Daylesford Spring Dispatch - Sunday, 25th October 2020

What a lovely Sunday we had after sending off the Dispatch. We had a fun visit to the Sunday Market, collecting heaps of things from Yvonne, bread from Ken, dog treats from Jeff & tomato seedlings from the other Ken. There were lots of friends to chat with - Steve, the paper deliverer, Jan & Bev, who follow St Kilda & Collingwood & are always up for a footy chat, John from the Daylesford Railway, Robyn from U3A and a few other familiar faces.

Lewis & Morse listening to the Coodabeens with me

Breakfast with Judi & Janine was good as well - lots of conversations - we chatted about the word "cloche" and discovered its original meaning; about Janine's trip to Bendigo Pottery; Judi & Michael's visit to Mt Beckworth; Wes's fencing off garden beds only to find Lewis & Morse inside them with him, and Judi's welcome by the dogs, who nearly knocked her over when she & Michael arrived to visit - among other things.

When we arrived home I went straight to the garden to put special vegetable-growing soil & sugar cane mulch on the aforementioned garden beds, before planting zucchini seedlings in them. I also pulled out the snow peas, which have been prolific this season and sowed dwarf Purple Queen beans in the newly refurbished planter box in the greenhouse. I then tackled the pots on the decking by pulling out the parsley & coriander, which were going to seed, putting fresh soil in most of the pots & adding mulch to them. 

This lovely bundle of wool was delivered to me by Kim Lyden - thank you so much - some great colours to work with there

That night, Wes joined Danny, Tom & Squiz in a great Zoom session to celebrate the Climb Every Mountain Choral Society, which was a wonderful organisation that flourished in the 70s & 80s & was memorable for the cricket matches that brought so many of our friends together. I had hoped to participate, but found myself too anxious to cope, so missed out on seeing - Kathy, Gerard & David; Lib & Becky; Karen, Lauren, Greta & Celia; Bobby & Marilyn; Brendan; Mike & Kathey. I did participate in Squiz's Quiz, which was 10 cryptic clues leading to Brownlow Medallists & was very disappointed to score 5, although Squiz assures me that a couple of my answers rated Honourable Mentions!

We've had another busy week - Wes spent time on Zoom with Barbara, and they were joined by David & Sandy on Monday afternoon; he also spoke with Paul, Barry & Mike discussing American politics, particularly the election. I caught up with Leanne (twice); Terry Borg, and old friends - Kathy, Karen & Joyce.

This jumper & beanie set has occupied me for some time - thanks to Kathy for the pattern & encouragement. I adapted it to fit a standard child's set-in sleeves jumper & am pleased with the result! Hopefully it will keep some small person in Daylesford warm next Winter.

While Wes has been weeding both front & back gardens, and we've been having competitions to find the first rose (yes, we are way behind Melbourne); I've been planting chillis, basil & a fresh batch of parsley in the newly refurbished planter boxes. 

The Duke Street Daylesford Gardener with accessories!

We are continuing to use our School sessions to rehang paintings and this week we focussed on the front entrance & hallway. We moved the hallstand, which enabled us to reposition the Door Gods, and we are very happy with the changes we made. I have bought some plastic stops to put on the bottom of the paintings to stop them damaging the walls, and Wes has got the camera ready to take photos, which we will attach to our Art Inventory. 

We had lunch together at Jackie's on Vincent unexpectedly, on a beautiful Spring day, and both of us chose different dishes from our usual ones & enjoyed them very much. Lisa greeted us with big smiles and knew that I would want a pot of Jasmine tea & that Wes would like a glass of local Shiraz. Just as we were leaving, local friends, Jack & Michelle Walker arrived to have lunch with some of their family. 

I also had a most enjoyable lunch with Judi & Gillie at Harvest Cafe, which is open again for meals after giving its staff some holiday time. It was very busy as it offers yummy, mostly vegetarian & vegan meals, which are much in demand. I had a frittata & the other two opted for beef & mushroom pies with puff pastry. All three meals were served with generous sides of salad. 

Glorious Lake Daylesford dawn thanks to Frank Page

Wes spent almost an hour up on our roof one morning removing weeds from the gutters. It is a nerve-wracking & tricky job, especially at the very end, getting down the ladder, which was perched on the dog decking. I stayed by the tap all the time ready to turn it off or on, and pacified Lewis & Morse, who were convinced the weed clumps were alive, until Morse plucked up the courage to grab one as it landed & take it away with him for investigation!

Chillis, chives, basil mint, Winter savoury & strawberries

Yesterday morning it was too wet to walk early, but the boys never say no to an early breakfast. We enjoyed listening to the Coodabeen Champions' Grand Final show - their last for this year, including 30 minutes live on Facebook, where they sang songs & Torch took Talkback callers. 

Wes thought it would be a good idea to go for a family drive, so we all hopped in the car and went to the village of Guildford, about 2 7kms away. We stopped at their General Store & bought a Bee-sting for Wes & Bread & Butter Pudding cake for me. Both items made for a very yummy afternoon tea.

It was my turn to choose our method of betting for Cox Plate Day at Moonee Valley & overnight I decided we would put $5 on the nose on one horse per race. We chatted about the selections & wouldn't you know it - I talked Wes out of a horse that won at $11. However, we had some collects & turned $50 into $87, which was a very welcome change after some poor Saturdays.

Then we settled down to watch the Grand Final - at night, at the Gabba, and in the pouring rain. It was a very even contest at the start, but eventually Richmond overpowered Geelong to win comfortably and create a modern dynasty - three flags in the past four years. And Dusty Martin won his third Norm Smith medal for best on ground - what a champion he is, especially when it comes to Finals. 

Daylesford Spring Dispatch - Sunday, 18th October 2020

We started our week with our usual walk meeting no-one last Sunday, followed by a lovely visit to the Sunday Market, where Yvonne was very generous with fruit for the boys. They have been enjoying pears & apples as treats this week in lieu of dried ones or biscuits. Then breakfast with Judi & Janine, where we sat happily chatting about many things including COVID-19, wills, Donald Trump, ponds & lakes & the eccentricities of others (it's never us!).

For everyone who missed their fix of Lewis & Morse last week, here they are asleep together - Lewis has his eyes open!

We arrived back home with lemons from Janine - so much fruit that I am running out of receptacles to put it in! After I had caught up on all the texts from Collingwood, Geelong & neutral friends, I headed into the garden, where Wes was already hard at work weeding in the back & later mowing. I had bought 5 punnets of pleasure including carpet petunias, dwarf carnations & purple alyssum & there were plenty of pots ready & waiting for them. My biggest worry was that Lewis & Morse would dig them out, but so far so good.

We were too busy with Zoom chats to have School on Monday, so moved it to Tuesday instead. It was an interesting & tiring time taking paintings down, labelling them & deciding where they would go next. We are quite happy with the changes we have made in our bedroom & upstairs bathroom & look forward to doing some more tomorrow. 

Our Weeping Japanese Maple just loving its new home in the front garden

Wes has had Zoom meetings with old friends - Danny, Tom & Squiz; with Paul Jackson in the Cotswolds; with old schoolfriends talking about their druthers; with local friend, Jeff Bain, talking about the American election; with some of his cousins; with Paul, Barry & Mike discussing how America will look in 50 years; and with Barbara, where they were joined by Janine on Monday afternoon. 

I've chatted twice to Leanne, caught up with Jan Pengilley in Maleny & spoken at length with Kathy Lazzaro. I also had a lovely cuppa catch up with neighbour, Glen, in Larder, and lunch with Judi Allen & Sue Longley at Wombat Hill House on a perfect Spring day. The service at this cafe always leaves something to be desired & this was no exception. After we had waited 45 minutes for our lunch, Judi checked to discover that "the piece of paper didn't make it into the kitchen". Our meals were labelled express & arrived 15 minutes later!

Wes spent quite a lot of time rescuing a couple of the garden beds in the back that were originally planned for vegetables, but that had to be abandoned as Bilbo & Frodo ate everything before it ripened. He has enclosed them in wire, including wire doors & bought me plenty of manure, vegetable-growing soil & sugar cane mulch. I am planning to make up the beds & plant zucchini seedlings in them today, and have promised him that his labours will be worthwhile. We have left a couple of beds for the boys, so they can stickybeak at Glen's place when she is out in the garden!

On Friday morning, I drove to Ballarat for a teeth clean, which is always very satisfying. It was a mid-morning appointment & the traffic was light both ways, which made the 90 minute round trip more enjoyable than it sometimes can be. 

That afternoon we had invited Judi & Michael for afternoon tea - the first time anyone has been into our home (apart from Sandra, our cleaner), since March. It was lovely to sit around our dining table sharing pastizzi, cheeses, pastries, good wines & great conversations. We felt very comfortable with their company as we know they have been careful, as we have. The only issue was the welcome that they received, especially Judi, from Lewis & Morse, who were so delighted that they just about knocked her over in their excitement. 

That night we lasted until half-time in the footy, when Richmond & Port Adelaide were level and woke to discover the Tigers had won by 6 points in a tough, close, low-scoring match. 

Yesterday morning I visited the Post Office to discover a parcel from Joyce Spiteri, which contained Snoopy & Woodstock that she had made for me. This is a new craft called amigurumi, which I have never seen, let alone heard of - Joyce found it on YouTube & produced these cute little characters. Thank you so much!!!

We had a quiet Saturday after the excitement of visitors the previous afternoon. Apart from a few chores, listening to The Coodabeens and having bets on Caulfield Cup Day, we did very little. It was too wet to walk early, but the boys were happy to sit at our feet, wherever we were, as they were exhausted from greeting Judi, as well as the extra long walk on Friday morning. That night Wes made pizzas & we lasted until half-time in the Brisbane - Geelong game, and weren't surprised when we woke this morning to find that the Cats had finished all over the Lions.

Daylesford Spring Dispatch - Sunday, 11th October 2020

We started our week on such a high after Collingwood's win and breezed through shopping at the Sunday Market, where it was a little more relaxed than the previous week. All our Saints & Magpie supporting friends were on Cloud Nine and lots of texts were sent & received. We had started our Spring Racing Carnival assault on the Saturday with indifferent results, but it was great to watch good racing on TV and get excited about the Melbourne Cup Carnival.

Our dear friend, Annie Smith, had died on Friday, 2nd October, and we were lucky enough to be invited to her funeral, which was held on Thursday at St Peter's Catholic Church. We shared so much with Annie & David before David's untimely death back in 2007. Since then, Annie & I have done different things together & especially in the 20 months since she was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Her attitude was so positive that it contributed to her surviving 16 months more than originally expected. This was helped by the love & devotion of her daughter, Fiona, who put her life in Freo on hold & dedicated her time to making Annie's every day something special.

Lovely photo of Annie, Fiona & Karen at the Open Garden in Mollongghip, November 2019

Annie's devoted Irish Water Spaniel, Maisie

Annie's funeral was the wettest & windiest we have ever attended (40 mls of rain overnight & another 40 mls during the next 24 hours). There were 20 of us in St Peter's Catholic Church, all windswept & cold just from getting out of our cars. Annie's casket was made of cream wool & looked very stylish. Maisie was allowed to sit in the front pew with Fiona and behaved impeccably as she always does. Wes gave the reading, another friend, Greg, delivered the eulogy & we enjoyed a selection of photos at the end. 

At the cemetery, the weather was atrocious & my umbrella completely forgot its manners & turned into a mess of spikes & nylon. Fiona was cold & put on Annie's gloves that she had brought to place on the coffin, only to discover she had two right hand gloves. We all laughed & agreed Annie would have been most amused. Getting the coffin into David's grave was tricky because of the headstone in front of him, so Wes & others ended up doing the carrying & lowering down, which was very special. 

We were unable to gather for drinks afterwards, so we came home via the fish & chip shop, changed into dry clothes & opened a good bottle of Great Western Sparkling Shiraz (thanks Rob & Dene) to celebrate Annie's life. She would have approved. 

On Monday, our School session had involved going into our bedroom & checking the names, dates & subject matter of each of the 15 paintings there. We decided it would be too much to get them all off the wall at this time, and are planning that for tomorrow. We will photograph them, no doubt dust some of them, and the walls, and replace those that we would like to move from that room. 

I have been walking around Wombat Hill Botanic Gardens, thinking of all the times Annie & I walked there, first with Woody & more recently with Maisie. In the very early days, we used to have Sunday afternoon picnics with a handful of friends on the lawn. The gardens are looking particularly beautiful at present. 

from the top - Azaleas, Weeping Japanese Maple, Rhododendron & Tulips

I've been busy Zooming again - spoken twice with my sister, Leanne,; had a good, long chat with aunt, Jeff, in Lincolnshire; caught up with old friends, Kathy & Karen; enjoyed speaking with local friend, Dot Smith,; and failed to connect properly with Sydney mate, Jane Knox, so we spoke on the phone instead. Wes had a great conversation with his English & American friends; as well as a long chat with Mike & Linda Kirby in Queensland. He also talks to Barbara Simpson in NZ on Mondays & Fridays; &, this week, Gail & Terry White joined them from Katoomba. 

Yesterday's bets for Caulfield Guineas were mostly unsuccessful, (and we were down $30 in spite of a trifecta & two quinellas) but we are getting to know the horse & colours & enjoying the atmosphere. On Friday night, Richmond were too good for St Kilda, which brought their season to a close and last night Geelong completely dismantled Collingwood's game. Thanks to everyone for your commiserations, words of encouragement & messages of glee!

Lake Daylesford yesterday morning with Barry the fisherman casting his line in the mist

Daylesford Spring Dispatch - Sunday, 4th October 2020

We started last Sunday with a slightly more relaxed visit to the Sunday Market and came home with dog treats from Jeff, as well as our usual purchases from Yvonne. After unpacking & putting everything in the sink to wash, we headed to The Food Gallery for a breakfast get-together with Judi & Janine. We had booked an early table as Pasquale & Toni can only welcome 10 customers inside at present, and it isn't warm enough yet to sit outside, which would be safer. It was very good to spend time together & Janine had thoughtfully brought us some very welcome lemons from her laden tree. 

By the time I had put everything away & read the Sunday Age, I was exhausted and ended up back in bed watching the Australian women defeat the NZ Silver Ferns in a T20 game at Allan Border Field in Brisbane. Our wicket-keeper, Alyssa Healy, now holds the World record for the most dismissals by a keeper in T20 games, one ahead of the legendary male Indian keeper, MS Dhoni. Her husband, Mitchell Starc, celebrated with a congratulatory tweet to 'his wifey'.

We had a very successful School session designing our Maloney Artworks catalogue & the information slip to put on the back of our paintings & other artworks. I took on the responsibility of typing them both up after Wes did the prep work & we have decided to do the catalogue as a Google sheet, rather than Excel, as we can easily work on the same spreadsheet independently.

Jan Pengilley & I had a most enjoyable Zoom chat afterwards. She is looking wonderful & the warm weather & daily swim is really suiting her. We do miss her, but find Zoom chats are a great substitute. 

Wes has been able to get into the garden most days, which means that the lawns have been mown, the weeds attacked, overgrown plants hacked back, the chasey track is drying out, and everywhere is looking very lush & ready for the next flowers, which will probably be roses, as the tulips have given us a miss this Spring. 

This lovely bag of wool arrived during the week - thanks again to Kathy Lazzaro, who is keeping me going with interesting patterns as well

On Wednesday, when it rained all day, there wasn't much anyone could do. I did my usual deliveries and Wes took Lewis & Morse out in the car with him in search of Dutch Cream potatoes, which he found at RubyGoose Foods in Trentham. This is how the boys reacted once they got back home again. 

Lewis preferred a pillow & Morse took the high ground

Judi & I met up for lunch at Larder, which was very enjoyable and may be a weekly event for a while. I came back home to rest & watched the NZ women finally beat Australia when their young 18 year old all-rounder took 2 wickets & scored the winning runs.

All around us our neighbours have been busy - Rob is doing lots of maintenance and upkeep of their home, Ellie is settling in & finding people to help her, and Glen has commissioned a local artist, Issa, to provide her with some garden artworks including her magnificent new letterbox.

The AFL Finals have had us engrossed although we find it hard to last the distance at night, being such early birds. Port took control in their match with Geelong & were never in doubt, while Richmond looked the goods against the Lions, who were more determined and broke a 15 game hoodoo by beating the Tigers. Yesterday, the Saints beat the Doggies in a close exciting match and now face Richmond on Friday night. 

Finally, last night, the Pies somehow won by a point against the West Coast Eagles in front of 30,000 fans in Perth. There were some Pies supporters, but they were vastly outnumbered. We couldn't go to bed as the game was so close & so exciting. We now play Geelong next Saturday night. We're quite tired this morning as the match didn't finish until 11pm and with Daylight Saving it means we've had about 6 hours in bed - I couldn't sleep for excitement & I won't be the only one. Lewis & Morse were very happy to be fed and not walked at 6.30am.