Daylesford Dispatch - Sunday, 29th January 2012

Dear Friends, once again, we have just returned from Café 3460, where we had a most enjoyable breakfast – lovely food & sparkling conversation, mainly centred around advice for wives wishing to take drastic action with husbands. This was sparked by the realisation that Jan still has another 4.5 weeks of John wearing a moon boot, which means she does all the driving, all the cooking & cleaning & all the fetching & carrying, while he sits around being bored silly and demanding!

On Australia Day we celebrated with a very lavish breakfast at Gillie’s place – everyone contributed food & drink & Gail provided decorations. Towards the end Gillie was even serving her famous Pimm’s drinks, which must have contributed towards the ease with which the tables were dismantled. There were 14 of us including Kim, Gary & Kim’s aunty Pat, who is over from Hobart, and Aileen, who helps out at 3460 on occasion. There were oysters & smoked salmon, zucchini cakes, kedgeree, mushrooms & tomatoes. Judi cooked pancakes; Glenn took a leaf out of Brian Fell’s book & made scrambled eggs according to a recipe on YouTube; Wes barbecued bacon & snags, Gail recited bush poetry, and Terry played ‘God Save the Queen’ on an ancient record player. Enjoy the photos:

         Photo 1 shows Gillie, Terry, Gail, Aileen & bits of Barbara & Kim; 2 is Gail’s table decoration; 3 is Judi & Glenn comparing cooking notes; 4 shows Gillie, Karen, Terry, Judi & Glenn, & 5 is Kim, Barbara, Pat & bits of Jan & John. Photo 6 is Wes with one of Aileen’s biscuits, & 7 shows Gary & Kim with their Rotary Award

On the previous night at the Hepburn Shire Australia Day Awards Ceremony, Café 3460 had won the Best Business Award for the third time in four years, which is a wonderful achievement. Everyone in Daylesford will be sorry when the Café closes. We missed the night because we had spent most of the day in Melbourne. We started with a good visit with Viva, who was looking much improved since the last time we had seen her. After that we met Danny at ‘Westlake’ in Little Bourke Street, for yum cha, to catch up with him & celebrate Chinese New Year. Then we visited the Ian Potter Centre (the Australian wing of the National Gallery of Victoria), where we saw an exhibition entitled ‘Bush Couture’ by Linda Jackson, a well-known Australian designer. This was for members only, the day before the official opening. Linda first started working with Jenny Kee, and that influence shows in her work.        

During the week, we played golf together early one morning & were quite pleased with our efforts, enough to persuade me to go out again on Friday morning early before the heat set in. We’ve done a small amount of socialising – breakfast at Gracenotes; drinks on the veranda with Andy Prophet & his girlfriend, Lisa, who were spending 2 days here; more drinks on the veranda with our young Mayor, Sebastian Klein, who wanted to use Wes as a sounding-board for some ideas he has, & lunch at 3460 when we were superfluous to requirements at Roger & Valerie Roberts’ Open Garden yesterday (we were rostered to be on the gate, but there were already 4 helpers when we arrived).

As well I have been playing Words with Friends with David Knox, Carol Bruce &Terry Borg; watching the Aussies wrap up the Tests with a clean sweep, and occasionally switching to the tennis; exchanging Viber messages with Jane Knox, who has regressed in her recovery after feeling so well & probably doing too much, and even occasionally making a meal! Wes has spent time with Barbara, done lots of pruning in our garden, as well as mowing, worked on the Family History, played online Chess and walked the boys every morning. We had hoped to get to Moonee Valley on Friday night to see ‘Black Caviar’ record her 17^th straight win, but decided it would be too much & after reading about the crowds clamouring to gain entry, it was a very wise decision.

                 

Lovely photo of Celia who was at MVRC with Cory, Danny, Nu, Peter & Evelyn on Friday night. (Happy 1^st Wedding Anniversary to Celia & Cory today)

Daylesford Dispatch - Sunday, 22nd January 2012

Dear Friends, after a week of being a couch potato watching exciting tennis on TV, it was lovely to go to breakfast this morning & be spoilt rotten again by Kim & Gary with a wonderful spread of yummy goodies. Kim told us that Café 3460 will now not close until 29^th February, which gives us 3 more breakfasts than we expected – yippee! We spent quite a bit of time this morning planning Gillie’s Australia Day breakfast. We will have a double celebration, as she announced she is going to retire at the end of March.

During the week I have been receiving lots of messages from friend, Jane, who is in NZ with her daughter, Emily. They are enjoying a lovely time together & according to Jane, Bay of Islands is full of baby boomers! This photo of Emily was taken at a swish restaurant, which they really enjoyed. They spent yesterday at historic Russell, and are planning a visit to mud pools today. John & Jan Smith have been cruising around NZ for a couple of weeks & are arriving back in Daylesford later today. Sadly John has broken his ankle – no further details known!

Last Sunday we went to Candy & Hal’s place for an informal lunch – there must have been close to 100 guests and it was catered for by Gary Thomas, a popular local caterer, with the beguiling business name of ‘Spade to Blade’. We enjoyed some good chats with friends, as well as spending a short time with Candy, who looks the best we have ever seen her. She seems very happy and she & Hal have done wonderful things to their home, ‘Daylesford House’. We met a woman from Sydney who was visiting her sister & partner in Denver, and she was laughing that not only did she not have warm enough clothes for when she had arrived 2 days previously, she didn’t have cool enough clothes for the lunch!

It has been fairly hot all week, which I have found very difficult to cope with and have been lacking any get up and go. Apart from a lovely lunch with Rhonda at ‘Gracenotes’ on Tuesday, and Max Walter’s funeral on Wednesday morning, I’ve really been quite slack – cryptics, logic puzzles, Words with Friends, Holiday Strong & the tennis & Twenty20 cricket have filled my week. Wes went to Rotary, has taken Barbara for the big shop & hot chocolate afterwards, has walked the boys every morning & cooked most nights. He is showing amazing patience and I am very grateful to him. His main project this week has been the garden – it has been mowed and weeded to within an inch of its life and he is currently attacking the garden under the decking, where there is serious soil erosion and hoping to solve that problem. My main contribution has been to pick roses and array them decoratively around the house!

This morning we walked the boys together, which was lovely. Judi is back walking her dogs with Wes most days, and I have been trying to get up early and achieve while my brain is at its best. I took the boys to the Sunday Market as usual, where Yvonne begged me to leave them with her, as they are a talking point for her customers & very good for business. Wes had instructed me to not come home without a rose, so I asked Ken what he recommended and he sold me two beautiful roses for $20 – the early shopper’s bargain. Once Wes had weeded we realised we had lots of spaces for new roses, as well as tomato plants etc.

On Friday we were visited by Steamatic, who were sent by the Fire Claim Assessors to see if they could get the soot marks out of our lounge suite. Craig the Kiwi did a colour test first and discovered that the suite could not been cleaned. He suspects that the damage was done by the first set of cleaners who obviously did not test the fabric first and the colours have bled into the fabric. EEK! We didn’t want to have to get it re-upholstered, but that may be the only solution. We are still living with the burnt floor as the recommended builders have been on holidays and we hope that we soon come to the top of their list of repair jobs. Ditto the painters.

Our good friend, Carol Bruce, has been most unwell again this week, with a few days in hospital suffering a recurring problem. She is now home and we have been sending each other Skype messages as she is not well enough for long phone calls. She was close to needing another operation, but fortunately the doctors were able to solve her problem without that drastic action so quickly after the stents were put in. My aunt, Jeff, is also progressing well, and is getting frustrated with the slowness of her recovery, which is a good sign. Viva is also getting better slowly but surely and we hope to see her on Wednesday. I was going to visit yesterday, but she wanted to sleep, so we have postponed it.

Enjoy your week & I’ll be in touch again soon. P.S. David & Helen Lazzaro’s middle child, Maya, is in a great ‘Buy Australian Made’ advertisement in this week’s Woman’s Day, if you should be flicking through it.

Daylesford Dispatch - Sunday, 15th January 2012

Dear Friends, Sunday has rolled around again so quickly. We enjoyed another lovely breakfast this morning with the usual crew and Gillie’s good friend, Irene. Kim spoilt us rotten as usual & Aileen helped in the kitchen as Gary wasn’t available. It was a cold morning, but the sun is now shining & it should be a perfect day – more like Autumn than Summer. We are off to lunch at Candy & Hal’s place later on – they live at ‘Daylesford House’, a beautiful big home opposite the Botanic Gardens and we haven’t been there since they bought it and are dying to see what they have done, especially with the garden, as well as catch up with lots of friends.

Candy Broad

Like most of you, we are back in the swing of things this week. I’ve enjoyed going to Holiday Strong and tried to walk on the other days to regain my fitness. We both went to the first Rotary meeting for the year, which was a very easy introduction back. We were all pleased to see each other and share our news.           

                                                                   

Wes has continued to focus on the Family History, but is promising himself a week in our garden to get it looking good. No matter how much weeding you do, there is always plenty, and with the rain followed by sun, the grass takes no time at all to grow. We have lots of tomatoes just waiting for a bit more sun to ripen and plenty of basil, which is the perfect combination. The roses are still prolific, the new lemon tree has heaps of buds, the geraniums are flowering and the fruit trees are bearing loads of fruit.

I had suggested to Wes that we go to Ballarat Races last Thursday, so he sent around an email and got a few others interested until we discovered it was a twilight fixture. He and Barbara went and spent an enjoyable time together, although they didn’t have any big collects.

We have some new shops in town:

·         An Aboriginal Art Gallery that is rarely open

·         Ginger Thai, previously Jasmine Thai, has moved into the vacant space in Raglan Street near the library, &

·         An ice-cream & lolly shop

There are also some empty shops available – one double frontage opposite the Information Centre will become the Daylesford Community Bank, and the other, next to Café 3460, is rumoured to be a fruit shop.

The Perth Test looks as though it will be over today with the Indians no match for our pace attack. We enjoyed the exciting batting of David Warner, who managed to outscore the entire Indian team in his knock of 180. His unconventional entry into Test cricket is an inspiration for all young cricketers. As well, Bernard Tomic defied the pundits in beating Mardy Fish in the final of the Kooyong Classic. Let’s hope it doesn’t go to his head and he manages to get through a few rounds in the Australian Open.

The news from Strathmore is good with Viva improving slowly but surely; Jeff in Lincolnshire is also recovering well from her back operation; Judi is back to normal after her shingles episode; Gillie was well enough to come to breakfast this morning, and Carol is doing rehab twice a week as she recovers. On a sad note, Glenda’s mother, Edna, has lost her long-time companion, Max, who developed cancer and died very quickly; and Aileen’s husband, Roy, finally died after being unwell for months.

We are all fine and the boys are very happily asleep at my feet, after their usual exciting Sunday morning activities. Enjoy your week and I’ll be in touch again next Sunday.

Lake Daylesford geese in the early morning.

Daylesford Dispatch - Sunday, 8th January 2012

Dear Friends, we are just back from the first Café 3460 breakfast for 2012, and sadly there won’t be too many more as it has been sold and will probably settle around early March. Kim & Gary are delighted that they haven’t been on the market for months and will enjoy their last few weeks I am sure. Kim produced another splendid meal, which was only outdone by Gail’s incredible stories involving wobbly trailers, unpicked surgical stitches & a takeaway Chinese Christmas meal. John & Jan were missing as they are getting ready to sail on the Dawn Princess to New Zealand tomorrow, a trip that Annie Smith is doing with a girlfriend later this month.

It poured with rain during the night & we awoke to a humid Brigadoon – the boys missed out on their walk & their trip to the Sunday Market, but we took them to Café 3460 for toast & vegemite delivered to the back of the car, then Wes brought them home & collected Barbara. I hadn’t seen anyone for New Year, so it was good to catch up with Judi (who has been unwell), Michael & Glenn as well and hear a little of their news (in between Gail’s stories). Gillie is quite sick, possibly with whooping cough, so we missed out on her company.

Kim’s tortillas

During the week we walked the boys together early, did some gardening, watched an amazing Test from Sydney, visited my specialist in Ballarat, who encouraged me to continue with what I am doing, and finished the rearrangement of kitchen & dining cupboards, which was necessitated by items being put back in strange places after the big clean-up post our kitchen fire. As well, Wes took Barbara to Ballarat for an appointment and for hydrotherapy; I spent some time with Annie Smith catching up on her news and trying to help her become boss dog with Mizu, and I spent three hours with Viva giving Leanne a much-needed break.

We were visited by Ben & Leanne, who stayed overnight. They brought a hazelnut chocolate cake for sweets, and we didn’t offer to let them take the leftovers home! Leanne is a wonderful cook. Wes did a stunning roast chook stuffed with cracked wheat, onions, parsley & curry plant on a bed of sage, as well as yummy baked salmon with heaps of vegetables. The next morning, I walked Bilbo & Frodo, while Wes & Ben had a game of golf at Trentham, and when Leanne woke up she went for a jog around the Lake. We met up at ‘Bocconcini’ for breakfast and they went home as they were looking after David & Helen’s three children for the afternoon.

I’ve been enjoying playing ‘Words with Friends’ with David Knox and was lucky enough to make the word, SQUEAKY, which earned me 182 points. We are still playing that game & I have just hit 511, which is a personal best. David is beating me in the other game we are playing concurrently. It’s a lovely way to keep in touch with him. Jane sends me messages all the while, but David is only an occasional correspondent. If you are interested in downloading it - www.wordswithfriends.com – very similar to Scrabble, but you can play on your phone or via Facebook.

I have been reading the latest Ian Rankin, courtesy of Marjorie’s Kris Kringle & enjoyed it immensely. I now have the latest P D James to enjoy, as soon as I finish Val McDermid, whose most recent book reintroduces a stunning baddy, Jacko Vance, from a much earlier novel featuring Tony Hill. While I madly read, do cryptic crosswords & logic puzzles to help me rest; Wes is spending lots of time on the family tree & family history. He has such an enquiring mind that he searches for ‘why’ so much more often than I would and discovers amazing things as a result.

Wes has our garden looking a picture. The roses are prolific & I have managed to keep at least two vases full of fresh flowers since New Year, as well as take a small bunch to Viva every time I visit. She loves the perfume of them, even if she can’t actually see them. Her sister, Jennifer (AKA Jeff), is recovering slowly but surely from her back operation & we hope it has been the success it appears and that she will be free from pain for the first time in a long while.

We did the early shift at the Farmers’ Market yesterday and it was a great experience. All the locals come early and enjoy catching up on news, and at least four Rotarians who weren’t rostered to work, turned up to help. Afterwards we had breakfast at ‘Gracenotes’ with old friends, Sheila & Vaughan. They have recently returned from a long trip overseas – they stayed three months longer than they expected, as a friend in America was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer and they went to spent time with her and her partner & their one-year old baby son. They have a big home & property here in partnership with Sheila’s sister, Liz, and they have decided to sell the house. Liz is a Supreme Court Judge and needs a permanent home in Melbourne near the court. Sheila & Vaughan are quite enjoying the thought of being homeless for a while and deciding what to do about it! They are also Labrador lovers and lost both their labs in the past 18 months. Before they replace them, they want to spend some more time in America with their friends and in Perth with Vaughan’s family.

Next week, we start to get back to normal activities –Rotary, Strong, Mah Jong etc. I am always amazed at how quickly that holiday time after Christmas flies by. We are desperate for Sandra to come back & make the house sparkling again, I need a haircut, massage & manicure and the third Test in Perth starts on Thursday, so there is lots to fit in this week.

Daylesford Dispatch - Sunday, 1st January 2012

Dear Everyone, Happy New Year to you and let’s hope it is a peaceful one all over the world. Wes & I have just returned from a lovely late breakfast at ‘Bocconcini’ in Vincent Street. Our usual Sunday breakfast doesn’t restart until next week, but we thought it would be good to share the beginning of the year with breakfast, especially as we have both been awake since before 5.30am. I walked the boys, while Wes did some computer work, then some early gardening. It was already 20° when we went to the Sunday Market, so we left the boys at home eating celery (instead of toast & vegemite) and had our first ever meal at ‘Bocconcini’. As many places are closed today, it was the hub for all the locals and we caught up with quite a few friends.

We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas Day and weren’t troubled by the terrible hailstorms that swept across some of Melbourne’s suburbs. We walked the boys, then had tea and toast on the veranda and planned our jobs for the morning. It did seem strange not to be frantically busy providing food for up to 100 friends, but we enjoyed the more leisurely start to the day and I was able to ring both Viva and Paun and wish them both Happy Christmas.

Jon Stephens, our house guest, arrived at 11am with a bottle of Moet under his arm and a desperate need to open it after the drive from Melbourne. He was sartorially splendid, including a hat, so once we had the table set, the vegetables & lamb organised and the pudding ready to be reheated, we sat and had a drink with him. Marjorie arrived next with enough ‘befores’  to feed a hungry mob and assembled a huge variety of yummy things, while Wes went & picked up Gail from home, and Jon helped Barbara across the road with the ham and gifts she had. Then Judi & Michael arrived full of cheer; Denise, Barry, Leon & Shaun followed suit and we were complete.

 Jon Stephens on the phone...for a change!

 After a lovely afternoon, we threw our guests out around 6pm, cleared up and sat down to catch our breath and open our gifts and those the boys had received. Wes and I were in bed early as we had to leave at 7.15am next morning for breakfast with Peter and Anka at the ‘European’ in Spring Street. This is a very pleasant tradition of some years’ standing and it is always good to catch up with them before we head off to the Test. I was sitting in the MCC on my own for Day 1 and they had seats in the Great Southern Stand. Wes very kindly dropped my suitcase into the ‘ Stamford Plaza’ for me and made sure I was checked in, so that all I need do was collect my key when I got home from the first exciting day.

Wes then drove home here and spent time with Jon, before hosting a barbecue of Jon’s friends, including Nick & Lindsay, Graham & Jenny, Frank & Ellis & Barbara. If Frank’s photos on Twitter are to be believed it was a brilliant evening. That night I had early dinner at the hotel with Jane & David Knox, who had driven down from Sydney that day. It was lovely to see them both and spend a relaxing hour or so with them before I went to bed.                                                               

Peter & Anka

We spent the next two days at the cricket together, including a memorable Women’s Breakfast with Wasim Akram as Guest Speaker. The cricket was fabulous and it seemed there was a twist in fortunes during each session. Jane & David left on 28^th to drive to Barwon Heads for a couple of nights before driving back to Sydney via Canberra & the National Gallery. They arrived home yesterday afternoon with time for a rest before hosting a small group for New Year’s Eve fireworks.

I had invited Gillie to join me on Day 4, but she was unable to come as she has been so unwell since Christmas. Instead David Lazzaro used her ticket and caught up with his mate, Matt, over from Tassie. I had breakfast with Jon Stephens, who handed over the ticket and I was able to introduce him to Peter & Anka, who walked into the ‘European’ just as we were leaving. At the ground, I found a good seat in the Balcony, only to be tapped on the shoulder by Gillie’s friend, Yvonne, who was sitting behind me – her first time at the G as a full member and she was so excited. She had just returned from a visit to Ireland, where she spent time with Seona, who is a good friend of David’s from uni days. Seona married an Irishman one hot New Year’s Eve and left to live in Ireland. I think Yvonne must be her aunt. Small world!!

On Day 2, I caught up with Andy Spencer (aka Bilby) and her partner, Chris. We met her on our trip to Alice Springs many years ago and have lost touch recently. I discovered this is because she has been back in England for most of the past 2 years. It was lovely to see her again and I hope we can spend time together soon. My final socialising was on Day 5 (which wasn’t needed), when I had a long, leisurely breakfast with Squiz. We enjoyed catching up on each other’s news and just being together. Squiz’s friendship goes back nearly 40 years as I first met him in October 1972, along with Kathy Lazzaro. I had to laugh when Squiz told me that conditions at his current employment were quite lax, as people often wandered in as late as 9.30 but made up for it by working late. I reminded him that the old Squiz would have given his eyeteeth for those working conditions in ‘72 & ‘73 when he was always late for work. Apparently the new Squiz is much more a morning person these days.

Squiz & Jan on their wedding day 1979

Wes picked me up after breakfast and we drove home. We had hoped to visit Viva but it wasn’t convenient, so I plan to see her later in the week when the weather is cooler. I’ve spent the last two days catching up on washing & ironing, emails etc and playing Words with Friends with David Knox. I’m not coping too well as the ‘Scrabble’ game bears little resemblance to the traditional layout, so I’ve found a proper ‘Scrabble’ online, but can’t download it to my phone....yet!

Let me update you on everyone else – Viva is progressing well, although she & Leanne suffered some water damage during the storms. We are hopeful it won’t be big enough to be a claim and can be fixed quickly. Jennifer returned home from hospital in Lincoln on Christmas Eve and is slowly getting back on her feet. Our friend, Carol, unexpectedly ended up in hospital needing 3 stents, and was able to come home on Christmas Eve as well.

·         We had a delightful visit from the Anderson family on the Sunday before Christmas

·         We saw ‘ The Importance of Being Earnest’ with Geoffrey Rush playing Lady Bracknell and were sadly underwhelmed – Ruth Cracknell was so good in that part, no-one since has held a candle to her

·         We were lucky enough to be allowed to volunteer to hand out Christmas goods to the disadvantaged here locally and it was a very humbling experience

·                  Wes spent a day in Melbourne with Warren Pengilley – introduced him to Vince & Dom, his Italian hairdressers in Little Bourke Street, and took him to Pelligrini’s for lunch along with Doug Walsh, who is recovering from a heart attack suffered in the Philippines

·         I spent an afternoon in Ballarat on a very hot day, visiting the dentist and then having a lovely facial with Sarah

·         We have been walking the boys together most mornings and I am finding that is a good way to start the day – I have lots more energy to get things done in the mornings, still flag in the afternoons and useless most evenings

·         One of Wes’s school friends, John Hogan, died unexpectedly just after Christmas – it was quite a shock as well as a reminder that life is precious

·         Wes had a lovely New Year’s Eve – he and Barbara went to the Parade, then dinner at ‘Gracenotes’ where Barbara had organised a table including Judi & Michael, John & Jan, Glenn & Annie. He arrived home in time to look after the boys when the fireworks began at midnight from the Lake House.

So now you are up to date again – thank you to David Castles for worrying that I hadn’t written post Christmas; thank you to everyone for your cards, emails & phone calls. Wes and I are looking forward to sharing this exciting year with you all.

Lovely photo of Irish, Malachi, Kalarni & Dublin Anderson