Dear Friends, when
I left you last Sunday, Bilbo and I were looking forward to pumping mineral water,
the Sunday Market and breakfast, especially as Margot would be back and giving
Bilbo an extra treat or two. Margot brought her friend, Gladys, with her, and
Gail White arrived saying that getting up early wasn’t so hard after all! We
enjoyed a good chat, catching up on Margot’s holiday in Coolangatta and Judi’s
latest visit to Caloundra to see her mother, Mavis.
Afterwards Wes
spent a frustrating 90 minutes or so trying to get Foxtel to recognise the
free-to-air stations on our TVs and finally spoke to a supervisor, who agreed
to send out a technician. Imagine our joy when that technician came at 9am the
next morning and re-tuned all the stations, saying they had not been done
correctly the last time.
Stunning photo of a friend’s home
being moved from Hepburn to Daylesford in 1910 – pity the poor horses!
I was unable to
watch the Collingwood seconds playing Sandringham in a cutthroat final, but
Leanne kept me up-to-date with scores, and after the Magpies led for most of
the match, we were overrun at the end. The same thing happened to sentimental
favourites, Richmond, at the MCG, that afternoon, when they were unable to
maintain their early lead, and lost to North Melbourne narrowly in front of
90,000+.
On Monday, Wes took
Bilbo to Victoria Park for a different early walk, and I decided to walk to
gym, where I hadn’t been for six weeks. The walk was a good idea, as I didn’t
feel so stiff when I arrived. Everyone was pleased to see me and I did a
sensible routine, before walking back home again via the Post Office, Tonna’s
and the Pharmacy.
We had invited
Terry Larkins & his partner, Lyn Richardson, who live in Gisborne, and Bob
White, who is in Trentham, to come to lunch, and it was a perfect day for
visitors. Wes spent the early morning gardening in the front before getting
settled in the kitchen and creating wonders, as he does. I set the table, arranged
the flowers, made sure there was enough cold white wine, and iced water.
Terry and Lyn
arrived just before midday, which was 30 minutes earlier than we expected, but
Wes coped very well and just kept on chopping and preparing, while I took Lyn
on a tour of the house. We realised, as this house has been around for 11
years, that their visit was very overdue, as the last time Lyn came to our
house, we were in the old weekender.
Lunch went well –
Wes had made his best fish pie ever and accompanied it with drumsticks
smothered in coriander seeds and peppercorns, as well as green beans. Terry
& Lyn had brought some cheeses, so I added a yummy French blue to their
choices, and we finished up with Eton Mess using freshly bought strawberries
& raspberries. Everyone sat around over coffee and chocolates until it was
nearly 4pm and Bob wanted to go home to walk his dog, Rusty.
Bob with his grandson on Fathers’
Day before the Collingwood vs Essendon game
It was a minute
after our guests left that Bob rang to let us know that Malcolm Turnbull had
decided to challenge Tony Abbot for the job of Prime Minister. We watched ABC
24 until we were saturated in news of the spill and went to bed not knowing the
result. Even AFL 360 got into the act with Robbo challenging Gerard Whateley to
be the main compere – Gerard won with allegedly 95% of the vote, Robbo 2% and
Undecided 3%!!!
I couldn’t sleep properly and woke just after
10pm to discover Malcolm had won and Australia was rid of Tony Abbot at last. I
let Wes know and we both slept very happily after that. Even though it probably
means that the Liberals will have another term in office, I much prefer the
sort of government Malcolm Turnbull offers Australia to the shame I, and so
many others have experienced, under Tony’s leadership. I have to go back to
Billy McMahon’s time to remember a similar feeling, and fortunately, his reign
was cut short as well.
After 21° on
Monday, we listened to the rain fall steadily through the night, and needed to
put the heating on when we got up, as the temperature had fallen by at least
10°. It was too wet for Wes to walk Bilbo before he went to the Daylesford
Cinema to show the film ‘Trainwreck’, which he told me I would not enjoy. I had
the morning at home apart from walking Bilbo when the weather improved. We had
leftovers for lunch and then I suggested Wes go back to bed as I thought he was
looking very tired and his cough had returned. He rejected the idea and went
downstairs to work, but within 30 minutes, he was back again, saying I was
right and he needed to lie down.
Me aged three, wearing a dress
made by my grandmother, Doll Munro
Wes was much
improved on Wednesday, but I persuaded him to lie in bed reading The Age until
just before Sandra arrived to clean. Once again I walked to gym, had a good
workout and walked back home again. On the way, I ran into our neighbours,
David & Steve, who live in front of Rob & Dene’s house. They have
bought a home in Yamba and we thought they had moved there permanently, but it
is a Winter escape only. Later I took Bilbo for a walk around the Wombat Hill
Botanic Gardens and bought some fresh Atlantic salmon steaks for lunch, which
Wes baked to perfection in the oven, and I provided salads.
I was absolutely
thrilled to still have energy after all that exercise in the morning, so took
advantage of the lovely weather to do some potting of seedlings. I had emptied out
the greenhouse and it was looking very sad indeed. Now it has grosse lisse and
roma tomatoes, as well as zucchini and coriander seedlings. I have planted a
few small geraniums in pots to provide colour – the cockies are destroying the
pansies, so I hope they will leave these plants alone.
Geese at the corner of Houston
& King Streets – they’ll be at our house next!
We were very sorry
to hear from Janine Hawker’s son, Paul, that his father, David, had died on
Monday at Daylesford Hospital. He has been unwell for sometime as a result of
strokes and lately discovered that he had cancer too. Janine and her daughter,
Peta, are away in Russia on a short cruise, which they have decided to complete
before returning to hold a memorial service for David.
Wes had been
invited by Peter Gavin to go to the Celtic Club on Thursday, for ‘St Pat’s Day
in Spring’, so he asked Tom & Danny to come along, and booked Danny’s spare
bed for the night, much to my relief. He set off in the early afternoon looking
great in his new green jumper. Meanwhile I had spent lunchtime at ‘Jackie’s on
Vincent’ catching up with Judi and spending a very leisurely 1½ hours together.
We knew most of the other diners including Jasmine Sinclair, who used to own it
when it was ‘Gracenotes’.
In the morning I
had walked Bilbo twice around the path of the Botanic Gardens, mostly because I
just love all the hellebores which are still out – there is every shade from
cream to deep purple, and the hyacinths, which range from white, yellow and pale
pink through to the deepest burgundy. Bilbo loves the fernery, where he can
brush his face along the fish ferns and we both enjoy the running water, which
cascades down into a small pond.
Wes, Tom &
Danny enjoyed a lovely night together at the Celtic Club, sampling whiskies,
drinking Guinness and eating bangers & mash. They shared a taxi home, which
was very sensible. The next morning Wes bought croissants for he and Danny to
share for breakfast before coming back home via ‘Sunny the Indian Barber’.
Tom, Wes & Danny – two out of
three wearing green!
Bilbo and I had an
interesting night, which started with him sound asleep by my side of the bed,
until I woke unable to move at 1.48am to discover he had jumped onto the bed
and was wedged up next to me, leaving me with approximately 10cm of bed. I
tried to push him away, but he turned into an immovable Labrador and stayed
that way until 6am, when I tempted him off the bed with a bone. Later we went
supermarket shopping, then walked around the Botanic Gardens before coming home
and gardening for a while.
Wes cooked a
colourful pasta lunch on his return and then spent the rest of the afternoon
resting. We went to bed to watch the footy but it was all over at quarter time,
with the Hawks playing at their absolute best and the Crows no match for them
at all.
Yesterday I set off
to Strathmore early to visit Leanne. We had a good visit and I arrived back
home in time for a yummy risotto. My two boys had enjoyed a quiet morning,
reading The Age and relaxing in the sun. After all the driving, I find I am
quite tired when I get home and happy to spend the rest of the day reading,
listening to the radio and doing the crosswords.
We settled in that
night to watch North Melbourne play Sydney at the Olympic Stadium, and
although, Sydney tried their hardest, they were no match for the Kangaroos in
the second half, especially as they were missing quite a few of their star
players.
This morning Bilbo
and I are off to the Sunday Market, then breakfast. We have nothing planned for
the rest of the day, as Monday is a busy one, especially for Wes. We are
excited to be having a lunchtime visit from Lovely (Karen) & Malcolm, whom
we haven’t seen in ages and tomorrow night, Wes has been invited by the ABC
Ballarat to be an audience member at ‘Q&A’, which will feature Bill Shorten.
He asked me if I would like to go with him, but I suggested he take someone a
little more politically savvy, such as Jenny Beacham, instead. She accepted
with pleasure and they are both looking forward to their evening together.
Waterfall & pool in the
fernery, Wombat Hill Botanical Gardens
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