Daylesford Summer Dispatch - Sunday, 25th February 2018

We’ve had such a big week – the most important part was on Tuesday when we drove to Narre Warren to visit our niece & my God-daughter, Jessie. We were thrilled to see her husband, Anthony, and sister, Michelle, as well. It was a good visit – Jessie had gone back to school the morning before as a teacher’s aide, and although she was tired, she was also very elated to have fulfilled another of her aims this year. She presented me with a hand-made black & white necklace & Michelle had made a very yummy two-course lunch, so we felt very spoilt indeed.

Anthony, Jessie, Karen, Wes & Michelle

We were very sorry to hear of two deaths this week – my uncle & God-father, Kevin Saundry, aged 89; and our very good neighbour from Morrow Street, West Brunswick, Marge Griffiths, aged 98. We lived in Morrow Street from 1958 to 1970, but Viva & Marge remained good friends after the shift & Marge turned up to Viva’s funeral four years ago, which was a very good effort on her part. Kevin’s death is especially sad as he was the only surviving sibling of my father, Perc, and a very lovely man.

Last Sunday afternoon, as a surprise, Wes took me to the Olympic Stadium in Melbourne to see the Collingwood & GWS AFLW teams playing footy. It was an emotional & exciting experience. Entry is free & there must have been about 5,000, mostly young families, sitting on the grass or standing on the hills. The cheer squads had produced huge banners, the songs were played as they ran out & there was a very good atmosphere. We found the girls were bigger bodied than they looked on TV & they certainly were playing for keeps. It was a tough physical encounter with 12 goals scored despite a tricky wind. GWS beat Collingwood, but that didn’t matter – I’m just thrilled that young girls finally have a pathway to play footy in the AFL.

  

This photo was taken about 30 minutes before the game started & lots of kids were having their faces painted for free or taking selfies with the footballers. The young girl with the footy didn’t stop bouncing it the entire time she was sitting there & could hardly wait until the second siren blew after the game to have ‘Kick to Kick’ with her father on the ground.

We are off to Larder for breakfast again this morning & hope to be joined by David & Sandy. Bilbo is sitting at my feet anxiously waiting for 7.45am & time to go to the Sunday Market. He misses going to breakfast, but he still gets spoilt at the Market, so Sundays are his favourite day of the week.

Later today, Danny Millman is coming to stay overnight, as he & I are driving to Canberra tomorrow, returning next Saturday. The main purpose of our trip is to see Collingwood play GWS in a pre-season game at Manuka Oval. We will catch up with my brother, Peter, and his wife, Anka, as well as do some sightseeing in Australia’s Capital City.

Daylesford Sunday Dispatch - Sunday, 11th February 2018

The Breakfast Group gathered at Larder last Sunday & a very successful get-together it was. Barbara had alerted Martin to our visit & he saved the large long table for us. Barbara was able to get in via the rear entrance & sit comfortably on one side of the table. David & Sandy joined us, which gave us all the chance to commiserate with them over Bam Bam’s death. Aileen popped in for a coffee, as did Rhonda, so it was a very social & fun morning indeed. Larder has an interesting breakfast menu & everyone enjoyed their meals, which were served hot & all together.

In the afternoon we had an unexpected & very welcome visit from Gabby Gibson, who had driven to Daylesford that morning with her son, Fraser, to escape the busyness of Fitzroy. Fraser had fallen asleep after they had done the Sunday Market, Lavandula & umpteen walks, so she popped in on the off-chance we were at home. I first met Gabby, when she was a schoolgirl back in the 1980s. Her grandmother, Helen, was looking after her, while her parents, Gayle & Fraser, were in New Guinea. Helen was on the first Collingwood Ladies’ Committee with me & we became instant friends. We have followed Gabby’s life with much interest & were delighted that we caught up again. She & Fraser are now Provisional MCC members, so I am sure I will see them both more regularly at the footy & cricket at the MCG.

Last weekend was also the start of Season 2 of the AFLW, which once again features 8 teams, with 2 more to join next year, and 2 in the following year. We had hoped to go to the Carlton vs Collingwood game, which was the season opener at Princes Park, but decided it would be too much to travel there & back on Friday night, only to turn around & drive back again to Melbourne on Saturday morning for the Pop-up Globe. Carlton won easily, as they did last year, but we could see a big improvement in the fitness & skills level of the women. We watched all four games & were most impressed by the Western Bulldogs (who beat Freo easily) & Melbourne (who had a good tussle with a much improved GWS side). Brisbane did well to reverse the result of last year’s Grand Final, beating Adelaide in Adelaide.

Last Sunday’s new rose – St Patrick (we have one already, but I couldn’t resist it)

One of the big highlights of this week was going to see Darkest Hour at Ballarat in Gold Class. We can’t resist their $20 tickets & always have Devonshire tea – two scones, jam & cream & a pot of tea or cup of coffee is great value for $7.50. That was breakfast for both of us on Wednesday! We both loved the film – fantastic acting by everyone, especially Gary Oldman in the title role; the direction was superb & we were so proud of our own Ben Mendelsohn playing King George VI brilliantly as well. We finished off a lovely morning with lunch at Boathouse Daylesford, which is always good & caught up with a few locals who were also eating there.

Yesterday, Wes drove to the North Fitzroy Arms to celebrate old friend, Charles Amy’s 70^th birthday. I had planned to go, but hadn’t been able to shake off a headache caused by the extreme heat & spent the day in bed. I’m still there today, as now I have a cough to go with it. Hopefully it will pass as rapidly as it arrived.

Wes & Barbara went to hydrotherapy in Ballarat on Friday & were very pleased to be doing that activity again.

This weekend’s AFLW matches were mostly of a higher standard than last week. Carlton beat GWS easily and Melbourne outclassed Adelaide. Last night Collingwood travelled to Perth to play Fremantle in the first game of footy ever at the new Perth Stadium in front of a record crowd of just under 42,000. This beats the previous record (41,000) for a stand-alone women’s footy game, which was set in Adelaide in 1929! Although the Pies weren’t good enough to win, they played their best footy to date & I was very proud of the team.

      

        

Views of the Pop-up Shakespeare’s Globe – stage, groundlings, side views –

                      all taken from our central, middle level seats                                                                                       

Daylesford Summer Dispatch - Sunday, 4th February 2018

 

Last Sunday’s breakfast was at Koukla, where the service & friendly welcome by our friend, Andrea Holmes, was lovely. We weren’t all that impressed by the menu, which contained lots of rich, heavy dishes not suitable for Summer, or by the 15-year old male waiter who dropped Judi’s poached eggs on to the floor! It was very crowded & noisy as well, so we will continue our search by trying Larder this morning.

Floreat perched on the fountain this morning – he hopped in for a bath & drink as well!

After breakfast, I visited the Daylesford Museum, for the Fabrics, Threads & Stories exhibition, which was a fascinating history of Daylesford through photos, handcrafts, objects & video. I particularly loved the 1861 Daylesford Temperance Banner, which has just been restored at a cost of $10,000, by the same people who restored the Eureka flag, as it is the only other similar flag or banner in existence in Australia.

Here it is 18 months ago before restoration

We had hoped to go to Richmond for the Lunar Festival, which was being attended by the Guide Dogs, but it was too hot to leave Bilbo or Daylesford & travel all that way for even worse weather, so we watched the Poms beat the Aussies at the new Perth Stadium, which looks very impressive indeed. We also kept an eye on Roger Federer in the Australian Open Final but fell asleep before he beat Marin Cilic in a 5-set marathon.

Sweet Intoxication – our latest beautifully perfumed rose from Ken at Spring Park Nursery

This seems to have been a week of postponements & cancellations. I have been feeling really well & coping with everything until suddenly I found myself too tired to do anything much. We had planned to see The Post in Ballarat on Monday but postponed it because we didn’t want to leave Bilbo alone in the heat. When it came to Tuesday, I couldn’t face the drive (only 40 minutes) to Ballarat & back, so we postponed again until Thursday & I spent much of the day in bed resting, which was the best thing.

This week’s roses – Hot Cocoa, 4^th July, Friesia, St Patrick & Sweet Intoxication

Dot & I played Mah Jong & chatted. Dot usually beats me most games, but I am fighting back & managed to win a couple of times. Both our husbands are very keen to know how we have fared, so it has become a lovely joke between the four of us.

We didn’t end up getting to Ballarat to see any films as I just didn’t have the energy & wanted to save myself for yesterday’s trip to Melbourne to the Pop-up Globe Theatre to see Much Ado About Nothing. We had been planning to go since the theatre arrived back in September 2017 & yesterday was the last day!!!

We weren’t disappointed. The troupe was amazing, full of energy & wit – it was a perfect morning in Melbourne, we found a free park nearby & had time for a hot drink before the show started. We had opted for Middle Level, which was comfortable & facing the stage front on.

Wes sitting in the sun as we wait for hot drinks before the play.

We had left Bilbo with a marrow bone & came home to find him sound asleep & cool, which was a big relief. Our friends, David & Sandy, had to put their dog, Bam Bam, down yesterday & while we are sympathising with them, we are also aware that Bilbo won’t be around for too much longer, so we are making the most of our time with him.

Our friend, Nick Massaro, visited on Friday to clear our gutters & was amazed to find heaps of old dog bones in one spot. The crows have been stealing them for years & now we know where they ended up! Bilbo & Frodo were always most perplexed when they returned to find their bones had disappeared from the decking where they had left them!