Karen Maloney's Dispatch: Daylesford Spring Dispatch

We started this week with a lovely social Sunday, even though there was no Breakfast with Friends. After the Sunday Market & pumping water, Bilbo & I came home for breakfast & he eventually worked out that he wasn’t going anywhere else & settled down for the day. Wes & I headed into Vincent Street to see the Daylesford Rotary Art Show. We were very impressed with the standard of work, which was an improvement on last year. Sales were good & the prizes had been awarded to popular paintings as many of them had sold. While we were there, we spotted Warren’s sister, Denise, with her partner, Barry, & her son, Leon. We had a lovely catch-up & Barry was able to show us the works of art he had been involved in through his Thursday group.

Leon, Barry & Denise – all smiles at the Art Show

Earlier, David Lazzaro had rung to say he was dropping his daughter, Jessica, in Ballarat & wondered if he could visit us while she saw a film with her boyfriend. We agreed at once & were thrilled to have 1½ hours with him. Wes cooked his very yummy smoked salmon pasta for us.

Photos from last month’s wedding – Jack Lazzaro (son of Ben & Leanne) with his cousin, Daniel Lazzaro; David Lazzaro & Karen Maloney; Maya & Jessica Lazzaro

I didn’t have a photo to show last month when Clara Millman was born – here she is with her father, Patrick, & mother, Kate.

We got very brave on Melbourne Cup Day & doubled our outlay per race from $3 to $6. After reading Sunday’s Age from cover to cover, I had decided on Rekindling as my choice with Max Dynamite for second. Wes took the two favourites – Marmelo & Almandin, even though the latter was being ridden by Frankie Dettori, allegedly the world’s best jockey, who has not won this race yet after 17 attempts. I’m not sure his riding style suits Flemington & this race. While Wes’s back was turned, I put $5 on the nose for each of our picks & Rekindling paid $17 for the win, which helped boost our profit to $165 for the day.

Don’t ask me what to back next year as I tend to have a long break between successful punts on the Cup – previous winner was Saintly in 1996 & before that Beldale Ball in 1980, so the tote is way ahead!

We only had one collect on Oaks Day, but it was a beauty – a quinella that paid $150, so we finished ahead yet again.

On Friday, we had decided to catch up with a couple of new films at the Regent Cinemas in Ballarat. We are really missing the Daylesford Cinema & hope it won’t be long before it is in action again. The first film was the latest version of Murder on the Orient Express with Kenneth Branagh in the role of Poirot. We enjoyed Gold Class comfort with the morning $20 deal & had pots of tea & scones with jam & cream (a bargain at $7.50). The film is visually stunning & I particularly loved seeing the train leave a bustling Istanbul station (which we had visited when we were in Turkey).

However, the casting was uneven & apart from Michelle Pfeiffer, who was excellent & believable as Linda Arden, and Johnny Depp who might be the best Mr Ratchett ever, we were not impressed with it. Even Judi Dench was wrongly cast as the autocratic Princess – she had far too much warmth. Kenneth plays Poirot for laughs, which is very annoying & neither of us liked the changes to the storyline. However, it is a great spectacle & we enjoyed thinking about our memorable journey in April 1990 on the Orient Express from London to Paris. And yes, I took a hat box, courtesy of Loud Gayle!

The second film was an Australian beauty called Three Summers written by Ben Elton, starring Michael Caton, John Waters, Deborah Mailman & Magda Szubanski among others. This is beautifully cast, not quite as well-directed as the earlier film, but a funny, touching, moving & entertaining story set in WA. We loved it.

Yesterday was the final day of the Cup Carnival – another big day of racing with a great crowd of nearly 70,000. Once again, we were lucky enough to turn $54 outlay into $105 & at the end of the day I transferred $400 into our bank account, rather than risk frittering it away on silly bets! We’ve still got some funds if we want to splurge on the Sandown & Ballarat Cups coming up.

Bilbo is sitting anxiously at my feet, waiting to go to the Sunday Market & shredded cabbage treats. Then we are off to breakfast, where we will be joined by David & Sandy & Bam Bam after quite a few weeks’ absence. It will be good to catch up with them, Margot, who has been in China with Janine, and Judi & Barbara who have been unwell.