Morse

Morse
Morse & friend

Sunday, 5 July 2015

Daylesford Winter Dispatch - Sunday, 5th July 2015


Dear Friends, when I last wrote it was Sunday morning and we were heading off for our usual activities. Aileen joined us at breakfast for a while and we were pleased to discover that her mother, Dorothy, now has hearing aids that fit & work and that she is feeling much better as a result. We discovered that Margot is over Helen Mirren, Judi Dench & Lisa McCune – if Warren had been able to hear what she was saying, he would have been horrified by the first two, but in total agreement with the third.

After breakfast, I dropped Wes home and drove back to the Wombat Gardens where Bilbo and I did a circuit. I was keen to do another but Bilbo was very happy to go home instead. In the afternoon, in front of the fire, we were able to watch Carlton record another win. The footy wasn’t fantastic and Wes kept apologising for the standard, but at least the Blues won even if their opponents are injury-ridden and bottom of the ladder. Afterwards we had homemade pizzas for dinner and an early night.


Wonderful photo of Danny & his family on his birthday. Clockwise – Danny, Lauren, Travis & Rosie, Celia, Cory with Isla (hidden), Penny, Harry, Greta, Myles, Patrick & Kate

When Wes got up on Monday morning he felt very giddy and unwell, which gave him quite a fright. He came back to bed and I persuaded him to lie on his back on two pillows until he started to feel better. Fortunately, he fell asleep and only woke when I let him know he needed to get up for his doctor’s appointment. We saw Adam Rouse, who is new to both of us, and he confirmed that Wes had an ear infection and needed strong antibiotics to help clear it up before having an ear syringe. So we made an appointment for that on Thursday and started on the amoxicillin, which could be taken four times per day.

Bilbo and I went for our walk after we got back home. It was a beautiful day after another cold start, so we went up the back of our street, along Queensbury Street and into the gardens, which were peaceful and quiet, even though it is school holidays. When we got home, I heated up the rest of the minestrone for lunch and Wes enjoyed sitting inside with the sun streaming in as he read for a while. He spent much of the afternoon on executor matters that just can’t wait, before agreeing to a relaxing small whisky before an early night.

There have been a few things happening locally – both the ‘Farmers Arms Hotel’ and ‘Gracenotes Café’ have changed hands after quite a few years under excellent ownership. We were horrified to learn from Janine at breakfast that Chris Sinclair, co-owner & chef at ‘Gracenotes’ had undergone a quadruple bypass last week. The timing for the sale of that business couldn’t be better. Also, the large vacant area in Howe Street, that used to be the bus terminal, is being redeveloped and turned into shops, shops, shops, about 7 of them – what a surprise. God knows what new and exciting goods are coming to Daylesford, but the shops are quite small, narrow & long with very little, if any, natural lighting.

Fascinating Japanese sculpture from Rob & Dene’s travels

We all woke feeling much better on Tuesday as Wes had slept well and was starting to look more like himself although his hearing was still poor. I dropped him off at the Daylesford Cinema to warm up the theatre and took Bilbo for a walk before heading back to see the much-anticipated film ‘Inside Out’.

The cinema was well over half-full with lots of families to see the film. I enjoyed it very much and thought it was the usual excellent Disney fare trying to give kids a simple understanding of what makes up a personality and how a person’s mood can be affected by joy, sadness, envy, fear or anger. Wes said that most of the feedback he received was positive, but that there was a dreadful mess to pick up after everyone had gone. The next film to be shown was ‘Woman in Gold’, which would have attracted a very different audience.

Afterwards I met Gail White for lunch at ‘The Food Gallery’ where we both enjoyed their seafood chowder, which is tasty and filling. They were run off their feet, which was good to see. Gail updated me on their travel plans, which include a South-East Asian cruise in October with Terry’s three sisters & partners. Just before they leave there will be a 20-year Anniversary get-together to remember their son, Matthew, who died in 1995. Most of his friends have stayed friends and kept in touch with Gail & Terry & their two daughters who live in the Blue Mountains. Gail assured me that it doesn’t get any easier to cope with as time goes by and that they miss him and regret the life he was unable to have because he succumbed to leukaemia.

On Wednesday, I went off to gym and on my return took Bilbo for a walk around Jubilee Lake. It is a lovely stroll, although a little slippery when it has been raining. Wes went over to spend time with Barbara helping her get ready for her visitors and arrived back about 4 hours later absolutely exhausted, as he hasn’t done much physical labour since he has been sick. I fed him special fried rice and sent him to bed, both of which helped his recovery. I had spent the rest of the morning putting our car insurances with RACV. We have stayed loyal to OAMPS, but their new owner, AJG, didn’t bother sending out renewals until I emailed them asking where they were, and those renewals didn’t arrive until after 4pm on 30th June, when the insurances were due.

Our lovely waitress, Kerry, at the Food Gallery, showing off the vine-ripened tomatoes that Wes received for breakfast for a change. He said they were very yummy indeed.

Wes got up briefly but was easily persuaded to go back to bed and slept well all night, which was good as he had a big day on Thursday.
First stop was Strathmore to deliver some good plastic storage containers to Leanne, as well as 6 eggs from Gillie’s new chooks. Then off to see Peter Russo in Brunswick before driving to Malvern to talk with the estate agent chosen to handle the sale of Joan’s house.
Finally he drove back to Northcote where Danny Millman was hosting a ‘Boys’ Card Night’ with Robert, Tom, Squiz, Fraser, Mike & Ged.

Wes laying down the law to the boys – he might as well hold the floor as he couldn’t hear any objections!

Meanwhile I went shopping early to Coles before taking Bilbo for a wettish walk around Lake Daylesford. We arrived back home in time for me to change clothes and get to EKO for a manicure with Alanna. I came back to discover that our dishwasher was going to cost $700+ to repair and we were in total agreement with Barclays that it would be madness to proceed. They decided not to charge us for their services in return for us not pursuing them for the repair of the downstairs ceiling that became discoloured and distorted when Wayne, the repairman, didn’t turn off the tap fully; an oversight that I didn’t discover for 24 hours, by which time the damage was done.

After lunch, I went to Bi-Rite where Tim spent about 30 minutes with me helping me choose a new dishwasher. We settled on ASKO, which he and John highly recommend and I was able to buy an extended warranty, which will give us 5 years cover. The new dishwasher has the flexible cutlery tray that was a feature of our old Bosch and I much prefer it to the cutlery basket. We should have the new one early next week and Garry Wilkinson, the plumber, is on stand-by to install it for us.

Friday was a cold morning again with a beautiful full moon above low-flying clouds, which cast an eerie light around 7am. Bilbo and I pumped water at Leitches Creek before joining the Bushwalkers for the short walk. There I heard the shocking news that Phil Walsh, coach of the Adelaide Crows, had been murdered by his son overnight. Our walk was tinged with sadness as we all tried to come to terms yet again with the fragility of life. We traced some of the steps taken by ‘The Three Lost Children’, who died when they got lost after going for a walk during the gold rush days. Two new walkers, Andy & Jan, from Trentham, swelled our numbers to 8 and there were at least 20 doing the longer walk.

Footy scarves in one of our bedroom windows in honour of Phil Walsh

In 1983, during the decade I was Treasurer of the Ladies Committee, Phil came to Collingwood to start his VFL career and played every game that year on the wing. I remember him well as a stunningly good footballer, who was poached by Richmond the next year. These two teams were busy hating each other and trying to attract each other’s stars to defect. The best thing that came out of this period was the move of David Cloke from Richmond to Collingwood & later he and his family decided that all three of their sons would play for Collingwood, not Richmond, under the Father/Son rule.

Wes arrived home late in the morning after taking Danny to breakfast at ‘Foxtrot Charlie’ in Brunswick to thank him for his hospitality and allowing him to stay overnight. He was quite tired and slept on and off most of the day before making us a yummy dinner and watching the first quarter of the Collingwood vs Hawthorn game at the MCG. We were both moved by the AFL’s sensible decisions to cancel Sunday’s game between Adelaide & Geelong, to ask the other teams to play but to tone down their pre-game entertainments, abandon the playing of theme songs & running through banners, and to forgo the usual post-game singing of the song by the winning team.

However, I don’t think the AFL quite expected this to happen after our game, when Alastair Clarkson, coach of Hawthorn, moved with Nathan Buckley, coach of Collingwood, to bring all players together for another minute’s silence after the Hawks had won a hard-fought tussle by 10 points. I had turned off the TV and missed seeing it live, but was able to watch it yesterday morning on Facebook.

Wes seemed much better yesterday morning when he woke up and could even hear a little better. I took Bilbo for a walk at 8am and we met Wes at the Daylesford Farmers Market an hour later. We also caught up with Gillie & Judi with her dogs, who had been walking around Lake Daylesford. We came home for a quiet morning as we were off to Barbara Simpson’s 60th birthday lunch at ‘Mercato’ with 12 others. We even passed Barbara in the street as she pulled up with her sister, Margaret, and husband, Noel, on their way to a light breakfast at ‘Gracenotes Café’.

Outside the Rotary Stall at the Farmers Market – Bilbo is looking for another snag in bread from Alan, while Judi’s two dogs, Maddy & Major sit obediently at her feet

Lunch went well – Barbara enjoyed having her family & some friends with her at Mercato’s best square table, while Wes, Glenn, Denise, Janine & I were at a smaller side table. John & Jan Smith had driven up from Sandhurst, while Gail White was on her own as her husband, Terry, was working. We had a beautiful meal – those of us who had the soufflé entree were in awe! The service was excellent and Barbara’s visitors from New Zealand would have gone away thinking we are very lucky indeed to have such a wonderful restaurant in this little country town.

Last night Wes and I watched the Carlton vs Bulldogs match, which was an amazingly poor game of footy. Perhaps the players were all affected by Phil Walsh’s death or maybe it was just one of those nights. We had earlier seen the Gold Coast Suns play stunningly good footy to run all over North Melbourne and record their second win for the season. What a difference it makes when the captain and best player in the AFL is back in the side! Interesting all game so far have followed the trend started by Collingwood & Hawthorn and players & coaches are forming a circle on the ground after the final siren.

This morning Bilbo and I are off to the Sunday Market followed by Sunday Breakfast which will be a big one with 12 of us in attendance. Anne & Eddie have to leave after breakfast to fly back to NZ, but Wes is going to take Margaret & Noel on a tour of the Shire for a couple of hours before coming home to rest as he is still not 100% and still can’t hear properly.

Lovely photo of David & Jane Knox freezing in the Blue Mountains this week. They are getting ready to visit London for their daughter, Emily’s wedding to Alan, on Sunday, 26th July.



New Year’s Eve Fireworks in Iceland – I know it isn’t that time of year but I have only just seen this stunning photo and thought I would share it.

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