Daylesford Winter Dispatch - Sunday, 27th June 2021

 

                                        Who knew?

We spent our Sunday quietly after all the early excitement of the Market & breakfast, in preparation for our busy week. The footy was good with Essendon holding out Hawthorn for a good win in Tassie & we caught up with an episode of Vera over dinner.

On Monday we drove to Strathmore to spend time with Leanne, our first visit for five weeks, because of lockdown. She was thrilled to see us & we conquered a few issues, spent some quality time chatting & were home again by early afternoon, much to the delight of our boys & neighbours. Lewis & Morse had taken their giant bones into their bedroom, which smelled particularly fruity when we opened the door!

Fat tummies & exhaustion post marrow bones

The next morning, while Wes walked the boys, I prepared their breakfasts & had a quick shower in time for an early chat with my aunt, Jeff, and cousin, Leigh, who was in Torksey Lock visiting her for about 2 weeks. We enjoyed a wonderful hour of hilarity with the occasional serious chat about COVID & its effect world-wide. Afterwards it was time to talk with Jan Pengilley in Maleny. She was looking good & our 40 minutes flew by as we shared news & stories. 

Jeff's family all together at Torksey Lock

L-R Amelia, Simon, Leigh, Jeff, Mike, Kelly & Archie in front 

My next move was to the Optometrist in Vincent Street as my glasses frames had snapped over the weekend. They can't be repaired & are no longer made, so I had to chose new frames (ugh!) and, as Sarah was free, had a 40 minute eye test to see if I needed new lenses as the others were 4 years old. My eyes got a good report, with only a couple of adjustments, and by the time the Victorian Govt special deal & the extras rebate was applied, the whole thing cost me $37.50. Bargain! I was told it would take two weeks, but they were ready two days later, which was fantastic.

We had bought tickets to see the film, Dream Horse, starring Toni Collette & discovered it was a true story, set in a Wales village. We enjoyed every minute of the film which was crammed with good actors, an excellent script & brilliant photography. Wes even had a cry, which is a sure sign of success. 

The next busy day was Wednesday, where I did my usual deliveries, before having a toasted sandwich & umpteen games of Mah Jong with Judi. Meanwhile, Wes drove to Woodend & caught the train into the city for a catch up lunch with old school friends at Il Gambero in Carlton. Beforehand, he went to Pellegrini's, a Melbourne institution, for a short black coffee & strolled into Lygon Street Carlton, finding loads of memories along the way. 

For our Anniversary, we had bought new doonas for our bedroom & the guest room, and of course they arrived on Tuesday, when I was too tired to be able to change everything, so I did it after lunch. I am thrilled with the result, which completes the rearrangement of artworks that we did last year. 

Guest room with birds & our room with bright quilted colours

We had planned to walk extra early on Thursday so that Wes would be ready for his Zoom with overseas friends AKA The Jackson Eight, but it was raining at 5am, so we had an extra half hour sleep & the boys were fed at 5.30am, which they didn't mind. The Zoom chat went very well & introduced a new chum, South African, Wendy Roberts. 

After shopping I had a great Zoom with Kathy Lazzaro & we discussed knitting, COVID, films & pumpkins among other topics. Always good to see her- we will have been friends for 50 years in 2022. As well, I received an email from Ian McKenzie, leader of the Friday morning Bushwalking Group to say there will be no walks until next month as everyone is too busy repairing their own properties, let alone having time to make tracks passable for walkers. He included this photo of the Spa Country Railway track - an area from Daylesford to Bullarto (about 10 kms), which has almost 1,000 trees blocking it. This tourist attraction is going to require a huge amount of work to get it operative again. 

It was pouring rain on Friday morning, so we were unable to go for our big walk, or take the boys socialising. I chatted to Leanne on Zoom, before settling down with Wes to a morning on the computer. I had hoped to change all our passwords this June & this was a good day to start. That night we watched in amazement as the lowly Saints kept the mighty Tigers to 2 goals 10 behinds in a most unexpected win at the MCG in front of a small, vocal crowd. 

Yesterday was dry when we woke, so we took the boys for two complete laps of Lake Daylesford to make up for all the walks we have been missing. While they chomped on bones, we visited the Daylesford Farmers' Market, bought raffle tickets for a wheelbarrow of wood; snaffled French vanilla slices for afternoon tea; Wes scoffed a snag in bread with lots of tomato sauce, and we relieved Mrs Peros of one of her boxes of eggs (Wes saying no to a small glass of coffee liqueur on the grounds that it was too early in the day).

That afternoon the Pies played well but fell just short of beating Freo in front of a small crowd at the Docklands stadium. All the games were close, with North managing another win, Port just beating Sydney & Melbourne holding off Essendon. 

It's raining again this morning & we will decided shortly if the boys can come with us to the Sunday Market. After that & breakfast, we are off to Melbourne to celebrate our mate, Danny Millman's birthday at a restaurant in Moonee Ponds. 

 Stunning night sky during the week - makes a change from brilliant sunsets

Daylesford Winter Dispatch - Sunday, 20th June 2021

 

When I left you last Sunday, we were off to the Market, followed by breakfast. We enjoyed a fun time at the former, where Yvonne accused me of spending too much money at her stall, and were very sad to hear over breakfast how much damage Janine's property had suffered. She is being very brave and, apart from being without power for 40 hours or so, realises that so many others were worse hit when falling trees impacted on their homes & sheds. 

I just love this photo of Glen's grandson, Donny, chilling out with his best friend, Lennie.

During the weekend we had both enjoyed listening to ABC Classic FM play the Top 100 Music You Can't Live Without. We were pleased to find that most of our selections made the list, although neither of us agreed that Beethoven's Emperor Concerto deserved top billing. My highest choice, The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams, came in at number 3, and the version played, by Richard Tognetti, was sublime. 

That afternoon, Rob & Dene shared with us & Glen, a beautiful cake, made from our cumquats, with cumquat liqueur to wash it down. It was a perfect finish to our dinner, which had been minestrone with toasted English muffins while we watched the footy. 

We were delighted on Monday morning to be able to walk around Lake Daylesford once again. Council had organised for the paths to be cleared, but there are still hours of work to be done removing the dead trees & debris. School was a wonderful lecture on one of our favourite poets, WB Yeats, and we learned about his belief in the spirit world & the effect it had on his poetry. 

More Anniversary photos including gnocchi & fritter dishes

That afternoon, I was glued to Fox Footy, first watching this year's Big Freeze sliders go down into the ice bath, and then holding my breath as Collingwood managed to beat the ladder leaders, Melbourne, at the SCG. This was Nathan Buckley's last game for the club as coach & he was given a fairytale ending with a gutsy win.

On Tuesday I had a long appointment with Alanna, my last with her for about a year, as she is expecting a baby in early November, and has been advised to stop giving treatments at the end of June. We've been friends for many years - first when she worked for Emma at EKO and later when she opened her own business Spa+Beauty. I am going to have my next manicure  with old friend, Juls Weiss, who runs Julsindulgence in Hepburn.

That night we had dinner at Jackie's on Vincent, our local Asian fusion restaurant, where we enjoyed different meals from our usual choices - Wes had pork belly, which he declared the best he's ever had, and I got stuck into the garlic prawns. We both had different sweets as well, which were seriously yummy & beautifully presented. Lisa was kept busy with at least a dozen take-away orders while we were there & another 12 people eating in. 

Our sweets - coconut panna cotta & dark chocolate fondant - guess who had what!

It was time for a haircut on Wednesday with Lyndal Conroy, whose family train, race & breed trotters. I was thrilled to hear that they had suffered no lasting damage in the storms & that none of the horses had been injured. By the time I saw her at 9.30am, she had already been up for 4 hours exercising & feeding the horses with her father, Glenn. 

Dot, Judi & I enjoyed a fun morning of Mah Jong, where we didn't do much fish-waving, as wins were few & far between. Meanwhile Wes had been busy in the garden & tells me he is up to date with his June compulsory chores there, and only has a few hundred optional ones to go. 

The latest photo of our delightful Lewis & Morse enjoying their day bed together💛💛

This week, as usual, I have appreciated everyone who is happy to have a Zoom chat - Leanne, Terry, Kathy, Karen & next week, Jan & Jeff. We find that seeing each other is so much more satisfying than being on the end of a phone & I am most grateful for all the support & encouragement I get from all my friends. 

On Friday, we were able to socialise the boys at Virgin Café, where the young waitress, Tori, makes their morning by giving them lots of cuddles. She says it is the highlight of her week - seeing them get thrilled when they spot her. 

Lewis & Morse excited to see Tori who is cleaning tables in the background

One of the big puzzles this week has been finding the foglights on Pearl - it was foggy on Wednesday when I was delivering newspapers to Ken Rae at Spring Park Nursery in Eganstown & when I went to put the lights on, they weren't sitting in the usual spot. When I could stop safely I did and consulted the manual, but they didn't rate a mention, so I rang Ballarat Mazda only to be told that my Mazda 3 model doesn't have foglights & to drive through fog with my lights on normal, not highbeam. 

We were thrilled to have our second Astra Zeneca jabs yesterday afternoon - can't believe how quickly those 12 weeks have flown by. It was certainly much more relaxed at Springs Medical Centre, than when we had our first injections. Neither of us had had any reaction & are pleased to have completed that step. We realise it won't stop us contracting COVID-19, but it should lessen the effect.

Last night we sat down to a beautiful meal of poached tuna steaks with baked cauliflower & blue cheese sauce. Wes had really outdone himself. We hoped that Carlton would come back refreshed from their bye & be competitive against GWS at the Sydney Showgrounds, but it wasn't to be. Apart from a couple of forays, the Blues were completely outplayed & seemed to have lost their system. 

This morning we've had a lovely walk around Lake Daylesford, fed Lewis & Morse & are getting ready to take them to the Sunday Market, before we head off to breakfast with friends. 

Daylesford Queen's Birthday Weekend Dispatch

 

What a wonderful motto!

When I left you last Sunday, we were heading off to the Sunday Market in Brigadoon weather. It was misty there as well with light rain falling. Yvonne had organised all our food as usual & we were able to shop safely & speedily, although not everyone was wearing masks as requested, or using the QR code check-in.

There were 8 of us at breakfast, which made for a very interesting morning - whole table conversations were followed by small group chats & we didn't leave until 10.30am. When we got home, I washed & sorted all our fruit & vegetables, before making a big pot of vegetarian minestrone soup. Rob & Dene delivered New York cheesecake slices for our afternoon tea, which was a lovely surprise. 

While Wes did a big clean up under the house & got his fishing gear together, I tackled a couple more library shelves in my effort to make a bit more room & donate a few more books to the Daylesford Primary School's Book Fair later this year. When he arrived back upstairs, I was watching the highlights of the Collingwood win over the Crows, much to his surprise 🤣🤣.

We loved this cartoon on the Labrador Retriever site on Facebook - it doesn't just apply to Labs, but they do have the saddest faces when you leave them

Sadly, Carlton couldn't spring a surprise win over West Coast at the SCG. Wes was as frustrated with his team as I have heard him in a while & was calling for heads to roll. He appears to have been heard as there is going to be an enquiry into the whole football department. 

        Above, Lewis is watching the Blues with Wes while        Below, Morse luxuriates with the new bed all to himself

On Monday School, Wes requested a refresher course on electronic banking, so we had a good look at the NAB online banking app & discovered some handy tools that will give him information he requires without consulting Reckon, which is on my desktop. I headed into Vincent Street afterwards & discovered that every business is finally displaying a QR code, which is compulsory - now to get 100% compliance from us, their customers. 

It was too wet to walk on Tuesday, which meant I could catch up with my aunt, Jeff Hoolihan, in Torksey Lock, at 6.30am our time. We chatted for an hour & I was pleased to see her looking & sounding well, if a little bothered by the English Summer heat, which is so muggy. Afterwards Leanne & I had a good chat on Zoom. She is being very sensible about the lockdown & understands we can't come to visit her until travel restrictions between Metropolitan Melbourne & Country Victoria are eased. 

Latest crop of my knitted items heading for Daylesford Community Op Shop

Later that morning, we drove to Regent Cinemas at Ballarat to see the film, Minamata, produced by & starring Johnny Depp as American war photographer, Gene Smith, who is persuaded to visit the Japanese coastal town of Minamata to see the effects of mercury poisoning on those living there. It is a very powerful film, largely accurate, and also stars Bill Nighy. We are so pleased we saw it & remained masked throughout the film, as did most of the dozen patrons. 

It has been very wet each morning & we've not been able to walk Lewis & Morse as much as we would have liked. However, we have made it up to them by purchasing two more of their favourite beds, which allow them to be comfortable wherever they are. Two are now in their bedroom for sleeping at night & the trampoline bed from there has moved downstairs into the study and has two mattresses & two pillows, which they much appreciate.

Judi, Dot & I played Mah Jong at Muffins & More, as we watched the weather get worse & worse on Wednesday morning. By the time I arrived home, the rain & wind were very strong & the noise was remarkable. This storm continued through the night & included thunder & the sound of tree branches cracking. We were very lucky to have not much damage ourselves, but there were big branches in the street the next morning & many roads were impassable. We had about 100mls of rain over the two days & nights & everywhere was saturated. The power was out overnight & late morning at our place, but neighbour, Glen, came to the rescue with a large thermos of boiling water to keep us going. 

On Friday morning we were finally able to walk Lewis & Morse again, but we couldn't do complete circuits of either side of Lake Daylesford as the fallen trees blocked the path & they weren't the top priority of Council or the SES. However, it was dry enough for us to take the boys socialising at The Virgin Café in Hepburn Springs, where the staff made a fuss of them, and our friends, Jane & John gave them cuddles as we were leaving. We drove around the area afterwards seeing the damage, which wasn't as bad as places like Olinda, but many people had been impacted by the storm & been without power for much longer than us. 

Great FB photo showing a small example of the damage on the Lake Daylesford walking tracks

Thanks to everyone who contacted us in some way to see how we were going - much appreciated. We are so pleased we had our gum trees cut down a few years ago - we miss them, but they would have fallen & done a lot of damage. Rob & Dene had some water damage & contacted a local person to clean their carpet. It turned out to be George Weiss, who with his wife, Juls, used to be our neighbours in that house. It was so good to see them both again.

Yesterday was our 51st wedding Anniversary & we had booked lunch at the Garden Room in Blackwood Ridge's Garden & Nursery on the recommendation of our other neighbour, Glen. We had originally planned to celebrate on Friday, as this Long Weekend is usually so busy. However, the roads were impassable & the chef contacted us to ask if we could visit yesterday instead, which we did. We were amazed to discover when we arrived that everyone else had cancelled their bookings, and we were the only guests for lunch. We felt very honoured, sat by the window looking out on the pond & gardens & enjoyed a 4-course Winter menu with a bottle of Heathcote Sparkling Shiraz. We'll be back after this wonderful experience. 

This morning we've walked the boys around Victoria Park where all the tree damage has been cleaned up & it is still dark as I sit here looking out. We're off to the Sunday Market shortly & then breakfast with friends at Woodshed Café. 

Daylesford Winter Dispatch - Sunday, 6th June 2021

I'm sure I've used this Snoopy before, but it is so true about dogs & their hearing as all dog owners know. Our boys can be dead to the world downstairs, but hear me open the dog treat drawer through two closed doors with a set of stairs in between. 

When we reached the Sunday Market last week, we were delighted to find they finally had the Service Victoria QR code for us to check in. Yvonne was organised & even gave me a small bag of chopped up cabbage for Lewis & Morse as they had to miss out on a visit. As we couldn't meet friends for breakfast, we sat down to crumpets & honey with the Sunday Age, which was a great consolation prize. 

Lewis & Morse still enjoying their new bed, especially in minus temperatures

Wes was inspired by Dene's cake of the previous Saturday, and decided to made a chocolate mud cake, which he did most successfully & iced as well. We weren't able to share it around as he had used the only round tin he could find, which was a cheesecake tin, so there were some issues with removing the cake when it was cooked. 

Carlton played well against the Swans before finally running out of puff. Our friends were rugged up at the SCG with the temperature down to 15°. Meanwhile we were in short sleeves in sunny Daylesford, where the temperature was 12°, but felt much higher.

On Day 4 of our lockdown, it was -2° as we walked around Lake Daylesford. Our pond & both bird baths were frozen solid & all cars not under cover were iced up. School was a discussion of the Adelaide Pink Ball Ashes Test coming up in the middle of December. We are keen to go, if it is safe to do so, and have been on the lookout for a new boarding kennels for Lewis & Morse. I've contacted kennels in Ballarat & Creswick, which both seemed promising. We've ended up choosing Creswick as they replied promptly & offer excellent rates on boarding & hydro-baths. They are also closer than Ballarat, which is a bonus. 

Stunning early morning photo of Lake Daylesford by Frank Page

On Tuesday, after a lovely Lake walk, I came home to Zoom chats with my sister, Leanne, & friend, Terry Borg. Both were looking good & coping well with lockdown & Leanne was able to tell me she had finally been given her first Astra Zeneca jab. I walked into town to get our prescriptions from the pharmacy & was delighted to see everyone masked up & distancing. I came home with date scones for morning tea, which we enjoyed sitting on our decking with a pair of labs looking for crumbs. 

On Wednesday we finally welcomed a couple of plumbers to fix a few issues, most urgent being a dripping kitchen tap, which has needed to be swathed in towels day & night to stop the water going into the cupboards under the sink. None of the local plumbers that Wes contacted replied to him & he finally found a Ballarat-based one who was happy to help us. The blokes arrived on time & took two hours to solve our issues. Wes spent the time upstairs with them, while I minded the boys in the study. We three all needed the loo once the all clear was given!

What we didn't expect was that the plumbers hadn't checked their work before they left, which meant they had to return the next morning. The kitchen tap was fine, but the upstairs cistern had no water in it & water was flowing from the downstair's basin into the cupboard. Fortunately more experienced plumbers arrived early & fixed these issues. Wes looked after them while I did supermarket shopping & then Zoomed with Kathy & Karen. 

On Friday we managed to walk two complete laps of Lake Daylesford before the rain started in earnest. We had hoped to take the boys socialising at Virgin Café, but it was closed until this coming Friday, so we had breakfast at home after I had an early Zoom chat with Leanne. We were excited to have the lockdown conditions eased in Regional Victoria, and happy to keep wearing masks indoors & use QR codes everywhere. 

Morse & Lewis staying in touch

Yesterday our downstairs jug decided to leak all over the filing cabinet on which it sits, so we mopped up the water & gave it the flick. I went to Mitre 10 to get a replacement & was pleased to see that they had a QR code, as did Wombat Hill Nursery, where I picked up some coriander seedlings & a lemon verbena plant. Wes had washed Lewis & Morse, and in spite of the minus temperatures, (-2°, feels like -6°), they went off playing chasey skidding over the frozen back lawn. 

We had picked all the figs from our tree after the leaves fell & tried to get them to ripen in the sunshine through the lounge windows. I managed to get 1kg that I stewed with honey, ginger & a vanilla bean & we declared that a great success. 

We woke this morning to rain & mist, so we all missed out on a walk, which meant I went back to bed after feeding the boys, with a pot of tea & the Sunday Age, where I read all about Collingwood's exciting & unexpected 5 point victory against Adelaide yesterday afternoon. We welcomed back Jamie Elliot, who promptly kicked 6 goals straight & was the difference between the two teams. Fingers crossed the Blues can have similar success against West Coast at the SGC this afternoon.