Daylesford Spring Dispatch - Sunday, 30th October, 2022

 

We started our week with a busy Sunday morning - delivered papers & magazines to Judi, pumped water at Leitches Creek & visited the Sunday Market - all before 8am. Wes had walked Morse early & the only blot on this perfect morning was when Morse started barking at an older gentleman entering the Market as we were leaving. We decided it was because the bloke was wearing a big hat which obscured his face & Morse didn't know what was approaching him!

I had walked with Wes & Morse for the first time in ages the previous Thursday, but then the rain came down & I hadn't been able to rejoin them. The walk is soft underfoot again after we had 42mls in 12 hours, but we are not in any danger, unlike everyone near swollen rivers & creeks. 

We spent School discussing our year in preparation for our Christmas letter (only 8 weeks to go) & were amazed as we always are at just what we have experienced during the past 12 months. As usual there have been too many deaths, and everyone we know is battling personal issues, but there is much to be grateful for, and we are. 

Wes has espaliered this flowering cherry & it has blossom for several weeks each year, much to our delight

Once again, I am grateful to everyone who stays in touch via Zoom, Messenger, email, text & phone. It is especially lovely to be able to see the person/s you are chatting with & I am so pleased that quite a few old friends are happy to keep this going. 

On Wednesday, Dot, Judi & I played Mah Jong at Muffins & More, where we said hello to friends, listened as visitors praised Kelly for her wonderful muffins, explained Mah Jong to those who wanted to know what we were playing & wished that we could hear each other more easily over the chatter of happy customers. One of Kelly's young staff, Holly, has finally gotten fulltime employment in her profession and will be leaving. Holly is typical of Kelly's staff - friendly, smiling & remembers names & orders. She will be missed. 

A number of my friends had recommended I read the book The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams & I finally got it from the Daylesford Library & am spellbound. It is such a wonderful & different book & I don't want it to finish. My reading is usually a steady diet of crime fiction, with the occasional novel thrown in for a change - what a change this is. Thanks for everyone for suggesting I read it & may I suggest that if you haven't tried it, please do as it is such a special story. 

Prolific pink azalea & tree fern near the front pond

This handful of white tulips appeared from nowhere - not sure where the red, yellow & purple ones have gone!

Our lives changed on Thursday morning when Wes tested positive to COVID after feeling unwell with headaches & coughing for about 12 hours. He suspects he caught it from someone at the Daylesford Cinema AGM on Monday night & wishes he had joined the meeting via Zoom instead of in person. I was negative, so Wes immediately moved into the downstairs guest bedroom & Morse went with him. The official advice was not to get a PCR, but to contact Springs Medical Centre, which he did & booked a telephone appointment with Dr James Walsh. 

Meanwhile I cancelled what was going to be a special day at the ICC T20 World Cup at the MCG on Friday - we had tickets in Bay 13 for a double header - Afghanistan vs Ireland, and Australia vs England, and had scored dinner in the MCC Members Dining Room when I entered the ballot. Morse was booked into Eureka Kennels for two nights & the owners very kindly offered to credit our deposit towards his next visit in December. The MCC cancelled our dinner booking & I put our cricket tickets up for resale. As neither of the matches was able to be played, we will be refunded the cost of our tickets.

I just loved this cartoon from Facebook during the week

Dr James arranged for antivirals & a puffer for Wes which I was able to get on Friday morning, by which time he was quite sick & sleepy. It rained all day, so Morse was very happy to lie in his bed next to Wes, sleeping when he slept, and getting pats when he was awake. 

This has been the pattern since. Wes has been unable to eat much, is drinking lots of water, can't read or listen to or watch TV or the radio & when he does feel able to sit up, is busy cancelling next week's activities. I had been very fortunate not to catch the virus, by taking precautions like wearing a mask when I deliver fresh clothes or drinks to Wes downstairs, using hand sanitiser all the time & staying upstairs where possible. 

We cancelled plans for bets on the Derby yesterday, as it seemed pointless, when only one of us was able to be interested & we can make up for it on Tuesday's Melbourne Cup Day, if we are feeling like studying the form.

I've woken this morning with all the symptoms that Wes had last Thursday & sure enough, in spite of all our precautions, I now have COVID too. As Wes said, at least I don't have to be masked in the house. Our next door neighbour, Glen, is collecting our stuff from the Sunday Market, which is wonderful, as Morse hasn't lost his appetite, even if we aren't particularly hungry!

Daylesford Spring Dispatch - Sunday, 23rd October 2022

 
It's been that way here for the past week or so 

Our week started well with a great visit to Leanne. No NDIS cleaner had brought a vacuum cleaner for the past three weeks, so we took ours & Wes gave everywhere a good clean, much to her delight. We also helped fill her bins, took some stuff for the op shops & enjoyed a good chat to boot! We were both tired by the time we arrived back home, where Morse had tried to bury his big bone in quite a few spots & had fallen asleep in exhaustion!

There used to be a third rhubarb plant in this bed before the bone was buried here

On Monday, Wes decided we needed entertainment for School as I was having a procedure to remove growths afterwards, and he chose the wonderful 1969 film, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, starring a very young Maggie Smith. What a wonderful film, based on the excellent book of the same name by Muriel Spark.

Maggie Smith in the title role

When we arrived for my appointment with Dr Ellie, she had chatted with another doctor & they had both decided it would be preferable to try freezing the growths off, rather than cutting them. I was very happy with that decision, so Ellie did some aggressive freezing & we'll see how they are in a fortnight.

It's been a busy week for Zooms - two good chats with Leanne, a lovely catch up with Jan Pengilley in Maleny, as well as a most enjoyable talk with Old Friends. Plus, I had a manicure with Juls, which can take anything from 1-1.5 hours depending on how much she has to say; a fringe trim with Lyndal, who has been working hard keeping her trotters on dry land during this rain, and a long-overdue brunch with Rhonda at Cliffy's.  

Instead of playing Mah Jong this week, Wes & I met up with Dot & John at Muffins & More for cuppas & a chat. The café was busy as usual & we greeted a few friends, as well as enjoyed seeing visitors gaze in amazement at the size of their meals! 

New doona cover in celebration of warmer weather

We were very sad to hear of the sudden death of old friend, Ron Paoli this week. Wes discovered Ron was in palliative care on Wednesday & exchanged texts with him - by Thursday he had died. There will be a celebration of his life next month. We met Ron & his wife, Rina, through Brunswick Rotary in the 80s & stayed in touch over the years. He will be missed.

Ron & Rina celebrating 59 years of marriage earlier this year

Yesterday was Cox Plate Day at Moonee Valley Racecourse - we decided to reprise our successful betting strategy of the previous week, and took a 4-horse quinella & trifecta in the Gold Cup, followed by the Cox Plate, plus a running double in those races. We saluted in the Gold Cup & got the running double, which put us ahead again. It was a stunning Cox Plate win by the 4-year-old stallion, Anamoe. 

In between watching the races, I saw the AFLW Collingwood team get comprehensively beaten by North Melbourne, which is looking like a Premiership threat at the end of the season. It was no better when the cricket started - the Kiwis blasted our bowlers to score 200 in our T20 game & we were all out for 111. Not an auspicious start to our campaign for back-to-back titles. 

Thanks to Jane Knox for this lovely recent photo of our friends, Terry McDonald & David Knox at dinner in Sydney

Daylesford Spring Dispatch - Sunday, 16th October, 2022

 

Morse has similar feelings when Wes is reading - we could be doing something better than this...like sleeping!

Our Sundays seem to follow a familiar pattern - up for a walk early, breakfast for Morse & the birds, send the Dispatch, and then try to occupy Morse until 7.45am which is the earliest we can go to the Sunday Market. He starts making noises around 7.15am just in case we've forgotten & is so excited when we put on his warm green coat & invite him to jump in the car. Life then goes on hold until 5pm when he starts giving me looks in case I'm going to forget his dinner. 

I had to feed him early that night, much to his delight, as the Collingwood AFLW team were playing at 5.10pm & I didn't want to miss a minute. We had a good win, although our kicking wasn't very accurate, but it was a suitable celebration for Steph Chiocci's 50th game. She became the first AFLW player to captain her team for 50 games, which is a credit to her ability as she has been our Captain from the very start. 

These beautiful photos of black & white tulips & the memorial to Maurie Fields & Val Jellay in St Vincent's Gardens, Albert Park, came from Karen Stevenson

For School on Monday, we had decided to investigate Google Lens, which Jenny Beacham had told Wes about & suggested we try it. It is an amazing programme that can read out words (even hand-written ones), translate them, tell you what you have taken a photo of (e.g. an unknown plant) & find similar images to the ones you have taken. I used it on my recent kookaburra photo & it immediately sent me information about Laughing Kookaburras. If it's available with your mobile phone camera, give it a go. 

Wes then told me how he is using Microsoft One Drive to keep all his Documents on his phone & we proceeded to try to do the same to mine. However, my One Drive already had a whole lot of folders that it took ages for me to copy & remove before I could copy my Documents & see if it works for me. I have often wished I had access to my Documents the way I can access Excel spreadsheets & now I have.  

Our neighbour, Glen, took this beautiful photo of a pair of red-browed finches in her backyard

We've had a few Zoom chats this week & I never fail to be thrilled by the technology that allows us to see each other as we chat - singly or in groups. It is so much more personal than the other end of the phone. As well, Judi & I played Mah Jong, where nearly everyone else in Muffins & More was keen to know what we were doing & who was winning. I got home just before the rain got heavy, but we didn't get quite the storm we were expecting then. That arrived later in the day.

Morse wasn't going out in the rain for anything!

We stayed put on Thursday while the rain flooded the gauge (100mls in 36 hours)as well as everywhere else. Our Gold Coast friends, Mike & Linda Kirby, had planned to visit us at the end of this week at the finish of their holiday in Victoria, but were worried by the weather forecast & decided to give Daylesford a miss & drive back to Melbourne from Bendigo. 

We cancelled everything we had booked in anticipation of their visit, except for brunch at Bad Habits@The Convent & invited local friends, Di & Jeff to join us. We don't see each other as much as we would like since Sunday Breakfasts stopped & this was the perfect way to catch up. We spent nearly 2 hours sitting chatting together & only stopped when I realised I was going to miss an appointment with my podiatrist!

Di Lyttleton, Wes, Karen & Jeff Bain

Later that day we were both very sad to read of the death of Clive Rutherford, aged 86, a very popular man, who had been a much-loved teacher here. We met him & his wife, Janet, through U3A activities & spent many happy hours together, giving us some wonderful memories. He will be sadly missed. 

Yesterday was Caulfield Cup. We decided to bet in two races - The Tristarc Stakes & the Cup - box quinellas, trifectas & the running double. We got the jackpot in the first race, which gave us a profit for the day, but didn't expect the emergency, Durston, to win the Cup ahead of our first pick, Gold Trip. As well, there were AFLW games to watch & WBBL matches to enjoy - a feast of footy & cricket all day with some exciting results. 

Along with most of our St Kilda supporting friends, we were shocked when the Saints sacked Brett Ratten after extending his contract mid-season. Every team is anxious for success & not prepared to wait - with 18 AFL teams, you just can't expect to play in Grand Finals as often as you would like. Carlton sacked Brett in 2012 after he got them to the Finals during his tenure, but haven't played in them since.

We're off to the Sunday Market shortly, then to Strathmore to visit Leanne. Morse has been eying off the huge marrow bone that will occupy him while we are away!

Daylesford Spring Dispatch - Sunday, 9th October 2022

This is very like what happens when Wes is reading & Morse joins him in the chair 

We started our week with a lovely visit to the Sunday Market, where Yvonne had most of our vegetables sitting waiting for us to collect. Wes & Morse visited Jeff, the dog treat man, to order dried pork bones, and bought some eggs from the Peros family, who also do wonderful olives & make their own wine. 

On Monday, School was extra cleaning, which we do each month. Wes cleaned the kitchen rangehood and all the high spots on top of cupboards, while I made sure all the lounge tables & chairs were polished, including their supports & legs. We were very pleased with the results of our elbow grease & enjoyed our rewards of coffee scroll (Wes) & apple scroll (me). 

Later that morning I visited Dr Ellie for a second burning off of a small growth on my back, which had become itchy. As always, I am very glad that these growths are just that & not cancerous. I have a couple of other large ones & these are going to be sliced off in a fortnight under local anaesthetic. 

The next morning, while Wes did wonderful improvements to our front garden, I had a Zoom chat with my sister, Leanne, & then with friend, Terry Borg. The 40 minutes allotted to each chat seems to fly by. However, I was aware that I wasn't at my sparkling best & sure enough, but Wednesday I had to go back to bed. Judi & I had planned to play Mah Jong, but when I went to get into the car, I realised I couldn't even drive it, so apologised to her & spent most of the rest of the week in bed. 

Meanwhile, Wes looked after me beautifully, and Maloney Folly coped well with the 45mls that deluged on Thursday & Friday. We were both very sad to read of the sudden death of author, Peter Robinson (creator of DCI Banks) as we have enjoyed his work for many years. He was only 72.

Yesterday we dipped our toes in the water with a bet on the Caulfield Guineas in preparation for the Spring Racing Carnival bet-fest. I had a few dollars in my Sportsbet account that they had given me & we tried for the quinella & trifecta, but could only land the winner. It was an exciting day's racing programme, which augurs well for next Saturday's Caulfield Cup meeting. 

In the AFLW, Carlton shook off its lethargy & recorded a solid win against St Kilda, while Brisbane beat North Melbourne in the battle for top team. Collingwood plays GWS later today, which I will be watching keenly in the hope we can continue our good form, especially with our Captain, Steph Chiocci, playing her 50th game. 

Daylesford Daylight Saving Dispatch - Sunday, 2nd October 2022

Not sure Morse would know what to do either, but he certainly dances at mealtimes!

This will probably be a bit longer than usual as I have some extra days to catch up on. Wes & Morse drove me to Ballan Station on Friday (Grand Final eve) late morning & I caught a fairly empty train to Southern Cross & then another to Melbourne Central, which was a hive of activity, which meant it took me quite a while to find the exit to Swanston Street!

I was staying at Essence Hotel, the only reasonably-priced place left when we made the late decision that I would go to the Grand Final & stay over. Reception was wonderful and I had high hopes of my room, which turned out to be another cell, slightly bigger than the last and with a superior bathroom & colour scheme! After I unpacked, I went back downstairs to catch the train to Richmond to watch the Collingwood AFLW side play Essendon at our Olympic Park ground. Sadly, it was pouring rain when I emerged & after 10 minutes showed no signs of abating, so I went back upstairs & watched the game on my phone.

Small double bed, TV & window & storage space

That night I walked to Little Bourke Street & had dinner at Westlake, which has been one of our favourites over many years. As at my last visit, I was ignored by the male staff & waited ages for someone to take my order, while larger parties were attended to immediately. I decided to have a prawn omelette, which was OK with a glass of pinot noir, which was decidedly better. I'll have to find a new Asian restaurant to frequent from now on. 

After not much sleep, I got up early & caught a train to the MCG which got me in the queue at 6.50am, towards the back. As usual, the MCC staff did a brilliant job of people management, and 10 minutes after the gates opened at 8am, I was seated on Level 3, waiting to be given my seat ticket. By the time I left the MCG to have breakfast, the entire queue had entered the ground & the barriers were being dismantled. We had all been wanded & had our bags searched while we queued, and in lieu of turnstiles, the staff had hand-held barcode readers, which made entry very swift. 

I decided to celebrate with breakfast at Hotel Windsor, where I enjoyed Jasmine tea & eggs Royale before sitting in their foyer for 30 minutes or so & watching the passing parade of excited Geelong & Sydney fans. 

Delightful Jasmine tea 

Before returning to my seat, I headed into the Long Room to spend a very pleasant hour with Gayle Gibson and we celebrated with a glass of bubbles. Once the Grand Final entertainment started, the atmosphere livened up & everyone enjoyed singing Up There Cazaly with Mike Brady (aged 74), who wrote this song in 1979 & has been singing it ever since. 

Then came Robbie Williams & we were thrilled with his extravagant stage, costuming, dancers, singers & musicians. He paid tribute to Shane Warne, wished John Farnham well & encouraged us all to sing along with him - Let Me Entertain You, Angels, You're the Voice & Kids (with Delta Goodrem). Wow!

Geelong (established 1859) played a perfect game of footy & the Swans (established 1873) were never in the hunt. We supporters of other teams all dodged a bullet when our sides didn't make the Grand Final, as no team was going to beat Geelong that afternoon. I enjoyed watching their teamwork & how they shared out the goals, while feeling so sorry for the Swans fans, many of whom had come from NSW to cheer on their side. 

Afterwards I went back to my hotel before heading out to Carlton in search of dinner. I found myself at Tono at Borsari in Lygon Street where I enjoyed a hearty meal of spaghetti with calamari & a glass of red. 

Wes picked me up from my hotel around 9am the next morning, after I had walked around the perimeter of Melbourne Uni, past Newman Chapel, where we were married in 1970, and past the various Halls of Residence and the Conservatorium of Music. We visited my sister, Leanne, and had a great time talking about the Grand Final, before we came back home, where Morse was waiting eagerly for us to arrive. He was delighted to see me & waggled his whole body for 5 minutes!

On Monday, in lieu of School, Wes drove to Wheatsheaf where Yvonne lives, to collect our fruit & vegetables, as he had been unable to fit in a visit to the Market before picking me up. Later that morning I had my monthly massage with Sarah, who has moved out of the main building at 39 Albert Street & into her own space, which is lovely. We get along well & the hour flies by, especially now that my muscles are responding well to her ministrations. 

Two beautiful memories of my time in Melbourne - tall yellow tulips in the Fitzroy Gardens & stunning blossom in the Treasury Gardens

We've had a most enjoyable week - Wes has chatted with Barbara in NZ twice, as well as catching up with his Overseas Friends to discuss Ukraine. I had a good chat with Jeff in Lincolnshire & two Zooms with Leanne, as well as a catch up with Old Friends. It was my week for a haircut & my hairdresser, Lyndal, is a Geelong supporter, so we had plenty to discuss. It was also time for a manicure and Juls, who doesn't really follow footy, but has a family of Collingwood supporters, is still devastated that the Pies couldn't beat Sydney in the Preliminary Final. 

Yesterday, I made an impromptu visit to Leanne early, as there are lots of things she needs help with, and I hadn't been able to provide that help the previous Sunday. She was thrilled & we chatted through issues, as well as did lots of practical things. I had a good run to Strathmore there & back, but was tired by mid-afternoon. However, a stirring last gasp win by the AFLW Pies against the Saints was just what I needed to keep me going!

As usual, I changed all the clocks late afternoon, so we had dinner & went to bed at our usual times, which gave the three of us a good night's sleep before it was time to walk Morse in the dark again this morning. 

This beautiful kookaburra joined me on the decking at lunchtime on Friday - sadly, we were fresh out of mice, frogs & insects, so he didn't stay too long!