Morse

Morse
Morse & friend

Sunday, 14 February 2016

Daylesford Summer Dispatch - Sunday, 14th February 2016


 

Dear Friends, our week started very well indeed. After a trip to the Sunday Market, we joined Barbara, Judi, Janine & Margot for breakfast at the Food Gallery, where we shared funny stories and overfed Bilbo, who was able to see clearly in through the window as all the obstructions had been moved. He spent his time eyeballing Margot, who usually spoils him rotten and she didn’t disappoint.

Wes and I had bought tickets to see the film of a live performance of The Importance of Being Earnest, starring David Suchet, which received rave reviews last year in London. So we headed off to the Regent Cinemas in Ballarat and joined the queue of like-minded early birds all determined to sit in the back rows. We were totally entranced by this production, which starred some very accomplished young actors as well as Michelle Dotrice, as an unforgettable Miss Prism. David Suchet was wonderful, but not as good as Ruth Cracknell, who remains the best Lady Bracknell we have ever seen. Wes reminded me that we went to Mietta’s for a drink after seeing her in the play in 1988 and were delighted when she turned up there as well.



We had hoped to partake of afternoon tea at Craig’s Hotel afterwards, but we were too late, as it had already started when we arrived there at 3.15pm. So we came back home, opened a bottle of sparkling rosé and had fish & chips instead!

On Monday morning, I ventured to gym for the first time in 4 weeks. Barry had thought about what I could do and most of my programme now concentrates on legs, with a little manageable arm work. I found I was exhausted after an hour and pleased to come home for a rest. Meanwhile Wes planted this beautiful rose, Father’s Love, in the Labrador cemetery at the bottom of our garden.
That afternoon & evening, the cricket was very exciting and NZ fully deserved their victory and retention of the Chappell-Hadlee trophy.



I was very disappointed to miss out on seeing ‘He Named Me Malala’ on Tuesday morning as I had an appointment with Andrew Lowe and couldn’t get one early enough to allow me to do both things. However, I was very thrilled that Andrew was pleased with my progress, which is slow, but good. I popped into the Daylesford Cinema to let Wes know, but he was watching the film, so I left the car keys with Lauren, who had already seen the film and was manning the desk and walked back home, where Bilbo was delighted to have company again.

I think I must have been more anxious than I had expected as it wasn’t long after lunch that I went to bed for a rest. Andrew had told me to go back to taking 2 Panadol each night and that certainly dulls the pain.

Valerie, Dot & I played Mah Jong again on Wednesday morning. The staff at Muffins & More had moved all the tables and we were able to sit right in the middle instead of against the wall. We had a fun morning with quite a few interested onlookers, most of whom had never heard of or seen Mah Jong. Wes spent the morning helping Barbara to pick fruit from her trees and encouraging her to do what he did with our nectarines – stewed them, so we can enjoy them on our breakfast cereal or muesli each morning.

On Thursday, there was a fund-raising showing of the film ‘An Affair to Remember’, so we went along to the 10am session along with 90 others and were plied with a generous morning tea as well. We loved the film, which neither of us had seen before – Deborah Kerr & Cary Grant – two great actors who obviously enjoyed working together.


Lovely photo of Michelle Marazakis with her two children, Mikaela, who has just turned 10 & Michael, who is nearly 8, at Mikaela’s birthday party.

After lunch, Wes took Barbara on a big shop at Coles and arrived home just before Margot came to have her computer fixed. She wanted to come to our place – we suspect to spend time with Bilbo and he was delighted to see her until he realised she hadn’t brought anything for him to eat.

When her laptop was working again, Margot took her leave; Wes sat down for a quick drink and then headed off to the Daylesford Hotel for the first ALP meeting of the year. Bilbo and I were in bed by the time he arrived home, stimulated by an interesting meeting.

The next morning we all slept in. I went shopping at Coles early and then at Tonna’s as we are expecting David & Helen Lazzaro & their three children, Jessica, Maya & Daniel for lunch today and we needed to make sure we had plenty of provisions. I watched most of the first session of the First Test at the Basin Reserve in Wellington, where the Aussies were able to get some good early wickets, before leaving to join over 20 others at one of Anthony Ash’s U3A talks – this one entitled The Five Elements. Judi arrived after hosting her U3A Book Group, which had met early to allow 4 members to get to this session. Anthony is always entertaining and interesting and we enjoyed his talk very much. I left before the end as I had promised Wes to be back by 1pm in time for lunch and the last session of cricket.

Yesterday we were up early and on the road to Melbourne by 7.30am armed with provisions, roses, herbs and produce from the garden for Leanne, as well as gifts for Ben, Leanne, Jack & Olivia Lazzaro. Wes dropped me off at Strathmore and headed to Brunswick to see them all before arriving back in time to have a coffee with Leanne as well. We left her and were back home in good time to see Adam Voges batting magnificently and he was unbeaten on 176 by the end of the day.


Bilbo enjoying new pillows courtesy of Auntie Leanne

I am sitting in the study looking out into our garden, which is full of roses in bloom – especially red, yellow, orange & pink. It is a still dull morning and we are very pleased to be expecting a top temperature of 22°, which is 10° lower than yesterday. Bilbo is by my side waiting for the invitation to hop into the car and join me on my trip to the Sunday Market.



Perc in 1944 in RAAF dress – aged 25, and 22 years later with Viva & four of his five children at 1 Morrow Street, West Brunswick – Leanne, Karen, Pauline, Perc, Viva & Peter




Happy Valentine’s Day everyone – I’ll be in touch again very soon.

No comments:

Post a Comment