Dear Friends, we
had a lovely Sunday after I sent the Dispatch last week. Bilbo and I headed to
the Market, where everyone stopped to give him a pat and have a chat. We had
let the fridge get empty and Yvonne was delighted when I spent $46 restocking
fruit and vegetables. I also collected eggs & dog bones and because there
was no hurry to get home and unpack in time to get to breakfast at 9am, I did
my final visit to Judi and Michael’s home to leave them some eggs, lemons, onions,
spuds and garlic.
Wes, Bilbo and I
went to ‘Jackie’s on Vincent’ for breakfast around 9.15am where we are already
in a rut – I love the omelette with mushrooms & feta, and Wes can’t go past
the big bowl of porridge with local honey. David O’Reilly spotted Bilbo sitting
out the front, so came in for a chat. Afterwards we drove to Lake Daylesford
and set off for the walk to Twin Bridges and back. This is one of our favourite
walks and it has been closed for weeks following the high winds that knocked
over some very large trees. We met no one and enjoyed listening to the birds
and the sound of water in the creek, which is fed from the overflow of the
Lake.
In the afternoon, Wes
finally had a chance to cheer for the Blues when they managed a good win
against the luckless Melbourne Demons. Carlton put on a good team effort and
gave all their supporters some heart leading into 2016. I had made minestrone
soup, so we enjoyed that with toast for dinner, before heading to bed to watch
Australia wrap up the 5th Test. Sadly for us, rain came, an early
lunch was taken, and we were well and truly asleep when Peter Siddle collected
the last two wickets.
We were thrilled to
wake up to that news and Wes took Bilbo for an early walk around the Lake even
though it was quite cold with a chilly wind. I had declared the day one for
washing & ironing and did countless loads, as well as cooking special fried
rice for lunch. Wes got ham in his and I had bean sprouts with mine. Wes had
attended a funeral of an ALP friend, John Knowles, at Eganstown Cemetery, and
was pleased to warm up with a hot meal on his return.
Leanne’s cat, Smokey, enjoying
his scratching post
It was another
cold, wild morning on Tuesday, so all thoughts of a walk were abandoned and we
three slept for another hour. Wes went off at 9am to get the Daylesford Cinema
warm for the 10am patrons coming to see ‘Mr Holmes’. There were only a handful
of us watching the film, and Wes was able to join us. We both loved it very
much & especially enjoyed the interplay between Ian McKellan and Milo
Parker, the young boy. Afterwards we came home for an encore of minestrone
soup. I had hoped to walk Bilbo in the afternoon, but the wind was so cold that
I couldn’t easily breathe, so we stayed inside and kept warm instead.
I thought gym was
restarting on Wednesday morning, but I was the only one who turned up and it
appears that Barry isn’t returning until next week. This gave me some extra
time to catch up on emails etc and to work on our trip to Adelaide at the end
of November. We had decided on the spur of the moment to get tickets for the
first day/night Test in Australia, which will be against the Kiwis. Jane &
David Knox are also coming, but only for the first two days. Getting the
tickets was the easy part – finding suitable accommodation within walking
distance wasn’t quite as easy. However, we have booked an apartment for 5 nights
and it is only 1.5kms from the Adelaide Oval. We are going to stay in Dunkeld
for two nights on the way over and explore The Grampians, and are planning a
visit to the Clare Valley on the way back.
Valerie celebrated
her 83rd birthday yesterday, so after Mah Jong we had a small
get-together, with Dot’s husband, John, and Warren, coming in to join us. Dot
& John had to go to Ballarat, so were only able to stay for a hot drink,
but Warren, Valerie and I had toasted sandwiches, which were warming after the
cold morning. Wes had spent his morning helping Barbara, who needed an upgrade
to Windows 10 etc.
Valerie with her daughter,
Alison, partner, Peter & granddaughter, Jamie-Lee
During the afternoon,
I started to feel unwell and retired to bed, where I have been ever since. It
seems as though I am having a relapse of the bronchial asthma, exacerbated by a
setback with chronic fatigue and bed is the best place to be, especially with a
lovely Labrador by my side. Wes has been brilliant as usual, making tasty meals
and never complaining about the extra work. On Thursday night, he went to a
special showing of the Hermitage Exhibition at the NGV and enjoyed it very
much. I was very sorry to miss out.
On Friday morning,
he went by train to Collingwood’s ‘Yorkshire Hotel’ to meet up with 20 or so
other 1965 St Bernard’s Matriculants and a good time was had by all as they
celebrated 50 years since their final year. When he finally arrived home around
7.30pm that night, he was tired but very happy with the success of the
function, with the accumulation of stories and photos and with the energy that
suggests this could become an annual event.
That night, much to
the delight of many Collingwood supporters, we finally got our act back
together and played well for an entire game. The big highlight for the Cats was
seeing Daniel Menzel, who has been missing for 4 years with knee replacement
surgeries. He was their best player and looked fearless as he marked, kicked
and tackled with freedom.
Yesterday the Blues
were unable to reproduce their winning form and I suspect that many of their
players failed their auditions in front of their next coach, Brendan Bolton,
who will be very keen to get going and make a difference in that Club. The game
of the round was between the Western Bulldogs & North Melbourne, which was
tough, exciting match to watch and which was won in great style by the Doggies.
No comments:
Post a Comment