Morse

Morse
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Sunday, 8 September 2013

Daylesford Spring Dispatch - Sunday, 8th September 2013


Dear Friends, I hope all the Daddies enjoyed a lovely day last Sunday. It was a glorious day in Victoria, and after a good breakfast with lots of interesting conversations, Wes and I dolled up and drove to the MCG and into the MCC where we got brilliant seats and met up with Loud Gayle for a drink and catch up chat. Sadly the Pies had decided not to risk injuries and the game became a shoot-out, which was entertaining, but not quite the strong showing we supporters were hoping for in preparation for the Finals. We stayed until the end just in case the Pies decided to slam on three goals and win, but no such luck.

 
 


Two first-time fathers – Harry with Penny & Heath with Charlotte

On Monday morning we were too tired to get up early and play golf, which was a shame as it was a beautiful day. Wes spent the morning in the garden, where he is doing wondrous things, and planted the Carlton daffodils I bought him from Ken at the Sunday Market. He has constructed a wood-pile area, shifted plants that aren’t doing well to better spots, planted lots more bulbs for next year, and is working on a fernery and a stretch of roses and lavender along the front of the lawn. Bilbo and Frodo sit and watch and inspect the fertiliser once it has been spread around.

I had a long list of things I needed to do, including cleaning the silver properly with Silvo (done); finding someone to fix the dishwasher (done); taking back a knitting pattern book that has defeated me (a first for me, but I am not the only one); making some long overdue phone calls, and getting serious about the reading list for the next U3A Crime Writers Class.

Viva went into hospital on Sunday as she needed to have a haematoma on her leg drained and it is too risky to do it anywhere but in hospital. She has been in some pain for the past 10 days or so, and nothing she has been given has helped reduce that pain or the size of the wound. When we spoke on Monday, she sounded pleased to be in hospital, but impatient to have it over and done with. Fortunately the stronger anti-biotics worked and she was able to come home on Friday afternoon without having the operation.

It’s funny how things don’t always work out the way you plan them – most nights Wes and I discuss the next day’s activities, and usually those plans come to fruition. However on Tuesday, post the walk, we noticed that Frodo was favouring his front leg and having trouble walking. We went to gym and came home early – me to book tickets to the Collingwood Elimination Final and Wes to contact Andrew the vet. Instead of finishing off the bookcase downstairs, I spent the morning upstairs keeping Frodo company as he was in some pain and the earliest he could be seen was 11.45am. I washed, ironed, baked a carrot cake and did the Age crosswords, while keeping an eye on Frodo to make sure he was comfortable.

Wes carried him to the car for his appointment and returned half an hour later to say that he probably hadn’t broken any bones in his shoulder, but that Andrew had given him morphine to ease the pain. Frodo cried through most of the afternoon and Wes rang Andrew again to see what we could do and was advised to give him an early dinner and an extra morphine tablet. Bilbo sat by Frodo letting him rest against him, but was distressed by his crying. We were due to go to The Convent Gallery for the launch of the new Rotary Arts Show website, and, as Wes was MC, we decided I should stay at home and look after Frodo.

I missed a brilliant soiree by the sound of things, but we couldn’t have left Frodo, and by the time Wes arrived home, there was a lot less crying and Frodo was moving much better. We sat around for a couple of hours keeping watch and decided the worst was over and it was safe to go to bed. We didn’t hear any crying again until the next morning, when Bilbo started up at 6am thinking we had forgotten to give them their bones.

We kept Frodo on morphine that day, but left him briefly when Wes and I had morning tea with Janine and David Hawker. David was a friend back in insurance broking days and he has been quite unwell since a big operation about two years ago. We sat in the front window of Sweet Decadence and chatted about Iceland, as they were very interested to hear about it, and listened to David’s plans for a new letterbox for his daughter, Peta, which he is making at The Men’s Shed locally.

Snow-capped mountains in Iceland during Summer

Wes then took Barbara to lunch at Gracenotes Café, while I had a manicure, and came back here to meet Kiyo, who was arriving to fix our dishwasher and hopefully mend the dryer as well. Kiyo is a lovely man in his late forties, whose wife died two years ago from pancreatic cancer leaving him with 3 young children to bring up. He is Japanese by birth, but loves living in Australia & especially here in Daylesford. He wasn’t able to fix the dryer, even though he had the right part, as the screw that held everything together had worn out its thread, so we are hoping he will arrive back any day soon, as we don’t have a washing line and rely on the dryer.

That night Wes went to Aperitifs and then to Rotary, where he was asked to MC the Daylesford Rotary 60th Birthday party on 21st September.

After gym on Thursday I had my first massage in months with Ann Holden, and caught up on all her news, then went shopping for our foray into lunch parties the next day. We had invited Maureen & Graeme Dean with Marg & Rob McDonald and as they are all good cooks, we wanted to surprise them with something special.

Wes was feeling very brave in the kitchen, so tackled a new mussels recipe for us - it used wine, cream, peas and macaroni to create a very tasty sauce that we demolished at lunchtime. He had an appointment with Steve Lamb later in the afternoon to discuss joining the Daylesford Cemetery Trust.
 

Our lunch went really well – all four of our guests relaxed and enjoyed the fish pie, tasty pork ribs & green beans that Wes cooked. Not a skerrick was left of his Eton mess desserts either. Rob & Marg brought us a couple of bottles of their brand-new Sailors Falls Estate rosé, as well as a posy of flowers picked from bulbs that were planted in the 1850s.

Maureen and Graeme have sold their house to our good friends, Cathy & Peter, and in a wonderful piece of serendipity, they will be swapping houses. Maureen and Graeme are going to build a new home in Elsbeth Court in front of Judi and Michael, and while it is being built, they will rent Cathy & Peter’s beautiful Holly Cottage. Maureen explained that they are even using the same cardboard boxes to shift gradually on a daily basis.

I had put our Jacobean chairs in for repair with Gerard Bugden, who runs the Wood Shed Gallery, where he makes beautiful furniture, and he promised to get them back before we needed them for lunch. He rang at 6pm the night before to say we could pick them up at 9am on Friday – now that was cutting it fine, but we were able to seat our guests in comfort.

Yesterday we did the early shift on the Farmers Market, where we had pith helmets for sale, and where the most common question was Where are we voting this year?, as a decision had been made to shift the polling booth from Daylesford Primary to St Michael’s Catholic Primary school as it would have been too hectic with the Market and electoral traffic.

Typical Icelandic houses in Reykjavik

 
In the afternoon we drove to Melbourne and saw the new Geoffrey Rush film The Best Offer, which is quite intriguing. The film suffers from an uneven tempo (can’t think of any other way to describe it) and it’s not something you want to see again, but we both enjoyed it and his performance. Amazingly there were two other people from Daylesford (Collingwood supporters) sitting in the same back row of the Kino Cinema 1.

We emerged to discover Freo had beaten Geelong at Kardinia Park, and decided it was time to head for the Hilton and get into the atmosphere of the Collingwood vs Port Adelaide game. We enjoyed a drink there along with heaps of other supporters and then Wes headed off for Bridie O’Reilly’s Pub to watch the election/footy and I walked over the road to the MCG, where I had a quick chat with Loud Gayle in the MCC area, then joined David Lazzaro in our seats in the Great Southern Stand.

He and I had a lovely night together, except for the footy...the Pies didn’t look focussed and Port were very worthy winners. I met Wes outside the ground and we got a good drive home arriving here before midnight, where we were greeted sleepily by two very happy Labradors, who had been left with marrow bones to occupy their time.

Amazingly, in spite of the election result and the footy so far, the sun rose this morning and it is a beautiful day. The ALP has to take serious stock of its policies after being so badly beaten by the Liberals and those of us who didn’t vote for him, have to cope with Tony Abbott as Prime Minister for quite a few years I suspect.

Wes very kindly let me sleep in and did the Sunday Market, coming home with lots of fruit, vegetables, bones, a purple rose and a new camellia. We have invited Barbara Simpson and Joe & Glenda Rozen to join us this afternoon to see if Carlton can beat Richmond at the MCG, in what should be an incredibly atmospheric and emotional game.

Finally, before I leave you, I want to tell you how beautiful it is to be wakened here each morning to the sound of magpies warbling and kookaburras laughing. We fall asleep listening to the frogs croaking in our little pond and wake to more melodic sounds that seem to go on for most of the day until the frogs take over again. Life in Daylesford is pretty special….. 
 

 

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