Dear Friends, such a lot goes on when I don’t send a weekly
Dispatch! I left you on 21st December and we have been busy since
then. The next day, Sunday, we enjoyed a lovely breakfast together at Gracenotes Café, and Glenn & Denise
joined us for coffee afterwards. I had taken the boys to the Sunday Market, where everyone was very
pleased to see them, and when we arrived back home, I had to take Bilbo off the
lead as Frodo was sitting on it and choking him in the back of the car. Bilbo
promptly set off. I shouted to Wes and took Frodo inside while Wes set off to
catch Bilbo. Fortunately he had stopped in the middle of our street when he
realised Frodo wasn’t coming with him! I don’t Frodo ever wants to run away
again, so hopefully that will stop Bilbo when he gets a bee in his bonnet.
Bilbo & Frodo,
the way we prefer them to be!
At lunchtime we went to a wonderful, healing Celebration of
the life of Stuart Rattle at St Peter’s Catholic Church here in Daylesford.
There were 5 speakers and 2 singers as well as a quartet playing Handel. The
last speaker, Patrice O’Shea from the Friends of the Wombat Gardens, really
nailed with her speech, as she was the only one to talk about Michael and
remind us that we had lost two people, not just one. There was a huge turnout,
which would have been very comforting to Stuart’s two sisters who were in
attendance. Wayne & Chris from Pepper’s Springs Hotel put on chicken
sandwiches and champagne afterwards, (as Stuart had requested), but we were
unable to attend, as we headed straight to Melbourne to visit Viva.
Viva was sound asleep, but we were able to talk with her
briefly when the nurse changed her dressings, and she was thrilled with the
visit and the fragrant pink roses we had brought from our garden. We dropped in
to see Leanne on our way home and enjoyed a hot drink and a chat, as well as
scoring some great presents!
On Monday we did the morning shift at the Town Hall, for
Christmas Cheer. This involves manning a trestle table groaning with goodies –
in my case – cakes, puddings, mince pies and meringues; Wes had the biscuit
selection, which included lots of Tim Tams, cheese crackers, iced ginger
biscuits and even some gluten-free goodies. There were 176 families registered
for this, which is a very sobering thought in this mostly well-off community.
We decided to have fish and chips for lunch around 2pm and
spent the rest of the afternoon resting, as we were exhausted both physically
and mentally from our travels and the morning’s activity. However, we were very
thrilled to receive a surprise Christmas floral arrangement from Peter and
Anka, just as I was thinking about buying some Christmas lilies.
Just love this
photo of Peter and Anka on their wedding day in Sydney in 2005 with Judi &
I below
I had planned to visit Viva on Tuesday morning to give
Leanne a break and dropped in to see Lal on my way to give our Christmas
presents and deliver some eggs that Gillie had given me for Viva. Leanne has
everywhere looking festive, including tinsel around Viva’s chair waiting for
her return. A new ramp has been installed in the front which eradicates the
step that has been the cause of near-falls, and the shower recess has been
raised with a small ramp leading into it as well.
When I found Viva the Brunswick Private, I was delighted to
see her sitting up for the first time and thrilled to see me. She has a lovely
room with a big window and I put the freesias and peace roses I brought her in
a jar on the sill so she could see them. I was there for nearly 2 hours – she
wanted to know what was happening, and had forgotten that we visited on Sunday.
The physio arrived to get Viva taking deep breaths and standing up, and I
reminded Viva that the sooner she could walk, the sooner she would arrive home.
We rang Leanne with the good news while I was there and she was overjoyed, as
she too, had only seen Viva sleeping.
I arrived home to a lovely late lunch of oysters and
snapper, accompanied by a Cofield Sparkling White, which was all wonderful and
we celebrated Viva’s amazing recovery. Wes had the energy for some gardening,
but I just sat and read and did crosswords as I was spent.
Christmas Day was lovely – Wes walked the boys early, then
came home for breakfast and some books I had found for him. I took over the
kitchen making salads and brandy butter until 8.30, and then we went for a walk
around the Lake. We arrived back just as the phone rang and it was Viva to wish
us a Happy Christmas. Leanne was with her and had dialled the number – such a
thrill. Peter and Anka were flying into Melbourne late morning and were
planning to visit Viva at lunchtime.
Leon was the first of our guests to arrive and helped Warren
with the stubborn gas bottle, then went to Barbara’s to help bring over her ham
and ramp. While this was happening in came Denise & Barry armed with big
bon-bons and their preferred sweet wine. Wes cooked up a storm of fish, lamb
and beef, each with their separate accompaniments and everyone tucked in. The
pudding lived up to its usual standard…I’m struggling to think of a failure of
this old recipe handed down from my great-grandmother and adapted for the
metric system by me some years ago! We did enjoy sitting outside on the decking
for a change.
Barbara, Denise, Leon, Barry,
Karen, the pudding and the back end of a Labrador!
We spent a quiet evening – Wes did some watering and I got
all the washing, ironing & dishwashing done before we went to bed. This
doesn’t often happen, but it does help when we have to be up very early the
next morning for the trip to Melbourne and the Boxing Day Test.
Wes walked the boys just after 5am for about an hour, I put
out all the bins in the street, checked John & Jan’s home, posted letters
and finished packing in time for us to leave at 7am for breakfast with Peter
and Anka at The European. We enjoyed
our catch-up with them, and they headed off shopping while Wes dropped me off
at the MCC Entrance and then checked me into Rydge’s Hotel in Exhibition Street.
He then visited Viva, giving Leanne some time off, and
picked her up for a yum cha lunch at Shark
Fin House, before heading home to the boys. I had a reserved seat with a
perfect view and really enjoyed Day 1 as the Poms batted well. How exciting to be part of a world record
crowd!
We met up with Gillie from Daylesford and Andrea, aka Bilby,
who we met many years ago in Alice Springs, and have remained in touch with.
She was keen to catch up and breakfast suited her as she is HR Manager at the
Arts Centre, which is a hop, skip & jump away. Gillie left to drive to the
ground and get a seat, while Jane and I enjoyed a leisurely stroll and met
David Lazzaro when we arrived. Once again it was a good day’s cricket;
especially Mitchell Johnson’s ferocious bowling, which intimidated the English
lower order. The Aussies struggled to match their total however and the pendulum
had swung back in England’s favour.
That night Jane and I found a funny little Thai restaurant
in Lonsdale Street, in the heart of Greek food – Le Bangkok. Our meal was very yummy, but we were amused that the
wine list was much bigger than the food menu and that the specials of the day
were all wines by the glass!
Day 3 I met Leon Anderson at breakfast, where he enjoyed
freshly squeezed orange juice and a huge omelette with bacon inside. We walked
to our seats in anticipation of an exciting day and it had everything. Jane
arrived much later as she wasn’t feeling wonderful. We saw Mitchell Johnson
bowl, catch and achieve a run out, and Nathan Lyon get 5 wickets in 38° heat.
The weather changed abruptly and the temperature dropped 10° at the same time
as the wind swirled around and the ground was covered in debris, which made
being out there extra difficult.
David, Karen, Warren, Annette and Jane at Trent Bridge this year
Jane left early to go to the airport and missed most of the
day’s wickets, but she did hear them on her radio. Leon headed for the train
after the game and I went back to Yum Cha
Café where I celebrated the amazing turnaround in Australia’s fortunes with
another good meal of prawns & rice.
Yesterday, David Lazzaro decided he wanted to see the win,
so I got him a Guest Pass and we spent a lovely few hours together watching
Chris Rogers and Shane Watson bat beautifully and put the result beyond doubt.
I can’t believe how different this has been from the result in England in their
Summer this year.
I had planned to visit Viva in the afternoon, but realised
that Peter and Anka would probably make a second visit to Viva before they went
home last night and Viva tells me they did. So I went to see the film, Philomena, with the incomparable Judi
Dench, and enjoyed it very much. I rang Leanne to let her know I would visit
Viva this morning and she could have time off, which she appreciated.
This morning I had a final breakfast at the European, and promised I would see them all again in April when
we spend some time in Melbourne for the footy, art galleries etc. After
checking out I caught a taxi to Brunswick
Private Hospital and spent a couple of hours with Viva, who was looking
much improved and who has been told she can probably go home on Friday if she
continues to practise walking. We talk about memories she has, things that have
happened many years ago or only recently and she was very keen to hear about
the Test. Wes arrived at 10.45 to say hello to Viva and collect me.
We had a good run home apart from two breathalysers – one in
Woodend and the other in Tylden, about 15 minutes apart. Wes passed both with
flying colours and, apart from a detour to collect the mail, headed straight
for home and the boys, who were very pleased to see me, and me them.
This is my last Dispatch for 2013 – I hope you all enjoy
whatever you do for New Year’s Eve and the following day, and wish us all a
very safe, happy and healthy 2014.
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