Daylesford Winter Dispatch - Sunday, 23rd July 2017

This week has certainly been a better one for sleep, now that Jessie is out of the woods. Last week I spent my nights remembering all the phases of Jessie’s life that we had shared. This started in the early 70s, when my brother, Terry, was working at an import record shop & introduced us to the music of Jesse Winchester, a Canadian draft-dodger, who made at least two tours to Australia. We first saw him upstairs at ‘The Troubadour’ in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy. He later returned to the Melbourne Town Hall & we attended that as well. Terry & Mary were very taken with him & Jessie was named after him when she was born in October 1975.

When Jessie & Michelle were old enough to go, we occasionally took them to the footy with us, especially the MCG & Waverley & on one occasion to Princes Park, Carlton’s home ground.  Wes’s father, Ray, was moved to tears at the sight of them in their black & white, with ribbons in their hair & flags in their hands & uttered the memorable line ‘I hope you win’ – Ray hated Collingwood with a passion, even though both his children married Collingwood supporters & even his oldest grandson jumped sides when he was old enough to choose!

Jessie aged three at our home in Brunswick Road with Samuel Snugglepot

Jessie & Michelle did lots of modelling – both live at places like Myer Melbourne & in advertisements in the print media. Whenever we could, we would turn up to see them & support them. Eventually they got too grown-up for us & were more interested in their friends & in Michelle’s case, her boyfriend, (now husband), George. The last time we took them out was to the famous Ashcombe Maze in Shoreham.

They each married very happily & each has two beautiful children. Terry & Mary are very affectionate & loving grandparents & spend as much time with Chiara, Dante, Mikaela & Michael as they can. It has been wonderful to see how loving & supportive Michelle has been to Jessie during this time. Especially as her husband, George, & his cousin, Alex, opened their Greek restaurant, ‘Secret Souv’ in Ashwood on the Monday that Jessie’s tumour was diagnosed & they have had to manage without Michelle’s help.

Wes has been able to get into the garden again this week & all the roses have pruned. We have a couple of new hellebores (colours unknown) & I have been putting seedlings into pots in the greenhouse until the weather is warm enough for them to be planted out.

Bilbo loves getting into spots in the sun & in this photo, he was completely hidden from me. I thought he had gone missing until I found him behind the couch.

On Tuesday, Wes had a catch-up lunch with his sister, Denise, at ‘Glenlyon General Store’, while I went to ‘Jackie’s on Vincent’ with Michael Ivanchenko. We each enjoyed our time very much indeed. Michael & I were very warm in front of the open fire at ‘Jackie’s’ and we ranged over quite a few topics. I was pleased to be able to shout him lunch as a thank you for the wonderful authors he has introduced me to & if I am interested & get more books in the series, he always gives me his book that got us started.

Denise’s birthday is next Wednesday, which is her Mah Jong morning & Tuesday films are back at Daylesford Cinema for the next 5-6 weeks, so Wes & Malcolm will be in harness again showing ‘Churchill’ at 10am.

I made progress on Wednesday at gym, when Barry added 2.2kg in weight to my chest press. Including the bar, I am now pressing 20kg, which sounds incredibly puny, but is such an improvement for me, I am quite thrilled. My breathing has improved heaps since I started gym work & although, I still suffer from asthma attacks, they are more manageable & less frightening these days.

We headed out to Werribee on Thursday for one of our days out, with plans to visit the Open Zoo there. Sadly, the weather was even worse than Daylesford & most unsuitable for wandering around in the open. The famous rose garden is in hibernation & Shadowfax Winery, in the same road, is closed for repairs following a fire. We decided to drive back home & have lunch at ‘Boathouse Daylesford’, which was warm & friendly & very welcoming.

We both indulged in their famous mussels’ dish, demolished a bottle of Merlot & shared a very yummy sweets. Our neighbours in front, David & Steve, were there & came over to tell us they have decided to stop renting their home out & live here permanently as they miss their friends & neighbours too much. Other friends, Kyle & Donna, who produce our fortnightly paper, ‘The Local’, had just flown in from a short stay at the Gold Coast & came straight there for a late lunch. ‘The Local’ is supporting Wes & Brian’s ‘Villages of Hepburn Shire’ project, so it was good to see Kyle & Donna to thank them in person.

                     

On Friday, Wes & Brian went to visit waterfalls at Lodden & Trentham. Apart from getting bogged at Lodden & needing the help of a Glenlyon couple who have recently moved into the area, it was a most successful morning yet again.

That night we were shocked to hear from Jane Knox that David’s brother, Richard, had died suddenly of a massive heart attack that day, aged 68. We are certainly appreciating the fragility of our hold on life at present & trying to live every moment as best we can, because you don’t know what is around the corner.