Daylesford Winter Dispatch - Sunday, 6th August 2023

 
Poor Sally can't take a trick!

We started our week with our usual trip to the Daylesford Market and when we arrived Ken had cut up Morse's pear to form goal & behind posts with the ball going through the big sticks. Sadly, Morse doesn't appreciate these niceties and gobbles up his pear quickly. 

On Monday, we drove to St Peter's Catholic Church in East Bentleigh, for the funeral of Kathy Lazzaro's mother, Iris. Fr Kevin Dillon was the celebrant, which was wonderful, as he knew Iris and her husband, Alan, as well as their five daughters, and he made the ceremony very personal. Kathy spoke well about her mother's life, and her eldest son, David, gave a eulogy on behalf of the grandkids & great grandkids. We were so pleased we were there, as we had always liked Iris, who was warm & welcoming whenever we saw her. We enjoyed catching up with Kathy & Ged's families too. It was a big day, with four hours of driving in total, and we stopped for vanilla slices in Woodend on our way home. They were very yummy with our hot drinks. Morse had been fine, but was pleased to see us. 

This sight greeted us the next morning - Morse had dragged his warm blanket from the lounge into the laundry, but failed in his attempts to wrap it around himself! A hint perhaps?

I had a very busy morning planned for Tuesday, but my aunt, Jeff, wasn't well enough for us to have our early morning Zoom. I did speak with my sister, Leanne, and then with dear friend, Jan Pengilley in Maleny, who was back home after 8 weeks overseas having the trip of a lifetime, mostly with her daughter, Tara. They were joined by Tara's husband, Diederich, and son, Renier, when they cruised to Alaska, which left them all speechless with its size and beauty. I was due to have a manicure with Juls after that, but she was also unwell, so I was able to spend time with our neighbour, Glen, and did a few chores in town for her instead. 

Next morning, I took Morse with me to deliver The Local & Epicure editions that I save for Robyn Massaro. She & her husband, Nick, had been on holidays - firstly a week in Geelong, followed by 11 days in Darwin. I'm looking forward to hearing about both trips, as they are planning to move from Porcupine Ridge, where their property is getting too big for them to manage. We saw cows, alpacas & kangaroos on our drive, none of which bothered Morse as he was safe & secure in the car. 

Afterwards, Judi & I met for breakfast, followed by Mah Jong, before I visited Juls for my manicure. I arrived back home to find Les had been working on more of the issues at our place, which is so good!

Thursday was a most important day for me, and it didn't disappoint. Wes decided to drive me to the MCG and back, rather than make me cope with the vagaries of trainlines, which are not reliable at present with all the work being done on the new underground tunnels. I was most grateful as I arrived early, with no nerves, and feeling excited to be at the first MCC 50-year members' lunch that included women. I met up with Gayle Gibson, with whom I have been friends for 40 years, and we shared a glass of bubbles sitting on a couch in the Long Room before we went into the Members' Dining Room for lunch with 448 others, only 60 of whom were men. 

Lunch was wonderful, we had our rights & privileges explained to us very clearly, and Gayle and I were on a table of lovely women, who would have been even nicer, if they had barracked for a team other than Melbourne! We each received a pin and a scarf and have been promised more events especially for us. I left lunch before dessert as it was 2.45pm and we wanted to get out of Melbourne before the traffic got too heavy. 

Above is my box of goodies and below the beautiful flowers that Wes gave me to celebrate this special honour

Needless to say, it was an early night, and we even slept in on Friday morning, as we were both tired from the long day. Wes had spent the time exploring Melbourne General Cemetery and visiting Brunswick Shopping Centre, one of his favourite places, as he opened it in 1984 when he was Mayor of Brunswick. Thanks to everyone who rang, commented on Facebook, or left messages of congratulations to me - I appreciate all your wishes. 

My paternal grandparents, Percy & Sarah Saundry are buried in the Melbourne Cemetery, where the grave looks in good condition, considering they have been dead since 1964 & 1972 respectively

On Friday afternoon, we had a lovely long visit from our good friends and much-missed former neighbours, Rob & Dene. It was wonderful to catch up with them both and Morse was in seventh heaven to see them again. They also visited Glen while they were here, and she enjoyed seeing them also. The main purpose of the visit was to give us a set of keys to their home in Ballan, as they are going overseas for 7 weeks and we had offered to check the house & do watering if needed. We also asked them to sign our new Wills, which they were happy to do. 

Yesterday was bathing Morse morning and I spent most of the day washing all his bedding. He has more than the average dog because originally there were two Labs, but now he gets to swan around in comfy beds in three rooms. While everything was drying, I watched footy games, including Collingwood's worst performance this year against Hawthorn, who outran and out-positioned us throughout the match. They thoroughly deserved their 32-point victory, and we have injury worries to boot!

We are off to the Daylesford Market again shortly and then Wes is driving to Strathmore to see Leanne & plant Denise's camellias and Judi's veronicas. We are grateful to them both for their donations of plants, which will greatly enhance her front garden beds. I had hoped to go as well, but ran into a brick wall physically yesterday afternoon, and am feeling completely depleted of energy today. Hopefully, a quiet day at home will do the trick & I'll be back on track tomorrow. 

Our first Golden Trumpet has flowered in the back yard