Daylesford Winter Dispatch - Sunday, 26th July 2020

What a busy week it has been. Yesterday, Wes drove Barbara to Melbourne Airport to catch her flight back to New Zealand & her new life there. Sadly this flight was cancelled at the last minute because of a new regulation of which neither of them was aware.  Hopefully she can catch a flight tomorrow, which means another trip to the airport for them both. Fingers & toes crossed. 

A recent photo of Barbara at breakfast at the Food Gallery

When I left you last Sunday, we were heading off to the Sunday Market, where we visited early, as very strict rules were in place. There was only one parking area & only one entrance/exit. All the stalls were situated well back from their usual spots & distanced from each other. Yvonne was only allowed to serve one customer at a time & all monies had to be put into a bucket, with her giving clean change. We were unable to get eggs or Dutch Cream potatoes, but did end up with everything else, including a pumpkin & polenta loaf of Stella's bread. 

I think this is how many of us are feeling!

When we arrived home, while I unpacked, Wes toasted fruit loaf for breakfast (we had forgotten the croissants) and we sat quietly with our hot drinks & the Sunday Age. While I finished washing, drying & packing our supplies, he drove Barbara to Eureka Kennels in Ballarat, where Bobby, her cat, is staying for some weeks until it is appropriate for him to join her in NZ. 

He got back home in time for a Zoom chat with Ben, Leanne, Jack & Olivia Lazzaro. Jack wanted to talk to someone who had once been the boss of Brunswick and Wes was very happy to oblige. He did enjoy seeing the whole family, who were all decked out in navy blue in preparation for Carlton's big game that afternoon against ladder leaders, Port Adelaide. 

The footy was fantastic & the Blues led towards the end, losing by 3 points when Robbie Gray slotted a tricky goal after the siren. Very few teams have come that close to Port this year and the Blues' fans can be very proud of their team. Later that afternoon, Wes hosted an ALP Branch Zoom chat, which was well attended & provoked good discussion.

Recently my side of our electric blanket had stopped working and I was given permission to steal Wes's controls so that I was warm at night. After a few nights of one-sided heat, we agreed that it was probably time to replace our Sunbeam Wool Fleece blanket & I put it on our bed on Sunday. What a difference that makes - the old one was bought in 2006 - no wonder one of the controls died & that fleece was no longer at its best. 

Wes spent much of this week helping Barbara with last minute chores - it's such a big job to move overseas - her car had to go by ship & went off some days earlier. The packers are due to come in tomorrow to fill a container with furniture and belongings. As Barbara will be in isolation in NZ, when she arrives, there was no hurry for her stuff to arrive at the same time as her. Fortunately settlement on her home here was moved forward to next month, so Wes won't have to do too much more to keep the house looking good until the new owner, Ellie, arrives. 

I have been busy, but not as busy & social as last week - apart from personal catch ups with Judi & Gillie, I've enjoyed Zoom chats with Leanne & Skype with Jan Pengilley, both of whom were looking very good. I've also made some phone calls, walked to the Post Office daily (masked & feeling very safe), ordered our cloth masks & even cooked a couple of meals for a change. 

Our weekly School was looking at Google privacy issues. We reviewed our settings, removed some personalised ads, and changed our password for Google only, vowing to do it more regularly. Wes found a way that we could easily identify emails being sent to Bigpond, instead of Gmail, so we can alert suppliers etc to our updated addresses. That was very useful as well. 

We are off to the Sunday Market shortly, having a quick breakfast together at The Food Gallery before Wes spends some more time with Barbara & then takes his sister, Denise Anderson, to lunch at Jackie's on Vincent for her birthday. 

Lovely photo of Denise & her partner, Barry, in 2018

Daylesford Winter Dispatch - Sunday, 19th July 2020

When I left you last Sunday we were heading out to deliver goodies to friends, including lemons stolen from Sue Longley's very prolific tree (she accused me later of not taking any as she didn't notice any difference). We then had breakfast at The Food Gallery, where Pasquale announced they were closing until Friday, putting my catching up with friends plans into disarray. 

Back home, while Wes washed the floors, I had a lovely Zoom chat with old friends, Ian & Robyn Robinson, who have been living at their country property in Chewton since the original lockdown restrictions came into place. It was great to see them & catch up on each other's news, as well as show off Lewis & Morse. 

That night, Wes was delighted when Carlton played very well to beat the Doggies on the Gold Coast. This win put the Blues into the Top 8, somewhere they haven't been for quite a while. 

Wes watching the footy with Lewis & Morse asleep on his lap

On Monday, we watched Steve Dotto talk about tips with Google Contacts & with handling Gmails. He made some very sensible suggestions & we immediately implemented one, which frees you from having to check emails incessantly. We now have an automatic reply to emails which advises you that we are no longer constantly checking & will respond next time we go to Gmail, which might be twice a day. We also learned how to easily add photos to Google Contacts, how to bulk label Contacts & were encouraged to abandon our practice of putting emails into Folders & use the Search engine instead. This last hint could be too hard to put into practice, but we'll certainly consider it.

Sherryn Danaher & I had a lovely long chat afterwards & she filled me in with all she does to keep herself busy during these weeks of lockdown. We both enjoyed catching up, but eventually my voice all but disappeared and we had to hang up. 

Great photo circa 1996 of Sherryn & Karen Stevenson at Stephanie's restaurant 

At lunchtime, I caught up with our first Daylesford friend, Glenda Rozen, who sold us our house at 78 Duke Street back in 1998. We met at Harvest Cafe, where the COVID-19 protocols were strictly adhered to, and enjoyed yummy lunches. Glenda & her husband, Joe, introduced us to so much of what we know & love about living here, and we remain in their debt. Thank you both - always great to spend time together.

On Tuesday, we enjoyed an hour long Skype call with my aunt, Jeff, and her daughter, Leigh, who was visiting her in Lincolnshire from her home in Luxembourg. Both of them were very excited to be together again, and we had lovely catch up - some serious COVID-19 talk, followed by lots of family nonsense & laughs. 

One of my favourite photos of Leigh & Jeff, taken 20 years ago

As part of a very social week, I then had a long Zoom chat with Leanne, so she could see & chat to, Lewis & Morse and later on took Sue Longley for her first ever massage at EKO with Emma. Sue was inundated with beautiful flowers when Bill died back in May, and we decided to give her a Gift Voucher for EKO instead. Sue had told me last week that she was ready for the massage, so I gave her my usual appointment & drove her there & back, so that she would feel more comfortable walking in the door. When I came to pick her up, I could see that it had been a big success and she was feeling & looking so much happier.

Even though she gave me a big bag of lemons, which I then shared with neighbours & friends, she also wanted to buy us afternoon tea. We headed back to Harvest Cafe and spent a lovely hour or so together & promised we would do it again sometime soon. 

These beautiful flowers were waiting for me on my return - thanks to Leanne for her Happy Anniversary wishes

Wednesday seems to have turned into delivery day for me and I headed off early with jars, lemons & papers for Nick & Robyn at Porcupine Ridge, before pumping water at Leitches Creek. Next stop was for a fringe trim with Lyndal, who thought she was doing a full cut & had to be reminded that I was still recovering from losing 5cm in length three weeks' earlier. 

Afterwards, I met up with Jane Barrett, again at Harvest Cafe, where we had a cuppa & I congratulated her on selling her latest home, and wished her well in their search for the perfect new abode, which they have until November to find. 

I arrived back here in time to host a Zoom meeting of old friends - Kathy Lazzaro, Karen Stevenson & Joyce Spiteri. We all worked together back in the early 70s & have shared so much over nearly 48 years. Joyce's husband, Manny, joined her in the chat for a while, and, as they were babysitting Jessica's twins - Ethan & Oliver, we got to see them as well. We are doing this catch up fortnightly & it works perfectly. If any of us feels the need to chat in between times, we ring.

This parcel was returned to our PO Box during the week - I sent it to cousin, Leigh Murrin, in Luxembourg for her special birthday - lots of all the Australian treats she misses most - and it never arrived. Four months later, we received it intact, but obviously undelivered!

 

On Thursday, after shopping, I organised a visit for us to 
Trentham Aged Care to catch up with a friend there. Meanwhile Wes took Barbara to Springs Medical Centre for an appointment. We both had quite busy mornings with split second timing to get to Trentham at the appointed hour - road works halfway along with red lights & delays of up to 5 minutes. 

That night, Collingwood unexpectedly beat Geelong in a low-scoring but exciting match at the new Perth Stadium in front of 22,000 fans. I suspect the rain stopped 8,000 people from attending, as 30,000 was the limit. Geelong lost their inspirational captain, Joel Selwood, early on, which helped the Magpies' cause. The game started at 8.10pm our time, which meant we watched the second half in bed, as it was well past our bedtime by then. 

On Friday, we took the boys for an extra long walk to help tire them out. With footy happening every night including tomorrow, we don't want them waking us any earlier than they have to! After a busy morning, making cauliflower soup for us & cooking rice & pumpkin for them, I made a couple of phone calls before heading off into Vincent Street for a catch up lunch with Di Lyttleton at The Food Gallery. We have been friends for a long time, but never see each other as much as we would like. This was a perfect way to do it & our time together flew by. We both had big bowls of the seafood chowder, which is a Food Gallery special, & I don't know about Di, but Wes cancelled dinner & served toasted cheese & tomato sandwiches instead!

Wow! This is me with Jeff Bain & Di Lyttleton 10 years ago next month, when we had a little holiday together - this photo was taken at All Saints Winery by Wes

Yesterday, I was ordered to stay at home & did so very happily. There were lots of chores that needed doing - washing all the dogs' bedding, a big basket of ironing, and cleaning the kitchen. Most of these jobs were done listening to the Coodabeen Champions and the afternoon was spent watching footy games, especially the very exciting Brisbane Lions win over Greater Western Sydney. 

We are off to the Sunday Market shortly as it is back on again this week, but just food stalls - so we will stock up on our usual fruit & vegetables from Yvonne, plus croissants & bread from Steve & Ken & perhaps a bag of Dutch Cream potatoes if that particular farmer is there. 

Daylesford Winter Dispatch - Sunday, 12th July 2020

When I left you last Sunday, I was off to the Food Gallery to have a catch up breakfast with Janine Hawker. We did enjoy our time together & it was  9.15am before we knew it. Janine was looking well & happy & has coped very well with lockdown by having lots of projects, all of which she has achieved. Meanwhile Wes & the boys were out in the garden, pruning roses & clearing up as best they could with the soggy ground.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

I led School on Monday, as we explored Google Docs, MyDrive & Blog & we both felt we learnt plenty. I think the hardest thing, coming from Word, is that we both are looking for the command, SAVE, and it is gradually dawning on us that work is saved automatically. We are both having trouble trusting Google when it comes to saving, but so far, we haven't lost anything! At the conclusion of our lesson, we decided that Google Docs wasn't versatile enough for us and that we would go back to Word, which offers so much more when composing. 

However, Wes has really caught the Blog Bug & some of his wonderful writing can be found at https://warrenmaloney.blogspot.com/

Judi & I met up at The Food Gallery afterwards, and she was interested in all we have been doing. The cafe was busy with a steady stream of locals & visitors, but there were definitely fewer people in town than the previous week. I imagine quite a few had to return home to be in lockdown. We have our fingers & toes crossed that they haven't left COVID-19 with us, as our Shire has been remarkably free from the virus, apart from (months ago) two returning from overseas Trentham residents, who self-isolated & didn't need hospitalisation. 

On Tuesday morning, Wes & Barbara had to drive to the outskirts of Melbourne, but they were back by lunchtime. I spoke to Leanne on Zoom, which worked well, before heading off for the Post Office. I chatted with Gail White, who, with her husband, Terry, has recently relocated to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains, NSW. We had plenty to catch up on & she was able to tell me that Terry will be able to have his thrice-weekly dialysis locally from next month, which will make life much easier for them both. 

That afternoon, Wes was able to finish pruning the roses (all 118 of them) as it was brilliant sunshine & quite warm. Michael was gardening next door, which occupied Lewis & Morse. Their tails are wagging but they seem to have to bark as well, which is most infuriating. 

The next day I was busy dropping off various items in & around Daylesford before having a manicure with Alanna at Spa + Beauty in Hepburn Springs. She is kept busy with locals during the week, but the Greater Melbourne COVID-19 Stage 3 lockdown means that her weekends are now very quiet again. I think she is like most employers who were worried about their exposure to the virus from our visitors and is grateful that we will have some respite from them as they seem to abandon all protocols once they are away from their own homes. 

That afternoon I had a lovely long Zoom chat with Marilyn Preston & we hope to do it again soon. She looked very well & updated me with some of what has been happening with them, and their two sons. Wes had a Zoom meeting with the Reconciliation Committee & had to use the laptop and sit out on our decking, as Sandra was cleaning. Later in the day he caught up with his cousins again - clockwise from the top - Ronda, Amanda, Gary, Glenn & Wes.

With all 18 AFL teams out of Victoria for the foreseeable future, it has felt quite weird to be watching e.g. Collingwood play Hawthorn at the Sydney Showgrounds, as they did on Friday night, and Carlton meet the Western Bulldogs on the Gold Coast, as they will tonight. 

Wes has been getting serious about doing home chores as well as his writing and on Thursday he scrubbed down both the dog decking & our main decking. He cleaned the glass and hosed everywhere down afterwards. Almost on cue, Lewis & Morse waited until we were sitting down debriefing over our pre-dinner drink, before pulling down a holder of bright green tinsel streamers I had placed up high to scare away the cockies from our herb pots on the decking. What had seemed like a small amount turned into a sea of bright green everywhere and took until mid-morning on Friday to clear up!

Gail White sent me this photo of their new lounge in Katoomba - looks very cosy indeed

We set off on Friday morning to socialise Lewis & Morse outside the Food Gallery, but it was closed, so we drove to Trentham instead & picked up some free range eggs & Dutch Cream spuds. We had hoped our Sunday Market would have re-opened today with the restrictions back on Melburnians, but it didn't. We were able to collect our usual order from Yvonne yesterday, but she doesn't have eggs or Dutch Cream spuds. 

The Collingwood vs Hawthorn game produced a most unusual result with the Pies starting well & holding on to win - a rarity against the Hawks & a much needed 4 points. I somehow stayed up until the end & was praying for rain yesterday morning, so I could stay in bed with a pot of tea & The Age. However, it was dry early, and we were able to walk Lewis & Morse before the rain came tumbling down, turning our backyard into its Winter mud.

While Wes drove to Wheatsheaf to collect our provisions from Yvonne, I turned our remaining vegetables into a particularly yummy vegetable soup, which fed us at lunch & will continue to feed us at lunch for as long as we don't get sick of it. 

Last night, Wes unearthed the Sunbeam Electric Frypan and made toasted cheese & tomato sandwiches. This reminded us of our very early days at 4/201 Brunswick Road, with Cheryl & Brendan living at Flat 2. They used to invite us in for toasted sandwiches on Sunday nights & we would luxuriate in their comfortable lounge suite & watch TV. We didn't have a couch or a TV, so this was a very special treat indeed!

Yesterday, we celebrated 52 years since we committed to each other in the Melbourne University Folk Club lounge. Wes has written a lovely story about it and his post on Facebook yesterday attracted heaps of comments. 

Daylesford Winter Dispatch - Sunday, 5th July 2020

Last Sunday, the Dispatch didn’t quite arrive as I had planned. It still showed Tuesday’s date, it unexpectedly went into a 5th page & it seemed to go to everyone’s emails, not just the ones I had chosen for the Dispatch. These are all teething issues that I am sorting out as I make the move from Outlook to Google. Please accept my apologies & bear with me - it will improve. I am unable to find Verdana font, which I love, so have been using Varela Round, which I quite like, but all the settings are out as a result. You have no idea the panic there was at my desk around 7 am as I went to send out my first Dispatch via Gmail & Google Docs. 

I thought I should describe a typical Sunday morning for you - we get up at 5.30am and are usually at Lake Daylesford by 5.45 with Lewis & Morse. We walk for 60-70 minutes, come back home & give them breakfast. I also clean the backyard & feed the birds before coming into the study & preparing to finish & send the Dispatch. I used to try and write it all on Sunday mornings, but that is too hard, so now I have most of it done & just finish it off to send to you. 

Lewis & Morse resting after a busy morning of chasey

After the Dispatch, we have quick showers, get dressed and & drive to the Sunday Market, aiming to be there by 8am to beat the crowds. We greet Ken Rae from Spring Park Nursery as we arrive, bearing newspapers & returning pots from plants we have bought. Yvonne has dog carrots, cabbage, pumpkin & apples ready for me, along with her best celery & fennel. I then try to avoid others as I choose mushrooms, red peppers, spring onions, green beans, ginger, garlic, dog zucchini & dog & people broccoli, pears if they are in season, tomatoes, an Iceberg lettuce that fits in my Tupperware container, red onions & occasionally a leek. 

Meanwhile Wes buys sourdough bread & croissants from Steve & Ken at Stella’s, Dutch Cream potatoes from a farmer down the other end of the market & spelt bread for Glen, our neighbour, if she doesn’t need a trip to the market for anything else. On the way out, we stop to chat with Jeff, the dog treat man, and buy pigs’ ears’ strips & dried lamb bones for Lewis & Morse. 

We arrive back home laden and while Wes delivers croissants & spelt bread to Barbara & Glen, I start washing everything in preparation for filling our two crispers - the smaller dog one & the larger people one, although some days I think it should be the other way round. 

Wes then takes me out to breakfast or makes hot drinks & heats up croissants and we sit at our dining room table looking out over Lake Daylesford and reading the Sunday Age as we have breakfast. After we finish, I get back to the now clean fruit & vegetables, and Wes goes into the garden if it isn’t too cold. 

My next move is to ring Leanne & see how her weekend is going, before doing whatever chore I have set myself - last Sunday, I planned to, and did, give a complete polish to our beautiful hall table. This involved taking off the protective glass, moving the piece out from the wall, removing & polishing every drawer & eventually putting it all back together again. By this time, it was midday - time to check emails before going back upstairs for another pot of tea & the Sunday crossword. 

We bought this beautiful Chinese console hall table  from Orient Furniture, Chinatown, Sydney, back in 2005. We were going to Yum Cha with Judi & Michael, when we noticed it in the window & thought it would go perfectly in our then new home. We still love it and it looks just as good as the day we bought it. 

So much has happened this week. We watched some more Steve Dotto You Tube information sessions to learn more about Google Docs & Keep, and I made the decision to stop doing the Dispatch twice & instead write it straight into my Blog & attach a link to my Sunday emails. I do hope this has worked OK for you and that you were easily able to catch up on our news if you wished. Let me know of any issues you have, as it appears to work fine for Wes & me. Tomorrow I am teaching Wes all I have learned about Docs, as he hasn’t started using them yet. The main drawback to them is that although they are excellent for putting up on the web, they don’t keep their shape when it comes to printing and that was why I had such problems last Sunday. 

Judi & I had our regular catch up at The Food Gallery, but we were appalled by the numbers of visitors & their attitudes to spatial distancing. We are in the middle of Victoria School Holidays & people from Melbourne, which has had quite a spike in COVID-19 contractions, seem to think it is OK to visit the country, where there are little or no cases & bring it with them. More than one shop-keeper talked to me about closing over the weekends, rather than put his & his staff’s health at risk. 

We did enjoy watching the Coodabeen Champions on Monday night on You Tube - the show was meant to go for 90 minutes, but they did 135, including a 10 minute interval. Once again we felt as though we had gone out to see a live show - there were lots of jokes, very little serious football talk, plenty of songs & a very amusing array of phone calls to Torch, including one from Nige,( who is an ideator working for Gill McLaughlin), wondering if the Coodabeens had any thoughts for how to fix the season. We laughed ourselves silly, while Lewis & Morse tried to tell us how tired they were & begged to go to bed.

Wonderful cartoon of the night by Paul Harvey  L-R     Ian Cover, Jeff Richardson, Greg Champion, Andy Bellairs, Billy Baxter, Simon Whelan & Torch McGee

We celebrated end-of-financial year with lunch at Jackie’s on Vincent. We had booked & were given the table by the open fire, as well as an excellent welcome from Lisa & very yummy food courtesy of Jackie. It was the perfect time to go for a meal as there were only 8 of us having lunch & the tables were well-spaced. The biggest worry for everyone was the 12 year old girl, who wanted to go exploring & touch everything. Her parents were mindful, but didn’t demand obedience. 

Wes tucking into chocolate fondant to finish the meal, after curried goat for him & chilli calamari for me.

Wes spent plenty of time with Barbara, helping her with practical things as well as being a sounding board. He also spent time in our garden, both front & back, pruning roses & cleaning up. We had so many sunny days after cold, frosty & misty mornings.

One highlight for me was my fortnightly chat with Kathy Lazzaro & Karen Stevenson. This time, Joyce Spiteri joined us, which was wonderful. We all met in 1972-74, and have been firm friends ever since. Old friends are so good - you don’t have to explain yourself - they know you as well as anyone, and we all enjoyed the catch up. Joyce has promised to try and join us again - she had to leave the chat early as two of her grand-daughters (Katia & Alessia) were clamouring for sewing lessons. 

Another was a catch up with Dot & John Smith at The Food Gallery. We met on Friday morning, when Daylesford was submerged in fog and spent a lovely hour or so chatting. I was pleased to see them both looking well & prepared to be sensible for as long as it takes. The surge in COVID-19 cases in Victoria (mostly Melbourne) has been disappointing after we were doing so well early. 

Mid-week, we were delighted to read that the Sunday Market was going back to being a food market only with much stricter controls, as it was before. However, it was decided to cancel today’s & next Sunday’s Market & bring it back after the Victorian school holidays are over. Yvonne rang me as soon as she heard the news & Wes visited her in Wheatsheaf, about 10 minutes away, to pick up our usual order. Our fridge was as full as it ever gets with fresh food arriving two days earlier than usual. 

We feel very lucky that we haven’t gotten bored yet - we have the boys to entertain us & keep us busy; 9 games of footy are available on Fox from Thursday night to Sunday afternoon; we haven’t run out of projects, and we are keeping in touch with friends & family whenever we can. Neither of our teams won this weekend, which isn’t ideal - the Saints & Bombers were just too good. 

Beanies, berets & a scarf that I donated to Keeping Daylesford Warm this week. Thanks again to everyone for their wool donations. Much appreciated. 

Yesterday was Barbara’s birthday and Wes took her to Bellinzona Grange for High Tea at lunchtime. He was very impressed with everything - precautions, distancing, service & yummy food. 

The boys and I settled down to watching an afternoon of footy in front of the fire and out of the cold & wet. Our backyard looks like a country footy field after a game, as it hasn’t coped with another 30mls of rain in a couple of days. Lewis & Morse just love it & their games of chasey become even more excited and muddier. We think Morse’s aim is to take Lewis’s collar from him & he is successful more often than not!

This morning it feels strange not to be visiting the Sunday Market, but I am having an early breakfast with Janine Hawker at The Food Gallery. We haven’t seen each other for 4 months & it will be lovely to catch up, especially early before the visitors arrive.