We started our week with a lovely breakfast at the new café
at Hotel Frangos. Barbara had booked
a table & they were expecting us when they opened just before 9am. We were
seated in the sunshine, the noise level was manageable, the staff were friendly
& efficient, & we all enjoyed our different breakfasts. Even David, who
always has raisin toast – this was very thickly cut & came with cinnamon
butter & jam. Yum! We’re off there again this morning. It is such a bonus
being able to book a table & Barbara can get in there easily, unlike most
of the cafés on the other side of Vincent Street.
Entry to the café
& David & Warren waiting patiently outside. David was worried about the
change but enjoyed it very much!
We listened to David’s stories about his huge road trip to
Western Australia & thought he looked very relaxed despite the thousands of
kms he had travelled in his new big Mazda.
Afterwards, I went for a long walk in the Wombat Hill
Botanic Gardens. I needed to get over my crossness from the footy the night
before & I was lucky enough to meet the one person I wanted to see on my
travels. We had been shocked to hear on the grapevine that my local GP, Greg
Stewart, had suffered a heart attack. It was reassuring to speak with his
colleague, Jon Barrell, & hear that although he had endured some setbacks,
Greg was recovering well in Cabrini Hospital in Melbourne.
We had been invited to morning tea with Nick & Robyn
Massaro, long-time friends, who bought Brian Nash’s painting of their place
last November. Warren took Brian to Porcupine Ridge on one of their excursions
in 2017 & Brian loved the property & thought it was perfect for him to
paint. They asked us, plus Brian & Roberta, so we could see the painting in
situ. Robyn is a wonderful cook & had made gluten-free lamingtons & a
fig cake, which were all beautiful. We did enjoy sitting around their dining
room table chatting, as well as meeting their dog, Jack, who gets very excited
when visitors arrive & then needs to sleep!
Nick, Robyn, Brian
& Roberta in front of the painting. Wes put this up on FB & it
attracted lots of comments
We were all delighted to welcome back our lovely cleaner,
Sandra Frost, who has been in Thailand & Fiji, enjoying a well-deserved
holiday. She is still on Fiji time, so we were very understanding & glad
that she was prepared to come back & get us all sparkling again.
Wes & Barbara were involved in the resurgence of Hepburn Voices that afternoon with an
interview of well-known local historian, Les Pitt. Wes has handed the tapes
over to the Daylesford Museum & there is plenty of interest to keep them
going. I suspect the problem lies in a lack of skilled interviewers & video-recorders
of the human kind.
I have been knitting squares for a while, having a break
from beanies & gloves & scarves. We were able to deliver 49 squares to
Jodie from Keeping Daylesford Warm
to send on to the person who has volunteered to crochet them all together into
a rug. The squares are mostly pink, blue & white, with plenty of
multi-coloured & bright shades. I’ll be pleased to get back to the beanies
for a while as squares aren’t as exciting to knit.
Wes & I visited Leanne on Thursday, where we were both
able to help her with a few things that are just too hard for someone living on
their own. On Friday, Wes finally got into the garden again & I had a
relaxing breakfast with Gillie at a new café, Pancho, with excellent staff & wonderful food. We were
delighted to find it just about filled with local friends, including Glenda
Rozen, our first Daylesford friend, and the person who sold us our home here 20
years ago in August 1998.
That afternoon, suddenly, Bilbo had a seizure. We had an
hour with him before taking him to the vet, where we decided that we owed him a
peaceful death, rather than subject him to the probability of further seizures.
He was confused, frightened, couldn’t stand up & couldn’t see. Andrew, the
vet, told us that he might recover, but that he would probably have more
seizures. We weren’t prepared to risk that & let him die quietly with us at
his side. Yesterday, Wes buried him in the dog graveyard, next to his brother,
Frodo, and their predecessor, Casper.
We have been overwhelmed by the messages of support &
love that have found their way to us. Wes asked me to put something up on Facebook
& I included the above photo, which produced so many beautiful comments. We
also appreciate the visits, phone calls, texts & emails that helped fill
our day yesterday.
The house felt so empty that we decided to go to Melbourne
in the afternoon. Wes dropped me at the Docklands where I met up with dear
friend, David Lazzaro, & his son, Daniel, to see Collingwood beat Brisbane
in a scrappy game that keeps our final four hopes alive. Wes went to see a
film, Beirut, that helped distract
him for a couple of hours. We encountered snow flurries as we were driving home
last night, which was rather wonderful!
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