Daylesford Dispatch, Sunday, 30th January 2011

Dear Friends, I thought I would start this Dispatch with a lovely photo of Celia and Cory, who were married at Leonda in Hawthorn yesterday afternoon. Wes took this photo on his phone when Cory was telling Celia how much he loved her. It was a beautiful ceremony, full of wonderful surprises and many words of love and affection between the two of them. They have been together for 11 years and have grown into a caring and loving couple. We were thrilled to have been invited to share their special day, as we have known and loved Celia all her life.

As usual it was wonderful to catch up with the Millmans and Stevensons and their friends and families. We were lucky enough to be sitting at the same table as Lovely, Malcolm & Mate, but conversation was a bit limited as the band was most enthusiastic and had everyone up dancing when they weren’t eating or listening to speeches. Danny gave another memorable ‘Father of the Bride’ speech, and he looked so very proud as he walked Celia down the red carpet behind her 5 bridesmaids.

We left the reception around 10.30pm in the hope that we would arrive back by midnight, which we did. Bilbo and Frodo were very relieved to see us return and happily went back to bed with apples to munch. It was my turn to walk them this morning, but I slept through the 6am deadline and got up in time to take them to the Sunday Market. It was too hot by 8.45am to walk them to Café 3460, so we drove together with Wes, where we shared a wonderful 1 ½ hours with Judi, Michael, Glenn, Gillie, Barbara, John & Jan (just back from a relaxing cruise around New Zealand) & their grandson, Matthew, Terry & Gail (about to go on a relaxing cruise to Vietnam). The conversation was spirited and enthusiastic and, as we were in the back room, to fit us all in, Gail was unable to dominate the table, even though she was positioned perfectly to do so, right in the middle.

Malcolm, his daughters, Delia & Clare, Delia’s husband, Jason & Lovely

Wes spent Australia Day in Melbourne doing some wonderful catching up – he started with breakfast at the Abbotsford Convent with his cousin Glenn Testro – their birthdays are 1 day apart, and they enjoyed reminiscing and sharing some of the stuff Wes has found out while doing the family tree. Then he had lumch with his aunt, Joan Testro, where they dined very well at the ‘Red Mullet Fishcaf’, which rumour has it is owned by James Hird. That night, Wes visited Tom & Deborah to see all the changes they had made to their lovely 2-storey terrace in Carlton and enjoyed an African meal with them, before driving back home. I spent the day pottering around the house, doing chores and Spring cleaning and watching the cricket where possible.

On Friday, I visited Viva, where her legs are getting better and the doctor doesn’t want to see her for another week. She was looking good, thanks to Leanne’s great care. Then I met Loud Gayle, who was also looking good, and we saw Ánother Year’ together at Cinema Nova. The film, Mike Leigh’s latest, is wonderful – great actors, terrific story and gripping from go to whoa.

Greta, Lauren & Elisha, three of the bridesmaids in their Grecian dresses

Me at Rotary two weeks ago – I did get fined heavily

Wes received an email from friends with some very handy hints in it and I thought I would share them with you. I didn’t know that there is a world-wide emergency number for all mobile phones. If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your network or if the keypad is locked, you can dial 112 – it is free & works on all mobile phones world-wide. It is the equivalent of 000.

If you lock your keys in the car and the car has remote keyless entry, you can ring from your mobile someone who has a spare set of keys (on their mobile), hold your phone about a foot from the car door or boot and ask the person with the keys to press the unlock button, holding it near their mobile phone. Your car will unlock. We haven’t tried this yet, but I am assured that it works.

A third handy hint is the use of *3370# - if your phone is almost dead, it will get an increase of battery life of 50% and this special reserve will be recharged when you next charge your phone. If your phone is stolen, it would be good to be able to disable it. You need to know your serial number – if you don’t, enter *#06# and your 15 digit serial number appears on the screen. You can ask your service provider to block your phone, so even if the thief changes the SIM card, the phone will be useless.

A final security hint - when using ATMs – if you are ever forced by someone to withdraw money from an ATM, Crimestoppers advise you to enter your PIN in reverse, e.g. if your PIN is 1234, put in 4321. The ATM recognises what you are doing and will still give you your money, but it will also dispatch police to the location. All ATMs carry this emergency sequence by law.

Lovely & Mate looking on as Celia & Cory exchange vows, Pat is on the right.

 I have also been meaning to tell you that our resident family of birds has now left the electricity meter, where their little nest still sits and sadly one egg remains. Two chicks hatched and grew big enough to join their parents in the big wide world.

I’ve been having fun finding books on the Internet this week – I have been trying to get the Flaxborough Series of novels by Colin Watson, which were recommended by Graeme Boscoe, who runs the Crime Literature Classes at U3A. 2 of the books have already arrived and the rest are winging their way to me from England. Speaking of U3A, Judi presided over a very successful Orientation Morning, where it was standing room only in the Senior Citizens’ Room at the back of the Daylesford Town Hall this week. There are 33 classes on offer this Term, which is amazing and our membership has never been stronger or more involved. The Chess Group is spreading its wings to include absolute beginners, there is a visit to see Tutenkamen’s treasures, there are films,dance classes, lunches, morning teas galore, and plenty of specialist courses as well.

Joyce & Manny fishing at Tuki – Rob kept telling them to watch their own fishing lines, not the other person’s! They did eventually catch some very yummy trout.

Daylesford Dispatch, Sunday, 23rd January 2011

Lovely photo of Wes back in 2003 in our study

Dear Friends, we have just said goodbye to Joyce & Manny Spiteri, who have spent the weekend with us, and what a lovely time we’ve all had. I first met Joyce back in late 1972, when she was very pregnant with her second son, Shane, and we became good friends almost instantly. We have been lucky enough to share in so much of their lives – Wes was Mark’s Confirmation sponsor, and we are both Matthew’s Godparents. We have always enjoyed each other’s company, and when we saw them at Manny’s Mum’s funeral just before Christmas, we decided we would persuade them to come and visit us.

They arrived on Friday night, so we had dinner together at the Farmer’s Arms where we shared a table with Jenny & Eddie Beacham, Candy Broad & Hal Swerrison. Candy and Manny knew each other through the ALP, as Manny has been a union organiser for the TWU for a number of years. We had a lovely meal and a fun night.

Yesterday after a leisurely start, we headed off on the big tour of Daylesford and surrounds – we sampled mineral water & spring water, we looked at three Lakes, we had a cuppa at ‘Gracenotes Café’, and ended up at ‘Tuki’for lunch. We made Joyce & Manny catch the fish, which did take a while as 2 of the fish Manny caught took one look at him & jumped back into their pond! Rob & Jan Jones at Tuki looked after us as they always do – we had the best table, lovely service and a beautiful lunch.

We came home via Smeaton, Kingston, Blampied, Eganstown etc and spent the rest of the day relaxing and chatting. Wes served fresh fruit for dinner as none of us was hungry and we drifted off to bed  after Samantha Stosur lost her tennis match. I watched the Bushrangers lose their first Twenty20 ever at the MCG and it was to the dreaded enemy – NSW!

Today, I walked the boys early to give Wes a sleep-in, then Joyce joined me at the Sunday Market, and we all went to Café 3460 for breakfast. Joyce & Manny were pleased to see Judi again after a number of years and to meet Michael, while Barbara and Joyce had worked together at OAMPS and were also thrilled to catch up. Gail had some wonderful stories from her two days in Sydney last weekend, and, as she has a Maltese son-in-law, had us all laughing with her understanding of the Malts.

We spent the rest of our time together wandering around the main shops in Vincent & Howe Streets, after a successful visit to the Mill Market, where Joyce found the perfect present for Katia, their newest grand-daughter. Wes and I were lucky enough to find the much-needed new bedside lamps at Theo’s shop, ‘Finishing Touch Decor’’. Joyce was very impressed that Theo gave us a lamp to take home to see if it would work or not, and that he then gave us a generous discount on the price. Meanwhile she replaced her favourite sunhat that had gone missing – its twin was in the doorway of ‘Benjamin Bandicoot’and on special to boot!

We ended up at ‘The Chocolate Mill’, where we had cooling drinks, ice cream and let Joyce & Manny choose some chocolates. They very kindly bought us some as well and Wes can’t wait to get into it. They have been very generous guests – Manny arrived with produce from his garden, 2 bottles of red wine and a cherry tree that he had propagated for Wes, as well as often beating Wes to the punch when the bill arrived. Bilbo & Frodo have enjoyed their company and have been very well-behaved. Joyce is beginning to see the advantages of 2 dogs, much to Manny’s horror.

Our week has been busy, but full of fun – we played golf on Monday morning after I did my Strong Class – not as well as we would have liked, which gave us impetus to play again on Friday. That afternoon, we collected Judi & Michael and drove to Melbourne to see ‘Don Parties On’ with Garry McDonald in the title role. We all loved the play – it was so true to the lives we are all living and the whole audience was most appreciative.

I spent some time back at the Info Centre teaching Fae how to do the Stats, as well as making umpteen visits to the Post Office to collect replacement shelves for our fridge. The first shelf that arrived was too big, the next shelf that arrived was attached to someone else’s order, so we now have a spare in case I break another shelf cleaning the fridge.

On Wednesday we had a good visit with Viva in the morning – she has been laid low with injuries to her legs and has had to visit the doctor every three days to have the dressings changed. She was quite tired, but pleased to see us both. Then we caught up with Ian & Robyn Robinson to see ‘Not Quite Out of the Woods’by the Wharf Revue Co led by Drew Forsythe. We all agreed it was the best revue we have ever seen and Amanda Bishop’s portrayal of Julia Gillard is absolutely spot on. That night we went to Rotary, where the guest speaker talked about Men & Relationships. It was lovely to see our friends again – some for the first time this year.

Wes found this lovely photo of Jessica Lazzaro’s christening 2002

L-R Jess, Kathy, Ben, David, Helen  & Ged

Judi & I drove to Ballarat on Thursday for our first facials for the year. I went shopping at Snowgum and found a pair of lightweight pants and 2 tops, which were on special. I have had to discard some clothes that are worn out and needed replacements. That night Wes cooked a beautiful meal with barbecued scallops on coconut rice, from Matthew Hayden’s cookbook.

We played an early game of golf on Friday with Gillie and Michael, where Wes and I both improved our game – thank God. We ended up back at Café 3460 for brunch, where Wes decided that Kim’s back garden cried out for a ‘Garden Party’. Kim quite liked the idea, but asked it if could be put on hold for a while.

Wes has enjoyed a lovely week doing lots of work on Ancestry as the programme arrived in the mail at last. He took Barbara to the Bathhouse for hydrotherapy, and has finished some reports that have been hanging over him. We have played a few games of Scrabble, where honours are even, and we are both enjoying the books we are reading at present. I am loving ‘The Birthday Present’by Barbara Vine, and he has started ‘The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society’. We are both very impressed with the Australians efforts in the One Day games against the Poms and it is looking good again this afternoon.

Celia had her Hen’s Party yesterday afternoon – photo from Facebook



Daylesford Dispatch, Sunday, 16th January 2011

Wes has been putting some wonderfully nostalgic photos on Facebook, so I thought I would start this Dispatch with one from 1989. I was initially confused as I thought it must have been a Murder Weekend, but The Pirate aka Louisa Mitchell, is in the photo, so I checked with Wes and discovered it was one of those weekends, where we had to dress up – Wes thinks it was ‘Dress Up as Your Mother’, not sure what Nice Michael thought he was doing. Perhaps he couldn’t be the base of the pyramid in a dress.

Our thoughts this week have been very much with all the people in Queensland who have been suffering through the most incredible floods – the footage is unbelievable, especially when we see places we visited less than 2 months ago are under water or completely destroyed. I contacted Tim & Rachel at ‘The Collingwood B&B’ and was pleased to hear that they have had no damage and reported that the community spirit is very high and everyone is pitching in and helping. Everyone else we know in the affected areas is OK, and Viva tells me that all her relatives, many of whom live in Warwick, which was in strife, are all OK as well.

Closer to home, it has been very worrying that all the towns around us have been affected – Creswick again, Clunes, Trentham with trees over the roads, Ballan with loss of electricity, Hepburn with water over the roads and loss of water supply (!!), Woodend, Malmsbury, Castlemaine and Kyneton all with flooding. Our biggest issue, apart from being marooned in Daylesford on Friday morning (which is no hardship), has been the arrival down our concrete driveway of other people’s pebble driveways.

In spite of the rain, we’ve had an amazingly social week, which started with a barbecue dinner with John, Jan & their grandson, Matthew, last Sunday night. Wes put Jan & Matthew on Skype and helped John with some computer issues, before we enjoyed a lovely indoor barbecue out of the rain, eagerly watched by their dog, Gypsy, and Matthew’s dog, Rockstar.

Plus fours were de rigeur for this golf day – Wes & Terry looking splendid

On Monday, Gillie, Judi and I all started our Summer Strong programmes – I couldn’t remember a single one of my exercises and Judi was all set to help me out, when we discovered we did very different things, even though we are on the same level. Wes & I had hoped to play golf while Sandra cleaned the house for the first time this year, but the rain was incessant, so we had breakfast at ‘Gracenotes Café’ and then bought him some new jeans at ‘Daylesford Clothing’. He and Barbara were able to play Chess that afternoon as the rain wasn’t as heavy.

There has been no chance of golf any day this week, and even hydrotherapy at the Hepburn Bathhouse had to be cancelled because of the rain. However, I was able to have my first massage for 2011 with Ann Holden, and Carol, Dot, Valerie & I all made it to Café 3460 for the first Mah Jong. While we were having fun and catching up on news, Wes was working down here in the study and noticed that the force of the water had knocked the back fence down. Fortunately the boys were asleep at his feet, so he locked them in, and armed with a hammer and rope, took himself out in the rain to get the fence upright again. You will be amazed to know it is still standing, after all the rain we have experienced since Wednesday morning and he is very proud of his efforts and offering to do more handyman jobs around the place.

Our old friend, Br Doug Walsh, had chosen that day to visit us and he arrived at lunchtime, so Wes brought him to Café 3460 for a meal and a catch-up chat. Doug is a member of Brunswick Rotary and instrumental in the establishment and ongoing support of the Bagong Barrio health clinic in the Philippines. Doug is also a very passionate Collingwood supporter, so he spent the afternoon watching the replay of the second Grand Final.

We had offered to host Aperitif at our place when the original hostess couldn’t honour her commitment, and this was the day. It absolutely poured down just before 5.30pm and continued to rain steadily for an hour, during which time, around 50 very hardy souls made their way to us armed with their glasses and bottles. We plied them with party pies and sausage rolls, pasticci, chips, nuts, cheeses etc, and thanked them all for coming out in such dreadful weather. After everyone left we went to ‘Ruben’s’ with Doug & Glenda, so that they could renew the friendship they had made when Glenda went to the Philippines with Wes three years ago.

Glenda & Joe Rozen

On Thursday, Wes and Doug went out exploring in the rain and ended up at Çricket Willow’ having a cuppa with Ian & Trish Tinetti and talking history and Collingwood in equal quantities. Doug watched some more Collingwood footage, while we prepared for an impromptu Games Afternoon. We had been due to go to Ballarat Races, but they were moved to Geelong, so we invited Judi, Michael, Carol, Barbara, Gail & Terry, Di & Jeff to join us for cards, Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit. We ate the leftover party pies etc, added some chicken wings and cheeses and demolished great quantities of wine and beer over about 6 hours. Gail bought pizzas for dinner and told us it was worth getting out of her pjs to come over! The afternoon really occured because I found trays of party pies and sausage rolls after the Aperitifers had left – I had put them in the drawer under the oven for safe-keeping as they wouldn’t all fit in.

We had hoped to go to the Twenty20 on Friday night, but the situation near us was not looking good and the rain continued to pour down. Eventually we decided to go, as we were keen to see Cameron White captain Australia, and we had a safe trip there and back, avoiding the Calder Highway in both directions. We are so pleased we went – we got a car park within 5 minutes walk of the ground, had a lovely meal at the Hugh Trumble café in the MCC and had good seats, undercover, on the ground level. It was a most exciting game and we were thrilled to see Australia win when the Poms couldn’t hit a 6 off the last ball of the match.

Cameron White after effecting a runout on Friday night

Yesterday was a very quiet day spent catching up with chores, cooking, listening to the radio for updates on the floods everywhere. Wes has been enjoying Facebook and his Family Tree projects, and I have found a new Blog site that I like much better than my 2 previous ones. I am able to put photos into the Blogs and the quality is great. I also joined Twitter, so that I can get updates from the MCC, Collingwood Football Club and Paul McCartney – how’s that for a trio!

Daylesford Dispatch, Sunday, 9th January 2011

Dear Friends, here is a photo taken at Glenn’s birthday breakfast – seated L-R are Gail, Barbara & Glenn, standing are Gillie, Terry, Michael, Judi, Wes & Karen. It was a beautiful venue and we enjoyed our status as Breakfast Group friends of Glenn. We’ve just enjoyed another lovely morning at Café 3460, with lots of laughs.

When I left you last week, we were eagerly awaiting a visit from Danny Millman, who duly arrived in time for Sunday Breakfast – there were 13 of us and we took up the whole of the back room. As Kim had opened just for us, that wasn’t an issue. After breakfast we took Danny to the Sunday Market, and later that afternoon, played golf at Trentham with him, Jan & John. We invited the Smiths back for a barbecue and discovered they hadn’t seen our beautiful view before, so we sat outside with our backs to the Lake, letting them enjoy it all.

The next day we did the early shift on the Farmers’ Market with help from Danny (aka Mate), before he and Wes went to ‘Run for the Willow’ an annual athletics meeting at Cricket Willow, where Rotary usually lends a hand. There were enough helpers so they soaked up the atmosphere and no doubt consumed a couple of snags in bread. That night we took Mate to the ‘Farmers Arms’ for dinner and he was most impressed. We watched some Collingwood footage on our return home, which sent Wes off to bed!

More golf early on Tuesday morning – we met John & Jan at the course and played the back eight, before repairing to ‘Gracenote Café’ for a yummy breakfast. Mate headed off to Castlemaine to visit the ‘Restorers’Barn’and came back with apples for the boys and cherries for us. That night Wes cooked a recipe from the Age, which involved King prawns being barbecued and served on a fennel, apple and orange salad. Very yummy.

As Mate was due to go home the next day, we decided to fit in another game of golf, which was a really good idea, as we are all quite rusty and playing regularly is the best way to get a little bit better as you all know. We enjoyed playing the front ten, then Danny drove back to Northcote, and we came home here to catch up on house and garden duties. That night we had been invited to Rhonda’s to celebrate her birthday with bubbles and cake – there were at least 20 guests and it felt like a mini-Aperitif.

On Thursday, Wes and I really had a taste for golf, so after he had walked the boys we headed back to Trentham and played our best rounds for the week. I shot a 5 on a par 4, which is usually my bête noire and was feeling very pleased with myself. Wes made par on a couple of holes, so he was on good terms as well. We probably went one day too many when we headed back again on Friday as we both ventured  into parts of the course we would rather forget! Afterwards we had toasted sandwiches and hot drinks at Café 3460 and decided we would give ourselves a break from golf.

That night we invited Judi and Michael to a barbecue, as we hadn’t caught up with them both properly since Glenn’s breakfast, and Wes had another new recipe he wanted to try out – this involved chicken marinated in lime juice, ginger and rum. Michael thinks he could use a little less rum next time, but declared the tastes to be a winning combination. We were just settling in when John & Jan rang to see if they could visit as they were worried about one of their sons, who was in hospital with pneumonia, and they needed company. They joined us for the cheese platter, but we made them sit with their backs to the view this time.

Yesterday we had hoped to visit Viva, but she was in the wars and exhausted by the heat, so we postponed our visit and enjoyed a lazy start to the day after Wes walked the boys. I went shopping as we have Aperitif at our place on Wednesday night and I wanted to stock up on party food. I bought some flat head from Peter at the fish shop and we enjoyed that for dinner last night with leftover salads.

Much of the free time this week has been spent listening to and watching the cricket. It is so sad to see the Aussies looking so rudderless, but it is good for world cricket I am sure. We can only hope that Ponting retires, Pup is overlooked and Cameron White stars as Captain in the Twenty20s & gets the Test gig as well. Our friend, Jane, saw very little of the Sydney Test, as her father’s health rapidly declined in the New Year, but the news last night is good. He is recovering well from an operation and the doctors are very optimistic, although he is not out of the woods yet.

We are hoping to play golf again this afternoon, before having a casual early meal with John & Jan & their grandson,Matthew, but the skies look threatening so we might have to play Scrabble instead. Wes beat me very easily last night in our first game for the year, so I need to get back on track. Everything starts up again this coming week – Strong classes, Chess, Mah Jong, Massages, Hydrotherapy etc and we have a house guest, Br Doug Walsh, for about 24 hours in the middle of it all. It will be lovely to see him again. He was instrumental in getting Brunswick Rotary involved in the Phillipines, and no doubt he will be full of ideas for Wes when he is here.