Daylesford Autumn Dispatch - Wednesday, 24th April 2019

My apologies for the delay in sending an Easter Dispatch. I have been in bed recovering from a lurgy and Easter has passed by without my participation.

Wes has been wonderful, as always, doing everything, which includes managing our two excited & unpredictable young Labs.

His reward was a trip to the footy last Sunday, where he and Barbara saw Carlton finally win a game & win it well, scoring 101 points, which is something they have failed to do for some time. I was well enough to get up & dressed & babysit, while he went to the Docklands, but I was more than ready to go back to bed on his return.

From my window I have watched Autumn gradually taking over the deciduous trees, I have seen some glorious sunsets, the occasional pink sky at dawn and, every now & then, two mad Labs chasing each other around the back yard.

Daylesford was chock full of visitors over Easter and I’m sure all the traders are both grateful & exhausted. As I sit here looking out to the Lake, it is quiet & peaceful, and although there are few roses, the lavender is out, the seaside daisies are recovering from the battering they took from Lewis & Morse and, through the misty rain, I can see grass trying to make a re-entry through the dry, dusty earth.

Apart from yesterday, we have had non-stop footy since Holy Thursday night, where Collingwood was able to account for Brisbane quite comfortably at the Gabba. I am hoping to attend the 25^th ANZAC Day match tomorrow, between Collingwood & Essendon. I haven’t missed one of these games since the very first, memorable draw in front of nearly 95,000 people. Wes has offered to drive me to Ballan Station, so I can catch the train & I have a reserved seat on Level 4.

Yin & yang – Morse & Lewis with their post bath bones – making sure they are separate!

Daylesford Autumn Dispatch - Sunday, 14th April 2019

We started our week with a long early morning – the Sunday Market was busy when we arrived at 8am & so was the Food Gallery Café when we turned up 45 minutes later. Seven of us enjoyed yummy meals, hot drinks & good conversations together.

Wes showed the film Storm Boy early that afternoon to an appreciative audience. I hadn’t particularly wanted to see it, as I really loved the original, but he assured me it was very good.

During this week we’ve been busy again, catching up with friends & enjoying being able to see Lake Daylesford when we walk around it early each morning with Lewis & Morse.

Here are Tracye & Leo being greeted rapturously in daylight by our boys. We don’t know this couple except that we meet early most mornings walking around the Lake & that Lewis & Morse met them on their very first walk & get most excited to see them.

I drove to Ballarat on Monday morning to see my podiatrist, Victoria Armstrong, which is always a pleasure. However, the drive took about 10 minutes longer than usual both ways because of all the roadworks on the Creswick Road. It will all be much better when it is finished, but I had forgotten to allow that much extra time & was worried I would be late for my appointment.

We cancelled golf on Tuesday morning because of intermittent (and very welcome rain), which gave Wes time to do some gardening (replanting things that had been dug up & finding hiding places for precious plants). In the afternoon he drove to Woodend to catch up with old political friend, John Connor, at Bourkie’s Bakery. On the way he dropped off the latest crop of beanies, berets & mittens to Jodie in Wheatsheaf. Judi had given me some warm clothes she found when she was de-cluttering and he took them as well. I had added pom-poms to the toddler’s beanies & hope they prove a winner!

Devonshire teas at Chaplin’s last week, where the boys enjoyed the view from the veranda, as well as any crumbs that fell from the table!

After our walk on Wednesday, I went to gym, followed by a lovely catch up with Judi over a pot of Jasmine tea & warm muffins at Muffins & More. Wes & Barbara went to John Hungerford’s Newlyn Nursery in a successful search of some plants for her garden.

Wes headed off early on Thursday to visit Leanne & then to have lunch with old friend, Gerard Lazzaro. I enjoyed looking after Lewis & Morse & only took time out to have a cuppa with my “boyfriend”, Joe Rozen, who has had a pacemaker fitted recently & is firing on all cylinders again. We went to Muffins & More, as it is close by & convenient, warm & welcoming & serves Jasmine tea!

Lewis & Morse coping with a blanket over them for the first time!

It was my turn to drive to Melbourne on Friday & I went to Northcote to stay with Danny overnight & go to the Collingwood/Western Bulldogs game at the MCG. It was a beautiful day and night & although I took a jacket, I didn’t need it. When I arrived at the G, I went looking for Gayle Gibson (AKA Loud Gayle), and found her in the Members’ Dining room with her husband, Fraser, their daughter, Gabby, and Gabby’s son Fraser, celebrating his 20^th birthday.

  

My next stop was the Library, but I turned around to find David & Daniel Lazzaro behind me, so went to the 4^th level with them, where they got brilliant seats & we had time for a drink & catch up chat. We were joined later by David’s best friend, Matt, who lives in Tassie & gets to the footy whenever he can. It was a scrappy game of footy & the Pies only drew away in the last quarter to record a narrow win in front of 60,000.

Yesterday, like most of Australia, and some of the world, we were glued to the TV to see Winx run her last race before retiring. This was the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) at Royal Randwick in Sydney before a capacity crowd. She duly won and recorded her 33^rd consecutive win, of which 25 were Group 1 races.

Today we are off to the Sunday Market shortly, followed by breakfast with friends. Wes is showing the lunchtime school holidays film, Missing Link, and then we’ll see if Carlton can beat Gold Coast up there. Fingers crossed.

Daylesford Autumn Dispatch - Sunday, 7th April 2019

What a week it has been. When I left you last Sunday, it was raining (we got about 12 mls in all) so I went to the Sunday Market on my own as it was too wet to take Lewis & Morse. There were 8 of us at breakfast & we enjoyed a fun morning with lots of silly conversations & the occasional serious moment.

Wes headed off shortly afterwards to visit his sister, Denise, who had been to Ballarat during the week for a cataract operation & was recuperating well. Then he screened the film Stan & Ollie to an appreciative audience of 20. I would love to see this film, but I wanted to watch the AFLW Grand Final more & I was so pleased I did.

Wes arrived back home to find me in tears as the crowd of 53,034 was announced at the Adelaide Oval. This is the biggest Australian crowd to watch a stand-alone women’s sporting event & the Adelaide Crows played champagne football as they dominated Carlton. The game was played in good spirits & the injuries sustained were all from awkward falls, not deliberate acts by the opposition. On the field were at least three Olympians (2 with Gold medals in Rugby 7s); three International Basketballers (& one who gave back her American scholarship to play AFLW); a doctor; a policewoman; a Council worker who spends her week fixing potholes; at least two 18 year-olds; two former soccer players, three mothers and an Irishwoman whose family flew to Adelaide for the game. Every woman has a story to tell – only the young ones are lucky enough to have been playing footy continually since they were 4 or 5, some took it up in their teens & twenties or thirties when they finally could.  

   

                                                                 

After our walk on Monday morning, I was feeling as though I was getting a cold and decided to give gym a miss & go back to bed with The Age & a pot of tea. We are both very pleased that I did get up, as I noticed a loud noise of rushing water in the downstairs bathroom & discovered that it was flooding everywhere with a blistered pipe connection. While Wes turned off the water & started mopping up, I rang around to get a plumber. After I had rung every local plumber, I put a notice up asking for Help on the Daylesford Grapevine. Within seconds I had two helpful responses recommending Toby Hughes, who agreed to come out & fix it, which he did quickly & efficiently when he arrived three hours later.

Wes spent most of his afternoon drying out his bathroom cupboards, mopping up the rest of the mess & putting everything back. I kept the boys upstairs with me out of his way. So much for his gardening morning & my quiet day!

   

Not as bad as a mud bath – this is after a pool party (which involves getting one’s face & feet into the large water bowl & splashing around)

Wes had a delightful Boys’ Afternoon on Tuesday, catching up with Jeff Bain, Brian Nash, David Hall & Danny Moynihan at Danny’s place, where they watched the 1970s film The Man Who Would be King. I am sure that Warren Pengilley would have been in their thoughts & toasts as this was the first time they had met together since his funeral in December.

On Wednesday, Wes helped Barbara, who had organised her gardeners to get rid of her blackberries, which have become overgrown. Meanwhile I caught up with Judi over pots of tea & muffins at Muffins & More. I gave gym a miss that morning as I still had a sore throat & was determined not to let it get the better of me.

We enjoyed a delightful family day for most of Thursday – it started with a long walk around both sides of Lake Daylesford; followed up with breakfast at Pancho, where I had a curried potato omelette & Wes tucked into a veggie bowl with pumpkin etc. After that we piled the boys into the car & drove for 45 minutes to Macedon to see their famous Avenue of Honour in its Autumn glory. There was no-one else on the road & we were very lucky to have gone before the school holidays started yesterday. We then drove up Mount Macedon & took the boys to the Cross, something we have done with each of our labs since Samuel Snugglepot back in the 80s.

Top:Wes with Morse & Lewis under the beautiful trees; me ditto & Wes at the Cross asking Lewis & Morse to sit for him

That night we had an early dinner at Jackie’s on Vincent, where we were delighted to be joined for a drink by Daylesford friends, Cathy O’Toole & Peter Widdop & later, Rhonda Lubin, who were all meeting there for dinner as well.

On Friday, after a walk & shopping, the boys were thrilled to help Wes in the garden until he eventually had to spray them with the hose to keep them away from the plants.

Yesterday, we had breakfast out again, this time at Larder, where we enjoyed yummy meals, hot drinks & caught up with friends. Kim Lyden came in to collect coffees for the Newsagency, and Jane Barrett (back from 6 months in far North Queensland) was getting takeaway coffees for a drive to Melbourne with her husband, John Webster.

Wes caught the train from Ballan to the Docklands to meet Ben Lazzaro & his son, Jack, to watch the Blues play the Sydney Swans.

Lovely photo of Wes with Jack enjoying his first Cherry Ripe – a footy tradition in our family!

I had planned to take Lewis & Morse to the local footy but decided it would be too hard on my own, so we watched the Carlton game instead. The Blues played well but weren’t good enough to beat the Swans.

Wes arrived back home in time to watch a lacklustre Collingwood team totally fail to worry the West Coast Eagles, who played well & won easily at the MCG. David Lazzaro sent me a message to say he would like his petrol money back & I think I would have been feeling exactly the same if I had made the trip to Melbourne.

This morning we got up at the usual time – I hadn’t put our clocks back & the boys were ready to go at what is now 4.45am! I had thought about changing the clocks at 5pm yesterday and decided to wait. Collingwood’s awful performance put everything else out of my mind, so this has been a very relaxed Sunday morning for a change. Plenty of time to get everything done before 9am breakfast!