Dear Everyone, Bilbo
and Wes duly arrived back from Ballarat on Thursday morning with a new control
for my side of the electric blanket, thank God. Bilbo was looking very clean
and delighted to be home again. He kept checking out his various beds and
pillows before settling down to a good cry when Wes went over to see Barbara
and was away for ages. Wes cleaned the inside of both cars, while I worried
about shopping, washing and ironing and I washed the outside of Dolly Grey on Friday.
We seemed to have a
lot of emails to handle, as well as lots of social activities to plan or cement
into place. Libby is coming to visit next week for three nights and will
celebrate her birthday, which she shares with Barbara, with lunch at Mercato on
Friday with us and friends.
We caught up on Last Tango in Halifax and Old School and I watched Midsomer Murders while I was ironing. I
rang Leanne, who is still fighting of her head cold, and she was thrilled to
hear about our time spent with nephew, Rohan, and brother, Peter, and
sister-in-law, Anka.
Peter is shown top with our
aunt, Jeff, and Rohan below, taken this week. I don’t seem to have a
recent photo of Peter & Anka so I hope I can remedy that!
On Friday it was
too cold to walk at 5am, so Wes gave Bilbo a bone and we all had a sleep-in. I
went supermarket shopping, and later in the morning, Wes took Barbara for a big
supermarket shop. I walk Bilbo into town with me to collect the mail and post
some cards and he was delighted with lots of pats, especially from Kim Lyden,
who was working at Daylesford Newsagency and popped out to say hello, and a
young friend, Holly, daughter of Jude, who used to run the Daylesford Ice Cream Parlour. She has a 13 year old lab and is desperately
trying to get fulltime office work, which, in spite of her qualifications, is
proving very difficult.
That afternoon we
drove to Ballan Station to catch the very packed 4.11pm train to Melbourne as
we had been invited by Anthony Starkins, our financial advisor, to attend a
viewing of the Italian Masterpieces
at the National Gallery of Victoria. It was very windy and cold, but we rugged
up and figured it would be less cold once we arrived. We had been at the
function for about 10 minutes when we heard the familiar sound of Tom Tyrrell’s
voice and he and Deborah Fowler joined us. What a thrill for the four of us.
Tom is probably the longest-standing friend either of us has and it is always a
delight to see him. Our dyed-in-the-wool Liberal, Anthony, came up to us and
Tom immediately said to him ‘whatever he
says I agree with him’ referring to Wes. We were sorry to leave the
function and our good friends, but it was a treat to see the Exhibition in
comparative ease. Wes was taken with the Titians but I particularly liked
floral paintings by two artists – Andrea Belvedere & Mario Nuzzi.
We had to leave
early to catch the 8.24pm home and it was a much less packed train,
particularly as the game at the Docklands Stadium between Geelong &
Essendon was close.
Yesterday morning
Wes got up at 5am to walk Bilbo, but Bilbo wouldn’t have a bar of it, gave his
bone a cursory gnaw, came back inside, emitted a cry and leapt back onto our
bed with me and proceeded to go back to sleep until 6.30am. It was wet, windy
and cold all morning. I spent some time renewing our insurances and Wes spent
time finding things to do in Scotland before we set out for a late leisurely
breakfast at Gracenotes Café, where
we sat in front of the roaring fire.
Back home to our
own fire, and we spent a very pleasant afternoon reading Saturday’s Age (always a treat) and keeping an eye
on the various footy games. Wes spent some time with Barbara, and then made us
a yummy pasta dish for early dinner. Ken Matheson kept us informed with Daylesford
scores and we were delighted that they won. He assured us that it was bloody cold at Beaufort where the game
was being played.
This morning there
was no way Bilbo was getting up at 5am, but he did follow me out at 6 to get a
small marrow bone. It is so wet, I am not sure I will be able to take him with
me to the Sunday Market or even to breakfast. At lunchtime I am driving to
Strathmore to visit Leanne and then onto Northcote where I am staying overnight
with Danny. We are off to the big Collingwood vs Carlton game, or as one wag
suggested to the Coodabeen Champions
on ABC radio yesterday – The Rumble of
the Not-So-Humble.
Enjoy your week and
I’ll be back in touch in July.
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