We are well and truly over jetlag and back to normal, although it did take some time.
Last Sunday we
drove to Carlton North to visit the Robinsons and spent a very enjoyable short
visit with them. Robbo is very thin, still on liquids only, but definitely on
the road to recovery. We sat in their peaceful lounge together for about 40
minutes, before we thought we should go, in case we were starting to tire him
out. On our way home we detoured looking for Christmas cards and eventually
found some at Robinsons Bookstore – quite a coincidence!
We had planned to
go to the 4pm session of The Lunch Box
at the Daylesford Cinema, but arrived back just as it would be starting, and as
we were both tired, decided to have a quiet night at home. I’m sure Bilbo was
pleased with that decision.
On Monday, the wind
was cold, but the weather was fine, so we headed off to Trentham Golf Club and
played our first game of golf together since March. We were surprised to find
we could still hit the ball and enjoyed our first few holes, especially the 7th
where Wes made par. On the 8th everything deserted him, and on the 9th
I went to pieces, so we decided not to play the 10th and walked off
the course moderately content with our first foray in ages.
Our latest rose, Munstead Wood,
with a beautiful perfume to boot!
Back home it was
time for a henna, and then Wes did some gardening, before turning his hand to a
baked trout with Kipfler potatoes, which was very yummy. I was worried about
him after his busy morning and he decided to have a sleep, while I spent the afternoon
sorting out Energy Australia, which had abruptly stopped debiting our direct
payments while we were away and then sending threatening letters, which Judi
opened and scanned and sent to me. The good news is that I have sorted that
issue to everyone’s satisfaction, and Wes woke after 3 hours looking and
feeling so much better for the deep sleep.
He was due to chair
an ALP meeting that night, but most of the members were apologies, so he held
an informal drinks session at the Daylesford Hotel, which was attended by Eddie
& Jenny Beacham, and David & Penny Reilly. I would love to have gone
with him to see how I coped with an easy night activity, but I was tired as
well after my day, and was asleep by 8pm!
On Tuesday I went
back to gym and enjoyed being there again. Everyone welcomed me
enthusiastically and I tried not to overdo it for the first time back. Then off
to Lyndal at The Cutting Studio for a
fringe trim, before spending a couple of hours with Emma at EKO, having a face rub and getting my
fingers & toes looking good again. Wes and Barbara had gone together to the
Remembrance Day service at the Cenotaph and we all arrived home at the same
time. Joe Rozen dropped in shortly afterwards to catch up with us, which was
lovely.
We have enjoyed
some beautiful Spring weather this week and it is tempting to spend all day in
the garden weeding, but there are still lots of computer activities to be done
and early Wednesday morning was spent making sure everything on the laptop had
been handled or transferred to our computers, before Wes went out into the
garden and I went to Mah Jong. Dot, Valerie and I did enjoy catching up and we
even fitted in a few games as well as chatting.
That afternoon I
dropped into Brick Lane to see Gail
& Terry and found them talking to John Smith who was visiting Daylesford
briefly! I was sorry to see that Gail is still not recovered from her awful
cough and hope she will be much better soon. It seems to be a rotten thing to
catch and I am grateful that neither of us did catch it.
Wes had been asked
to open the Swiss & Italian Festa Landscape Exhibition upstairs at The Rex
that night and I decided I would like to go with him, especially as it was a
6pm start. I spent a quiet afternoon, but Wes had heaps of energy after his good
sleep, so he spent about 4 hours over at Barbara’s tidying up her garden, as
well as working on our own.
The Exhibition was
good and I enjoyed catching up with old and new friends, while Wes did a great
job, with no briefing, of opening the Exhibition. Cr Kate Redwood, the incoming
Mayor of Daylesford, was there as Council’s only representative, and he praised
her commitment to Art and expressed the hope that Council would send some more
money in that direction. We were pleasantly surprised with the standard of the
entries in the Art Show and they were hung to advantage in a good space. The
Winners were popular decisions, as were the Highly Commended, and hopefully
there were some sales after we left.
We both slept in on
Thursday and Bilbo had to make do with a bone and no walk, but we both awake to
find ourselves with energy and no ill effects of our late (for us) night. I
headed off to gym and, apart from some phone calls, and bill paying, had
appointments locally and in Ballarat.
In between them I
spent a very pleasant time with Judi, as we hadn’t really seen each other since
our return from Scotland. Wes did some more mowing here in the back and then
watered everywhere – our tanks are full and we can afford to soak the ground.
Wes went off to
Trentham to play golf again on Friday morning, while I geared myself up to
return to the Bushwalking Group after an absence of some years. It was a
perfect morning for a walk, and I joined the small group which were doing the
shorter walk as a way to ease back in. Many of the old gang gave me a lovely
welcome back and I did enjoy catching up with them and then walking along the
railway line and back into town over a couple of hours with friends.
We then collected
Gillie and Glenn and headed to the latest sensation in Hepburn Springs – a
Turkish café called Moor Please,
which has been getting rave reviews. I don’t know what Gillie & Glenn
thought, but we were underwhelmed....the space is good, the service is good,
the music is too loud, you can’t book a table and they don’t take credit cards.
Three of us had pizzas, which were overpriced at $20+ each and Glenn’s dozen
oysters were $33 which seemed extravagant, even though they came with a splash
of arak. However, it was lovely to catch up with both these dear friends and to
hear a little of Gillie’s travels, as she has been away, mostly in Italy, since
August.
Bilbo doing what he does best!
Yesterday Wes spent
the morning getting the garden in good shape – mowing, weeding, clipping and
watering, before washing down the decking, as we were having an unexpected
visit from old Brunswick friends, Rocco di Zio and family, who were up for the
Swiss & Italian Festa.
I went to Coles and
Tonnas early to make sure we had provisions for afternoon tea, then potted some
baby spinach and planted out our five grosse lisse tomato plants, as well as
putting some Italian parsley seedlings in the greenhouse, where they are
already thriving.
Slowly but surely
we are getting back to our routines, catching up on phone calls with Melbourne
friends, spending time with Daylesford friends, discovering all the changes
that happened while we were away, and getting Fawlty Towers back in full use by the local rosellas.
It was lovely to
see Rocco, his wife, Elsa, their daughter, Vera, and a young friend, Claudia,
who arrived mid-afternoon, having spent a few hours down at the Hepburn Springs
Reserve enjoying all the Swiss & Italian Festa entertainment. Rocco used to
be a journalist with Il Globo and we
had a lot to do with him when Wes was on Brunswick Council in the 80s.
This morning after
the Sunday Market, I am having breakfast with Rhonda Lubin, at Gracenotes Café, as our usual breakfast
has been cancelled. We hope to visit Aileen, who has been in Perth and see how
she and her mother, Dorothy, are coping these days, and later on, drive to
Trentham to see Wes’s cousin, Glenn, and hear how he is finding life in the
country these days. And if we have the energy, there is a new exhibition
opening at the Convent Gallery, which looks quite exciting.
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