Daylesford Dispatch - Sunday, 24th February 2013

Dear Friends, I have so much news to tell you… let’s start with the exciting early arrival of Penny Millman Ellsmore, born to Greta & Harry yesterday morning. Everyone is over the moon with happiness for them. Here is the proud grandfather, Danny, having his first cuddle.

 

Today we have been visited by Ben & Leanne who brought Jack for me to meet. We really enjoyed their visit and Wes provided a lovely lunch courtesy of The Food Gallery, where we have breakfast. Leanne & Ben are both excellent cooks, so we decided not to try and compete, but offered vegetarian lasagne, ricotta slice, salad, olives and an Italian cheese. Jack was well-behaved, especially for Wes, who enjoyed persuading him to sleep. They have just left to drive back to Brunswick, hopefully picking up some farm produce on their way.

 

Here is Jack wearing a top I knitted for Ben, which Kathy saved and gave to Ben for his son. I was very touched on both counts.

Last Sunday, we had a very good visit with Viva & Leanne after breakfast, before travelling to Bundoora to celebrate Mick Millman’s 60^th birthday. This was a lovely chance to catch up with Danny, Lauren & Travis, Greta & Harry, Celia & Cory & Patrick as well. We did enjoy it. Danny gave a wonderful speech and Mick told us all what a great bloke Danny is, just in case we had forgotten!

 

Here is Lauren & Rosie with Warren & me – our first meeting with Rosie

 

 

 Danny with Mick & his son, Matthew, during the speeches

It was a very hot day, 43°, and we were pleased to come home & turn the air-conditioning on and drink lots of water to rehydrate.

During the week, we played golf on Monday & Wednesday mornings; I did gym on Tuesday & Thursday; Wes went to hydro with Barbara on Tuesday; Glenn Mack had his second knee reconstruction on Monday afternoon; Wes went to Aperitifs & Rotary on Wednesday night, and I had my first massage of the year on Thursday morning. We booked into Gold Class in Ballarat to see Lincoln, which we loved. We thought the acting, particularly by Daniel Day Lewis & Sally Field, was outstanding.  Wes posted the following on Facebook - Just home from seeing "Lincoln". For a political & history tragic, it was delicious. 6 or more excellent acting performances and good writing - but everything pales into insignificance when compared to Daniel's acting - he is up there with Anthony Sher and Judi Dench – in a class of their own.

By Friday I was very tired, Nicole came to cut my hair and by early afternoon I was back in bed. We had planned to go to Barcaldine House to see Gideon’s Daughter with the U3A Film Group, but cancelled, as it was just one thing too many for the week.

Yesterday, after a 10-hour sleep, I was feeling much better, and did the supermarket shopping early. Then disaster struck – Warren’s computer was going very slowly with the new modem, and we couldn’t hear ourselves on our landline for interference. I made three trips to Jenkin & Thomas to solve the problem & eventually we worked out the modem was faulty, so Wes spent some time installing a replacement modem. His computer is working perfectly, but there was some interference on the phone line this morning, so we will have to fit a filter to rectify that.

The beautiful 2 year-old Miracles of Life winning the Blue Diamond Stakes yesterday with apprentice jockey Lauren Stojakovic aboard.  

Daylesford Dispatch - Saturday, 16th February, 2013

Dear Friends, I am sending this a day early this week as we are off to Melbourne after breakfast tomorrow. We are hoping to fit in a short visit with Viva before heading to Bundoora to celebrate Michael Millman’s 60^th birthday and catch up with him, Danny & all the Millman clan.

Today was to have been spent relaxing, indulging in Saturday’s Age and perhaps a spot of gardening etc. Instead we realized after about 3 hours of being unable to get the internet that our modem had died in yesterday’s lightning strikes. I headed up to Jenkin & Thomas to get a new one and discovered that all John & Tim had done all morning was sell modems and phones to locals who were in the same boat. However, John had a spare modem at home, so he went home, got it and sold it to me for a very reasonable price. We then spent a couple of hours installing it – not the best of times – but everything is now working again and the Age hasn’t been touched!

The highlight of the week was an unexpected and very welcome visit by my sister, Paun, and her husband, Brian, who were spending a few days in Melbourne, having a break from running Cliff Place Café, Tathra. We were so thrilled that they wanted to visit us, and that they agreed to stay the night. They visited Viva on Wednesday afternoon, then drove here and Wes fed them on Tuki lamb & trout with berry meringue dessert to follow. He and Brian stayed up to all hours chatting over a bottle of red.

The next morning after a leisurely start, we took them to Gracenotes Café for breakfast, then to Jubilee Lake for a walk and chat before they headed back to Strathmore to spend the afternoon with Viva and Leanne.

Yesterday morning we finally held the Annual Heather Andrew Trophy golf tournament, which Terry won hands down. He was generously handicapped to take his 12 months absence from the game into account and he proceeded to take full advantage and win most of the holes. John made par on 6 holes, but couldn’t take a hole off Terry, the only one who did was Jan, and she won two. We repaired to the Trentham Bakery afterwards and discovered to our amazement that bread was available, even though it was Tuesday. This bakery is famous for not baking bread on Monday or Tuesday – we are dying to know what has caused this seismic change in routine!

Terry White in correct golf regalia with ancient bag & cart as well

We had hoped to go to Melbourne yesterday to visit Viva and stay on for the opening round of the Pre-Season footy at Docklands, but Viva was understandably too tired for more visitors and we decided to stay home instead… a decision we were very happy with when the afternoon brought thunder, lightning and heavy showers. There was a small fire caused by lightning between Daylesford & Hepburn, and a two-car accident outside the Lake House, when a young girl lost control of her car in the wet conditions. She ended up hitting a tree and not the oncoming vehicle, and was taken to hospital as a precaution only.

Tonight Wes is going to Sunbury to catch up with old friends, Lyn & Terry, who have an annual barbecue in February. He enjoys spending time with them and won’t stay too late because of our big day tomorrow.

Wes, the pizza maker, hard at work

Apart from that we’ve done lots of our usual activities, including attending a U3A lunch at the Food Gallery, where I joined Judi, John & Jan at a table for 4. We enjoyed a very generous & yummy lunch and Toni, the owner, was thrilled to see us there. John & Jan have headed off to Adelaide today, with a much-improved Gypsy sitting between them on her new comfy bed.

Wes & I played golf on Wednesday – no mist, but we did see a turkey on the road, which is a first! I spent some time with Glenn Mack, who goes in for his second knee operation on Monday, and Wes accompanied Barbara to Ballarat for hydrotherapy. I had a good visit with my doctor, Greg Stewart, who was pleased with my progress. And whenever we could we watched the Swedish Kurt Wallander, whose acting ability amazes us. We are hooked completely and I don’t care if I never see Kenneth Branagh in the role again!!

Me at the U3A lunch – don’t know what happened to the photo of all of us!

We are about to down mice and watch Black Caviar hopefully win the race named after her, on a perfect day, with a big crowd at Flemington behind her. It would be wonderful to be there as she may not race again here.

Talk to you again next weekend xx

Daylesford Dispatch Sunday, 10th February 2013

 

Dear Everyone, today isn’t as hot as the weather has been & there is even talk of some very welcome rain later in the day, but I suspect the wind might blow it away. Wes is in Melbourne for the weekend and enjoying a wonderful time.

He left yesterday morning and started with lunch with Ben & Leanne, where he met Jack Lazzaro & presented him with a family heirloom Carlton guernsey. Kathy & Ged were there as well, which was a lovely surprise.

Wes seems to have a way with babies and Jack looks delighted to have met him!

After lunch, he drove to Macleod to share in Doug Mathew’s 95^th birthday celebration. Doug was surrounded by his three children, most of their offspring & quite a few of their offspring & although it would have been exhausting for him, he must have been thrilled that everyone made time to visit and wish him a happy day.

Then he checked into the St George’s Road Motor Inn, where he no doubt had a sleep before heading to the Brunswick Rotary Dinner at the Abruzzo Club in East Brunswick, where he sat with old friends, Mick & Suzanne Leahy, Joe de Simone, Joy & Russel Dale. I found a text message from him this morning letting me know he had arrived back at the motel around 11pm after an enjoyable night.

 

               David Turner, Macy Tyrrell & Emily Turner at Doug’s 95^th birthday – he is reading cards with the help of his friend, Win.

Today he had a long breakfast with his nephew, Leon, and when I spoke to him, he was at Highpoint West in Maribyrnong, where he was hoping to replenish his wardrobe, or see a film if it all got too much! Then he will meet up with the rest of the Williamstown Little Theatre group for a play at 5pm, have dinner & drive back home.

Meanwhile the boys and I have been busy – we went for a drive yesterday to buy flowers and collect shoes I had ordered from Daylesford Clothing. The boys love being in the car and quite a few people stopped to say hello to them. I spent the afternoon reading a new crime fiction author, Liza Cody, whose main character is a female private eye, called Anna Lee. This U3A term we are being introduced to 14 female detectives in our Crime Fiction class & I am only familiar with 4 of them, so I have found the first book of each of the others, and they are on their way to me from England. I’ve got quite a lot of reading to do, but if Anna Lee is any indication, it will be most enjoyable.

Today I got up at 5.45am and took the boys on their usual walk around Lake Daylesford. We set off in pitch black with a small torch to guide us and as we walked off the footpath towards the Lake path, someone was ahead of us. Frodo started howling & couldn’t be comforted, so we went the other way & all was well.

Later we made our usual trip to the Sunday Market, where we stocked up on fruit, vegetables and dog bones. Wes had asked me to get him another rose, and Ken recommended Barbra Streisand, which I thought would please him.

 

We have played golf twice this week, and on Friday it was magic. As we drove through Musk and Bullarto, we were engulfed by mist, the temperature dropped to about 9°, and suddenly the sun rose blinding & golden as we crested the hill before Trentham. We played the first two holes in mist and were struggling to find our balls, but we didn’t care. Of course, if you were on the road to Melbourne for work, you would have hated it all – kangaroos, mist and the sun in your eyes!

 

On Wednesday afternoon we hosted Aperitifs and had a good crowd of 50 revellers. Wes had suggested that we ask The Belles, Lee & Bronnie, to cater, and they arrived at 5pm with trays of yummy snacks, which everyone enjoyed. It certainly made for a stress-free evening for us both. Susan Reilly, Deputy Lord Mayor Melbourne and old friend, dropped by, which was quite a surprise; Al & Elli arranged a baby-sitter for their 3-year old so they could have a rare night out; David & Steve who are our neighbours in front drove up from Melbourne; Rhonda dropped by and other friends we don’t often see, popped in as well. I found the crowd too much indoors after a while, so sat outside chatting with Frank & Ellis, and keeping an eye on Bilbo & Frodo, who behaved perfectly.

We all had a very quiet day on Thursday to recover from the night before and in preparation for lunch on Friday with Jan & Warren Pengilley. We all met at Mercato, and enjoyed a lovely couple of hours together. The first lunch we ever had as a foursome went for 5 hours at their place, but they had to take their grandson swimming that afternoon, so it was quite short by those lofty standards.

Mercato at night

Apart from those highlights, I also went to gym twice, and tried to get in a few walks; Wes went to Ballarat with Barbara for the first hydrotherapy of the year; Wes spent ages getting the front garden looking good, as well as cleaning under the house; we spent a morning preparing to hand over all the Rotary Art Show files to the new committee, and I watched cricket whenever I could!