Morse

Morse
Morse & friend

Monday, 9 March 2020

Daylesford Autumn Dispatch - Sunday, 8th March 2020


We’ve seen quite a few wedding photos of Kyahl & Loz, but this is my favourite. They look so happy together & must be delighted that they were able to marry exactly the way they wanted.

  


We regaled everyone at breakfast last Sunday with stories from the ceremony – it was a small group, us, Barbara, Judi & Janine, so we shared our respective weeks while enjoying yummy breakfasts at The Food Gallery. Today is going to be a much bigger affair with 11 attending an earlier get-together before the annual ChillOut Parade in Vincent Street.

Our footy teams had varying results – Carlton women beat Adelaide for the first time in an excellent game, while the Collingwood team was well beaten by Melbourne. The Carlton men lost to Freo, but Collingwood men won their practice game against Richmond in front of a sellout crowd at Wangaratta. I spent most of the day reading The Age, and watching the footy & after an early dinner, we were all tired & ready for bed.

On Monday it was quite cold after a warm night and people were asking for the heaters to be put on at gym. Wes got back into the garden again, much to his delight after the past few days had been spent getting the computer up & running to his liking. Meanwhile I had a lovely long chat with Jan Pengilley, who we miss very much since she moved to Maleny.

It was cold enough to have the heater on & be knitting beanies again for Keeping Daylesford Warm. Thanks to Barbara & Judi for their generous donations of good wool, which are much appreciated. I am knitting Fair Isle & other patterned beanies at present & they look & feel much better when made with wool rather than acrylic.


Lewis & Morse taking advantage of the afternoon sun

On Tuesday we attended Marilyn Testro’s funeral here in Daylesford at Verey’s. It was a beautiful celebration of her life, led by Sylvia Johnson, a most accomplished & empathetic local civil celebrant. Between her words & Glenn’s well-crafted eulogy, they covered the three phases of Marilyn’s  life – unhappy childhood, blissful marriage & debilitating depression. There were 32 of us at Verey’s Chapel, which was the perfect setting for a small funeral.

Wes spent time with Barbara on Wednesday, while Dot, Judi & I played Mah Jong and had a surprise visitor, Gail White, who popped in to say hello. Gail & Terry are headiing to the Blue Mountains to live, close to family, but Gail has promised to join us for a game or two before she goes. It’s a long time since there were 4 of us playing the game.



On Thursday it was Wes’s turn to visit Leanne and a very wet drive it was, with 50mls of rain falling here. It was too wet to walk the boys, but not too wet for them to play chasey and get very muddy, which meant they were confined to quarters until they dried.

We had hoped to socialise them on Friday morning as usual, but it was very cold outside The Food Gallery, and we were confronted by a visitor who was keen for us to let her use our shower & buy her a coffee. We decided to go home instead, but I went back later to have a pot of Jasmine tea & apologise to Pasquale, who had started to get our order going when he saw us out the front.

Danny Millman & his friend, Kim, arrived to stay for a couple of nights & share ChillOut weekend with us. We decided to invited Rob & Dene to join us for a barbecue, but it was too cold & windy, so we reorganised our living area & had a dinner party instead with T-bones cooked outside. It was a great night & we chatted & ate & drank far too much!

Yesterday morning, Wes & I managed to walk the boys early, then had tea & toast with Danny & Kim, before we three drove to the Daylesford Farmers’ Markets, followed by a stroll around town, soaking up the atmosphere. We had a quiet morning reading the Age until it was time to go to the Daylesford Station for our trip on Spa Country Railway Bubbles to Bullarto, which was sold out. It was great fun & we were regaled with live music (featuring friend, Richard Bevan & two others), while we ate & drank & admired the countryside.
  


Above: Wes, Kim & Karen before boarding the train & 
Below: Wes & Kim on the train





Eating our boxed lunches at Bullarto Station – Wes, Kim, Danny & Karen

Needless to say, we had a quiet night. Wes made his spaghetti & cooking salmon dish, we watched races, footy & cricket & went to bed after the Carlton AFLW girls won their match well against St Kilda.

This morning has been too busy for me to send this off before we went to breakfast. We walked Lewis & Morse early, then took Danny & Kim to the Sunday Market with us to see the boys eating their shredded cabbage. While I bought up big on vegetables (dog & human), dog bones & dog treats, Danny & Kim went for a walk around the Market, which was peaceful at 8am.

We had breakfast at The Food Gallery along with Barbara, Judi, Janine & her friend Darryn & Janine’s daughter, Peta. Peta was thrilled to discover that Danny & Kim had been to Ngoya in Japan, where she lived & taught English for many years & conversation flowed.

Then it was time for the annual ChillOut Parade and we voted it best ever. It was happy, colourful, loud & inclusive and a big audience really appreciated it. We caught up with our neigbours, Rob & Dene, and their friend, Polly. Wes and I left to come home when the Parade was doing its second sweep of Vincent Street. It can be quite difficult to get back into our little bit of Duke Street, as everyone is heading past us to go to Victoria Park, where there is a full day carnival of activities & entertainment. Danny & Kim were going to Bendigo after the Parade finished; Judi was on duty at the Daylesford Museum; Peta was helping Daylesford Rotary, and the rest were going back home or staying around enjoying the atmosphere.

I’ll have some photos from ChillOut next week, but now I am looking forward to a pot of tea, the Sunday Age, Greta Bradman on ABC Classic FM & a double header of Collingwood teams playing in Morwell this arvo!

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