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Sunday, 6 March 2016

Daylesford Autumn Dispatch - Sunday, 6th March 2016


 Dear Friends, here we are finally enjoying Autumn and the beautiful colours that the Hepburn Shire produces in order to celebrate this season. When I left you last week, we were heading off for breakfast at the Food Gallery and a most interesting time it was. We discussed Janine’s parents’ 70th wedding Anniversary which was on 2nd March; had a heated discussion about the RSL; talked about authors we enjoy, which was led by Aileen who loves reading Geraldine Brooks & Judi, who was recommending Jill Ker Conway to Wes; as well as films, old and new, especially as Aileen had been catching up on them while her mother, Dorothy, is in Creswick Care, giving Aileen two weeks’ respite.

I had bought a beautiful rose called ‘Olde Fragrance’ from Ken Rae at the Sunday Market, so Wes planted that in the front garden, and I wandered around cutting the few roses that had survived the strong winds of the past two mornings.


In the afternoon, we had been invited to the 60th birthday party of Steve Bowie, who lives with his partner, David Wilson, in a beautiful home in front of Dene & Rob, our neighbours. There were 100 friends & rellos expected during the afternoon and we spent a couple of most enjoyable hours there before we had to come back home. David & Steve are very generous hosts and had employed Gary Thomas, who runs ‘Spade & Blade’ to do the catering. There were jugs of Pimms, champagne, delicate little canapés served on tiered cake stands and plenty of wait staff making sure everyone had a drink & bite to eat. We spent quite a lot of time catching up with Rob & Dene – they might live next door, but we don’t get to just chat very often, and we all enjoyed it.

On Monday morning at gym, I finally did a chest press, my first since my operation, and, although I lifted 5 kg less than previously, I was able to do it easily and without any pain, which was a big relief. Wes picked me up afterwards & we went to Wombat Hill Nursery to collect some potting mix, as we need to refill our beautiful big pots out the front, which ended up being home to wasps instead of fennel.


At the end of our street as I walked to gym....



Lovely photo of Leon Anderson at Coburg Cemetery at the grave of his great-grandparents – Ron & Ruby Maloney, AKA The Tossing Testros

Judi & Michael arrived at 11.45am to swap cars – Judi was on her way to Melbourne Airport to visit her mother, Mavis, who turned 90 yesterday and they were reluctant to drive their overheating Subaru that distance & back. When Michael returned around 3pm, we had invited him to share a late lunch/early dinner with us. Wes made his famous fish pie and Michael had brought a cold bottle of Chandon, as well as two yummy cheeses and biscuits, so we cut out the poached peaches we had planned to serve as sweets & got stuck into the cheese & Shiraz instead.

We didn’t watch the Oscars but were delighted to discover that Mark Rylance won Best Supporting Actor for his role in ‘The Bridge’. Wes set off on Tuesday morning to show ‘Spotlight’ and we had a better than usual audience because it had won Best Film. We were both blown away by the film, which rates up there in the ‘Best Film Ever’ class. Afterwards, we met at the Food Gallery for croissants and a very necessary debrief. Don’t miss it if you haven’t already seen it!

As I was leaving gym on Wednesday, I received a message from Dot to say she wasn’t feeling well enough to play Mah Jong, so Valerie and I played, as Valerie was already on the road to Daylesford from Castlemaine. We had a lovely morning and shared the honours evenly, playing some of the trickier hands, which are much easier to get with only two players.


Meanwhile Wes had decided to take Barbara around Lake Daylesford to take advantage of the improved path. They walked down with Bilbo and enjoyed it all until the brake stuck on Barbara’s wheelchair. Wes and Bilbo walked back home, collected tools and the car, fixed the problem and finished the walk. By the time I arrived back, they were both recovering from their exertions, as the day was getting hotter. That afternoon Wes had promised to visit Janine Hawker in Musk to help her with her printer & computer, which he duly did. I defrosted the other half of our ‘Gusto’ quiche and made a couple of salads for dinner, to save Wes having to turn around and cook when he came back.

We had bought tickets in Gold Class to see ‘The Lady in the Van’ on Thursday morning at Ballarat and headed off very happily to enjoy a couple of hours of Maggie Smith brilliance. We just loved the film, which was much more of a story than the trailer had led us to believe, but we were perhaps the only ones in Gold Class who were delighted with it – most others said it wasn’t what they expected.

Afterwards we walked to Doveton Street to find ‘Harry Limes’ (no apostrophe), which was rated very highly for its food. The menu was lengthy and diverse, but the tables had paper cloths and the chairs were comfy, so we stayed. Big mistake – our Salt & Pepper squid appeared to have arrived pre-prepared from Coles, sitting on an equally already prepared ‘Greek’ salad with some of the toughest feta & tasteless olives we have ever encountered. Wes was keen to have a glass of wine, but fortunately was never offered a glass, as we are sure it would have been very ‘vin ordinaire’.

We left quickly and drove to look at the ribbons tied on the fence around St Patrick’s Cathedral and then into the old Cemetery where Wes showed me the two monuments to the Eureka Stockade miners & soldiers – suitably a distance from each other. He also took me to see the extensive Chinese section, where the graves are well tended and the inscriptions have been reprinted on the headstones




On Friday, Wes headed off to Gisborne to play golf with Tom Tyrrell, Danny Millman & Bobby Preston. I did the shopping early and walked Bilbo around the Gardens, as it was too hot to go on the Bushwalk at Sailors Falls.
Afterwards I turned 2kg of our tomatoes into pasta sauce, using parsley, dill, oregano & basil from our garden.

Wes arrived home late afternoon – he had really enjoyed his time with old friends and had managed to play a few good shots, even if Danny left everyone else for dead and claimed the trophy.






Danny & Bobby at Gisborne.....Kevin Hoolihan with his grandson, Archie (7) & grand-daughter, Amelia (2) at Torksey Lock, Lincolnshire

Yesterday was a little busier than we expected – Wes walked Bilbo early, put my henna on for me and then gave Bilbo a bath. Around 9am, I set off for the Farmers’ Market and Wes drove to Tylden looking for manure for our big pots out the front, which have been empty since the wasps’ nest was cleared. At the Market, I chatted with Ken Rae, who had brought a selection of Perfume Delight roses for me to choose from, and then with Michael Ivanchenko & Gillie Gough, who wandered onto the Daylesford Primary School oval as we were heading home.

Wes arrived back to say that he had bumped into Dave & Angela Carey, who were parking the car and coming in for coffee. Wes & Dave were at St Bernard’s College together and Dave spent his working life as a publican, so he knows everyone & everything, but we do have a love of Collingwood in common.


Dave in the under 14s cricket side at St Bernard’s in 1960

Victor & Anna Szwed dropped in a big zucchini for Bilbo, and Rob from next door called to me to say we had ducks in the bottom of our garden, but by the time I put Bilbo inside and found my phone to take a photo they had flown away.

I turned on the TV to see if the Davis Cup doubles tie was being televised and discovered that Lleyton Hewitt had come out of retirement to play with John Peers against the might of the US Bryan brothers. It was wonderful tennis – typical of any game featuring Lleyton – he is never beaten until the final point. We have to win both reverse singles today to advance any further and everyone is wondering if Lleyton will play again instead of Sam Groth, who had a tantrum or two during his singles loss on Friday.

In the afternoon, we settled down to watch Collingwood & North Melbourne play in 40° heat in Wagga. There was a good crowd and atmosphere and the game was close, with the Pies holding on to win by 8 pts.

Bilbo & Wes were up early this morning for a walk around Lake Daylesford in the dark. Bilbo is now sitting at my feet waiting for me to finish writing this & put him into the car for whatever adventures this Sunday morning holds. After we pump water at Leitches Creek and buy fruit, vegetables, bones & a Perfume Delight rose at the Sunday Market, we will be having breakfast with Barbara, Margot & Janine. Wes is hoping to get into the garden before it gets too hot, as another 33° day is forecast.


Karen outside the Law Library at Melbourne Uni last month


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