’ that night. He received lots of cards and emails and a few gifts as well, which was great. When he gets a new phone tomorrow, no doubt there will be some calls there to catch up on. The boys and I gave him a bottle of Jameson’s Whiskey to accompany his painting and camera, which were early presents.

On Friday he and Jim went to Stuart Rattle’s place to help erect tents and put the Rotary barbecue in place and they will take everything down again tomorrow morning. I had hoped to walk into town myself to do a few messages, but it was too hot too early, so I washed Teddy and drove in instead, where I enjoyed bumping into a few friends and getting a new battery for my car keys which had died!

Enjoy the coming week and I’ll be in touch next Sunday for my last Spring Dispatch!

Daylesford Dispatch - Sunday, 13th November 2011

Dear Friends, it’s overcast Sunday morning as I sit here at my desk looking out over our lovely garden and onto the Lake. We had a beautiful breakfast this morning, enhanced by Lauren Kennedy’s presence. Lozza & two friends have spent the weekend here in a house and she accepted our invitation to share breakfast with us and a few of our nearest and dearest in Daylesford. Kim outdid himself with a wonderful banquet; Gail grabbed the conversation as often as she could, and we let Lozza get in a word or two herself. It was lovely to see Gail & Terry so happy with the arrival of Alexander Matthew, their 4^th grandchild, although that happiness has been tempered by the altercation Terry had with a kangaroo in Gail’s new car.

We are both hoping to get a bit more weeding before getting ready to entertain Glenn & Gillie who are joining us for an early dinner of roast venison. Wes had wanted to do a barbecue, but we will be sitting inside if the skies break the way they are threatening. We are slowly but surely getting back into the swing of a social life after weeks of being inactive!

The very good news this week is that Viva is home from hospital. I visited on Wednesday as someone needed to collect tablets from the pharmacy at the same time as the District Nurse was coming to assess Viva, and Helena was coming to cut her hair! So I did pharmacy & Woolworths shopping, this left Leanne free to cope with all the other activities. I was thrilled to see Viva looking much better than she had in hospital, but she is still very weak and it will probably be Wednesday again before I can revisit.

When I left you last Sunday we were expecting 24 visitors for a soiree – we had 22 including a 3-year old, who learnt all about dogs after Bilbo and Frodo had given him a few kisses. Bronnie & Lee did the catering brilliantly and we had lots of yummy Asian goodies to go with copious quantities of wine and very little debriefing of the Art Show. We had invited John & Russell, who were not on the committee, but never get invited to their wives’ catering appointments and they enjoyed themselves very much. We threw visitors out at 6pm, but somehow or other Jan & Warren; Brian & Roberta were all still here at 8pm, when we seriously threw them out!

Red rose growing on our standard freesia! 

On Monday Wes and I had our first game of golf in weeks and were pleasantly surprised to find we could still hit the ball – we didn’t lose any golf balls, Wes shot a birdie, and I got a bogey, so we were very happy indeed. During the morning his phone died, in the afternoon my printer died and in between a lost dog came to the front door wanting to play with the boys. Wes is 10 weeks short of fulfilling his contract with Telstra, so is without his phone until 21^st November when he will get a Motorola like mine. He likes the large print of the HTC, but has found the rest of it difficult to manage.

The next day was hydrotherapy in Ballarat for Barbara and Wes and that went well after a break of some months. I missed Rotary on Wednesday night as I was exhausted after driving to Melbourne and back, so Wes represented us both, and said it was a good night. He had enjoyed a lunch meeting for ROMAC in Bacchus Marsh that day, and had an appointment in his role as Executor of a friend’s will before Rotary, so it was no surprise that he was tired the next day.

Lauren & Travis earlier this year

On Thursday afternoon I drove to Ballarat to have a ‘face rub’ with Sarah, and on Friday, after Wes laid a wreath at 11am at the Cenotaph, on behalf of the ALP, we went to Castlemaine to deliver the 6^th Raffle Prize to a chap who works at the Castlemaine Copy Centre, a sheltered workshop, where we had our raffle tickets printed. Afterwards I took Wes to yum cha lunch there and we met up with Marie Anderson. Then I introduced him to ‘She Sells Seashells’, a wonderful fish shop, where we bought oysters and swordfish. Wes poached the fish that night & it was magic.

So many of our friends seem to be unwell at present – we are thinking of you all and sorry that we haven’t been in touch as much as we should. Tomorrow we are having lunch with Lovely and Malcolm at ‘Wombat Hill House’, which will be a good way to catch up with them. What the rest of the week holds, we’ll have to wait and see.

6 weeks until Christmas – where has this year gone to? I keep getting cross at seeing all the Christmas stuff in the shops and the decorations, but I guess it is fair enough with only 42 sleeps to go.

I’ll be in touch again next Sunday. Thanks for your emails and messages.

Daylesford Dispatch, Sunday, 6th November 2011

Dear Friends,

Wes and I are just rejoining the world after spending two weeks eating, sleeping and breathing Art Show. And what a Show it was! We are delighted – we had 400 more visitors than last year; sold 4 more paintings; made almost double the income ($11,000 up from $6,000); had more participating artists and more paintings, and had just enough screens to show them all. A week before the Show I was panicking as we hadn’t reached 150 entries, but Artists are notoriously slow with paperwork, and by the time we opened we had 219 paintings on display. Our Opening Night was a huge success with 186 attendees, including about 50 who didn’t reply to the Invitation, about 20 who weren’t invited, and 35 who accepted and didn’t show!

It was a great example of everyone getting involved – out of 32 Club Members, only 2 didn’t get involved in any way, and one of those was on holidays for most of the time. We were nearly in tears on Cup Morning as heaps of volunteers turned up and in a wonderful display of teamwork, disassembled the 84 screens that had been put up a week before. We were able to get home around 12.30pm with three paintings that had been sold & not collected, and two that had been displayed and not picked up! Wes cooked scrambled eggs on toast and I went straight to bed and watched the Cup on the big screen in the bedroom. Such an exciting race – I am delighted that we have become a ‘must’ destination to so many European and Asian racing countries at Cup time.

 Guess who as MC on Opening Night!

We had hoped to visit Viva on Wednesday, but I was still very tired, so after a relaxing morning of Mah Jong at Cafe 3460 with Carol & Dot, I went back to bed and caught up on old episodes of ‘Letters & Numbers’ that I had missed. Meanwhile Wes went to Rotary to deliver the Art Show report and was greeted by a standing ovation, which was very touching to us both. The next morning we rose early, got the Bulletin out, and then drove to Melbourne to deliver two paintings in Coburg and to see Viva. She isn’t looking wonderful, but, apart from a recurrence of the dreaded hallucinations, she is on the ball, and knew exactly how many weeks it was since either of us had seen her! She is in lots of pain with her broken tooth, the shingles and now mouth ulcers, so Leanne has arranged for her food to be pureed, to make it easier to eat.

We spent quite a long time with her, telling her stories, explaining how some of her dreams weren’t logical, and helping her with lunch. This gave Leanne a very welcome morning off, as she has been on duty visiting every morning and sometimes twice in the day.

Would you like to buy something?

Friday was a big work day – we needed to write all the cheques to the Artists that had sold paintings, refund an Artist who couldn’t get her works to us, let every participating Artist know how the Show had gone and send letters of thanks with a report to all our sponsors (53 this year, last year we had 10). We finally got all that done and I took it all to the Hepburn Post Office to be sent out. By 6pm we were sitting on our veranda looking out at the Lake sipping sparkling Shiraz!

This afternoon between 4 & 6pm we have invited all our Committee members and their partners to a ‘soirée’, as a thank you. Bronnie & Lee are doing the catering and everyone will bring a bottle. So we spent yesterday taking control of the garden and house again. We did the early shift on the Farmers Market, had breakfast at ‘Gracenotes Café’, bought some plants and got going. Wes cleaned the barbecue and hosed down the decking & outside furniture, then mowed the lawns and watered everywhere from our overflowing tanks. I planted tomatoes and punnets of pleasure in the front, weeded a section of the garden, skimmed the pond & washed the cars. In between, we watched the Stakes Day races where we won absolutely nothing, but saw ‘Black Caviar’ win her 16^th race straight in easy fashion.

We had dinner with Glenn Mack at Jasmine Thai in Hepburn last night. We have neglected our friends for quite a while with our focus on the Art Show, and it was a delight to spend a couple of hours in his company again. Without his assistance last year, we would have been struggling to get the Art Show going, and he was very impressed with the strides we had taken this year.

This morning Kim outdid himself at breakfast – so much food, so many different things and all of them delightful. I sat next to Michael and chatted about the week away that he and Judi had enjoyed in Mildura, where the highlight was dinner at Stefano’s on the Murray. John & Jan Smith had some funny stories to tell about their first trip using their new motor home, and they left today for Echuca again, knowing what they know now. Gillie looks wonderful and is back to delivering fresh-laid eggs; Terry & Gail are still in the Blue Mountains celebrating the safe arrival of their 4^th grand-child, and Barbara was busy taking photos of the plates of food so that those who missed out will be envious! We had a serious discussion at the end of breakfast sorting out Rotary’s role with helping groups in the community, and John went away to rethink an idea he was developing to assist the Men’s Shed. Both Wes and Judi had some very helpful advice.

So there you are – we are nearly over the Art Show – the suitcase has been packed away for another year, and after the debriefing this afternoon, we will try and empty our minds to make room for all the other things there are to do here in retirement.

Wes is getting back to doing his Family History; I want to sit quietly solving Cryptics and reading new Scandinavian Crime writers; the boys don’t want to be left for whole days at a time anymore; our friends would like to see us again (& us them), and even the house and garden would like more regular attention. As for my Chronic Fatigue, it would really appreciate it if I went back to managing it again, so I will.....relaxed lifestyle, here we come.

P.S. Special thanks to Danny & Kim, who came & stayed with us for 2 nights & attended the Opening, then took us to dinner at the Farmers Arms on the Friday night; and to David, Helen, Jessica, Maya & Daniel, who visited from Geelong on Sunday to show support. Jessica’s reward was meeting Artist, Brian Nash & all three kids were given cards by him. Thank you all!

Daylesford Dispatch, Sunday 23rd October 2011

Dear Friends, this will be very short and sweet, but I’ll have plenty to tell you after the Art Show, which finishes on Cup Day with the big clean-up. We are very excited, as, after a slow start, we now have more paintings, more artists and more sponsors than last year. Danny will be staying with us next Thursday and Friday so he can be part of the Opening Night. As well David & Helen Lazzaro are planning to visit during the Cup Weekend with their three children, as the trip to Daylesford from Geelong is a pleasant and easy drive, and their older daughter, Jessica, has shown an interest in going to Art Shows.

Wes has just come back from a final session at the Rotary Shed painting the final screens. We now have 44 screens, which should easily accommodate the 200+ paintings in our Show. He is in the bath recovering from all the hard work, while I have spent the day on the computer, like every other day this past week. Today I have been preparing data for the Catalogue and the Titles to go under the paintings, as well as the People’s Prize voting slips. I’ve had a short break walking around the garden admiring the new growth everywhere.

Yesterday, we woke to heavy rain, which meant the boys couldn’t be walked for the third day in a row, so we settled down to our computers, missed the Swiss & Italian Festa Parade, but were visited by Jon Stephens, who was in Daylesford for 24 hours catching up with friends. Later in the day the rain turned into quite a storm and the water poured in through the dog-door much to the boys’ disgust. We interrupted our work to watch the races at Moonee Valley, had some bets but with no luck. I had picked Pinker Pinker to win the Cox Plate, but we only did quinellas and trifectas. We picked up a couple of quinellas, but mostly gave our money to the TAB. It was thrilling to watch Black Caviar win her 15^th race in a row and frightening to see how well Americain left his rivals behind in a very short space of time!

A few friends have asked about the Sleep Study and I haven’t made time to give a report so here goes. I checked into the Sleep Centre on Sunday night, got wired up and managed to not lose any of the wires during the night. The only drawback was the cold. I have not spent a night in hospital since I was born, and it never occurred to me that I would be expected to sleep under the light cotton hospital blanket! I’ll know better next time and will bring bedsocks and whole visit was that I couldn’t get out of the carpark as the machine refused to spit back my ticket.

                     Karen, Mike, Lauren & Linda- Gracenotes

When I got back to Daylesford, we met the Kirbys for a farewell breakfast at Gracenotes, where Linda got her wish to have a meal in front of an open fire. We left them to drive to the airport following our simple instructions. They, of course, got lost and haven’t told us yet how they managed to take an hour to get to Woodend.

The rest of the week was spent in front of our computers, especially Friday, where last minute entries were delivered, emailed and collected by me. I took short breaks to have my nails done, to get a massage and to have a haircut and henna. We attended the Opening of the Swiss & Italian Festa Landscape Award and picked up quite a few ideas of what not to do at our Show. We hope they will join with us next year, it seems mad to have these two Art Shows in competition with each other.

At our last Committee Meeting, we opened a bottle of champagne to thank our wonderful Committee members, as they have been magnificent. Then on Friday night after the madness died down, we had a lovely relaxed dinner with Jan & Warren Pengilley and drank champagne and decent reds until we collapsed with exhaustion and came home.

Karen & Wes at Swiss Italian Festa

Leanne has rung this morning to say that Viva has been taken to hospital, so we are on standby to go to Melbourne if her condition doesn’t improve. She has been in pain after breaking an eye-tooth and an emergency visit to the doctor and optometrist on Friday did not solve the issue. Leanne tells us that a number of tests have been taken and she is waiting for these results to see what will happen next. Viva had enjoyed a lovely visit from Paun earlier in the week, when she, Brian & Rohan made a quick trip to Lang Lang to help Brian’s parents who have moved into a unit.

Other news comes from Squiz who asked that the following be placed in the Classified section of the Dispatch – ‘If anyone is interested in how the Murray children have turned out so far, the three of them will be featured on a game show called Deal or No Deal to be broadcast nationally on Channel 7 on Wednesday 26th October 2011. It airs at 5.30pm in Melbourne - but as they say check your local guide.’

Finally, I don’t know how many of you are Letters & Numbers fans (6pm weeknights on SBS) but I love it and the Grand Final on Friday night was riveting. My two favourites, Jacob (19) & Jeremy (24), were opposed to each other, with Jacob the better credentialed of the two. With two games & the conundrum to go, Jacob was 27 points down and he won by 11 in a breath-taking finish.

Daylesford Dispatch - Sunday, 16th October 2011

Dear Friends, the good news personally is that I am on the mend. I went back to the doctor this week and she gave me another antibiotic to take concurrently with the antibiotic I was already on, plus 2 repeats of it and I woke on Thursday morning feeling like a person again. Yippee! I am trying not to overdo things as I have to be well for the actual Art Show, before, during and after, which involves a week. Wes has threatened to come down with something a couple of times, but he seems to manage to sleep it off.

We’ve enjoyed a lovely weekend so far with Nice Michael, Linda & Lauren. They arrived late morning yesterday and came to us first to meet Bilbo and Frodo before we set off on the tour. We drove around Daylesford & Hepburn Springs, explained the history, and ended up at the Convent Gallery for a late lunch. That night we had invited Judi & Michael to join us for a casual meal, as they have met the Kirbys a few times before and had last seen Lauren when she was a baby. Wes did his usual thing & we could have fed a dozen people with the lovely antipasto dish, a stunning roast lamb and more vegetables than anyone could manage, followed by apple strudel and jam doughnut roll. Judi & Michael provided good red wine and a big box of Belgian chocolates, so we all waddled into bed after a fun night of food & laughter.

Today Michael walked around the Lake with Wes and the boys, while I did emptied and refilled the dishwasher. Then we met for breakfast at Cafe 3460, where Kim outdid himself with a wide array of yummy dishes which amply fed 11 hungry souls. After breakfast we took them to the Mill Market which was a big hit with Lauren, then to the Sunday Market, where we caught the railmotor to Musk and back again, which was a good trip. Lauren particularly enjoyed seeing sheep and cows in paddocks. As her childhood was spent in Singapore, sheep and cows are a novelty item still.

After the Market, we drove to Trentham then onto Glenlyon, where we visited Ellender’s Winery, especially so that Linda could drink a red wine in front of an open fire! There was a local 40^th birthday happening there, so we caught up with Richard & Maree from Mercato and Chris & Wayne from the Peppers Springs Retreat. Then a final drive through countryside and off to the Chocolate Mill, where we overdosed in sweet things. We dropped the Kirbys back at their car and left them to enjoy themselves until 6.30pm dinner at Jasmine Thai.

Yesterday in-between activities we kept an eye on the races at Caulfield and especially the Cup. Wes and I had picked three horses in each races and backed them in a quinella & trifecta. We only missed hearing one race and that was the race where we picked the trifecta! We now have betting money for the rest of the carnival. We did no good in the Caulfield Cup as I was convinced Drunken Sailor would win and we couldn’t leave out December Draw, which was galloped on and dropped out.

During the past week we’ve spent most of our days on the Art Show and entries are starting to roll in, with most artists leaving it until the last minute. Wes did get a whole day in the garden on Thursday, where he mowed, weeded and pruned to his heart’s content all morning, and cleaned out the pond in the afternoon, much to the delight of the many frogs &  tadpoles we now have. The roses are about to bloom, the tulips are looking wonderful and any minute now the irises will come into flower. There are some other bulbs emerging and we have no idea what they are, so it should be fun when they appear.

Typical breakfast delights! 

I’m off to Ballarat to do a Sleep Study tonight at St John of God Hospital and will be back in the early morning in time to have a farewell breakfast at Gracenotes Cafe with the Kirbys before they drive to Melbourne airport and home.

Enjoy your week! 

 

Casper Cuddlepie looking comfy!

Daylesford Dispatch - Sunday, 9th October, 2011

Dear Friends, first of all, congratulations to Geelong for being the better team when it mattered. I was thrilled that the Pies lasted for three-quarters, but I think we peaked too early and the Cats timed it perfectly. I am sure the celebrations in that city will go on for weeks, if not months.

We didn’t have the quite the week we had hoped for in Melbourne during Grand Final week, as I was unwell with bronchial-asthma, which is taking forever to go away. I am on my second lot of antibiotics and suspect I may need a third. So instead of going to galleries & cinemas, meeting up with friends and enjoying umpteen meals we were restricted to very few activities so that I could get to the Grand Final. We did go to the MCC with Danny for the Coodabeens Brownlow Night, which is when I realised I was coming down with something and lost my voice; Wes had breakfast with Squiz, and he also attended Joan Testro’s 88^th birthday bash, where he gave the toast. I missed a wonderful afternoon and am very sorry about that. We did catch up for lunch with Lovely, Malcolm, Ron & Margo at the European, where we all enjoyed a stunning meal and we had yum cha before the GF with David & Helen & Helen’s mother, Anne.

If you are going to be ill and staying at a hotel, the Stamford Plaza was a good place to be. Their room service menu is good and they are very adaptable. It was great to have a kitchenette and separate lounge area, so Wes could relax and watch TV away from my coughing. I have already booked to go back there for the Boxing Day Test. 

 Mick Malthouse saying farewell to Heath Shaw & Daisy Thomas after the GF – he will be missed at Collingwood

Back in Daylesford everyone has been sick – Barbara, Gail, Michael and I from the Breakfast Group, Gillie is looking better than all of us even though she is on crutches! Jane Knox has been in strife since she had a bad fall and damaged her spine. Carol Bruce has been in hospital, but is on the mend at home now.

Viva is going well, although I am not allowed near her in case I give her any germs. When we have spoken on the phone, she sounds stronger and is enjoying watching DVDs most days. Leanne is looking after her brilliantly and I feel very guilty that I have been unable to give her a morning or afternoon off – hopefully that will happen soon.

We have been very busy with the Daylesford Rotary Art Show as I have previously mentioned. The entries are starting to come in and we expect to be very busy over the next two weeks especially. We have sent out invitations to the Opening Night, so our computers are working overtime. I work better in the mornings, so after reading the Age and doing the crosswords each day, I come downstairs and work until lunchtime. Most afternoons I rest, unless there is too much to leave until the next day. Wes has been doing all the dog-walking, shopping and cooking, which has been a wonderful help.

Yesterday I sat in Vincent Street with him for two hours selling raffle tickets in the sun – it was wonderful to be out and I did enjoy the interaction with locals and visitors. However, the afternoon was spent watching the races at Caulfield and especially Black Caviar’s 14^th win in a row. I was appalled to read on Facebook that Jane Knox had never heard of this filly before yesterday!!! What planet are you on? Even Judi, who is allergic to most sports, had watched the replay of the race.

This morning Wes went to the Sunday Market and stocked up on fruit and vegetables, carrots and bones for Bilbo & Frodo, and then we went to Cafe 3460 for breakfast. It was lovely to see Gillie and her sister, Wendy, who is over from South Africa looking after her, as well as Judi, Gail, Glenn & Barbara and to catch up on all their news. Wes has gone to the Rotary Shed to help paint the remaining screens for the Art Show and to get help putting backing on our wonderful signs which will be placed at the five entrances to Daylesford. The boys and I are taking it easy and when I have sent this, I will go back upstairs to read for the rest of the afternoon.

Thanks to everyone who has rung or emailed their good wishes over the past two weeks. I hope that I will be fighting fit again by the time I next get in touch, which may not be next Sunday, as we have the company of the Kirbys for the weekend. They will be staying at Lake Daylesford Cottage and we are looking forward to showing them our beautiful town.

Daylesford Dispatch - Sunday, 25th September 2011

Dear Friends, as you can imagine, I am rather excited with Collingwood making it into the Grand Final for the second year running. The match on Friday night was an incredible game, so fast and furious, but fortunately low-scoring which enabled us to snatch a win right at the end after Buddy Franklin kicked a goal that deserved to be the match-winner. David, Danny & I were all over the moon, as were Greta and Lauren, who were also at the game but in a different stand.

We had enjoyed a meal together at ‘The Carringbush’ before the game, in a vain attempt to settle pre-match nerves. Danny parked at his work, then we walked to the ground, which is always fun as you see supporters who are even more nervous than you are. We had great seats on the wing again with a perfect view and the weather was kind. The atmosphere was electric, with a loud buzz of noise throughout the game. We three had just about decided we couldn’t win, when suddenly our players found an extra yard and Hawthorn’s players started to tire and get caught in tackles. When we got back to Danny’s he opened a bottle of champagne to celebrate one of the great games of footy this year.

Yesterday morning before I drove back to Daylesford, we had breakfast in Northcote with Greta, then Lauren, Travis & Myles came to visit, which was lovely. I had hoped to visit Viva on my way home, but I still have a head cold and she preferred I didn’t visit in case I gave it to her.

Lovely photo of Viva taken in 95 at Leanne’s graduation

This morning we’ve enjoyed another lovely breakfast at Café 3460, where Kim spoiled us with a wonderful array of goodies yet again, even though there were only 6 of us. Judi, Michael and Glenn are off to see the play, ‘The History Boys’ at the Williamstown Little Theatre this afternoon and Wes is going to do some more painting of Art Show screens at the Rotary Shed. I had hoped to go, but I don’t think paint fumes and head cold mix very well together.

Wes had an exciting lunch on Friday – a lady from Maldon had been in touch to say she and he were related and she wanted to get together, so her invited her and her daughter to lunch as well as his sister, Denise, and his cousin, Glenn. Sadly neither Glenn nor the daughter was able to come at the last minute, so he invited Barbara over to share in the lunch and enjoy the conversation. I had an appointment in Ballarat which prevented me from being there and then I drove straight to Melbourne that afternoon. Wes has given Dee about 1,200 photos and she has given him access to 20 years of work on her family tree.

We’ve had a busy week yet again with the Rotary Art Show, as well as having dinner with John & Jan Smith at Mercato on Monday night. They needed to talk through some things that have been happening in their lives and this was the perfect place to do it. Wes had to take the Brian Nash painting to Ballarat for repair as the frame had been damaged when the painting was on display in Vincent Street during the week. He was able to arrange for it to be repaired very quickly and it is back in our guest room.

Dot’s mother, Cath, died on Tuesday morning. Dot is relieved that her mother is no longer suffering but she is going to miss her dreadfully. She and John popped in during Mah Jong to chat with Carol, Valerie and I and to arrange for Kim to cater for the wake on Friday lunchtime. I was sorry to miss the funeral service, but couldn’t easily change my appointment.

On the Wednesday night, Rotary celebrated its 58^th birthday and about 8 former members turned up, which was wonderful. We had a good meeting, which was addressed by Denise Longmire, the first female member of Daylesford Rotary and its first female President. John Savage, a former President, who has been ravaged by a stroke in recent months, also attended much to everyone’s delight as he was a very popular Rotarian.

Typical Rotary Meeting

Wes and I were fortunate to have a visit from Petrus Spronk on Thursday morning. He is a world-renowned sculptor and ceramicist and we are lucky to have him living in our community. Wes would like him to agree to be celebrated at our Art Show, but he is a very modest man and may not like it. He showed us a wonderful DVD of his work in the forest, which he had prepared for the U3A ‘Blooming Art’ opening party at the Convent, which was also on Friday night. We were blown away and I hope the 120 guests who saw it were amazed as well. ‘Blooming Art’ another successful U3A event under Judi’s leadership involved floral arrangements complementing art, both at the Convent and in shop windows.

After his visit I went to Café 3460 for a casual lunch with Judi and then onto Hepburn House, where Graeme Boscoe was hosting his ‘Difficult Crime Writers’ class. We had an interesting and spirited discussion as usual and have another class to look forward to next Term.

So tomorrow we head off to Melbourne for the week with a few lovely activities planned including the Coodabeen Champions Brownlow Night at the MCC with Mate; the launch of the MTC 2012 Season of plays; breakfast with Squiz; lunch with Lovely, Malcolm, Ron & Margo; the footy on Saturday and finally Joan Testro’s birthday party on Sunday afternoon on our way back home. Enjoy your week and I’ll be back in touch in a fortnight or so.

vs 

May the better team win!

Daylesford Dispatch - Monday, 16th May, 2011

Leon Anderson looking very sweet aged 4 & Ben Lazzaro looking bemused aged 11

Dear Friends, Wes has been having so much fun posting old photos on Facebook and the reactions have been very interesting. His nephew, Leon, for example, likes this photo so much he has made it his profile on Facebook; however Ben Lazzaro has been in touch with his solicitor after Wes posted the photo of him above.

We have been very busy so I apologise for the delay in sending this week’s Dispatch to you. After our enjoyable weekend with Ron & Margo, we caught up on chores and sleep and everything else that we needed to do. Judi & Michael were away in Noosa for the week, so I collected their mail and checked their home every 2 days, as well as checking John & Jan’s cottage and bringing in their bin, as they were in Melbourne for the week. In between, I spent time with Sheila Hollingworth, while Wes took Barbara’s cat, Ascot, to the vet, as she had suffered renal failure and had to be put to sleep. We had planned to go to the Carlton vs St Kilda game on the Monday night, but cancelled that so that Wes could spend time with Barbara in the afternoon instead. Jan Smith kindly visited her as well and I sent over some minestrone soup in case she couldn’t be bothered cooking. I spent the afternoon in Ballarat collecting new orthotics, getting lost, buying dog bones (eventually) and trying the Coles Supermarket to see if it had a larger range than the one here – it hasn’t or at least not for the things we buy.

On Tuesday after Strong, Wes and I played golf in the frost at Trentham and hit just enough good shots to think we would come back again. In the afternoon Wes took Barbara to Ballarat for an orthotics appointment and for various other chores that needed doing. I had set myself a mission of finding the Collected Poetry of Wilfred Owen to give to Wes as he had been so moved by it during the play he saw 10 days ago. So I tracked down a book locally, but had to wait 24 hours to collect it and give it to him and he was delighted.

The next day, Wes spent on the computer while I played Mah Jong with the usual crew and we shared out the games, then had a manicure with Michelle at her home, and raced back here to get ready for a busy afternoon/evening. It was Peter Widdop’s birthday and we had been invited to share drinks with him and Cathy and a few friends before we went to Rotary and they went to dinner. That was lovely as always, and more than made up for the appalling Rotary Meeting, where we went back to the 70s with butcher’s paper and textas as we discussed the best ways to mentor new Rotary members, now called ‘mentees’, a word not in my dictionary!

On Thursday Wes invited me to have lunch with him at Annie Smithers Bistrot in Kyneton and we set off on a cold, wet day to enjoy a stunning meal together. Wes enjoyed a perfect piece of pork to match my perfectly cooked fish. We can’t resist Annie’s rose pavlova (she told our waiter that she created it for my 30^th birthday – more like 50^th but it was a kind thing to say) and finished our meal with a piece of Roquefort, accompanied by a thick Spanish sherry, which was to die for. We have bought a bottle of the sherry and allowed our Saturday night guests to partake of this pleasure.

Needless to say we didn’t need dinner, but we watched our second Mike Leigh film in a week instead. We can’t recommend him and them more highly – ‘Meantime’ which was fabulous – contrasting 2 families in Maggie Thatcher’s London and their struggles to stay afloat. The second film, “Career Girls” is fantastic as well & as Wes wrote on Facebook - if you experienced inadequate self or inadequate friends or inadequate awareness when stumbling through the 16-21 years, you will relate to this. And of course because it is a Mike Leigh film all the actors just act their socks off.”

The next day we set off in the early afternoon for Melbourne. I had heard that the MCG car park would be completely closed for the Collingwood & Geelong game that night, so we decided to drive in and see a film before the footy. We were so pleased we did, got a great park at the Tennis Centre, and went to the Kino where we saw “Incendies”, which we had won free tickets to and been unable to go. Kathy & Ged (who used our tickets) had highly recommended the film and we haven’t stopped talking and thinking about it since. This was Wes’s comment on Facebook – “We saw this amazing film yesterday. It challenges so much about the Middle East, our comfort zones, families, and sibling relationships. It is so good that films like this are made.”

David Lazzaro met us at the bar before the match and I discovered he was as nervous about the game as I was. It was a good, close match and the Cats deserved to win – they could have blown us away in the first quarter if they had kicked straight! We got out of the car park easily in spite of the 81,000+ crowd and were home and in bed just before midnight.

On Saturday we spent the morning cooking and preparing for our dinner party that night. Our friends, Mike Hill and Lorna Pitt go back to Brunswick Council and ALP days and it is always lovely to catch up with them. Wes gets a good fill of current politics from Mike and Lorna and they are easy guests. We took them to Café 3460 for lunch when they arrived, then watched the Melbourne vs North game on TV as Mike is a passionate Demons fan. He was most disappointed when the Dees gave away a good lead and let North cruise to an easy victory.

Mike Hill as Mayor of Brunswick with Rotary Kids in Poverty Project 1996

We had invited Jenny & Eddie Beacham, Candy Broad & Hal Swerissen & Sheila Hollingworth to join us at dinner, which was a Sri Lankan fish curry served with rice and an old favourite African beef stew served with mashed potatoes. We followed that with bread and butter pudding and trifle, then a cheese platter courtesy of Eddie and Jenny, and chocolates which had been brought by Candy, Hall and Sheila. Needless to say we got through countless bottles of beautiful red, white, sparkling and soft drinks and got to bed around midnight, after some fascinating political discussions.

Wes very kindly walked the boys early for me yesterday while I hand-washed all the crystal glasses and put endless loads through the dishwasher. I took the boys to Leitches Creek to pump water, collected fruit and vegetables & dog bones at the Sunday Market and completed the kitchen clean up just as Mike and Lorna emerged in time for breakfast. Kim and Gary had excelled themselves again and we enjoyed a spirited and entertaining 90 minutes where we welcomed back Judi & Michael and received lovely gifts from them, and attempted to stop Gail hogging the limelight!

Mike and Lorna went to visit Lorna’s brother, John, who lives at the Old Macaroni Factory with Maria Viola, and then we took them to see the Wind Farm at Leonard’s Hill before driving to Clunes to participate in the last few hours of Booktown. We were so pleased we got there and met up with Tim Hayes, Tess Brady and Graeme Johnstone, the hard-working trio that has made this annual weekend celebration such a success. The wonderful thing for both of us was that they still remember that it was Warren’s idea and that he pushed them hard to get it going and didn’t stop thanking him. We were in time to shake hands with Bob Hawke, who was a powerful drawcard, and he looked in fine form – blue eyes sparkling and cravat casually knotted around his neck – Blanche has done wonders for his dress sense.

We also spent time with Chris Maldon and Wayne Cross who have taken over the National Hotel in the main street and, with their usual flair, are making it the place to be. We shared a bottle of Passing Clouds Shiraz with Mike and Lorna and left them eating a pizza before driving home. We got home in time to feed the boys before they got too frantic and collapsed into bed after polishing off some leftovers.

Today Wes enjoyed having Judi’s company on his early walk and the boys were pleased to have seen Maddy & Major after their break at Eureka Kennels. Wes and I played golf and each knocked 9 strokes off our previous scores. Once again we hit enough good shots to make us come back – perhaps tomorrow morning.

Shortly we are collecting Hanna Laundl, who has been in Daylesford this weekend with her daughter, Rebecca, and two friends, all from Sydney. We are driving her to the Arts Centre, where a Melbourne friend will collect her. We are going to see the Eugene von Guerard exhibition at the National Gallery before going to the MTC play “Next to Normal” and hope to get home by 10.30pm, which is much better than midnight!

Viva with Karen – what an intelligent looking baby she was!

Karen with Toby Jug 22 years later – what an intelligent looking puppy he was!