Dear Friends, I am sitting at my desk looking out at sun glinting on water for a change. The daffodils are starting to flower in our garden at last, there is a small breeze blowing and the hardiest of souls are wearing their t-shirts in celebration. We have just returned from a really lovely breakfast with Joe & Glenda’s company an added bonus and then we were joined by John & Jan who had expected to be in Melbourne today, so that was a good surprise. Kim and Gary outdid themselves with platters of food again and the conversations were lively with wonderful descriptions of Joe & Glenda’s holiday, most of which was spent cruising. They visited Spain, Turkey, Italy, Croatia, Venice and Dubai and they both look very relaxed and refreshed for the break.
Joe & Glenda
We had a good visit from Anthony Starkins, our financial advisor, on Monday night. He arrived on time, had experienced difficulty finding which bit of Duke Street we were in, but knew he had found us when he spotted the 2010 Premiership poster in the bedroom window. Wes had excelled himself with Tuki trout for dinner and roast vegetables, followed by a cheese platter and then baked apples. We all ate and drank far too much and I left them solving the world’s problems when I went to bed.
On Tuesday I somehow got up at 5.30am and Wes somehow got up to walk the boys and Anthony somehow got up, dressed and breakfasted in time to drive to Mansfield. I then drove to Ballarat for an appointment in driving rain, which got worse as time went by. That night Wes had a training night for Hepburn Voices, which gave me the chance to go to bed early. We awoke to heavy rain the next morning and then at 6am the power went out and stayed out for the next 6 hours. I remained in bed with the doona doubled over and the Carlton rug on top (it was too dark for a photo of this phenomenon), but Wes was up and dressed, so he lit the fire and he, Bilbo and Frodo slept and read happily until we were able to have hot drinks and showers. I tried reading The Age by torchlight, but it was less than satisfactory.
That evening at Rotary, everyone had stories to tell, some had escaped to Ballarat or Castlemaine, while others had just waited it out. Our speaker, Lesley Hewitt, talked about Riding for Disabled, and assured us that “Daylesford punches above its weight”. She was very passionate about this sport and introduced us to a local rider, who is doing well. Wes stood in as Sergeant and enjoyed fining us all light-heartedly, although I think the Collingwood supporters really suffered!
Ken Gillies & Wes at Rotary
After Strong on Thursday morning, I came home to find Wes had done the Bulletin, so edited it, emailed it and posted it out, then prepared for our Rotary Arts Show meeting later that day. I drove to Ballarat again for an appointment with Sarah, the beauty therapist, and was home in time to help Wes set up for our meeting. We had a good discussion, the Marketing sub-committee has already obtained some donations of money and goods; the branding that I have been working on was accepted and the Opening Cocktail party arrangements are going well. After the meeting, Wes and I had dinner at ‘Gracenotes Café’, where we were their only guests, until another couple spotted the welcome open fire and came in for dinner. We enjoyed a beautiful meal as always.
We have both been feeling quite tired this week, probably because of all the travelling to Melbourne and all the Art Show work, which has been quite intense. So we decided not to go to either of our footy games this weekend. Wes had a very quiet day on Friday catching up on Al Jolson films and programmes he had taped on MyStar. It was a beautiful day, so I took the boys for a walk to the Post Office, did some computer work and then watched the week’s episodes of ‘Letters & Numbers’. We listened to the Carlton vs Hawthorn match, and were very pleased that we hadn’t driven there as 1.8 by half-time was not a good return. Carlton later picked up their game, but it was too late and the Hawks won by 2 goals.
Lovely with Celia in the background Christmas 96
Yesterday we both felt better for the rest and had another enjoyable, quiet day. We were both working on the Art Show and I bought a programme online that will enable us to convert PDFs to Word, as all the new branding for the Show is in PDF because it was done on an Apple computer. We decided not to drive to Waubra to see Daylesford challenge Hepburn in the first Qualifying Final as we expected Daylesford to be thumped, but amazingly our team won, without its best player. We now have a week off, which will help all the injured players. I decided to spend the money we had saved by not going to the footy on a special meal, so we had oysters natural, followed by Sri Lankan fish curry and lemon meringue pie for dessert. I cheated with the pie and bought two big slices from the Harvest Café. Wes lasted until half-time watching the Collingwood game with me, then went to bed. I was rather disgusted that we got way ahead of the Lions and then took the foot off the pedal – our only excuse was two bad injuries during the game and 6 of our regular side out.
We are hoping to play golf tomorrow morning – if the weather stays like it is, there will be no excuse. It is so long since I have played, I can’t wait to see if I can hit the ball longer, as I am certainly stronger since the last time I played. Thanks again to everyone who has asked after Viva, she is coming along slowly but surely. Her doctor has advised her to have few visitors in case she catches any germs while she is still vulnerable, but the pneumonia has completely gone, which is wonderful. I will see her later this week.
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