Last Sunday Wes enjoyed a lovely
birthday. We arrived at breakfast to find Jan Pengilley had bought him a Slim
Dusty rose bush, which has been planted in a wooden barrel out the
front away from Lewis & Morse. We can’t wait for it to flower as it is
particularly beautiful.
After breakfast we headed to
Spargo Creek, about 15 minutes’ drive from Daylesford to attend an Open Garden,
called Monkey Puzzle & Oak Garden. I have to confess to being
disappointed by only one monkey puzzle tree (we have at least 4 in our Botanic
Gardens & one by Lake Daylesford), so I guess I was expecting a row or two!
However, it was an interesting experience to see what clever gardeners can do
with a very old garden full of oaks & gums. It appears to be used for
weddings & parties these days.
Karen dwarfed by
the Monkey Puzzle tree
In the afternoon we relaxed &
read the Age & watched Victoria beat NSW by 6 runs in an exciting one-day
game.
That night Wes cooked a whole
snapper that we had bought from the Moonee Ponds Market the day before. It was
a beautiful meal accompanied by baked vegetables & peas. We finished off
with a piece of Stilton & fresh pears. We sat up at our table, which we
haven’t done for a while & promptly decided to make a habit of that as we
have such a beautiful view from our lounge windows over the forest & lake.
Monday was one of those perfect
Spring days that makes you want to be out & about. I came home from gym and
made the Christmas pudding, which takes 6 hours to cook & requires
vigilance! We both spent time in the garden – I finally planted our tomatoes
& some dwarf green beans, as well as Vietnamese mint & basil. Wes
weeded & cleaned up the front garden, shifted pots, trimmed leaves &
watered everywhere, which made a huge difference.
On Tuesday, it was a similar
morning, so the back garden got lots of attention from him, while I weeded the
vegie patches before heading into Vincent Street for some chores. I was lucky
enough to bump into Annie Smith & her brother, Geoff, so we sat outside
with Maisie under the table at Larder, and caught up on news.
Plenty of people stopped to say hello to each of us, but Maisie was the most
popular!
That afternoon we received the
very sad news that our dear friend, Victor Borg, had died. We had been friends
for almost 40 years & he, his wife, Terry, and their children, Georgie,
Laura & Ben, shared some wonderful experiences together. We feel very
fortunate to have had Victor in our lives & will especially never forget
the hilarious trip we made to Hong Kong with my mother, Viva, our friend, Jan
McClean & the Maltese Community under Vic’s leadership. Sadly, we will miss
his funeral this Thursday as we will be in Adelaide.
1986 Rutherglen –
Vic & Terry Borg
Judi, Dot & I had a fun
morning at Muffins & More playing Mah Jong & chatting. It
was Eden’s last week working there & we will all miss her smile, her
ability to remember names & preferred drinks & her ready chat. She
& her boyfriend are heading to England for two years. Meanwhile Wes took
Barbara for a big shop at Coles Supermarket & went back to her place in the
afternoon for a Hepburn Voices interview.
We woke early on Thursday to find
Victoria had a Code Red in operation. I decided to leave very
early for my trip to Strathmore and realised when I hit the Calder Highway that
I wasn’t on my own with that thinking. Normally I wouldn’t have driven
anywhere, but Leanne needed some items I had and some help, and I had no other
free day. I’m pleased I went, we achieved heaps & I got back home by
lunchtime.
Wes had taken Barbara’s cat,
Bobby, to the vet, to have his teeth done & we received a phone call in the
afternoon to say that with the power outages, it still hadn’t been done.
Fortunately the power came back on shortly afterwards & the vet quickly did
the operation, which meant Wes was able to collect Bobby & bring him back
home rather than have him stay overnight at the vet. We had been watching the
cricket when the power went out & missed all the wickets! The Aussies have
been in total control in this match – don’t know what it is about The
Gabba, but visiting teams don’t have much success there.
On Friday, after gym, I met up
with Wes, Lewis & Morse outside The Food Gallery for tea
& toast & chats with friends. Annie, Fiona & Maisie came along
& we made plans to go to an Open Garden, which we did yesterday. A few
others stopped for a short chat & we were pleased with Lewis & Morse,
who are getting better sitting on the footpath & coping with dogs &
people going past.
Wes was then visited by a rello,
Mary vanderfeen, who we met last year at the McShane reunion. She was keen to
get some info from him for her upcoming book.
On Saturday, after a walk, a wash
of the boys, some gardening & cleaning, we were collected by Annie &
Fiona, & driven to Mollongghip for a fund-raising Open Garden. What a
lovely experience! We had an interesting drive there & back via Barkstead,
where Wes has forbears. The garden was beautiful, it was a relaxed visit and we
were invited to make donations towards the upkeep of the Mollongghip Hall.
After our walk around, we sat with hot drinks & home-made cakes & had a
lovely chat, mostly reminiscing about Annie’s late, much-loved husband, David.
Annie,
Fiona & Karen
Glimpses of the garden
We came home to a couple of lonely
labradors, who promptly fell asleep, as they no longer had to worry about where
we were!
Beautiful bowl of
roses picked this week
This morning, we are off to
breakfast, where we will celebrate Jan Pengilley’s birthday. No Sunday Market,
which is very difficult to explain to the boys.
In the afternoon, Wes will take
them to Eureka Kennels where they will spend the next fortnight.
We are off to Chris & Malcolm’s place for drinks, then home to finish
packing & get an early night before we drive to McLaren Vale tomorrow
morning.
I’ll be in touch while we are away
– just can’t promised Sunday Dispatches. When we return it will be officially
Summer and three weeks to Christmas.
