Dear Friends, it’s been a busy week since I returned to Daylesford on Sunday afternoon, but the wet weather has allowed us a few sleep-ins, which I needed after my Sydney trip with Danny. Most of Monday was spent washing & ironing and getting back into the swing of life here. I had hoped to keep up the walking, but was too tired, so saved that until Tuesday. Not only were daffodils just starting to open up, but also Marjorie Atkinson’s special camellia that she gave us quite a few years ago, had burst into bloom. It was fully-grown when she offered it to us from her former garden and it gives us great pleasure every year.
On Tuesday I went
to Coles, where Wendy and Mari were very pleased to see me and asked where I
had been – how good is that! After a big shop, I joined 14 others at the
Daylesford Cinema to see the film ‘Women He’s Undressed’, which is a
beautifully crafted Australian film about a relatively unknown chap, Orry
Kelly, from Kiama, who designed costumes for Hollywood films for many years and
won three Oscars for his work. We all loved it.
Afterwards Wes and
I finally had lunch at ‘Jackie’s on Vincent’, the new café on the site of
‘Gracenotes’. We enjoyed dumplings, special fried rice and jasmine tea and were
thrilled to see Lisa greeting her customers by name (including us and we’ve
only been there a couple of times before). The open fire was welcoming and it
was the perfect spot to talk about the film and catch up on each other’s news.
Thanks Danny for this lovely
photo of Jane and me before the footy trying out the front row seats in the
Members at the SCG.
In the late
afternoon we donned our walking boots and took Bilbo for a walk around Lake
Daylesford, where we met a couple of local nurses from Springs Medical Centre
and a lone visitor who treats herself to a trip to Daylesford every year, and
was hungry for some history of the place.
We were very
relieved that James Hird finally resigned from Essendon and hope that his
departure, and the impending retirement of Chairman, Paul Little, will help the
Club to heal. The past three years have been hell for the players and
supporters and so many talented people have left the Club in the wake of the
supplements scandal.
Wednesday was a
cold, but dry morning, and after a haircut with Lyndal Conroy, I set off to
Melbourne, firstly to deliver the contract of sale of Joan’s house to Peter
Russo, and more importantly to visit Leanne again for the first time in three
weeks.
Beautiful sculpture called ‘Mare
& Foal’ in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney
Leanne had baked an
orange cake and I provided a mini Boston Bun, so we were well fed, while we
caught up on our news.
Meanwhile, Wes
spent the morning gardening and tidying up over at Barbara’s home before
driving to Ballarat for an intensive hearing test. I was amazed when he
returned with the information that I would have to claim the Medicare rebate on
line, as I thought just about everywhere you go these days can do it for you. I
was even more amazed when I discovered I couldn’t do it online, but needed to
download the Express Medicare App, take a photo of the receipt and handle the
claim that way.
We three slept in
on Thursday morning, which was wonderful and I only woke when the recycling
bins were emptied at 6.30am. It was great to go back to bed with a pot of tea
and do the crosswords while my two boys slept on. During the morning, Nick
Massaro popped in to fix another of our dining room chairs which was falling
apart, and afterwards I went to hear a U3A ‘Interesting Lives’ chat by Maureen
Andrew, at the Daylesford Museum. Maureen was battling a cough, but kept us
entertained for an hour or so with a potted history of her
professional time in
musicals here and overseas. She started off in ‘Hair’, which we saw in both
Sydney (1970) & Melbourne (1971), and nowadays she does cabarets at ‘The
Grande’ hotel in Hepburn Springs, where she is a big hit with locals. Her
favourite show is ‘Billy Elliot’, which we loved as a stage play as well.
This stunning photo of Tayla
Harris (without the words) first appeared in The Age after the Melbourne &
Western Bulldogs Women’s teams played a televised curtain raiser to the Men’s
game last Sunday. I was flying home and missed it, but many of my friends
watched it and said how enjoyable it was. It even out-rated the Adelaide &
Essendon AFL game, which was played the day before. It reminds me of the
stunning statue of Teddy Whitten in full flight which is outside the MCG.
During the
afternoon, which Wes spent on the phone to Foxtel trying to retrieve our
free-to-air stations, which had mysteriously disappeared, I took Bilbo for a
walk around the Botanic Gardens; before we settled down to watch the 5th
Test at The Oval. We were delighted to see the Aussies reach a century before
lunch, and be 3/267 when bad light stopped play.
On Friday, Wes and
Bilbo were up bright and early and enjoyed a walk around Lake Daylesford. I
headed off to pick some lemons from Bill & Sue’s prolific trees, collect a
bag of dry pinecones from Hepburn Springs, and deliver mail & letters to
Judi & Michael’s place. Judi & Michael arrive home today after 10 days’
holiday in Canberra and Sydney, which included some time camping. As Judi does
when we are away, I have been popping in every two days to water plants and
check that everything is OK. I also had some more beanies to deliver to Mell
Sappho, who runs ‘Keeping Daylesford Warm’. I’ve had enough of beanies and am
moving back to squares today!
We were glued to
the footy that night when Port Adelaide got the jump on Hawthorn and somehow
managed to stay ahead and beat them by 22 points in a very exciting game. At
the same time, the cricket was on, so we were channel hopping.
Yesterday we woke to
discover the Poms had unexpectedly capitulated and it looked as though Michael
Clarke would get to enforce the follow-on for the first time in his final Test
as Captain. I left home at 7.45am to drive to Melbourne for a busy day. Firstly
I dropped off a cat scratching post at Strathmore for Smokey as Leanne had been
unable to get one, then I drove to the MCG where I had reserved a spot in the
undercover car-park. From there I walked into Federation Square and collected
my ticket to see ‘David Bowie Is’ at ACMI (the Australian Centre for the Moving
Image). What a wonderful exhibition this is with most of David’s costumes, lots
and lots of memorabilia, short films, long films and giant projections of live
performances.
My favourite costume
I was particularly
impressed by the young, enthusiastic staff at ACMI, which I must confess I
haven’t visited before, even though it sits next door to the Ian Potter Centre
(the Australian Art Gallery of the NGV). As I was leaving David Bowie, I
discovered there was another exhibition across the floor, which was entitled ‘Orry
Kelly’. So I strolled in there and saw some of his costumes, more footage from
films, his three Logies and various other pieces of memorabilia. What a treat!
When I left ACMI, I
walked back to the MCG and got a great seat in the back row on the wing in the
Balcony area of the MCC. Although it reached 19° in Melbourne, it was jackets
and beanies weather in the MCC. As it was early I went for a walk around the
top sections of the whole ground, something I can do because I am both an MCC
& AFL member. It was fun to watch the staff setting up and to see all the
improvements that have been made recently. However, the SCG leaves us for dead
when it comes to food choices – there is still very little for a non-meat
eater, although I eventually found an egg & lettuce wrap, which was yummy.
There was no sign of Loud Gayle and her friend, Heather, in their normal spots.
Clever graphics at the G – this banner
used to hang at Victoria Park – the days of banners are long gone but it was
great to see it again, briefly, and fluttering in the breeze on the Great
Southern Stand
Sadly, the football
was most disappointing and almost from the very start, it was obvious that
Richmond was the more committed side. I kept hoping the Pies would spring into
action, but it wasn’t to be and I left at ¾ time, thus missing Richmond’s 9
goal last quarter. They are looking the goods with the finals three weeks away.
When I arrived back
home, it was lovely to be greeted with a big glass of red wine and an early
dinner. Wes and Bilbo had enjoyed a day of gardening and cleaning up and we
were all tired and in bed by 8pm.
I woke this morning
to find that St Kilda, which raced out of the blocks against Geelong, had hung
on for a draw, which is a fine effort and that the cricket scores were very
exciting, with England on the ropes in their second innings, still 129 runs
behind Australia.
Great action shot of Siddle
appealing
As I sit here,
there is mist everywhere...hopefully it will have lifted by the time Bilbo and
I set off for the Sunday Market. Our usual breakfast has been cancelled as
there are only 3 of us available and it doesn’t seem fair to the ‘Food Gallery’
to make them run up and down the stairs for 3 customers. So we are planning a
walk and perhaps brunch afterwards, before a quiet day, seeing if we can get
Carlton over the line against Melbourne.
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