Dear Everyone,
Carlton finally did the right thing by Wes last Sunday afternoon and
convincingly beat St Kilda to record a long overdue victory. It had been
another cold, wet day, so we stayed warm inside after our brief sorties to the
Market and Breakfast.
The sun came out on
Monday, but the ground was still too wet to play golf or even garden, so I did
some early shopping and collected boxes of wine from the Post Office was well
as the new (old) Sunbeam. It works well and my only complaint was that it was
poorly packed which meant the bowl was broken on arrival. Fortunately I still
have both original bowls, but I am disappointed with the careless packaging and
am awaiting a reply to my email to the vendor. Wes made fish and chips for
lunch which was very yummy – a Jamie Oliver recipe that doesn’t involve deep
frying. I went to bed mid-afternoon and felt much better for lying down.
I wasn’t the only one lying down
– Bilbo and his friend were tired as well!
On Tuesday I was
too tired and asthmatic for gym so got up late and did some chores. I had
planned to join Judi for the monthly U3A lunch at The Food Gallery, but I couldn’t breathe and decided it would be
best not to go. After lunch we
finally had a visit from an electrician. We had hoped he might have been able
to come before Lib visited, as we wanted to put some extra power points in the
Guest Bedroom, which we have now done. They are at the right height for guests
to charge their laptops and phones and should make life a little easier for me
when I use the sewing machine there. We also had a light put over the phone in
the kitchen, which has been very hard to see, and finally we had a power-point
under the house replaced as it was damaged.
Wednesday was very
wet and grey, so I cancelled plans to drive to Castlemaine to help Valerie with
her computer, but Wes and Barbara drove to Ballarat as she needed pots from
Bunnings. Sandra did a wonderful job cleaning everywhere, which must be very
dispiriting as she knows that we are going to track wet footprints over
everything very soon after she leaves!
We discovered that
our God-daughter and cousin, Leigh Murrin, had been promoted when our inboxes
and Facebook were full of congratulations. Leigh will become the Chief Legal
Operations Counsel reporting directly to the Chief Legal Counsel of GE
International, where she has been working for the last 10 years. She will be
based in London, which is good, as she and Simon have spent the last 12 months
renovating their home. We are so proud of her and all she has achieved so far
in her life. And we’ll get the chance to congratulate her in person as she and
Simon are going to join us for a weekend when we are in Scotland in October this
year.
Lib and Karen in Trentham outside
Chaplins on a very cold day
We had invited old
friends, Bill & Sue Longley, and Ian & Josie McKenzie, to have lunch
with us on Thursday. Bill doesn’t enjoy good health these days, so we were
pleased he was well enough to be part of what turned out to be a 4.5 hour
lunch! The open fire was very welcoming and we had a couple of flurries of snow
during the afternoon, which was most exciting.
Wes surpassed
himself with celery & potato soup with pumpkin & polenta bread; pumpkin
& mushroom risotto with freshly grated parmesan cheese; steamed long green
beans; spicy crusted chicken pieces; Eton mess; three cheeses with crackers,
and finally, plunger coffee and chocolates. We all had a wonderful time and
Bilbo enjoyed all the extra pats and kisses he got to say nothing of leftovers
for dinner for the next three nights. Wes has two secret ingredients that go in
many of his dishes – fennel is often substituted for onion as he prefers its
crunchiness and flavour, and French tarragon finds its way into just about
every main course. Ian & Josie are vegetarian and we think they were very
pleasantly surprised at the interesting dishes they were served.
We were exhausted
by the time we had cleaned up and it was a very early night. Wes had suggested
lunch out on Friday but we opted to stay inside where we had plenty to eat and
it was toasty warm with the fire going and Bilbo snoring. The fog didn’t lift
all day and the rain was persistent, so after some computer work, I attacked DA
in The Age and we caught up on
programmes we had recorded and not yet watched.
Yesterday we awoke
to cold, but very little rain and we even saw the sunshine for a while which
was wonderful. I spent the morning cleaning the fridge and pantry as visibility
in the kitchen was excellent! Wes was busy on the computer doing ALP work, Ancestry
and Asylum Seekers Forum preparation. He cooked Brussels sprouts and mashed
pumpkin for lunch which was very yummy.
Karen showing an early love of
car washing, aged 3 in Balloan Street, Coburg – helping Perc with the black
Ford Consul
We sat down that
night to watch Carlton play the Swans at the SCG – a game that Wes gave the
Blues no hope at all of winning. They played very well in the first half but
were overrun after half-time. Our next-door neighbour, Rob, arrived with
rhubarb tarts for us, so we invited him in for a glass of red wine while his
partner, Dene, was cooking the roast chook for dinner.
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