After our long walk early last
Sunday & a very successful trip to the Sunday Market, we were pleased to
sit down to croissants & jam for breakfast with the Sunday Age. Wes had
gone foraging while I collected fruit & vegetables from Yvonne & his
big find was Portuguese tarts made from scratch by Danny’s Farm.
He also bought a dozen large eggs from the Pero’s Winery stall.
When we got home he distributed the tarts to Rob, Dene, Barbara & Glen. We
saved ours for afternoon tea.
In the afternoon, we planted our
bulbs & it was wonderful to be doing it in our little strip of Duke Street.
Thanks to the friends we shared bulbs with for letting us know that they had
been planted.
Here we are
planting – Wes on the left, and Glen & Rob on the right
The next morning we had our School
session which tackled photos & how we each save them with a view to
improving & customising our methods. We looked at every possible command
& option & learned heaps, some of which should enhance my Dispatch
photos.
We had decided the previous week
that we should have the COVID-19 test – Wes has had a runny & blocked nose
for a while & I’ve had a persistent cough for the past few weeks. Wes
started by ringing Springs Medical Centre for their advice & they were
taken aback, which was surprising. They eventually gave him the phone number of
the Sebastopol COVID-19 Testing centre & he was given the third degree
before agreement was reached that we could proceed to the next stage. This took
the form of a text message asking us to answer the next call from a Private
number on our mobiles!
We were eating our lunch when my
phone rang & by the time I grabbed it to answer it, it was too late.
Happily, Wendy, our go-between, rang on the home phone, which we answered
easily. She asked a few more questions, checked our full names, DOB and then
suggested we could slot in at 2.30pm that day. We stopped eating lunch, brushed
our teeth, hopped in the car with the Tom Tom & drove to what is usually a
dental clinic, where we stayed in our car until we were collected. The
procedure took a couple of minutes – our heart rates & temperatures were
taken, then we were swabbed for 20 seconds in the back of the throat & 10
seconds at the back of each nostril. By the time we drove back home, it was under
2 hours in total, which was excellent, considering the drive to Sebastopol
takes 45 minutes.
That night, after Wes had a most
enjoyable catch up on Zoom with old school friends, we broke our Monday night
‘no drinking rule’ and indulged in a glass or two of red wine to celebrate our
successful & busy day. I had received a very welcome & enjoyable phone
call from Squiz Murray & Wes had heard from Fraser Gibson, which was
similarly much appreciated. After dinner we watch the second half of one of our
absolute favourite films Chariots of Fire – perfectly cast,
written & filmed. I must have seen it at least 10 times.
On Tuesday, Leanne & I had a
good Skype chat & decided to make it a weekly event. She loves seeing Lewis
& Morse and they react to her voice which is lovely for her. Wes planted
the rest of our bulbs – both Erlicheer & Dutch Iris - in the back garden,
especially in & around the dog cemetery, where Casper, Frodo & Bilbo
lie peacefully under big rocks to stop them from escaping the way they did in
their lives!
Wes spent Wednesday morning
helping Barbara with various things, while I said goodbye to our last tomato
plant, picked 3 figs (a record) & had a very lovely catch up chat with Jane
Knox in Sydney. Her husband, David, appeared in the background & it was
wonderful to see them both looking very well & content. I could picture
myself at their dining room table sharing one of Jane’s yummy meals, something
I had done on my own, with Wes & with Danny Millman on occasion. I also
rang Barry Spall, old friend & gym instructor to see how he & Fran were
going. He was out on a walk, and Fran assured me that they were both travelling
well, doing lots of walks in the forest & that Barry was missing his gym
students. It will be great to see him again when the gym is able to re-open.
Wes has been working solidly most
afternoons on Ancestry research, as well as contributing some memorable photos
to a Facebook site called Growing Up in Brunswick. I, too, grew
up in Brunswick, but went to school firstly in Coburg (where we lived until I
was 8) then in Moonee Ponds to finish Primary school & finally Essendon for
secondary school. Most of the photos I looked at were taken in places other
than Brunswick, but I did find one of me in front of the willow tree in our
back yard at 1 Morrow Street, West Brunswick. This prompted someone to contact
me to say his father moved there in 1966 & was still there all these years
later. Morrow Street had 7 houses, and stopped at the Moonee Ponds creek.
Here I am aged 12
That afternoon, Wes & I
received our texts to say that we had tested negative to COVID-19, which seemed
as good a reason as any for a glass of red wine, instead of pear juice with
dinner that night!
On Thursday morning, Wes &
Paul Jackson enjoyed their transatlantic early chat when we returned from our
walk. I caught up with Leanne on the phone & spent the rest of the morning
doing mundane things like washing & ironing before settling down with a
book for the afternoon.
We were able to go for a second
walk on Friday, the first time for a while & tackled the loop from
Tipperary Springs to Bryce’s Flat, which took 2 hours & covered about
11kms, which gave us a total of 17km for the day. No wonder Lewis & Morse
lay about like stunned mullets until dinner time, when they miraculously
recovered!
Yesterday we walked a circuit of
Lake Daylesford before the rain came down. Wes abandoned plans to wash the
boys, and tackled dusting, vacuuming & washing the floors instead.
This morning was icy with 1° as we
were walking. As I sit here the mist is rising from Lake Daylesford, the birds
are in full force carolling as they enjoy their seed & rolled oats; a few
roses are trying hard to bloom & a pair of young labs are asleep at my
feet. Bliss!
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