Daylesford Dispatch - Saturday, 24th November 2012

 

Dear Friends, I’m finally feeling up to sending an overdue Dispatch. Both of us are taking longer than we expected to get our reserves of energy back, and launched back into normal life with too much gusto and are paying the price! When I last wrote we were about to host 16 Art Show Committee members & their partners to say thank you for all they had done. It went very well and we were in bed very early once the stragglers had gone home.

We played 10 holes of golf the next morning and had a late breakfast & chat at Mr Carsisi in Kyneton afterwards. The next day I started gym classes with Barry, who used to take the Strong classes I attended at 6.30am on Tuesdays & Thursdays. Strong has changed hands and Barry is no longer employed there, so he is offering more classes at his gym in the Scouts’ Hall. He is very casual and you pay per visit, not per term, which allows you to have holidays, be ill or just not feel like it, without being out of pocket. Barry knows of my chronic fatigue and is being very supportive. I must say it felt good to be doing some regular exercise again and I hope I can continue until he finishes in mid-December.

                                       

  Barry Spall

On Wednesday we had been invited to an information session by our Financial Advisors, so decided to drive to Melbourne late afternoon and be part of it. We arrived early so were able to pay Joan Testro a quick visit, which was lovely. She was looking good & delighted to see us both. The evening at Quaff Restaurant in Toorak was most informative and we were well looked after. However we were both very tired by the time we got home as I had played Mah Jong & Wes had played golf earlier in the day.

I went to gym, and then spent the rest of the day in bed, while Wes took his sister, Denise, to lunch at Gracenotes, where Denise told him that their aunt, Norma, was in palliative care and wouldn’t live much longer.

Early photo of Norma

Norma died the next morning and Denise was most upset as she had been very close. Norma had been a second mother to her. Wes had not enjoyed that same close relationship, and he & I had really only seen Norma & her husband, Bert, at Christmas, and not for some years as they have been in Ardmillan House for a while. Judi came to visit in the afternoon and shared a glass of wine with us which was a lovely antidote, especially as we haven’t seen much of each other for ages.

On Saturday we caught the train to Melbourne to see South Pacific at the Princess Theatre. We enjoyed yum cha at Westlake first, and as I didn’t want Wes to have to pay for anything, I had organised an interval package with our tickets, which meant we could have an ice-cream before the show & a glass of wine at interval. We both enjoyed it very much, our seats were good, Lisa McCune & Teddy Tahu Rhodes were an excellent lead pair, but the highlights were definitely seeing Kate Ceberano as Bloody Mary, and Eddie Perfect nailing the role of Luther Billis. Afterwards we easily caught the train back to Ballan in time to feed a few vegetables to a pair of bloated Labradors who had been chewing marrow bones in our absence.

The next morning, we set off early to visit Viva with Brian’s print to give her. We both thought she was looking good, although in some pain, while waiting for results from all her tests taken by the skin specialist. She subsequently was told that she doesn’t have a recurrence of shingles but something else that will hang around for 3-5 years, but can be treated with a complex regime of tablets. Today she tells me that she is starting to feel better at last.

After our visit, we headed to Burwood to catch up at lunch with Terry Borg, Victor Borg, Georgie Borg, Richard Tweddle, Ben Borg & his girlfriend, Nat Andrews from Port Isaac. Terry had made a sumptuous lunch and we enjoyed about 4 hours of memorable food & wine, while we caught up on some of the things that had happened over the past 20 years. It was wonderful! However, I fell asleep in the car on the way home – an unknown occurrence and didn’t get out of bed until Tuesday!       

Nat, Ben & Terry

Laura, Richard & Georgie

After gym I caught up with Judi for breakfast at Bocconcini, and then went home to spoil Bilbo & Frodo who turned 8 that day. We gave them edible footballs smeared with Vegemite at lunchtime & they were over the moon! Wes enjoyed a day of Ancestry interspersed with gardening.

He and Barbara drove to Melbourne on Wednesday as she had an appointment with a specialist, while I played Mah Jong with Carol, Dot & Valerie. Dot was looking good after her knee operation and we were amazed that she wasn’t in a wheelchair.

I have been loving the Second Test against South Africa at the Adelaide Oval, especially the fine innings by Warner, Clarke, Hussey and now Smith. It has done me the world of good to have an excuse to sit and watch & listen to the game while reading the Age, doing crosswords or playing Words with Friends on my phone.

Michael Clarke on fire

 Yesterday Wes drove to Essendon for Norma’s funeral, which was held at the funeral parlour with a very small attendance, as is to be expected when you are 97 when you die. We had decided I would not come and I was very pleased to have another quiet day. Wes bought some swordfish at Canals in Nicholson Street and cooked it perfectly last night.

Today it was his turn to sleep in and he is not long up after being served tea, toast & Saturday’s Age in bed. It is the local Show here, something we love to attend, but we are keen to have a quiet time at home again – I’m about to head upstairs to watch the cricket, he is going to clean out the pond, wash the cars & finally wash the boys. I have bought him a crown rib roast as a reward for his dinner tonight!

Birthday boys relaxing

One of the things I love about Daylesford is Saturday morning early in Vincent Street before the visitors take over. However there were no raffle tickets on sale, no stalls of local produce and I didn’t spot a single friend while I was out between 9 & 10am!!!