Daylesford Dispatch - Sunday, 27th May 2012

Dear Friends, it’s another cold morning here in Daylesford, but we’ve been warmed by a wonderful visit from Lauren & Travis & Myles Kennedy, who had been camping overnight at Jubilee Lake and were on their way to Tuki for trout fishing followed by lunch. Myles is just the right size and shape for Bilbo & Frodo, who enjoyed licking him to death and being kissed & cuddled in return. Lozza is looking fabulous at six months’ pregnant and Trav was full of excitement explaining his new business and how being self-employed allows him to spend more time with Lozza & Myles. Bilbo & Frodo have enjoyed their usual busy morning so now they are sound asleep at our feet, exhausted by playing with a 3.5 year old!

Trav & Myles paddling  

We had a huge day yesterday ourselves and are very pleased with our decision to miss the Carlton vs Melbourne game this afternoon at the MCG in favour of watching it on TV. We visited Viva, who is looking the best we have seen her all year; then drove into town, where we were lucky enough to fluke a guided tour of the Fred Williams exhibition at the Ian Potter Centre. We loved his paintings & feel as though we should go back for another look before the exhibition closes in July.

We then grabbed a sandwich & glass of red before seeing the play, ‘Australia Day’ with Geoff Morrell in the main role. I really enjoyed it and got lots of laughs, but Wes wasn’t as impressed. We loved seeing a play on a Saturday afternoon with a more responsive audience than we usually experience with Wednesday matinees! We drove home in the rain listening to St Kilda beat Sydney in honour of Lenny Hayes’ 250^th game.

Our evening was spent glued to the TV trying to get Collingwood over the line against the rampaging Adelaide Crows at Footy Park in Adelaide. After 3.5 very close quarters, the Pies were able to pull away and win comfortably against the odds.

It has been a very cold week here, especially on Friday with constant rain, strong winds and extreme cold. Nearly all the leaves are blown off the trees and everywhere looks like Winter at last. Our lawn at the back is carpeted with oak leaves and in front our vegetable beds have been covered by dogwood leaves.

Lozza contemplating life with another baby perhaps?

Carol was well enough to join us for Mah Jong last Wednesday and we did enjoy being all together again and playing games in between chatting. Perhaps we did more chatting than playing, but what the heck! We were warm as toast in the Ice Cream Parlour, but when we arrived for breakfast this morning the heater was playing up and only blew cold air until about 10am when it suddenly shifted into gear!

On Thursday we invited Gillie & Jan to lunch and sat happily at the table for three hours chatting and sharing a lovely meal. Jan misses John very much when he is away, (he has been in Singapore & Borneo for the week), so we thought we could fill in one day for her. Gillie invited her for lunch again on Friday, and she spent Monday in Bendigo with her twin sister, so her time was fully occupied. John arrived back yesterday sans luggage, and they drove to Echuca to celebrate their son, Andrew’s, 40^th birthday. Later this week they are heading off in their motor home for a big tour of the Northern Territory.

Wes and I have enjoyed reading in front of the fire when the weather was too bad to work outside, although he has continued to prune madly in the front which will give everything in the garden the chance to see whatever sun there is over the next few months. He and Barbara went to Ballarat for a physio appointment in lieu of hydrotherapy. We also have caught up with friends on the phone, the email and through Chess & Words with Friends.

Daylesford Dispatch - Sunday, 20th May, 2012

Dear Friends, we woke to zero degrees this morning, but Wes was very brave & walked the boys in the cold, although all of them were pleased to get back home into the warmth. The sun was out by the time I was driving to the Sunday Market and we were blinded temporarily as we drove straight into it on our way up the hill.

We were a lovely small group at breakfast this morning and enjoyed some very interesting conversations. Having Kim, Gary & Aileen join us has widened our horizons and we listened to Aileen tell us about her son, Chris, who lives in Geraldton, where he feels at home. Judi was back from a week in Caloundra with her family. She & Michael were able to spend lots of quality time with her mother, Mavis, as well as see her sister, Sue, and her niece and nephew, Coby & Luke. She gave us all little packets of Queensland nougat, which was lovely.

Wes & Barbara are about to go to see Carlton play Adelaide at Docklands Stadium and they are both hoping the roof is closed so they will be warm. It doesn’t seem to matter where they sit, wheelchair spaces are often near doorways – no doubt to make access easier, but they are the coldest spots in any stadium and anyone in a wheelchair is very susceptible to chills because they can’t get up and walk around to keep warm. Barbara succeeded this week in getting a Companion Carer pass after seven years of trying. She hopes this will make life a little easier and cheaper for whoever is accompanying her.

We’ve had a good week, starting with a good decision not to go to the footy on Monday night, where the Saints were unexpectedly all over Carlton. We didn’t get to play golf as it was either too cold or too wet in Trentham. Wes spent some time with Barbara, taking her to hydrotherapy & shopping. I was able to help Carol, who unfortunately broke a front tooth on Mother’s Day, and was not well enough to go shopping. Marjorie took her to the dentist in Castlemaine on Wednesday, and she has to return in a fortnight. I drove her to her doctor on Friday and he was pleased with her progress post the stent, but doesn’t want her driving again yet. We did some shopping, visited the library and then had a cuppa together at Harvest Café.

We had hoped to have caught up with Mary Goodall, who used to live here, but has moved to Eltham. Mary was in town for a few days & no doubt enjoyed taking her Labrador, Cleo, on some familiar walks, as well as seeing old friends. However, the week flew by and our paths didn’t cross.

I played Mah Jong with Dot & Valerie again, which was lovely and we enjoyed good chats, as well as sharing out the wins. At Rotary that night, the speaker was Peter Cummins on Stroke Prevention, which is a very good topic for our age group. Peter has developed a computer programme for Rotary Art Shows and we hope to have a good chat with him about it when the time comes for us to hand over the reins of the Daylesford Rotary Art Show.

We had a busy day on Thursday – I spent an hour with Glenn catching up on his news, then Wes and I drove to Ballarat, where we visited our upholsterers to organise recovering of our lounge suite, which was ruined in our fire last year. Then I had a mammogram, we visited Craig’s hotel for a hot drink, and ended up at Regent Cinemas having a quick bite to eat before seeing ‘The Way’ the film about the Camino de Santiago in Spain. This is a walk that many of our friends have done, including David & Annie Smith & Norma Hutchins. We loved the film and haven’t stopped talking about it. It is well cast, well written and very well acted with Martin Sheen in the main role.

On Friday we headed into town in the afternoon and had intended to see the Fred Williams exhibition at the Ian Potter Centre before the footy, but the traffic was incredible and we got a park near the MCG at 4.30pm which was too late to go to the Gallery, which closes at 5pm. So we walked into Little Bourke Street and enjoyed an early meal at Westlake. Wes ordered a deep fried whole flounder which was cooked to perfection and matched the scallops and green vegetables he had chosen.

As I said to David, little did I dream when I took him to his first game, aged 4, that later he would have three beautiful children, all Pies supporters, to take to the footy! L-R Jess, David, Daniel & Maya

We walked to the G with pre-match nerves in full control and took our seats amongst a mostly Collingwood crowd all feeling the same. The Geelong supporters were much calmer as their team had beaten us decisively in three games last year. However the Pies started the game full of running and but for some inaccuracy in front of goal, would have been comfortably ahead at quarter time. David & Helen Lazzaro came to say hello at half-time and I suggested to Helen that she leave at that point as she seems to be a good luck charm for the Cats. Fortunately she took that in the right spirit!

The Cats came back with a vengeance in the last quarter, especially once Dane Swan was injured, and when they drew level with two minutes to go, we all felt sick. Amazingly the Pies regrouped and kicked the last two goals to win. The Cats kicked 5.12 after half-time and must be ruing their lost chances. We got home at 12.30am and were both exhausted after the long day and the effort of getting the Pies over the line.

Close up of Daniel Lazzaro as caught by the Collingwood cameras before the Footscray game

So we made a decision to sleep in yesterday. I got up briefly at 6am to give the boys their bones and tell them to go back to sleep as well. I stayed in bed, listening to the Coodabeens and then watching the footy games all afternoon. I even managed to watch the replay of our game. Wes went off to Council to see the plans for the redevelopment of Vincent Street (our main drag) between the roundabouts. It would be lovely to remove traffic from that area using the Florentine model of allowing deliveries up until 10am, and then banning cars for the day.

Wes enjoyed watching whatever he liked on the lounge TV, as well as going shopping and preparing a beautiful meal of fish & asparagus for me and a roast chook for him. The boys preferred sitting around him in the hope of leftovers.

I have spoken to Viva every day this week and she is sounding good, although tired since her visit to her GP on Thursday, where she was given a good report and told she was in better shape than this time last year. I had hoped to visit her soon, but we have decided to leave it until next weekend, as she has a busy week of Health Service visitors.

Wes has continued to do wonders in the garden and is very pleased with himself that he moved the citrus trees to the Lemon House (the space under the decking outside the guest bedroom) just before our first frost this morning. I’ve planted umpteen broad beans on Norma’s advice to help the soil where the tomatoes were, and Wes has shifted around many of the pots to give them a new lease of life and to confuse the boys, who have to dodge them when they do their big run from the main decking to their decking!

Please enjoy your week and I’ll be in touch again next Sunday.

God-daughter, Carolyn Murray at Disneyland & the Grand Canyon with her friend, Krystal

Daylesford Dispatch - Sunday, 13th May 2012

Dear Friends, Happy Mothers’ Day to everyone. My boys remembered and I have a lovely card & three great books to read – Adam Gilchrist’s autobiography, Jock McHale’s biography & a delightful little book of stories about the Appian Way. I have just spoken to Viva, who I visited yesterday, and Leanne has showered her with gifts, including a Mother’s Bag from Darrell Lea full of her favourite things, so she is feeling very spoilt. I took her some brightly coloured lilies yesterday, and while I was there a beautiful bunch of white roses and chrysanthemums arrived from Peter & Anka, so the unit looks lovely with vases of flowers everywhere. Viva was looking good, much stronger than when I had last seen her and with her sense of humour intact. This is best explained when she was telling me everything Leanne had given her this morning and in the middle of it all, added and ‘a set of six steak knives’, which made us both laugh until we coughed!

Me at the Pitti Palace

We’ve had a good week, although it has been cold these past few days and Wes has lit the fire, which makes for great warmth, good smells and the best atmosphere. The boys are curled up in front of it, as close as they can get without being singed. I think they are telling us that we let them get cold at breakfast this morning – when Gary fed them their toast, he told us that they weren’t happy at being out in the cold, so we put them in the back of the car and went back to our scrambled eggs.

We welcomed Aileen back this morning after three weeks away in Perth, where she found looking after grand-children, driving her son’s car and being expected to take children to the zoo more than she had bargained for, so soon after her husband, Roy’s death. She told us some great stories and Kim & Gary chipped in with some of their own, while Gail was either drawing breath or eating her breakfast. Gail & Terry are going on a cruise unexpectedly – Terry’s sister rang to say she had booked them a cabin on a 9-day cruise as it cost $490 per person – it was irresistible at that price! Kim & Gary pricked up their ears as they had been thinking about a cruise as well.

At the start of the week Wes and I spent some time designing and then sending out an advance notice for the 2012 Daylesford Rotary Art Show and we have had a good response with lots of artists acknowledging the email and Rotarians promising not to go away over Melbourne Cup weekend, so they can be around to help out.

Barbara with her family during her trip to NZ in March

By Wednesday, I was ready to socialise again, so I joined Dot & Valerie at Harvest Café, where we were made very welcome and play Mah Jong for 2.5 hours! Carol had been going to join us, but she was rushed to hospital on Tuesday with chest pains again, and has had another stent put in. She is now back home and feeling much better, thank God. We all got a terrible fright, especially as we heard nothing all Tuesday after she had rung me early to say she was being collected by ambulance. Daylesford Hospital had sent her to St John of God in Ballarat, where she had spent hours in emergency on a trolley until they found her a bed and decided what to do.

Our local window washer, Jason Olver, and a mate, came on Wednesday to wash our windows inside and out, as it has been about 18 months since that was last done and we can’t believe the difference. Wes has been busy since pruning trees and bushes so that we have uninterrupted views of the Lake again and can make the most of the weak Wintry sunshine.

Meanwhile Wes drove to Melbourne for a delightfully indulgent day – he parked in Brunswick, caught the tram into town, had a haircut at ‘Vince & Dom’s’; met up with our financial adviser, Anthony Starkins, for lunch; spent an hour in St Paul’s Anglican Church being a visitor; browsed bookstores; had a drink or two with Jon Stephens at his favourite bar, and finally enjoyed a good chat & Italian meal with Ben Lazzaro, where Carlton’s fortunes were high on the agenda. He arrived home about 10.30pm, tired, but very happy with all he had done.

Lovely photo of Carol

I started Thursday with a massage from Ann, which was lovely, but was quite tired after my busy day before, so spent most of the rest of the day sitting in front of the fire playing WWF and doing crosswords etc. On Friday I had lunch with good friend, Sheila Hollingworth, who is about to go to America for about 3 months to help a friend of hers who has cancer and a young family. We met at ‘Wombat Hill House’, which was lovely and warm and has great views of Autumn in the Botanical Gardens, but which charged me $14 for my bowl of soup & piece of bread!

Yesterday I drove early to Melbourne to visit Viva and was home again by 1pm. We packed up the boys and went to the local footy, where we were most impressed by Daylesford’s game against Clunes. However, it was so cold, that we left at half-time and came home to watch the Greater Western Sydney team register their first win in front of an appreciative audience in Canberra. I hoped that my brother, Peter, might have been there, as he gets very few opportunities to see footy live these days. We also watched in awe as Black Caviar won her 21^st straight win without changing into second gear. I hope our cousin Leigh will be able to get to Royal Ascot to cheer her on when she runs there next month.

Thanks again to everyone who has stayed in touch – sorry I haven’t been able to answer all your calls yet – I will! Today I am feeling better than I have for quite a while, so will try not to do too much and fall back again.

P.S. Our dear friend, Norma’s son, Steve Butler, wrote a wonderful warts & all article about her journey with ovarian cancer in yesterday’s West Australian – please follow this link if you would like to read it - http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/breaking/13667412/inspiring-mothers-love-of-life/

Daylesford Dispatch - Sunday, 6th May, 2012

Dear Friends, I’m sitting at my desk looking out over the garden & Lake & noticing that the brightly coloured trees are steadily losing their leaves in preparation for Winter. Our own trees are still looking magnificent but the wind has blown the leaves off the poplars that line the walk around the Lake.

I’ve had a very quiet time of it since I last wrote. I was feeling completely depleted of energy, probably a reaction to Viva’s recovery, which was unexpected and rapid, plus the onset of bronchial asthma. So I have been in bed most of the week trying to rebuild energy levels and fight off the bronchitis. I put up a Skype message saying ‘Thank God for Wes & WWF’ as Wes has been magnificent looking after everything here and ‘Words with Friends’, a Facebook game that you can play on your mobile, has kept my brain active after I have done the day’s crosswords & Logic Puzzles.

Wes has also had to look after Barbara as she couldn’t do much with one arm in a sling, so he prepared her meals three times a day, went over to move her around as she couldn’t propel her wheelchair easily and put her to bed every afternoon. On Wednesday he took her to the doctor, where she got more antibiotics & the doctor declared the worst was over. By Thursday she was able to be taken by him to a lunch meeting of the Oral History Group, and on Friday she only needed his help for an hour or so during the afternoon which was good, as he spent much of the day catching up on sleep himself.

Yesterday I had my first outing and went food shopping at Coles Supermarket & Tonna’s Fruit Shop, while Wes did the shift at the Farmers’ Market. We decided it was too cold for me to stand there for 2.5 hours handing out leaflets. While I was making minestrone soup, he met Barbara for breakfast at Gracenotes and today he is driving her to the footy, which is at Docklands, and they should be warm and dry with the roof closed there. Barbara can get around in her electrical wheelchair, but she can’t drive yet.

This morning before breakfast, although I have not been joining in the morning walks again yet, I took the boys early to pump water at Leitches Creek, and then to the Sunday Market, where we stocked up on fruit, vegetables, eggs & dog bones. Then off to a very enjoyable breakfast, although the boys weren’t given their toast until nearly 10am, by which time they had just about given up and were looking mournfully at us all through the windows as we guiltily ate our own meals. I had dressed them in their Winter coats, so they attracted even more attention than usual.

It was lovely to catch up with everyone after a very quiet week – Gillie & Kim are all looking better for having left full-time employment; Gary is enjoying having Kim’s help with their accommodation, as well as being able to go out during the week; Judi is preparing for a week’s holiday in Caloundra, where she & Michael will catch up with her family; John is off to play golf at Cobram; Jan has caught up with her Melbourne friends & is happier for that, and Barbara is looking much better than she did a week ago, when she had been bitten & scratched by the rogue cat.

I haven’t been to visit Viva yet as I don’t want to pass on any germs, as well as not being up to the drive. Hopefully I can do that soon and give Leanne a break from 24-hour care, as well as providing a visitor who isn’t part of Mercy Health Care.

Thanks to Carol Bruce, David Knox, Shaun Anderson & Terry Borg for all the games of WWF, and to everyone else who has rung, emailed or Skyped asking after me and Viva. Special thanks to Glenn for the big bunch of irises I found at the front door on Friday – much appreciated.

We are sorry not to be going to Clunes over the weekend for ‘Booktown’. This time 12 months ago, we had Mike & Lorna staying with us for the weekend and we finished their visit with a fun trip to Clunes, where Wes caught up with Bob Hawke who was guest of honour.

I did forget to tell you last Sunday that we went to see Colin Friels in ‘Red’ the play about the artist, Mark Rothko, We have loved Colin since we first saw him in the film, ‘Malcolm’ many moons ago & he is an actor very at ease on stage. We quite enjoyed the play, although the scenery shifting was distracting & unnecessary. The onstage chemistry between Colin & his young co-star, André de Vanny, was fantastic, especially towards the end, and the audience was most appreciative, which delighted them both.

Enjoy your week and I’ll be in touch again next weekend.

Lovely photo of our Rome guide, Daniela, next to the biggest hyacinths ever!