Dear Friends, when I
left you last Sunday, Bilbo & I were heading off to the Sunday Market, which
we duly did & had a lovely social time of it. Breakfast was fun – Bilbo was
so excited to be there again and kept eyeballing Margot through the glass,
waiting for her to come & feed him. Barbara told us about her successful
holiday to New Zealand to spend Christmas with her family, and David announced
his car was misbehaving & wanted advice on where to take it (Howe
Automotive was the unanimous verdict).
We had planned to go
with Judi & Michael to Portarlington & Geelong to visit National Trust
properties that are only open on Sundays, but it was too hot, so we decided to
postpone that trip for a cooler day. Both places had registered 37˚ the day
before & the thought of visiting anywhere without air-conditioning in that
heat seemed unwise.
On Monday, we had a
visit from Viv & Jonathon & Terry & John. We first met Viv in
December 1969, when I was working at Myer Melbourne PBA department. The boss
asked me to look after Viv who had just arrived back with her family after some
years in Paris. We loved each other instantly and formed a very strong bond,
such as I had not experienced with a girlfriend before. Viv was engaged to
Pierre, a French painter, and he came out to marry her on 31st March
1970. Wes was the best man & I was the bridesmaid at the wedding at St
Carthage’s in Royal Parade, Parkville.
Viv in Paris in 1970 & below with Jon in 2016
During the 70s we kept
in touch with Viv & Pierre & visited them a couple of times in Paris,
as well as seeing Viv when she came back to Australia. Then we lost contact
completely, until Wes found her on FB under another name. Viv & her second
husband, Jonathon, are in Australia visiting Viv’s sister, Terry, who was my
matron of honour, when we were married in 1970. I borrowed Terry’s dress as I
thought it was the most beautiful wedding dress I had ever seen and she flew
down from Sydney with it for me, which was very kind.
We all cried when we
saw each other and kept hugging and kissing & not believing we were back
together again after nearly 40 years apart. Wes had made a wonderful lunch –
roast chicken & spuds, fish pie & green beans followed by a cheese platter
& then some berries & mangoes. Two of the 4 are gluten intolerant, one
is Jewish, one can’t tolerate any spicy food, I don’t eat meat - so it was
quite a feat to produce a feast that everyone could enjoy. I can’t tell you how
much it means to have Viv back in our lives – she is a very special person
& we were thrilled that her husband, Jonathon, was very happy to meet us as
he had heard so much about us over the many years he & Viv have been
together.
L-R – John, Terry, Viv, Wes & Karen & Bilbo
at lunch
The next morning, I
headed off to Strathmore to spend some time with Leanne. We had been planning
to stain the back decking together & the weather was perfect for that
chore. We had a good time together, achieved heaps & on the last morning
went to Edward Abbot café for cuppas to celebrate. I didn’t realise that the
Moonee Ponds Creek Trail was so close by, so managed a good walk in each
direction on the two afternoons I was there.
Meanwhile Wes showed
the film, ‘Moana’, to an appreciative audience of 25 on Tuesday morning, and
afterwards headed to the optometrist for an eye test & to order new
glasses. He then picked up Glenn Mack & drove him to the Daylesford Book
Barn for a cuppa & catch up. They spent a very enjoyable hour together.
On Wednesday, Wes had
invited some cousins he has never met for lunch – Alison & Barbara Ward are
descended from the convict aunt of Warren’s forbear, Margaret Mackintosh. When
I rang him at 5.30pm to see how it had gone, he said they were still there, 5
hours later! I suspect both he & Bilbo slept very well that night.
I arrived back in time
for a latish lunch on Thursday and discovered that our TV had been playing up
& Wes had spent the morning on the phone to Foxtel solving the problem. We
had a very quiet afternoon, as it had been such an emotional week for us both.
On Friday, after early
shopping at Coles, I contacted Glenn Mack to see if I could catch up with him,
and he was able to walk to Cliffy’s to meet me at 9.30am, where we spent a most
enjoyable hour. I had visions of joining the Bushwalkers, but after our
delightful early stroll around Lake Daylesford, was very happy to come back
home & have another quiet day. Fortunately, there was a 50-over cricket
match on between Australia & Pakistan, so we were entertained by that.
I received an
unexpected large parcel at the Post Office on Friday – I had won a Scrabble set
from a competition I had entered and forgotten about. What a thrill! We
promptly opened it and had a game that night during the dinner break of the
cricket. Wes wiped the floor with me, so is very keen to play again!
Yesterday morning,
after a walk around Jubilee Lake, we had an early breakfast at Larder Café. We
were standing outside, looking at the menu trying to decide whether to eat
there or next door at Bocconcini, when Martin, the manager, opened the door,
and invited us inside to sit in the window & peruse the menu at our
leisure. We had a wonderful breakfast – mine was called Green on Green &
included broccolini, asparagus, spinach & poached eggs on toast with lots
of other flavours; while Wes had the baked beans & poached egg, which was
equally flavoursome.
Back home I got stuck
into washing, ironing, phone calls, emails & bills, while Wes spent the
morning in the front garden, and Bilbo slept happily in the study.
In the late afternoon,
Wes collected Brian Nash & they drove to the Kingston Rodeo, which was
attended by about 500 people.
This morning we’ve
enjoyed our usual walk around Lake Daylesford, with not another person in sight
– plenty of ducks, geese & birds to accompany us – we are very lucky indeed!
Bilbo is waiting anxiously at the top of the stairs for us to go to the Sunday
Market, but we are off to Leitches Creek first to pump mineral water, and then
we have Sunday Breakfast upstairs at the Food Gallery to look forward to and
whatever else the day brings.
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