Daylesford Summer Dispatch - Sunday, 5th February 2017

Dear Friends, we started the week with another lovely breakfast & some interesting discussions. Bilbo was particularly thrilled to see Margot & be overfed with bacon & toast, although he wasn’t too sure about the washing hanging above him!

Afterwards, Wes & I went to the Daylesford Museum to see the Pop Up Exhibition of Winsome Moffat’s paintings and were most impressed by her body of work. Our first painting bought in Daylesford was by her & it is a beautiful oil painting entitled ‘Near Golden Spring’, which we haven’t been able to find as the spring itself is underground & located in Hepburn Springs up high above the Bathhouse. According to Jan Smith, who collected it from us for the exhibition, an 11-year-old girl was particularly taken with the painting & thought it was magical, as did we when we bought it.

We were very lucky with Monday’s weather & after our walk, and after Wes cleaned the dog decking, I put the first coat on it all. Amazingly it is 12 years+ since we moved into this house, so we can expect heavy duty areas to need repainting. We are pleased with the result and I hope to get 2-3 coats done by the end of February.

On my way home from gym on Tuesday, I saw Annie Smith with a new Irish Water Spaniel. Her name is Maisie & she is probably 6-7 years old. She has been a kennel mother for most of her life and has earned a happy retirement here in Daylesford. One of our friends, Vin Lyttleton, has one of her daughters, and they have enjoyed a joyful reunion already.

Wes showed the film ‘Red Dog, True Blue’ that morning to an appreciative audience of 20. It certainly isn’t a great film, but Bryan Brown’s acting is wondrous and the dog is magnificent, so we enjoyed the experience.

In the afternoon, Tim from Bi-Rite came to install a new washing machine. Ours had been playing up & I texted Kiyo, the local repairman with a photo of what had been ejected from the machine. He replied saying he thought repairs would cost $600-$700 and we would be better off getting a new one. We took his very generous advice and are now the proud owners of a Beko 8kg model with a ‘pet hair removal cycle’!

On Wednesday morning, sunrise was spectacular, and I took this photo, which doesn’t do it justice, but gives you some idea of how good it looked just before dawn.

When I came out of gym I found a message from Dot to say she couldn’t play Mah Jong as she was having trouble walking. I decided to drive to Ballarat to put my bracelet in to be repaired instead. The catch has gone & it is too risky to wear it, even though I feel quite naked without it!

Wes spent the morning helping Barbara in her garden and arrived home in time to make us a yummy version of his famous Fish Pie – this one included zucchini from the garden, as well as fennel, spuds, barramundi & celery.

We had a huge day on Thursday – after walking around Lake Daylesford early, we set off for Melbourne and a visit to Leanne. Wes was able to fix up some computer issues, while she & I did some shopping. We had been invited for lunch by Lovely & Malcolm and their other guests included Libby, Joyce & Manny. What a wonderful catch-up it was – Joyce, Lovely & Lib had all worked for us at Maloney Insurance Brokers, and we were struggling to think when we had last all been together. Joyce & Manny were in great spirits and very entertaining & we caught up on all their family news.

The next day we had hoped to drive to Melbourne again for the inaugural AFL Women’s game between Collingwood & Carlton at Princes Park, but I was too tired to contemplate getting home at midnight, so we watched in on TV instead. What a wonderful event it was – the AFL had not imagined a lockout at the ground, with gates closed once 25,500 were in and over 1,000 outside turned away. The Blues were far too good for the Pies, as expected, but it was a spectacular success, with the crowd staying to the end and enjoying kick to kick after the game.

During the morning, I spent time with Judi at the Food Gallery, where I had booked the best table, also known as The Locals’ Table, when I saw Pasquale at Coles that morning. Neither of us had eaten, so we enjoyed yummy breakfasts & swapped stories until it was time for Judi’s next appointment. Meanwhile, Wes and Brian Nash spent the morning here discussing their joint venture and Bilbo made his way very quietly into our bedroom and spent a very relaxed couple of hours on our bed!

Yesterday after the early walk and after Bilbo had been bathed, I set off for the Farmers’ Market, where the conversations were all about the Women’s Footy, much to my delight. Wes and I met up at ‘Jackie’s on Vincent’ for breakfast, where we were joined by Jeff Bain first & Nick Massaro later, who each had a hot drink & exchanged news.

Wes spent the morning in the back garden before it got too hot, while I had dedicated my day to washing – I can even fit our washable wool doona into this new larger machine, which is wonderful. Bilbo spent most of the morning crying until I put his collar back on him – he obviously feels naked without it!

Lovely colours in this selection of roses at our front door

We watched both Women’s games in the afternoon & evening & both attracted good crowds – 9,000+ in Adelaide in the rain where the Crows were too good for GWS & 10,000+ in Footscray where the Doggies easily beat the Freo Dockers after an even start. My cousin Bernard’s daughter, Alex Saundry, wore no 4 for GWS – I can’t describe my emotions watching her play – this is such a dream come true for all of us who grew up knowing we would never pull on the guernsey of our favourite team, much as we wanted to. And it all happened so quickly – thanks Gillon McLachlan & the AFL for bringing this about in 2017.