Karen Maloney's Dispatch: Daylesford Winter Dispatch

Dear Friends, when I left you last Sunday, we were preparing for a busy day and it didn’t let us down. Breakfast was fun with lots of laughter, especially on the subject of Morris Dancers & clogging. Afterwards, I dropped into the Daylesford Primary School to see the stunning biennial display by the Spa Quilters, where I was amused to discover when answering the question, ‘how did you hear about this show?’ that there was no provision for being a local and attending regularly.

Detail from my favourite quilt – Wedding Rings

In the afternoon, we watched the footy, where Carlton players seemed to have forgotten everything they had learnt this year and let St Kilda run all over them. The other two matches were much closer and better games, which we had to stop watching, as it was time to go out to dinner!

Wes watching the footy with a sleepy friend

We had ordered the degustation menu at Mercato and weren’t disappointed with the stunning array of dishes – including Jerusalem artichoke veloutė, Creole spiced prawns, roasted quail (Wes) Black Angus eye fillet (Wes), cauliflower soufflé (me) and the final item was a dark chocolate ganache tart with raspberries & orange, carrot & cardamom sorbet. I gave Wes my tart, as it was far too rich & chocolaty for me, but perfect for him! I did score the raspberries & his sorbet.

It was a freezing cold morning the next day, but Wes and Bilbo walked early before everywhere iced over. Even at 9am, the pond & fountain were still frozen solid and there wasn’t much that the gardener could do, as his spade wouldn’t break up the soil. Perfect weather to recover from the night before!

I joined about 15 others to see the stunning Australian film ‘The Daughter’, which was perfectly written, directed, cast, acted & photographed. Apart from 2 who didn’t enjoy it, the rest of us emerged looking thoughtful and teary and surprised to find ourselves in a cinema, after being totally engrossed by the screen. Glenn Mack had joined me unexpectedly just before the film started and we debriefed over a hot drink at the Food Gallery, where Wes arrived after finishing his projectionist duties.

We had no Mah Jong on Wednesday, so after gym, I took Bilbo for a walk, while Sandra cleaned everywhere. Wes spent the morning with Barbara doing gardening and discussing issues. My computer had decided to die, so we looked up the Daylesford Grapevine, searched for computers and found Greg Miles, who lives in Vincent Street North, and who fixed the computer in 24 hours, for a reasonable price, much to our delight.

Our other issues are my mobile phone, still not found or replaced, and I discovered speaking to Keith at our local Telstra shop that he had given Telstra Warren’s ieme number instead of mine! Also, the dishwasher has decided to no longer wash our dishes, so after following all the instructions in the manual, I rang ASKO, who promised to send Barclays in Ballarat an email authorising them to go ahead. When I rang Barclays, they advised me that they had not received any authorisation, so back on the phone to ASKO. They had sent the authority to Castlemaine Appliance Services instead, so cancelled that & sent one to Barclays. We have to wait nearly two weeks now, but at least it will be fixed under warranty by a reputable firm, with which we enjoy dealing.

We decided to go out for lunch at Jackie’s on Vincent and were very warmly greeted by Lisa & Jackie as we sat near the open fire. They brought us hot drinks and yummy Mongolian Beef for Wes & Spicy Calamari for me. We haven’t been there for a while and were most impressed that Lisa remembered our names and preferences.

Wes then set off to visit Leanne in Strathmore before collecting Judi & Michael at Melbourne Airport, while I spent the afternoon putting back all the programmes that had disappeared from my computer. Fortunately, we are scrupulous about back-ups and nothing has been lost….touch wood! Wes had a long slow back drive from the airport through fog & rain and was very pleased to arrive home to a large whisky and the History Channel.

I had gone shopping at Coles the day before so that I could leave some dinner & breakfast provisions for Judi & Michael so we all enjoyed a sleep in on Friday while the rain poured down. Bilbo eventually wanted his bone, so we gave him his wish, and I went back to bed with the Age, while Wes wandered downstairs to catch up on Ancestry.com etc.

Sadly, when I went to open Outlook, I discovered an error message that I couldn’t solve, so we had to enlist Greg’s help again. He was able to enter my computer remotely and fix the problem, which was a relief. It occurred again yesterday, so he dismantled the programme he thought was causing it and I was delighted to find the computer worked this morning so I could send this Dispatch.

We had a lovely day yesterday – up early so that Wes could apply my henna after he had walked Bilbo, who was then washed. I did all our washing & ironing which leaves today free before setting off to spend time with Judi & hear about their holiday. She suggested we go to Jackie’s and we met at 10.30am at the same time as Wes was holding a meeting at our place to discuss the establishment of a Hepburn Family History Centre.

Judi & I enjoyed our brunch – omelette for me and quinoa, zucchini & pumpkin pancake for Judi, with endless pots of Jasmine tea. Afterwards we went for a walk up & down Vincent Street before I dropped Judi home as she had returned our car, which she & Michael had kept to collect Maddie & Major from Eureka Kennels the day before. They now have their own car back & hopefully it is fully fixed and won’t give them any more troubles.

Wes was pleased with his meeting, and, after a short break to read the paper, we went to Victoria Park to watch the Daylesford Doggies play Gordon, once the easy-beats, but now a powerhouse in the Central Highlands Football League. We were all cold at half time and decided to come back home as the wind seemed to be coming off a mountain covered in ice & snow. The Doggies tried hard, but eventually lost by 5 goals to the better team.

Back home we lit a fire and watched the very exciting game between Freo & Port, which Freo won most unexpectedly. This turned out to be the best game of the day, as the highly anticipated clash between Geelong & the Western Bulldogs was a real fizzer with Geelong running all over them from the word go.

Our friends, David & Jane, are in Europe and have just finished a wonderful cruise that took them to many stunning places.