Daylesford Dispatch, Sunday, 29th April, 2012

DAYLESFORD AUTUMN DISPATCH

Sunday, 29 April 2012

Dear Friends, sorry this is late, but I’ve spent the last three hours trying to fix my computer which has suddenly decided not to let me access my email! So I have moved to the laptop instead. The news on Viva is wonderful – she came home at lunchtime today, after making a miraculous recovery. Last Sunday she was most unwell, but by Thursday the pneumonia was gone and when we saw her yesterday she was strong enough to feed herself and to walk a few steps using her Zimmer. I spoke with her on Leanne’s mobile this morning while they were waiting for the ambulance to arrive and she sounded very excited to be going home.

It’s been a busy morning – Barbara was scratched by a rogue cat so she & Wes spent a couple of hours in emergency before joining the rest of us at breakfast. Barbara has her arm in a sling, is on antibiotics and has been resting for a few hours. She and Wes are off to Williamstown Little Theatre this afternoon to see our friend, Ellis Ebell, in a comedy. Judi & Michael, Gillie, Carol & Marjorie will also be there.

Ellis

Wes and Deane had a good time together in Melbourne last Sunday through to Tuesday. Among other things they had serious chats over breakfast, caught up with the film, ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’, had dinner with Mike & Lorna, Tom & Deborah, and enjoyed a pub crawl around Brunswick. They stayed at Vibe Motel in Royal Parade, which meant they were close to everything without being right in town.

                                                        Deane

Wes met me at John Fawkner Hospital on Monday to visit Viva, where we found her much better than we had expected, but still very ill. We spent a couple of hours with her, then I drove back home and Wes went back to Deane. I enjoyed walking the boys each morning while Wes was away, but golf & Strong suffered, as it wasn’t possible to do everything!

Wes arrived home late on Tuesday, updated me and then enjoyed a good sleep in his own bed, as you do. On Wednesday we took the boys to the dawn service, where Wes and I thought very much about Gallipoli during the moving service. The boys were good until 7am arrived and then they started crying to remind us that they usually received their bones about this time.

Me at Hell’s Spit

Michael collected me at 9.45am, while Wes took Secundus to Eganstown for the lovely service there. We caught an earlier train than usual into town and walked through light rain to Westlake, where we enjoyed yum cha, before walking through showers to the MCG. The ANZAC service included the best bugle solo I have ever heard, before we watched a most exciting close game along with nearly 87,000 others in intermittent rain. Collingwood deserved to win as they were in front for most of the game, but it was very hard for the Essendon players & supporters after they got the lead with about 90 seconds to go and then lost it.

The teams running through a huge shared banner – love it!

I spent Thursday in bed recovering from getting drenched, and being updated from Leanne, as Peter had flown down from Canberra to spend the day at the hospital with Viva. He was able to help her with her lunch. On Friday Leanne was thrilled to report how well Viva was doing although she was a little confused, which Dr Beshara attributed to an oversupply of a particular tablet.

Wes and I visited yesterday, where we found her mind as sharp as ever. After our visit, we had a late lunch at Paragon Cafe in Carlton, where we had a most amusing experience when we order the cheese platter. We asked the waiter who brought us the platter what our cheeses were and he replied ‘a blue, a soft and something else’. He sent over our waitress, who told us ‘a blue, a soft and a firm cheese’, so we asked where the cheeses were from. After two minutes she returned to announce proudly ‘the blue is Australian, the soft is from Italy and the gruyere is from Switzerland – quite an International plate’. We tried to imagine what would happen at ‘Mercato’ our local Italian flavoured restaurant if a waitperson were to answer a question like that, and failed!!!!

Kenan, our guide, and me in the driving rain at Simpson’s grave

Thank you again to everyone who has been in touch this week and sent their prayers and thoughts our way. Our dear friend, Jan Pengilley, lost her mother, Olga, aged 95, during the week, and even though she wanted her mother to be out of pain, she is feeling the loss very strongly.

Daylesford Dispatch - Friday, 20th April 2012

Dear Friends, I am very sorry it has been so long since I have written and thanks to those of you who wanted to know why. Sadly Viva was rushed to hospital last Saturday morning with pneumonia and life has been focussed on her ever since. I did tell her it was a rather drastic reaction to Collingwood’s drubbing by Carlton and she managed a weak smile. Viva, being a Queenslander by birth, has never fully embraced Aussie Rules and can at best be said to tolerate the Magpie devotion of the rest of her family.

The news is good at present. I had a very successful visit with her yesterday and was fortunate to be on hand when a young speech therapist came to chat to see why Viva was unable to keep anything down, even though she was on a ‘Soft & Moist’ diet. She was able to see that the food was wrong for Viva and has changed her to a ‘Minced & Mashed’ diet, which is basically what Leanne has been feeding her at home. Viva was able to eat a whole mashed banana, some custard and yoghurt, and felt she had enjoyed a ‘big lunch’ for a change. Viva is fighting very hard to get strong and come home. Although she is suffering from hallucinations again, she knows what they are & makes a conscious decision not to let them take over. As a result she is not distressed and coping well with what the doctor & nurses are trying to do. She is on oxygen & occasional Ventolin, as well as a saline drip.

This morning she would have received a lovely surprise when Leanne arrived at the hospital with Paun, who is making a three-day visit, having caught the overnight bus from Tathra. Peter is planning on flying down next Thursday, so that will be an extra fillip for her. She is being looked after very well and we are all feeling much more optimistic than we were at the start of the week.

Lovely photo of Paun in Tathra in 93

We were to have hosted a lunch last Sunday for old friends, Terry Borg, her daughter, Georgina, and her partner, Richard, but had to cancel and drive to Melbourne instead. Terry remembers Viva and has been most understanding.... as has everyone else, as we have had to postpone or cancel quite a few things this week.

Sunday breakfast at Harvest Café is going well and there were 13 of us last Sunday. Everyone there is trying their hardest to please and we can’t ask for more than to have a room for ourselves and a big square table so we can all see each other. Because Kim, Gary & Aileen are part of the group instead of feeding the group, our numbers are going to be good most weeks and I think we have 15 this Sunday.

Wes and I played golf on Monday morning, and then I managed to come down with an instant head cold, which threatened to become something worse, so I reluctantly cancelled even more activities and took to bed in an effort to beat it before it took hold. Sadly we missed a great night at the Daylesford Bowling Club. Lee, the chef, had organised for Dane Swan & Luke Ball to come & talk and she had filled the Club with True Believers that night. We were able to give our tickets to Victor & Anna Szwed & they loved every minute of it. As Luke Ball was injured, Nick Maxwell, our lovely Captain, replaced him, which was a real bonus for everyone there.

Strong restarted this week, but I was too asthmatic to go, and I didn’t play golf on Wednesday either. Yesterday I went for the early morning walk with Wes and we decided I was well enough to drive to Melbourne to visit Viva. I have had a flu injection and have my fingers crossed that I have beaten off anything more serious than a cold.

On Tuesday the Daylesford Community Bank finally opened with a great fanfare. Wes was MC of a function with around 180 in attendance. We have nothing but praise for the Bendigo Bank, which started off as a building society and has never lost sight of being a community-based bank. The Bank is housed in premises opposite the Post Office, the Info Centre & just up from the Primary School, which is a good position. After the opening, Wes took John Goullet & Barbara to lunch at Gracenotes to celebrate.

It’s that beautiful time of year again

On Wednesday Wes drove to Melbourne to visit Viva and then spent some time with Leanne. He arrived back in time for Rotary, which was a casual night, so he was home early. We got the Bulletin out the next morning before I went to the hospital, and I also spent some time with Leanne afterwards. Last night Wes took Gillie’s brother-in-law, Alex, to the Old Hepburn Hotel, which he loved. Alex is a Pom who has lived in South Africa for 40 years, and Wes enjoyed hearing his life story. Our friend, Ken, a North supporter, had taken Alex to the footy last Sunday, where North unexpectedly beat Geelong in a nail-biting match at Docklands. Alex found it easy to follow the footy and appreciated the excitement of it all. He and Wendy, Gillie’s sister, have been in Australia for the past 5 weeks, where he caught up with relatives he didn’t know he had in Ballarat & an old friend from his childhood in Brisbane.

Before Viva went to hospital, Wes and I were still finding it hard to settle back to normal life here. We were walking the boys and playing golf, but we couldn’t get back into proper routines. I am finally declaring the jetlag well & truly over! We were lucky enough to win first prize in Brian Nash’s Rotary raffle, which is a lovely watercolour that I admired when we bought the tickets and it is hanging in the lounge next to a large oil painting by Brian, which is set in Ireland. I did start my massages again with Ann, which was wonderful and also managed to catch up properly with Judi for a couple of hours at Harvest Café.

Jessica (nee Spiteri) & Geoff Findlay who were married last Saturday

On the Thursday afternoon, we received two unexpected visits – the first was from Gabby & young Fraser, who were on their way to Ballarat and couldn’t drive through without stopping. Fraser is so good with Labradors, as they look after trainee Guide Dogs most weekends, so he lay on the floor and let the boys lick him to death. I think all three were in heaven! Gabby was looking well and it was lovely to see her. Along with many of our friends, she had sent Viva a card to celebrate her 90^th birthday, which was so thoughtful and much appreciated. Fraser even called her Gran on the card. I didn’t realise until Leanne gave me the album of cards to look at last Sunday, just how many of you had been good enough to send her a card. I also didn’t know that Gayle had been invited to a birthday lunch and arrived with flowers and a cake and the biggest smile possible. Leanne has some lovely photos of a memorable day.

Our second visitors were Brian & Roberta, who dropped in with our paintings and a big thank you for the flowers we had given them. They are two of the most generous people we know. Brian approved of where we were hanging our new acquisitions and he and Wes enjoyed some Irish whiskey and a great chat, while Roberta and I were more subdued with gin & tonics.

On the Friday Wes drove me to the station to catch the train to Melbourne for the footy. I arrived in time to check in my bag at Rydges hotel and then went to the Kino to see ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’, where I spent all my time wishing Wes was there as he will love it. I had mistakenly thought it was probably a ‘girls’ film, which it isn’t and it is full of wonderful actors – Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Celia Imrie & Tom Wilkinson, with a great support cast. Please see it if you haven’t already.

Before I went to the game, I decided to try a new Asian cafe across the road from the hotel – Red Mansion Szechuan – where I was greeted warmly, but struggled to find something to eat that didn’t have meat in it. We finally arrived at chilli fish and the waitress explained it was ‘a little bit big’, but that I could take home what I couldn’t eat. Out came a huge soup tureen full to the brim with chilli stock and fish fillets. I ate three fillets and brought at least 8 home for dinner on the Saturday night. When I asked about sweets, they suggested it might be too much as the only dish on offer was eight pumpkin cakes. To finish off my magic experience, the chef was summoned from the kitchen to take my money – cash only, no alcohol, and no small meals suitable for two!

The proud father, Manny, with his only daughter

 Top - Danny & Roz at the Collingwood night – their daughter, Natalie, is gay, so Danny is proudly wearing the Pink Magpies t-shirt (Roz is an Adelaide supporter, so must have been bribed to wear the black & white hat) and Below - Anna & Victor looking delighted to be photographed with Nick Maxwell.

Once again, thanks to everyone for your care and concern for Viva, which is much appreciated by us all. We hope that she continues to progress and that she will be back home again very soon, where Leanne & Smokey look after her brilliantly.

Daylesford Dispatch Easter Sunday, 8th April 2012

Dear Friends, we are back safe & sound (more or less) in beautiful Daylesford, but we have been afflicted with the worst jetlag either of us can remember. I made the mistake of declaring it over on Friday morning and promptly spent most of that night awake, drinking tea, reading ‘The Sistine Secrets’ and playing WWF. Wes got up & watched TV and then slept in, but I decided to get up & see how I went.

When I last wrote, we were resting in preparation for a trip around Roma on Vespas. This was great fun, but would have been more useful earlier on in the week, as most of the stops made by Valerio & Roy had already been visited by us. We told them how exciting it had been to see the Appian Way, so they obliged by taking us there and showing us a couple of spots where the original road still exists – you can even see the marks of the chariot wheels. Wes rode with Valerio on a super-duper black machine, while I was with Roy, the 2-I-C, on a glorious 50-year old cream Vespa, which was the envy of all the males we passed. We had been given no advice re our excursion, but decided to dress warmly, pack gloves, and I even took a beanie, which meant my helmet sat more easily on my head. It did get cold once the sun had disappeared & we were pleased we had warm jackets and trousers on.

When we arrived back at our hotel at 9pm, we were hungry, so set off for a quick meal of pizza & red wine. Sadly we visited dreadful place (rated 3,313 out of 3,700 restaurants in Rome we later discovered & Wes’s review on Trip Advisor will cause it to fall even more), where the pizzas had been frozen & the wine was overpriced. When we got back to our room, we discovered a bottle of prosecco on ice, which we wished we had known about before we ate out!

On the Sunday we breakfasted late, said our goodbyes, and left our luggage, to go for one more walk around Rome. As it was Palm Sunday, everyone was at Mass or had just been to Mass and they were all carrying springs of palm, quite different from our palm, and quite different from  the ones in Spain two years’ ago. We visited various churches, including the Church of Gesu, (run by the Jesuits); the Pantheon (what a delight); saw the Elephant Statue, but not the Church which was closed for siesta; the Island, where the Catholic hospital was called St John of God, and where we had a lovely gelato which we shared with the pigeons; revisited the Jewish Quarter, where families were out in great numbers enjoying a late lunch; reclimbed  the Spanish Steps with a view to seeing Keat’s  house, but it was closed, and finally walked back to our hotel to sit in their comfortable lounge with pots of tea & coffee to await our Emirates driver.

The pesky cat in Bodrum that wanted my dinner

At the Rome airport, everything went smoothly and with a smile, although the Alitalia Lounge was a most uninviting place to spend a couple of hours. When we boarded our plane it was only half-full, so we had a quiet flight to Dubai, and on arrival, went straight to the showers. I even washed my hair, which made me feel heaps better, as the 10pm flight was too late in the day. I think the hardest part of the flight was circling Melbourne airport for 30 minutes as there was so much congestion in the air!

We were delighted to be met by Ryan from Hughes Hire Car, who drove us home in comfort, and we unpacked, started the washing & updating computers and went to bed. We were quite confident we would be OK by the next day, but after I had my hair done in the morning & Wes did the shopping & visited Barbara, we both fell asleep in the afternoon, and subsequently were wide awake at 1am ... and so it goes. Thank God we have come home to school holidays and most of our usual activities are on hold as we have been fairly useless!

Yesterday we took Bilbo & Frodo to Ballarat and walked around Lake Wendouree, following in the footsteps of Steve Moneghetti. I think it is 7kims, so the boys were very tired by the time we finished. We came home here, had a small rest, then drove to Melbourne where we did some clothes shopping, had an early dinner at ‘Spicy Fish’ and went to the MCG to see Collingwood play Richmond. We had good reserved seats & enjoyed the atmosphere. The game was OK, especially in the 3^rd quarter, when the Pies went up a notch & in the last quarter, when the Tigers finally hit their straps. We had fluked a park in the street just outside the ground, so we left 10 minutes early and made the perfect getaway, which got us home and in bed by 11.30pm.

We slept well, got up early, and while Wes walked the boys, I showered and got ready to take them with me to pump mineral water at Leitches Creek, and then visit the Sunday Market. There was huge queue of casual stall-holders, so it would have been a very big market. Breakfast was wonderful – we met at Harvest Café, which had been tried out the week before and everyone had enjoyed it and we could see why. The staff is very friendly & welcoming and nothing is too much trouble. They let us have a huge table in the Ice-Cream Parlour side of the business, so we could make as much noise as we liked, and did. Our gifts all went over well and we were given Easter eggs & pears in return.

After our lovely, generous-sized meals, Wes and I visited the Town Hall, where Brian Nash & Roberta Donnelly were exhibiting some new and interesting works. We were determined not to buy anything, but both fell in love with a stunning painting of the Grand Canal in Venice, so promptly bought it to go in our bedroom. Brian gave us a generous discount without us asking, as he is grateful for our support!

Then back home and after ringing Viva to wish her & Leanne a Happy Easter, Wes and I rolled up our sleeves and spent 4 hours re-organising the study to make it work better for us. We couldn’t be more pleased with what we have done. Our main aim was to free up space in the cupboard for Wes to put his Arch Level folders full of family history files and photos. We succeeded in giving him three shelves at reachable height, and he is thrilled to bits. The boys lay on their bed zedding away and enjoying our company, and we theirs.

We hope to get back to normal tomorrow and are starting to make appointments, catching up with friends, and getting back on top of the house and garden.

Lovely photos of Gary, Aileen & Kim on the last Sunday Breakfast at Café 3460

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE

Turkey, Florence and Rome - 29-31 March 2012

Dear Friends, as promised here is a final Blog before we set off for home tomorrow night (Monday morning Australian time). We are resting in our room after a lovely morning, as tonight we have a trip around Roma on Vespas and we need to have all our energy for that. Wes is sleeping and I am catching up on emails, Words with Friends, online Scrabble and, of course, writing to you.

On Thursday morning we met Daniela here and walked up the Via Veneto to the Villa Borghese. This is a wonderful palace full of art, statuary and antiquities, including works by Bernina, Caravaggio, Botticelli & Raffaello. It is set in huge gardens and the whole Villa was bought by the Italian Government in 1923 on condition that the Collection was not broken up. Daniela had pre-ordered tickets as it is sold out days in advance and many visitors were turning away disappointed. 100 visitors at a time are allowed 2 hours maximum in the Gallery/Museum, so it is a rush to do everything properly. However, you are not packed in like sardines and get the chance to appreciate what you are seeing. We then strolled around the gardens for a while, patted a pair of yellow Labradors out for a walk, and on Daniela’s advice, caught a taxi  to San Sebastian catacombs outside the city on the Appian Way.

 (Apollo & Daphne)

Wes bought the tickets while I went to the loo – then we were taken down into the catacombs by a wonderful man with a great grasp of English and an even better sense of humour, to catch up with the English tour which had just left. We kept turning corners and bumping into French, Japanese & German tours and eventually found the English speaking guide and reluctantly said goodbye to our delightful ticket-seller. The catacombs are quite magnificent and go for miles. There are no bones on display as they have all been removed and buried elsewhere, which seems fitting. After our tour, we walked along the Appian Way for about 30 minutes – scarcely believing we were doing it!

Daniela had suggested we then visit the Basilica of St John Lateran, so we caught a taxi back and went into the most magnificent church we have seen since the co-Cathedral of St John in Malta. There was enough gold to keep Viva happy so we lit a candle for her in the hope that she will soon be out of pain again.

You could spend hours in this Basilica, which is lined with huge statues of the Apostles down the nave, as well as beautiful paintings in the side chapels. We paid 1€ each to go into the Museum and discovered Galileo is buried here, among other notables.

From there we walked to the unique Basilica of San Clement. I quote from Wikipedia “The structure is a three-tiered complex of buildings: (1) the present basilica built just before the year 1100 during the height of the Middle Ages; (2) beneath the present basilica is a 4th century basilica that had been converted out of the home of a Roman nobleman, part of which had in the 1st century briefly served as an early church, and the basement of which had in the 2nd century briefly served as a mithraeum; (3) the home of the Roman nobleman had been built on the foundations of a republican era building that had been destroyed in the Great Fire of 64”.

3rd level above & current level below

 We walked back home saturated in history, had a rest and then dressed for an early dinner at “Osteria Barberini” the little restaurant that had taken our fancy earlier in the week. Maria was there to welcome us and we enjoyed a stunning meal with a bottle of Umbrian wine. I had fish, while Wes ate meat and we shared the best lemon sorbet we have ever tasted afterwards.

Yesterday, we went to Tivoli driven by Gabriele, our first driver, with Daniela as our guide. It took about 45 minutes to get there and we started at Hadrian’s Villa, much of which has been excavated. We were blown away by the size of everything here and by the very thoughtful way in which the Villa has been preserved to give us a sense of what it was like.

Then off to the Villa D’Este, which is a stunning garden with many fountains, all of them magical, including one where the water forces an organ to play a madrigal three times a day. The cardinal who built this Villa wanted to be Pope and thought he would impress the other cardinals with his wealth and culture. He was unsuccessful but he has left the world something very special and unique.

We arrived back in Rome at 2pm, and had invited Daniela to have lunch with us as our farewell to her. We took her to our favourite spot and she was very impressed with the food and with Maria, the waitress. Sadly the owner’s son decided he wanted us to pay cash instead of credit card, which was very embarrassing for Maria and she warned us to check the bill as the price of the wine would be inflated. We had a lovely meal together with Daniela, and enjoyed learning a little more about her once she no longer was the guide. Maria was right, the bill was inflated, so Warren made sure that we paid the correct amount and gave Maria our tip.

Me outside St Peter's in the sunshine & Wes on top of Il Vittoriano

We spent a quiet afternoon as we were tired after all our travelling and apart from wandering out to find tonic water in a little store under the street, we stayed put. The AFL had sent me quarter by quarter scores of Collingwood’s game, and I was pleased that we stayed in touch with Hawthorn, and even got ahead at one point in the last quarter before succumbing to the better team. Wes had been delighted when Jane & David Knox kept him informed of Carlton’s progress and good win the previous afternoon while we were doing Basilicas. I have been intrigued by the use of the term Basilica to describe some churches which I would have thought had not earned that title. Apparently a Basilica can refer to a large, important church which has been granted permission by the Pope (this I knew) or an ancient Roman Basilica or a building that is shaped like an ancient Roman Basilica.

Thanks again to everyone who has emailed or commented on Skype or Facebook or Viber and encouraged me to continue sending these blogs. I have enjoyed writing them and it is lovely to know they are being read and enjoyed by you. We are looking forward to getting home again, to seeing our boys and our friends, to catching up on our mail and changes in the garden, to say nothing of the delights of Autumn in Daylesford.

With a bit of luck I’ll be sending you a Dispatch on Easter Sunday. If not, it won’t be long afterwards. We are hoping to get to the footy on Easter Saturday, having only missed Round 1 of this season.

Arrivederci until then!