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Sunday, 28 June 2015

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)



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