Dear
Friends, I am sorry it has been so long since I last wrote, but this bout of bronchial
asthma has really laid me low. Wes has been wonderful – cooking & serving
meals, bringing drinks, walking & feeding Bilbo, washing & ironing,
gardening, shopping, taking care of phone calls & looking after visitors.
He spent a lot of time in the first week with Barbara as well both to make up
for no Sunday breakfast, as it had been cancelled, and doing jobs for her.
Some
time ago, Wes had invited Leon to spend last weekend with us. He planned to
meet at Trentham for Spudfest, take him to the local footy, cook him a meal and
involve him in all our activities for the weekend. My plan was to be at the MCG
watching Collingwood & Carlton play and I was to arrive home in time for
dinner. Wes decided to invite Barbara to share in the Saturday fun, so they
drove together to Spudfest and enjoyed it, as well as the local footy. It was a
shame that the Carlton supporters weren’t the ones at home watching the match,
as the Blues beat the Pies for the first time in a few years.
Wes & Leon
listening to Danny Spooner & Leon in short sleeves in Daylesford in May at
Victoria Park watching local footy
Wes
had hoped to have a bit of a dinner party that night, but decided it was too
hard with me in bed and I was very grateful to him for that. He and Leon made a
fish pie, which we all tucked into. The next morning Leon came on the early
& wet walk with Wes & Bilbo and told how Bilbo had waited until Wes was
in bed the previous night, before leaping onto the couch to keep Leon company –
sneaky little bugger!
After
the Sunday Market & Breakfast, Leon headed off to spend some time with his
mother, Denise, for Mother’s Day. Wes came back here and announced that Bilbo
wanted to take me out for lunch – sometime in the future when I was up to it!
It was a wild, wet day after the brilliant sunshine of the day before and I
think we were all pleased to be warm and comfortable inside. We had offered
Judi & Michael the loan of our Mazda 2 for a few days, as they still can’t
drive their car very long distances and needed to go to Geelong that day.
On
Monday I finally got up, dressed, and lasted until after lunch, before I had to
return to bed. And so it has gone each day, with me lasting a couple more hours
until I am now nearly back to normal, although still coughing.
I
was sorry to miss two films ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2’ and ‘Brooklyn’, both
of which Wes got to see and enjoyed very much. I also had to postpone all sorts
of appointments, so this coming week will be rather busy, but I am being
careful not to overload myself too much on any one day.
David Castles posted
this beautiful Snoopy cartoon on FB & I couldn’t resist sharing it
While
Wes was at the Daylesford Cinema, I made a batch of minestrone soup, which
lasted us well for the week. I had visions of painting, but that has been too
much to contemplate, so I’ve swept up a few leaves, paid some bills on the
computer, answered emails, read the paper, knitted and rested. The old Karen
would have been raring to go, but the chronic fatigued Karen just doesn’t have
the energy.
I
was taken for an outing on Thursday – lunch at the Boathouse here, after Wes
had been part of a group of three delivering a workshop on Family History &
Genealogy with Keira Lockyer & Gary Lawrence at the Daylesford Museum. This
was well attended and well received and nearly everyone there is keen to keep
going now that they have learnt some skills and some ideas on how to attack their
projects. We haven’t eaten at the Boathouse for some time, as we were
unimpressed with the lack of service. Susanne & Claire, who successfully
ran the Farmers Arms Hotel for many years, have taken over the lease, and their
imprint is immediately noticeable with a warm greeting at the door by the
maître d’ and plenty of service! They are still on the lookout for a chef, but
we were very happy with our meals of fish & chips (Wes) & salmon
breakfast (me) each with a particularly yummy glass of Riesling.
That
morning, we were all shocked to receive a text message from Gail White to say
that her husband, Terry, had suffered a heart attack the previous night, and
was in St John of God Hospital, Ballarat, recovering. She had nothing but
praise for the Daylesford Hospital & Dr Jon Barrell & the ambulance
crew. Two hours after Terry had his attack, he was in bed in Ballarat
recovering from a stent being inserted. He has continued to improve and is
expected back home tomorrow, but will have to have a further operation in 6-8
weeks time.
Wes
had put so much into his preparation that he was very pleased to have a quiet
day on Friday, and happy to let me do the shopping while he rested. Sadly, Judi
had come down with a sore throat and raging headache, and was spending her days
in bed, but hoping to feel better by today. I delivered the weekend editions of
The Age to her as sometimes browsing through the newspaper is easier than
concentrating on a novel.
My
smart phone died unexpectedly two weeks ago and Wes very kindly took it to
Keith at Bi-Rite, and it went to Telstra hospital. We found my old Motorola and
charged it up to keep me going, but after 10 days, it died too. The only other
phone we had needs a larger SIM card, which Keith offered to supply, but Wes
gave me his phone to use in the interim. I can get text messages, FB & play
Scrabble, but not receive emails, which is slightly inconvenient, but much
better than nothing at all and I am very grateful to him. He had to notify
Barbara & the Daylesford Cinema to contact him other than by texts.
Yesterday
we had been invited to drinks & nibbles at Di & Jeff’s place, but both
Judi & I were apologies. I still can’t talk without coughing, and I didn’t
think anyone would appreciate that. Wes & Michael both went & enjoyed
themselves very much with the large crowd of friends there. Di & Jeff are
excellent hosts and have the perfect home for entertaining.
Perfect stunning
sunset last night - thanks to Frank Page for the photo
Collingwood
scored a good win over the hapless Lions at the Gabba, but the exciting match
was at the MCG, where Richmond snatched a thrilling one-point win over Sydney
with a goal kicked after the siren by Sam Lloyd.
This
morning it is life as normal – Bilbo and I are off to the Sunday Market
shortly, then Breakfast, where we will all be delighted to see Margot again
back from her cruise. We are also being joined by Peter Russo & two of his
brothers, so it should be an entertaining morning.
Unlike Charlie Brown,
Margot will be expecting a kiss of thanks this morning from Bilbo
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