I was very keen to
see the 2015 Swiss + Italian Landscape Art Prize, which was being shown in ‘The
Convent Gallery’, so headed there around 11am and enjoyed wandering around and
looking at the 58 paintings on display. Both of us know all three prizewinners
and two are friends, so it was quite a thrill to see Valerie Roberts &
Brian Nash take out the top two prizes. The Convent is looking good, with some
interesting art, and is always worth a visit – I just don’t seem to have made
my way there in the past year or so.
More photos from the Swiss +
Italian Festa
On Monday, it was a
cold day with drizzle – amazing to need the heater on again after the
air-conditioner the day before. I went to gym and then walked Bilbo around the
Gardens. Wes went to the Writers’ Group and was the only one there, so started
on his next short story about ‘Uncle Bill’, who has been the subject of many of
his speeches over the years.
Our roses are
starting to bloom in earnest and the garden is looking superb at present.
Irises are just emerging, there is fruit setting on the various trees, the rosemary
is flowering, the seaside daisies are going crazy and wherever you look, little
surprises are emerging. Even the ornamental grape is enjoying a growth spurt
and the lemon tree has lots of flowers, which we hope turn into lemons.
Our beautiful new Japanese Maple,
nicknamed ‘Miss Blake’ after Joan Testro, in whose honour this was bought
Wes and I enjoyed
Tuesday morning’s film ‘Ricki and the Flash’ mostly for the wonderful acting
performance by Meryl Streep. The storyline was good but suffered from poor
writing, the acting fell away after the three leads and the film could have
finished earlier without drumming the message into its audience quite so hard.
When we came out of
the cinema and turned on our phones, we were delighted to read the news that
Ben Lazzaro and his wife, Leanne Meli, have a baby daughter, Olivia May, born a
week early.That afternoon Wes
spent pulling weeds from the garden, while Alanna at EKO gave my fingers and
toes the full treatment.
On Wednesday, I played
Mah Jong with Dot & Valerie, while Wes spent the morning helping Barbara in
the garden and with the computer. That afternoon he drove to Malvern to check
out Joan Testro’s home in preparation for the removal of the remaining
furniture and books on Friday. In the evening, he attended a dinner meeting of
our financial advisors, First Samuel, at ‘Quaff’ restaurant in South Yarra and
arrived back here around 9.30pm. Bilbo and I had been for a walk in the Gardens
in the late afternoon, so Bilbo was too tired even to get up when Wes walked in
the door.
We had a busy
morning on Thursday – Wes and Bilbo walked early, then an electrician from
Fells arrived to put in some more power points and replace two fans – one the
exhaust in the downstairs bathroom, and the other, the ill-fated ceiling fan in
our bedroom that has never worked properly and now doesn’t work at all. Colin
is a very pleasant man, who listened and then did what was wanted. While he was
working, Glenn Mack arrived with morning tea, for a catch-up with Wes and me.
I had to leave in
the middle of his visit as I had a fringe trim booked with Lyndal Conroy at
‘The Cutting Studio’. Much to my amazement, 29-year-old Lyndal is besotted with
Glomesh and is buying up handbags and purses like they are going out of
fashion...perhaps they are on the way back in!
Wes spent his
afternoon pottering away in the garden as it was a perfect day here. I was
quite tired after all the socialising in the morning, so I spent time on the
computer with Bilbo at my feet.
On Friday Wes left
early to drive to Malvern to do what he hoped would be the last cleanout at
Joan’s place. Her piano is going to her great-nephew, Kyahl Anderson, and that
was picked up on time, which gave Wes a chance to grab a late breakfast before
helping the people from Ballan who were collecting the rest of the furniture
and books for the Community Shop attached to the Ballan Hospital.
Bilbo and I joined
the Strollers for the shorter bushwalk around Sailors Falls, which was very
ably led by Rob McDonald. Most of the walkers were staying on for lunch, which
they had brought to share. Rob & Marg are very generous hosts as well as
being excellent winemakers.
In the afternoon, I
planted 25 tomato seedlings, which were more than ready to go into the ground
after being nursed through the frosty mornings in our little greenhouse. That
took me about 90 minutes, which was the longest I’ve spent gardening for ages
and necessitated quite a rest before I tackled the ironing and sundry other
chores. Wes arrived home around 3.30pm very happy with the day, but needing to
go back again yesterday, as not all the books and furniture had fitted in the
van.
So we were both up
early and heading to Melbourne in separate cars – me to visit Leanne and Wes to
finish off clearing out Joan’s home so that the cleaners can come in and get it
looking good for settlement in a couple of weeks’ time. We both drove through
heavy rain and we both had successful mornings.
We had invited Judi
to share Derby Day with us as her husband, Michael, has gone to Blackheath in
the Blue Mountains to spend time with his best friends, Roger & Vicky. I
collected Judi on my way home from Leanne after an unpleasant drive with the
road full of hoons and people not used to driving regularly. Wes had endured a
similar experience and was already back here getting lunch ready. He had asked
Gary & Katie, the people who had emptied Joan’s house, if they would
deliver a bookcase to us on their way home to Daylesford, so we waited lunch
until they arrived. They, of course, had their lunch first, and arrived around
2.30pm just as Wes had decided to cook the fish anyway!
My favourite rose - Friesia
The rest of our
afternoon went smoothly and we picked up two quinellas worth $117 in total for
$27 outlay – a very satisfactory result, which more than made up for last week’s
losses. Wes drove Judi home after the last race and we were all in bed by 7pm
and ready for lights out not much later.
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