Daylesford Dispatch - Sunday, 22nd July 2012

It is a beautiful sunny Winter’s day here and I am looking out at Wes the gardener, finally able to get stuck into some more pruning, feeding & composting in our garden. The boys have lost interest and joined me in the study, where they are snoring their heads off after a busy morning. It was dry enough for a good walk around the Lake early, then I took them to Coles Supermarket, before we visited the Sunday Market, where they ate cabbage leaves, back home for some celery and finally off to breakfast, where they had more toast than any of us, including two pieces buttered with vegemite each!

Glenn & his daughter, Lucy, were surprise guests at breakfast – they had been camping in Sydney’s Royal National Park near Bundeena, with one of Glenn’s other daughters, Catherine, but it was too cold so he & Lucy drove back home to Daylesford yesterday. Gail had some great stories about their time in the Blue Mountains with their family & Aileen told us about her experiences during the week at Apsley, on the Wimmera Highway, near the South Australian border.

 Glenn in celebratory mode

I am planning on a fairly quiet day today – making some minestrone for dinner tonight and during the week, and some fruit salad with the wonderful Queensland strawberries that are in abundance.

 Yesterday we drove to Melbourne to visit Viva first, and had a lovely 75 minute visit, which was as much as she could cope with, then off to a double-header of footy. We parked at Docklands, caught the train at Spencer Street to Jolimont & joined 83,000 + at the MCG. By a fluke we met up with David Lazzaro & he sat with us after half-time as we had no-one in the seats next to us. Sadly for the Collingwood supporters, the Hawks were far too good & after the first couple of minutes the result was never in doubt.

We saw way too much of this!

We stayed until the end and then started to walk to Docklands, whereupon Wes suggested we just go home as I was tired and he is unimpressed with the Blues and didn’t feel the need to go to the game. We were home in time to see the exciting finish of the Suns/Lions game. The Blues played so badly in the first half that I suspect we would have left Docklands anyway then, but they rallied in the second half & overcame the Doggies to record a good win, with my least favourite Carlton player, Chris Yarran, putting in a blinder – about time!

The highlights of the week are many:

·        I spent Tuesday in Melbourne catching up with Sherryn

at 246 Brunswick Road 1997

We haven’t seen each other in months and it was so good to be together. We saw the film Hysteria, which was a bit too lightweight for us, but $10 for a film & a hot drink on a cold morning isn’t to be sneezed at!

·        We had a good morning at Mah Jong, although Carol was a scratching as she had been in Daylesford hospital with a recurring issue and was back home recuperating

·        After a lovely massage with Ann Holden on Thursday, and some shopping for Carol, I spent lunchtime with Gillie, where we shared her homemade pumpkin soup and nattered happily for ages

·        Wes has had a busy week with Hepburn Voices – he spent time with Barbara planning training, and then trained our Mayor, Sebastian Klein, who is keen to participate. He also had his photo taken for the local paper and interviewed Kyle Barnes, the photographer.

·        Barbara’s hot water service had died, so they skipped hydrotherapy on Tuesday and he gave her a shower instead once the new service was installed.

·        We were visited by Jeff Bain & Di Lyttleton, always a delight to be with them, and spent a couple of hours swapping stories.

 

·        Wes had lunch with his good friend, David Hall, who has been behind most of the big projects going on in town, such as The Arc Recreation Centre, Words in Winter, U3A etc.

Thanks to everyone who sent me a message about the Killer Labs. It was fun sharing the nonsense with you and getting your responses. I will be in Sydney next weekend with the Knoxes, so you won’t hear from me until later the following week or weekend. My main reason for the visit is to go to the new Showgrounds Stadium to see Collingwood & Greater Western Sydney, which I am doing with Jane. It will be lovely to catch up with her, David & Terry McDonald as well.

Jane, Karen, Wes & Terry last year at Terry's pub

Last year at Terry’s local – Jane, Karen, Wes & Terry

Daylesford Dispatch - Sunday, 15th July 2012

 Dear Friends, there have been a few attacks of Killer Labs so far this week – a Killer Lab attack usually occurs when I am lying in bed and it is getting close to their dinner time with no sign of anyone cooking rice in preparation for it. It is usually preceded by excited dancing, side by side, a quick grab of one of my thongs and a leap onto the bed by Bilbo, followed by a more sedate, but very determined leap by Frodo, who pushes Bilbo out of the way and settles in on my pillows. The attack subsides once they have been fed or locked out of the bedroom. Sadly on Monday afternoon, they worked out how to open our bedroom door, so that avenue is now closed for us!

Killer Labs plotting ….

Although I had enjoyed a very quiet afternoon & evening on Sunday while Wes and Barbara were at Williamstown Little Theatre seeing The God of Carnage, I woke feeling not quite myself on Monday. Dolly Grey was due for 1,000km service that morning, so I drove over to Ballarat, but stayed put in the showroom as it was only required for 90 minutes or so. By the time I arrived back home, I was exhausted and went to bed. Wes spent the afternoon doing Hepburn Voices across the road at Barbara’s place, with an interesting interview of Rob McDonald, and then a visit to Glenn Mack. By the time he got home, the boys were locked in the laundry and he had to see for himself that they really had worked out if they threw themselves bodily at the bedroom door, it would fly open and the impetus would land them on the bed. Our friend, Carol, had her beautiful grand-daughter, Alexandra, staying with her for 24 hours & we had hoped that we could have caught up with each other & the boys, but it didn’t happen. Maybe next time.

Tuesday was grey and the rain didn’t let up, so I stayed in bed and watched two films that Wes had taped – Enid, about Enid Blyton, starring Helena Bonham Carter & Matthew Macfadyen. The acting was wonderful and the story quite frightening – Enid treated her daughters abominably and wrote for all the other children in the world. Her output was prodigious and I have read nearly everything she ever wrote as she had such a gift. The second film, with Catherine Deneuve, was called Hidden Diary and deals very well with mother-daughter relationships and our penchant to judge by what we see on the surface.

       Helena Bonham Carter & the real Enid

Wednesday found me feeling much better and before I went to Mah Jong, I printed out 82 Art Show Entry Forms and posted them. We had a good morning playing and Carol is so happy now that she has a new front tooth after maybe six weeks of waiting.

It has been too wet for golf, or gardening most of the week, so Wes has been lost in Ancestry.com, finding out all sorts of things about our forebears. Meanwhile I sent out 132 emails to Artists on Thursday and on Friday I designed Entry Passes for the Opening Night Cocktail Party. As well, I visited various places in town trying to get our posters displayed and there are only a handful of places left, apart from the Info Centre.

I mentioned on Facebook that I had really enjoyed reading a book by Ailsa Piper, Sinning Across Spain, which is the story of her 1,300 km walk from Granada to Galicia carrying a load of sins in her swag. On Friday I took it with me when I walked into town and was lucky enough to meet up with Annie Smith, who walked the Comino about 10 years ago with her husband, David. She was thrilled to have the book to read and we enjoyed a good chat and catch up over cuppas outside Gracenotes Café.

Wes & Barbara drove to Melbourne for the Carlton & North game & left at ¾ time, with Wes quite disgusted with Carlton’s lack of effort after their brilliant game last week.

We had been worried about Jan Smith who is struggling with her health at present & I sent her a message on Friday afternoon, asking if she needed help. She was at Ballarat Base Hospital on her own for a CAT scan & put me on standby in case she couldn’t drive home. Fortunately she was OK, but we decided to meet for breakfast yesterday morning and catch up. I collected her in the fog & rain & we spent an enjoyable time at Bocconcini, one of the few places open at 8.30am. The food is good & the staff is very friendly and welcoming.

Wes decided to come to the footy with me last night as I was apprehensive about driving home on my own, and we had a lovely evening, out of the wind, rain & hail, watching the Pies prevail over a very fast finishing Geelong. We drove through some dirty weather on the way home & avoided a driver who did a U-turn in front of us, unaware there was anyone else on the road. Dolly Grey took it all in her stride!

Marilyn & Robert have some exciting news with both their sons – Heath & Sarah are expecting their first baby later this year and have bought a lovely period home in Ascot Vale; and Callum & Maureen have come back from Seattle to Melbourne to live.

              Sarah & Heath                    

Robert & Marilyn in welcome home mode!

Daylesford Dispatch - Sunday, 1st July 2012

Dear Friends, welcome to July – where is this year going? In fact, where has it gone would be a better question? We’ve had fun this week and I’d like to share some of it with you.

While Sandra cleaned our house on Monday morning, Wes took me to breakfast at Red Star Café in Hepburn. They do a good locals’ meal and we spent the time chatting about the Art Show and what we hoped to achieve during the week. Vaughan Brown was also there, and came over to chat before he went home. His wife, Sheila, is in America, helping a friend who has cancer and he is trying to sell their big home while she is away. Our talk turned to Labradors and he told us that their last dog, Daisy, particularly loved being given the cardboard inside of the toilet roll and used to run to get it whenever she heard the sound of the last piece of paper being pulled off the roll. Now I’ve had a chat with our boys and they’ve asked me not to send them to Vaughan & Sheila’s if that is the sort of entertainment they will be getting. In the afternoon, Wes interviewed Jenny Beacham again for Hepburn Voices and was very pleased with how it went.

Jenny & Eddie Beacham in typical pose

On Tuesday I drove to Castlemaine to collect a new waterproof bed for the boys as two of their beds had died simultaneously. It took them a while, but they now approve of this giant dog cushion in camouflage colours. I also dropped in to the local Auto repair shop to see if I could get a set of mats for Dolly Grey. The very helpful man there not only removed all the industrial strength staples, but helped put the mats in the car for me as well… real country service. Wes went to hydrotherapy with Barbara and we both found ourselves tired by our exertions and had an early night.

Carol (pictured above), Dot, Valerie & I all enjoyed a good fun morning playing Mah Jong on Wednesday and it was great to see the café busy. Carol decided not to stay for lunch, but she certainly lasted longer than she had been and looks much better these days. Dot bought lunch to take home to her husband, John, who is installing new bathrooms, so Valerie and I spent time together munching yummy salad rolls.

Wes had bought some flake in Ballarat the day before and he cooked it to perfection with an exciting combination of spices (dill, lemon, paprika, garlic, lime, rosemary, parsley, chilli, onion), that had been given to us by Gail for Christmas. Somehow the jar had found its way to the back of the pantry, but we rescued it and now we are addicted. In the meantime, I burnt the rice cooker (don’t ask), so that was this week’s disaster and we have replaced it with an exciting versatile cooker that will also make risotto, sear, sauté, slow cook and keep warm. I finally made my first risotto ever by using it on Friday night, while Wes wasn’t here, because if you know anything about him, you know his opinion of risotto!

As John & Jan were due home yesterday, I had bought some fruit & flowers to take the chill off their cottage, Daisy-Lea, and left all their mail for them – glad I did as they got home late on Friday. They have had a brilliant month or so and we were so pleased to see them again this morning. On Thursday I also caught up with Glenn Mack, who is looking refreshed after his lovely, wettish, two week camping trip with his friend, Denise. Afterwards, I visited Bill & Sue Longley, to replenish everyone’s supplies of lemons.

Great photo, Cox Plate 1990 – Jan, Wes, Danny & Karen all looking a little worse for wear, but what the heck!

Jan Pengilley had asked Wes to MC her Rotary Changeover Dinner on Friday night at the Old Hepburn Hotel. He drove Barbara to the function, and tells me that it was a fun, relaxed night. I am sure he did his usual excellent job as MC and involved everyone, including our young Mayor, Sebastian Klein, who was in attendance. I had spent the day working on the Art Show Entry Form, which is 5 pages long, in case you are wondering why I needed a day, and negotiating better deals on our insurances, as OAMPS is undergoing a restructure and the original quotes were horrific.

Along with lots of others I am sure, I was devastated to discover that SBS has cancelled the excellent Letters & Numbers show, which had a dedicated & loyal following. Carol alerted me to it, which was good, as I would have been even more shocked to have watched the Masters Grand Final & wondered the next night where the show had gone, as compere, Richard Morecroft, made no mention of its demise. Judi has given me an L&N book, so I will have to start playing the games in it when I need a fix.

We had a lovely time at breakfast this morning with lots of funny stories. The Harvest Café was struggling as they have lost their weekend chef & they had a new waitress doing her very first shift. Eventually we all got hot drinks & our breakfasts, although Gary’s was cold and he sent it back. Wes and I are off to lunch at Jenny & Eddie’s shortly, where we will be catching up with Candy & Hal among others.

Yesterday I drove to Melbourne in appalling weather & was delighted to find the sun shining by the time I got to Strathmore. I had a good visit with Viva and later Leanne, when she returned from shopping. Then off to the MCG, where I met up with David Lazzaro and two of his offspring, Jessica & Daniel, to watch Collingwood play lacklustre footy against Freo, but win! I’m afraid that absolutely none of David’s footy genes have passed down to Daniel as he had to be constantly reminded to watch the footy, especially when his favourite player, Daisy, had the ball, as he doesn’t seem to recognise Daisy on the field. When David himself was 5 years old, he was telling me who had the ball! I left at ¾ time to make sure I arrived home in daylight and was so pleased I had, as the rain was torrential during some of the drive. The boys were delighted to see me arrive in time to feed them dinner.

Meanwhile, Wes & Barbara, had driven to Melbourne to attend an all-day workshop on Oral History, run by the Oral History Society of Australia. I haven’t heard Barbara’s opinion, but Wes was delighted to discover how way ahead of the pack Hepburn Voices is, and how useful it was to share information & experiences with the other attendees. They also had a difficult journey home, arriving about an hour after me.

P.S. Just couldn’t resist including this photo - Danny’s family continues its impeccable tradition of memorable birthday cakes with this year’s having a Black Caviar theme.