Daylesford Winter Dispatch - Sunday, 28th June 2015

Dear Friends, as those of you follow the footy would know, the Carlton Blues finally won a game in Australia this year when they beat Port Power by 4 points in a most exciting match at the MCG last Saturday. Wes accidentally kicked Bilbo in his excitement and there was much cheering & clapping going on at our place afterwards. Sadly, it was downhill from there as Wes developed one of those colds, which appears rapidly and usually leaves as quickly, so he was in bed early and didn’t even have a whisky to celebrate.

I spent much of the day sewing up the 9 hats I had knitted for ‘Keeping Daylesford Warm’ and delivered them with 14 two-colour squares to Mell early on Sunday morning as she was due to distribute hats, scarves & rugs on Monday. It was -3° early when Bilbo & I visited the Sunday Market and filled our fridge again with fresh fruit & vegetables. By the time we went to breakfast, it had rocketed up to 0° and when we came out, it was all of 3°. We enjoyed a lovely chat over yummy food with Barbara, Judi, Janine & Margot. Judi debriefed on her recent visit to Caloundra to see her mother, Mavis, and Janine told us a few stories from her recent trip to the Antarctic & Canada. Wes included a few stories from our week in Melbourne, which meant that Barbara and I were quiet except for asking questions.

View of the Docklands from Webb Bridge

Wes went straight back to bed after breakfast, but Bilbo & I went out to pump water at Leitches Creek and then had a walk around the Botanic Gardens before coming home. There was a meeting of vintage cars at the car park and I did enjoy watching them drive out of the gardens afterwards. We walked through the fernery which has been totally rejuvenated by the Friends of Wombat Botanic Gardens and then along the walking trail before coming back home.

Later that day I watched Melbourne unexpectedly beat Geelong in a close game at Kardinia Park. I think Paul Roos finally feels that his coaching messages are getting through.

On Monday I went to gym and expected to be a bit out of condition as I had missed a week, but I suspect all the walking in Melbourne kept us both fit and I had a good workout, although we were all moaning about the cold yet again. Afterwards I drove to Ballarat to visit my podiatrist again and collect a spare pair of orthotics, which I have put in my walking boots. When I arrived home I discovered that Wes was still in bed, although he had anticipated being up and about. We decided to postpone most of this week’s activities to give him a good chance to recover. I put the new sheets on our bed and the new towels in our bathrooms and we are enjoying the luxury of both.

Pretending to ring the bells at St Peter's Anglican Church – saw stairs and walked up them to discover that you don’t have to ascend to the top to reach the ring pull!

The next day was a trip with Judi to Ripponlea to see the Phryne Fisher Exhibition. Although rain was forecast, we set off in cold but sunny weather and arrived safely and easily at Ripponlea Mansions. The Exhibition was stunningly good with lots of clothes and accessories on display over two floors. The house was a perfect venue for this and we did enjoy wandering around at our leisure. Every outfit had an explanation and there was usually a swatch of fabric that could be touched to give us an idea of the weight or otherwise of the garment. We seem to have chosen a good day as there weren’t too many people around and we had no trouble seeing everything we wanted.

Afterwards we went to the Café for Devonshire tea, which we had pre-purchased with our tickets. Our French student waitress assured us we could have coffee instead of tea, and was horrified when we both opted for tea. After a few minutes our scones, jam & cream arrived, but it took a full 20 minutes for the pots of tea to find their way to our table.....there were 3 wait staff twiddling their thumbs and perhaps one of them could have helped the barista who was obviously dreadfully overworked! When the tea arrived it looked like this so was worth the wait. Judi very kindly took the pink cup & saucer.

We had a good trip back home. Originally, Michael & Judi were joining us for a late lunch/ early dinner, but Wes wasn’t up to socialising let alone cheffing. He had gotten up to show the 10am film as it was too hard to find a replacement at such short notice, but was well and truly in bed by the time I got back. He spent most of the afternoon asleep and started to look and sound as though he was improving.

After a pot of tea, I took Bilbo for a walk up the back of our place and along the track to the Cornish Hill Reserve, where there is now a nice picnic table and an explanatory board, all provided by the Friends of Cornish Hill.

On Wednesday morning, Daylesford was shrouded in fog for quite a few hours and when it lifted we enjoyed a beautiful, still, sunshiny day. After gym, I played Mah Jong with Dot & Valerie where Dot let us know that she and John were heading off up North the next day for 4-6 weeks. So that was our last game until they return. Wes was asleep again when I returned home so Bilbo and I went out for a lovely long walk up the back again and off to the Wombat Gardens, where we did a circuit and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

For some reason or other, we both had energy on Thursday morning, so Wes got up and dressed and settled in for as long as he could at the computer, mostly working on his Executor duties for Joan. I made a pot of minestrone, baked a date loaf and juiced 24 lemons (thanks to Bill & Sue Longley with their prolific trees) all before 9am. Bilbo and I went out to post letters and wander up and down Vincent Street and on our return, he fell asleep, while I decided to wash the cars, which were very overdue for a clean. That was a very busy morning and it felt good to put an end to busyness and enjoy the rest of the day.

Wes lasted up until around 3pm when he could barely keep his eyes open and was in pain with earache to add to his sore throat, coughing fits, feverish moments and sneezing episodes. He spent the rest of the day in bed, caught up on some sleep and enjoyed the minestrone soup.

Lovely photo of Judi enjoying her Devonshire tea at Ripponlea

Collingwood went to play Freo over there that night and I somehow managed to stay up until half-time in the match which didn’t commence until 8.10pm our time. It was a well-fought contest and the Dockers won by 7 points in the end. I was very proud of the Pies and the way they played. We won’t win the Premiership this year, but we should figure in the Finals.

Bilbo helping me watch the footy!

The Bushwalking Group was driving to Ballarat on Friday morning to walk around Lake Wendouree and stay for lunch, so Judi & I decided to meet at the Wombat Gardens instead. We each had a decent hill climb from home and met at the aptly named Hill Street entrance to the Gardens, which is like a secret path. After a circuit on the walking track and a detour through the fernery, we stopped at ‘Wombat Hill House’, where dogs are very welcome in the outside section and enjoyed a hot drink and chat before walking home via the Post Office. Bilbo, Maddy & Major all behaved themselves with lots of tail wagging, but no actual touching.

Wes felt well enough to make lunch, which was lovely – we enjoyed a yummy mushroom & fennel pasta dish in front of the open fire. We hadn’t lit the fire for a while and discovered that Sandra had turned the damper off when she was cleaning, which meant we were smoked out at first until we worked out what had happened. We had to fling open the windows and doors & put the ceiling fans on to hasten the process, which meant we all got cold again and the fans found and spread everywhere all the plaster dust that had been on the ceiling since the electrician changed our lights!

That afternoon I had been due to see ‘Babette’s Feast’ with Judi as part of the U3A Flicks on Friday, but I have been too asthmatic this week to be able to sit through 2 hours plus without a few coughing fits. So I decided to pull out and offered my spot to one of Judi’s friends. Wes and I spent a very quiet afternoon once the fire was sorted, me reading & doing DA’s Friday crosswords and him reading & sleeping. Bilbo simply slept, as he was exhausted from his big walk and all the extra tail wagging.

We woke yesterday to Brigadoon and waited patiently for the mist to clear and the rain to stop so that Bilbo and I could have a walk. Wes was still too choked up in his head, still coughing and still with blocked ears, so I forbad him to even think about a walk.

The latest rug put together by Jodie from Keeping Daylesford Warm – all the squares are mine – a first!

After a very yummy lunch of stir-fry and rice, we lit the fire, put out some cheeses and cakes and waited for our guests to arrive. We had already postponed a visit by Kyahl & Lauren once before and Wes decided we couldn’t do it again. Kyahl is our nephew John Anderson’s oldest son from his first marriage to Robyn, and a delightful person. He is an actor, director & musician and it would appear the world is his oyster! We enjoyed meeting Lauren who is a very intelligent and interesting young woman doing her Masters at Melbourne Uni as well as working for a self-development international company. Kyahl arrived with a bottle of red bought locally and we spent a couple of enjoyable hours finding out a little about them both. Wes was hampered by his hearing difficulties, but was able to talk about his political experiences, which was of interest to them both.

Our neighbours, Rob & Dene, are just back from a trip to Hong Kong & Japan. We had hoped to spend some time hearing about their travels over the weekend, but with Wes unable to hear much, we have postponed that until he is better. They did drop in a lamb bone for Bilbo yesterday from their roast dinner on Friday night.

This morning Wes’s hearing seems a little better and he isn’t coughing as much, but he is well and truly over being unwell. Bilbo and I are about to head out to the Sunday Market, before breakfast at ‘The Food Gallery’ and perhaps a walk after that. Carlton is playing footy this afternoon, so we will light another fire and hopefully cheer them onto victory.

Breakfast at the Food Gallery a couple of weeks ago – Barbara, Margot (obscured), Pam, Pete, Karen & Judi (also obscured)

Daylesford Winter Dispatch - Saturday, 20th June 2015

Dear Friends, it has been a while since I wrote to you. We were in the middle of a visit by Pam & Pete and the remainder of the weekend went very well. We all enjoyed a good time at Sunday breakfast where Mary Goodall regaled us with her thoughts on life in Bendigo (always worth hearing Mary’s thoughts) as she stimulated some interesting conversations. Margot went to a lot of trouble over Bilbo’s breakfast and Pam & Pete were most impressed with the big round table upstairs where we dined in solitary splendour.

Margot putting egg on top of the Vegemite on toast

After dropping Bilbo home to recover, we spent quite a long while on the road showing Pam & Pete the areas within a 20-minute radius of Daylesford including Hepburn Springs, Glenlyon, Trentham, Little Hampton, Franklinford, Mt Franklin & Shepherds Flat. We drove around the Wombat Botanic Gardens, tasted mineral water in Porcupine Ridge, visited the Chocolate Mill for hot chocolates followed by ice cream with chocolate topping and completely avoided Vincent Street, which was wall-to-wall cars and people.

Pam & I rested and watched the footy while Wes & Pete drove back to Trentham where they managed 9 holes of golf before the light faded. Wes made yummy pizzas for dinner and we sat around laughing over ‘That Was the Year That Was’ 1995 & 1996.

Pete getting stuck into his chocolate ice cream

On Monday morning, we gave our guests a lovely brunch of eggs on muffins with mushrooms & bacon & baked sweet potato before they left to drive home before the traffic got too heavy. They were perfect guests, very appreciative and loved spending time with Bilbo as well as the open fires we lit each afternoon. Later in the day, we watched the Pies beat the Demons in a great game of footy at the MCG, where fund-raising continued for a cure for Motor Neurone Disease. Eleven celebrities, who had each raised at least $1,000, went down a slide into an ice pool especially created at the G for the occasion. It made for hilarious entertainment, and like most other footy followers we found ourselves donating for the cause. Neale Daniher who was diagnosed with MND two years ago has decided to go down fighting and so far over $2.3M has been raised for research into this invidious disease. I don’t know anyone who didn’t already admire and like Neale, so he has tapped into that enormous goodwill and is doing wonders by going public and raising awareness as well as money.

The next morning was spent by me having a facial with Emma & Wes showing ‘Pitch Perfect 2’ at the cinema. I was telling Emma what a terrible film he was showing & she confessed to having taken her two daughters to see it in Gold Class at Ballarat! We kept saying we must start packing for our week in Melbourne, but didn’t, which meant we left it until the last minute, which was Wednesday afternoon post Mah Jong for me, and post time with Barbara for Wes.

We had a wonderful week and couldn’t have done any more or experienced better weather. We dropped Bilbo off at Eureka Kennels, where he was warmly welcomed by Andrew & Annette. We had decided to drive to town even though our accommodation had been chosen because it was across the road from Southern Cross station. This enabled us to go to Queen Vic Market in the early afternoon and buy lots of smoked trout, spicy meat, cheeses, dips, interesting bread and naughties to feed the Stevensons & Lazzaros who were all visiting that first night. We discovered that parking was $18.50 per 24 hours at City Point, 668 Bourke Street, where we were staying courtesy of Melbourne Short Stays, so there was no argument, and we were pleased to have it on two days when we really needed it.

We checked into our apartment, which sadly didn’t have the promised view of town, but was clean and functional without being exciting. I had booked it because of position and the washing machine & dryer, which meant we could pack lightly. We went for a walk after we had unpacked and found ourselves at Federation Square, where we visited the Ian Pottery Gallery to see the World War I & II Exhibition. This was very moving and we were pleased we had gone, until we were caught in the lift for 35 minutes. Fortunately, it was a big lift and there were only 4 of us, one of whom didn’t want to engage and one of whom went into panic mode. While Wes calmed her, I spoke through the doors to the staff on the other side who got me to try holding down various buttons for different lengths of time. The music in the lift was AC/DC, which was not conducive to calmness or hearing and we eventually got that turned down, but not off. After 15 minutes, we were told the technician would arrive in 10 minutes and that was the last we heard from anyone until the lift suddenly took us down to the ground floor. We complained about being left alone, but that fell on deaf ears. We then couldn’t exit the Gallery as it was closed and no one seemed to be able to open the doors. 

Wes, Karen, Kathy, Ged & Malcolm

By the time, we got back to our apartment it was 5.50pm and our guests were due at 6pm, so our presentation left a little to be desired and we didn’t even get a chance to change clothes. Everyone arrived on time, were suitably shocked by our experience but then settled down to eat, drink and tell great holiday tales as both couples are not long back from exciting trips.

The next morning we had a slow start, then hit Tasma Terrace, the headquarters of the National Trust, where we discovered there was nothing we could look at either there, so headed for St Patrick’s Cathedral, then St Peter’s Anglican Church & finally ended up via the Exhibition Gardens at the Melbourne Museum. We had free entry with our Seniors’ cards and headed straight to Phar Lap. I have been looking at Phar Lap since I was very young and remain in awe of this beautiful, huge, talented horse. We did look at the rest of the Melbourne exhibit and found some footage of the 1909 Grand Final between South Melbourne & Carlton, which the Bloods won by 2 points.

We celebrated our Anniversary with a very yummy lunch at ‘Bamboo House’, (at the top of Little Bourke Street), an old favourite, which quickly filled up with diners. Warren was able to shake hands with Bill Shorten, who he had seen so recently. The food was as good as we remembered with Wes having Sichuan dried fried beef, me indulging in Sichuan chilli prawns and both of us sharing a dish of Mermaid’s Tresses (shown below).

  

I posted this photo of Wes in his Icelandic jumper on Facebook and we got 120 likes plus a few comments, which was wonderful indeed.

Afterwards we decided to go to the Kino to see ‘Gemma Bovery’, a delightful, quirky French film, which we both enjoyed very much. On our way home, we dropped into David Jones and bought new sheets and towels, which were much overdue. It was fun carrying them back on the tram!

On Saturday we decided to walk from our apartment to find Mad Duck Café in Docklands and we were very pleased we did. It was a lovely place for breakfast with attentive staff, good cutlery suitable for cutting thick toast and a view of the water. From there we walked to the National Gallery of Victoria to see the ‘A Golden Age of China’. We were entitled to free tickets which was good and we found the exhibition breath-taking. There were so many priceless artifacts, clothes and paintings all in the one place – it was overwhelming. We walked back home via the Book Tables in Federation Square and managed to pick up 4 second-hand books that we desperately needed.

In the afternoon we went to see ‘Woman in Gold’ at the Kino, and we are so pleased we did. Not only is it a stunning film with wonderful acting by Helen Mirren in particular, but as we were coming out of the complex we spotted an old friend, Ted Bailey, who we haven’t seen in years. We knew each other through Brunswick Rotary, but lost touch when his wife died. He now has the companionship of Wendy, a widow, who lives in Queenscliff and they seem very happy together. We shared a drink and a long chat before they left and we went to Yum Cha Café for an early dinner.

The next morning we had made arrangements to catch up with Robert & Marilyn Preston at ‘Smith & Daughters’ in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy. Their younger son, Callum, and his fianceé, Mo, run this trendy vegetarian bistro and during this week they opened their second venture, ‘Smith & Deli’, which is a block away and will offer lots of fresh produce and takeaway food & drinks. We were able to have a quick look into the new shop as there was an opening for the press later that morning.

We left the Prestons and walked to the MCG, where I had managed to get a Balcony pass for Wes. However, Gayle & Fraser had combined to get him a Long Room pass, but I had forgotten to ask him to pack a tie, so we weren’t able to use it. However, we did spend some time with Gayle and at half-time, while she and her friend, Heather, were indulging in afternoon tea, we went upstairs to the Frank Grey Smith bar, found a couple of armchairs and some red wine and spent half-time and the third quarter there.  It was a good game until the Greater Western Sydney team were decimated by injuries and Collingwood ran out easy winners in the end. I discovered the next day that my brother, Peter, and his wife, Anka, were in Melbourne that weekend, and that Peter had also been at the footy.    

        

Wes & Loud Gayle in the MCC

After the game we came home to finish off leftovers and burnt the toast! The cheap toaster in our room didn’t have a setting between barely brown and burnt black as we discovered when the smoke alarm went ballistic. A tall man from another apartment came to the door and turned the alarm off for us.

We had made an appointment to see Peter Russo, our solicitor, on Monday morning, to discuss our wills and Joan Testro’s estate. Before our 10am meeting, we drove to Sydney Road and found ‘Foxtrot Charlie’, which was a rather stylish new café offering interesting breakfast dishes and with a barista who listened. After breakfast we went for a walk up and down Sydney Road and were sad to see it looking so neglected.

Wes enjoying a hot latte at Foxtrot Charlie

Our time with Peter Russo & his offsider, Francis, was very useful. He was pleased to receive our completed Executor’s Dossier, Certified copies of the various Powers of Attorney, as well as a printout of most of the information he would need if we should die together. As we have known each other for 30 years or so, it is easy to be dealing with him about these matters, and we are confident our affairs are in good hands.

Our next visit was to Leanne, who had been delighted to hear that we had a car and could see her, so we spent some time in Strathmore chatting and catching up on each other’s news. She had been visited by Peter & Anka on Saturday, which was how she knew Peter was at the football. After that we had hoped to visit both Leanne Meli & son Jack, as well as Greta Millman & daughter, Penny, as both these wonderful mothers have driven to Trentham this year to see us, which is a big call with a 2-year old in tow. Sadly every number we had for Leanne was discontinued and Greta didn’t hear our call as she & Penny were feeling unwell and were asleep.

So on the spur of the moment we headed to Cinema Nova in Carlton. Wes dropped me off to see ‘Dior & I’, which I absolutely loved. The tiny cinema I was in was full and we were all in accord – oohs & aahs here, gasps there and tears at the end. Wes meanwhile parked the car and went to see ‘Partisan’, which sounded very futuristic and unpleasant. However he bumped into Tom Tyrrell, (who was off to see ‘Woman in Gold’ with his wife, Deb), on the way in, so we ended up sipping wine at ‘Jimmy Watson’s’ across the road after our films finished.

The next morning we walked to Hardware Lane looking for a café Wes had found on Trip Advisor, but ended up at ‘Larder Section’ instead, mostly because of the warm smile & greeting from the waitress as we went past. We sat outside under a heater and enjoyed our food, hot drinks & banter. First stop after that was the ‘Immigration Museum’, which we had never visited before and loved. We found it endlessly fascinating, informative and provocative. We found ourselves at the Art Centre next where there was a display on Wartime entertainment both for & by the troops & at home. Next stop was the Ian Potter Gallery for a cuppa & biscuit & rest. We love the benefits of our NGV membership which give us the rights to use the members’ rooms at both locations, where there is free tea, coffee & hot chocolate & usually ANZAC biscuits.

St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral was just across the road, so we visited it and found it very beautiful indeed, especially its unique sandstone appearance, stunning organ, skylight and stained glass. Next stop was the Old Treasury Building where we reminisced about our schooldays after seeing some very old footage of line-ups and daily exercise routines. There is quite a lot about the Gold Rush period, as well as historic documents relating to Victoria’s development. I learned there that we were the first place in the world to introduce secret ballots for voting.

We spent a couple of hours back in the apartment reading & resting in preparation for a light meal at ‘Quaffs’ in South Yarra, where we had been invited by our financial advisor, Anthony Starkins, to hear a presentation. We walked in right on time to find Tom & Deb were there as well. Apart from catching up with them & Anthony, we listened to an interesting speech from the Funds Manager of First Samuel, who was then bombarded with thoughtful questions by Warren & Tom.

On Wednesday we had breakfast with Ben Lazzaro at Cumulus Inc in Flinders Lane. This place is very popular for lunch & dinner, but not quite our style for breakfast. Ben had asked Wes to the footy today, but was happy to compromise with this catch-up instead. We spent a lovely hour with Ben hearing about his family & work. On our way to catch the City Circle Tram we bumped into Carlo Carli & Robert Larocca, old Brunswick friends.

The trip on the tram was delightful. It took an hour, went all the way into Docklands and deposited us outside the State Library at the end. We both loved being on the old green & yellow tram (now painted maroon) with wooden panelling. Apart from catching the bus to school, all my travel before I left home was done on trams and most of them were these beautiful ones. Our tram was full of Maroon & Blue supporters poking cheek at each other, with the Queensland Maroons far outweighing the NSW Blues. They were all in Melbourne for the 2^nd Rugby League State of Origin game at the MCG, which attracted a crowd of 91,000+.

We wandered into the Library and looked at the permanent display on early Melbourne with emphasis on Ned Kelly, although a lot of the artefacts are on loan to the Bendigo Gallery which has a special Ned Kelly Exhibition going. Another floor was devoted to beautiful old books & memorabilia from the archives...it was a sumptuous display and well worth the visit.

Dinner that night was at ‘Seamstress’ in Lonsdale Street – this is a formed textile factory, which has been turned into a contemporary restaurant & bar serving interesting cocktails & Pan Asian food. We loved our meal, enjoyed our Jamaican-born, German waiter & would go back again like a shot. What a fun experience!

On Thursday morning we woke to light rain and headed across the road to ‘Kinfolk’, which is staffed mostly by volunteers and devotes its profits to charities. We supported Cathy Freeman’s Foundation. I have to comment that we found service very slow and the breakfast menu uninspiring, so settled for raisin toast which arrived with enough butter to scrape onto one piece. The hot drinks arrived as we finished our toast, so perhaps there is some room for improvement there, as the waiting staff seemed to enjoy chatting with each other much more than engaging with the patrons.

Footy fans having a kick on the MCG after the game

We packed up quickly, loaded the car and after returning the keys and paying the final bill, set off for home via Yarraville, where Wes had to pick up the key to Joan Testro’s home. We had an excellent drive here and arrived to find 30mls of rain had fallen and the grass had grown. I got started on the unpacking & washing, while Wes drove to Ballarat to collect Bilbo, who had been bathed and was waiting patiently for him to arrive. Bilbo got an elephant stamp for being best dog at Eureka Kennels yet again.

In the afternoon I balanced Quicken and answered those emails I had neglected while we were away. Wes prepared for yesterday’s trip to Melbourne and then spent time with Barbara making sure she was OK and had survived a week without his assistance. We defrosted some homemade tomato sauce and enjoyed a yummy pasta meal for dinner before falling asleep in front of the footy.

Yesterday Wes drove to Malvern and spent his time interviewing three different real estate agents as requested by Joan’s three daughters. He had a short rest before getting changed and driving to Flemington Racecourse for a St Bernard’s Secondary School reunion. There were only a handful from 1965 including Tom Tyrrell & John Hardwick, and this group decided they needed to have their own 50^th Anniversary celebration which Wes & Tom will organise.

Meanwhile I went supermarket shopping where I was greeted warmly and asked how my week in Melbourne had gone (one of the many benefits of living in the country). Then Bilbo & I joined Malcolm & George on the shorter walk on tracks off Telegraph Road in Sailors Falls. We arrived back home for Bilbo to sleep soundly while I started typing this Dispatch and cleaned up the few mail items that had arrived while we were away. The afternoon was spent ironing and getting out the DA cryptic crossword before I had curried cauliflower & rice for dinner. I started watching the footy but only lasted until half-time before falling into bed and a very good night’s sleep. Wes arrived home late, but had promised not to drink so I didn’t have to worry about him.

I was very lazy this morning & stayed in bed reading the Age and getting out the cryptic crossword before Bilbo & I headed out for a walk into town to pick up a few things & collect our dry-cleaning. Wes spent some time on the computer debriefing on yesterday before allowing himself a rest in preparation for this afternoon’s Carlton game. He had hoped to do the mowing but the grass is too wet for that.

Robert, Marilyn & Karen outside Smith & Deli in Fitzroy, ‘the hippest place in Melbourne’