We started our week with a lovely day on
Sunday after a cold start, followed by a wet, windy day on Monday after a warm
start! Wes did lots of gardening, while I washed the cars and had a walk to
make up for missing out on golf yet again. I can’t believe how tired I am after
my trip to Melbourne for the footy, even though I was very sensible and didn’t
try to do too much.
I keep forgetting to tell you that I won a
double pass to see the film, Stories We
Tell, at the Kino last week. As I wasn’t up to going that night, we gave
the passes away and the friends who saw the film really loved it. I am keen to
see it and hope it will be shown locally soon.
Our tulips are looking splendid at present
– lots of red, yellow & multi-coloured are in flower and the pink camellias
are drooping with the weight of their beauty.
On Tuesday we were wakened by an enormous
storm with winds that swirled around and flung bits of the garden hither and
thither. The boys got saturated eating their morning bones as nowhere escaped
the wild rain. We went to gym and suffered with new programmes to challenge our
muscles that had been relaxing for a week or so. Later, Wes was able to get out
in the garden and mow the lawn as well as trim the edges. He has been planting
roses and lavender on the perimeter of the lawn closest to our study and hopes
that shortly our senses will be assailed by fragrance and colour.
In The
Age this week there was an article about saving the Lead beater’s Possum, which caught my eye as I have just finished
reading a Gerald Durrell book Two in the
Bush, published in 1966 about his trip to New Zealand, Australia &
Malaya. In it he talks about the need to save this exact same possum and the
steps being taken at that time! Interestingly he felt the minute he arrived in
Australia that he could have lived here…for someone who spent much of his life
on Jersey, a tiny island, it was a surprising comment.
We had a hailstorm shortly after Wes
finished mowing, then the sun shone brightly as we drove to Tylden to collect
bags of manure (very country indeed).
Wednesday dawned cold, but fine, however
the rain poured down mid-morning and Mah Jong was cancelled as Dot’s husband,
John, wasn’t well. I decided to give Valerie the chance to cancel driving to
cold Daylesford from warm Castlemaine and she jumped at it! Viva sounded good
when I rang her – Smokey has had the stitches removed post his operation and
seems to be back to normal and delighted to no longer be wearing an Elizabethan
collar.
Here
is a photo celebrating Celia’s impending new arrival – Karen with Penny, Lauren
with Myles & Rosie, Celia & Greta
On Thursday it was a lovely morning, so
after gym, I got into my glad rags and went to the U3A AGM, where the guest
speaker was Noeline Brown, Commission for the Ageing, and long-time much-loved
Australian actor. She spoke very well about coping with the ageing process and
ways to delay the onset of dementia etc. We discovered mid-speech that it was
her 75th birthday, so Lee & Bronnie, who were in the kitchen
preparing lunch, provided a chocolate cake with candles and we all sang Happy Birthday. There was a very good
attendance and both the President, Di Bretherton, and outgoing committee
member, Judi Allen, (who introduced Noelene), spoke very well.
In the afternoon I had my last massage with
Ann Holden. She has decided to retire from treatments, with a couple of
exceptions, and enjoy her hobbies and her grandchild, soon to be grandchildren.
I have enjoyed having a regular massage with someone who is also a friend and I
will be sorry to lose the contact, although our paths will cross in other ways.
Waiting patiently for breakfast toast in the courtyard
of the Food Gallery
Friday we awoke to 0°, followed by another
lovely sunny day. We had hoped to play golf, but it was far too cold until
about 9am, by which time the course would have been quite busy. I went to the
U3A Morning Tea at the Food Gallery,
and complimented the committee on their excellent AGM the day before. Wes
worked very hard in the garden before making a yummy lunch and then spending
the afternoon on Ancestry.com. I have been knitting madly – with a few things
on the go….including a Fair Isle jumper for Dot’s husband John and I need a
break from it every now and again. I did finish a purple cardigan for Greta’s
daughter, Penny, and she seems to have been wearing it every day since it
arrived in the post!
Yesterday was the Farmers Market, where Wes
and I did the early shift before he drove Barbara to Ballarat where she is
spending a few days in hospital having a procedure. Then we went to Malvern to
celebrate Joan Testro’s 90th birthday. This was a wonderful
occasion, as always, with the highlight being a world premiere presentation by
Joan of a song written especially for her, called Baby, Baby. And didn’t she wow us all! There were about 50 family
and close friends and we particularly enjoyed catching up with Joan’s three
daughters, Lexie, Stacey and Mandy, and their families. As well, Warren’s
sister, Denise was there, and his cousins Glenn & Gary & Gary’s wife,
Kaye. We were served a sumptuous afternoon tea washed down with Prosecco, and
left at 5pm with the birthday girl still singing along to the keyboard and accordion.
Denise,
Joan & Mandy in 2008
This morning we have been busy – there was
no breakfast because the two most regular attendees, Barbara and Judi were
unavailable – one in hospital and the other in Caloundra visiting her mother.
Wes has gone to Ballarat to visit Barbara, after feeding Bobby the cat and
checking everything is OK at her place. When he gets back we are off to lunch
to celebrate 13 years today since I retired – trying local restaurant, Kazuki, which we have not visited to
date, and it does have one hat in The Age Good Food Guide.
The boys and I went to Leitches Creek early
to pump water and I’m so pleased we did – we had a magic country experience. We
were on a dirt track when suddenly a pair of young kangaroos bounced out in
front of us and proceeded to hop in unison across the road – now to the left
and then to the right. We slowed to 10km and eventually they turned right as we
turned left. On the way home they were waiting by the side of the road and
repeated the performance until eventually they went left this time and we
turned right. Bilbo & Frodo didn’t know what to think so they cried, also
in unison.
On Friday night, Jane sent me text messages
from the Sydney Best and Fairest Count, where she was lapping up all the
excitement courtesy of her friend, Neil, who had invited her. It made me think
of the many glamorous Copeland Trophies Wes and I had attended, mostly in the
80s and early 90s. And then I remembered the very first we went to – it was
1980 or 81, just after I became a Collingwood Social Club member, which I still
am, and back in the days when female Social Club members weren’t allowed in the
Social Club on match days!
We took my dear father, Perc, to the
Copeland that year, and it was celebrated on the second floor of the Social
Club in Abbotsford. We were served party pies and sausage rolls on cardboard
plates….a very low-key affair. The highlight for Perc, and also for us, was
that we got found ourselves in the lift with four men – the Rose brothers, who
all played for Collingwood – Bill, Bob, Kevin and Ralph. With a big grin on his
face, Perc shook all their hands and introduced them to us.
There’s
that grin again – Perc as father of the bride outside Newman Chapel on a cold
Friday night!
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