Dear Friends, thank you all again for all your support while
Bilbo & Frodo were missing. It was very much appreciated. We were so lucky
to get them back as they were quite lost in the forest at Blakeville (20kms
away) and they may well have died of exhaustion if the young men hadn’t found
them and rung us. They arrived back looking very dirty and tired and slept
constantly with short intervals of eating and drinking.
On Monday Wes tried to take them for a walk but their
muscles were too stiff so he bathed them and they spent the rest of the day
sleeping, only bothering to get up when it was dinnertime. I had an appointment
for laser acupuncture in Ballarat and arrived back in time to watch the Aussies
bat in an exciting fashion, especially Watson’s 100 and George Bailey’s
record-equalling 28 off one over.
Our Christmas tree
It was warm quite early on Tuesday and after gym we did a
few chores before I had a manicure. I had bought Wes 16 seaside daisy plants
and he is having fun dotting them around the place. I have always liked them,
but when he saw how Stuart Rattle used them in his pathways, Wes became a fan
as well and now we have them everywhere.
It is fun collecting the mail and receiving lovely Christmas
cards, often with letters full of news. Sadly because of a change in Australia
Post regulations mail that isn’t addressed to the PO Box is no longer
automatically put in our box and sometimes returned as we don’t have a
letterbox at number 78. Please address all mail to PO Box 81, Daylesford 3460
to be sure we receive it.
Wes and Barbara went to the ALP Branch drinks at the
Daylesford Hotel and stayed on for dinner. The branch is strong & growing
as everyone is so disgusted with all the broken promises and dismantling that
Tony Abbott is doing. The boys and I were in bed by 7pm, exhausted by winning
Australia back The Ashes in such a
fine fashion. Nick Massaro gave me a massage and the timing was such that he
was able to hear and see the victory as well.
On Wednesday I delighted Dot & Valerie with new Mah Jong
books – The Mah Jong Player’s Companion,
which introduces us to a whole new range of hands. So we played those hands
only and had great fun. I also bought a book for Gail White, so that she is au
fait when she returns to our group. Meanwhile Wes took Barbara shopping after
lunch at Gracenotes Café. We gave our
cleaner, Sandra, a framed Brian Nash print of the Wombat Hill Botanical Gardens
that she loves and she gave us a beautiful bottle of red and cellophane-wrapped
red apples for the boys. We were all very content with that gift exchange!
That night I was too tired to go with Wes to Candy & Hal’s
place for Christmas drinks, but he went and had a good time catching up with
Labor and local friends.
It was the last gym class for 2013 for us on Thursday
morning and we were pleased as the weather was too hot to be enjoyable. We had
been invited to the Men’s Shed Christmas
Lunch at Victoria Park by John & Karen Meir, so rocked along there for
a lovely catch-up with them, Dot & John Smith and David Hawker among
others. Wes was instrumental, as Mayor, in saying yes to this project, and the
original President, Colin Dunlop, has never forgotten. He came over to express
his thanks yet again.
Viva at Christmas Lunch 2006
Yesterday was a completely free day, so we decided to play
golf very early at Trentham. Wes got frustrated with his lack of consistency,
but I was lucky enough to play my best round in months – completing 9 holes in
59 – a far cry from 110 with Sherryn all those years ago! We arrived home to
discover Viva had been taken by ambulance to Royal Melbourne Hospital as she
was very weak. We kept in touch with Leanne during the day and eventually Viva
was diagnosed as having an infection and fluid retention. She has been moved to
Brunswick Private Hospital, where they hope to get her back on her feet again
very soon.
We had planned to go to Melbourne today and visit Leanne,
but she was busy visiting Viva and cleaning up at home, so we decided to take a
rain check and may travel there tomorrow or Monday….whenever Viva is well
enough for a visit. We went to Ballarat to get a new battery for Wes’s watch
and on the way home visited Spring Park
Nursery to buy a final fragrant rose for Wes’s rose hedge. We ended up with
the very beautiful Close to You
Finally we decided to have lunch at the Farmers Arms Hotel, as they were so helpful when the boys were
missing. We enjoyed a bottle of prosecco with our chicken and snapper and have
come home to garden and rest. Wes is planting the rose and a fuchsia as well as
mulching madly with lots of horse manure and straw we picked up yesterday on
our way back from golf.
This will be my last Dispatch for a while as I will be in
Melbourne for the Boxing Day Test, catching up with Jane Knox, David Lazzaro,
Leon Anderson and Gillie Gough. Wes and I will have breakfast with Peter and
Anka on Boxing Day as has become our tradition.
Tomorrow we are having breakfast at Gracenotes Café and there should be 10 of us, which will be lovely.
On Monday we are helping out with Christmas Cheer at the Daylesford Town Hall,
and on Christmas Day we are sharing lunch with Denise & Barry, Leon, and
Barbara.
Happy Christmas to you all……
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