Daylesford Spring Dispatch - Sunday, 26th November 2023

Poor Snoopy!

We enjoyed a good visit with Leanne last Sunday. Wes planted three lovely salvias, watered everywhere & weeded. Meanwhile Leanne & I tackled a couple of jobs in the kitchen, and enjoyed a good chat while we did it. She is very fortunate with her current crop of NDIS staff, who are all very focussed on her continued well-being, and she likes them all. We stopped at Gusto bakery on our way home for a quiche for dinner & slices of cake for afternoon tea.

We arrived back home to find Morse exhausted from checking out the driveway next door, where James & a friend had been filling a trailer to take to the tip. Morse was very thrilled to see us again and promptly fell asleep, relieved from his guard dog duties. I sat down to watch the AFLW semi-final between Geelong & Melbourne, which the former won by 5 points in a nail-biting finish.

We went to bed giving Australia no chance of winning the ICC One Day World Cup, and were amazed to discover when we woke that they had, against all the odds. We couldn't wait to sit down and watch a mini of the game, and when we eventually did, over lunch, we were very impressed.

We spent School talking about and doing a first draft of our Christmas letter - something that is always better with two heads, as it is amazing what one can forget & the other remembers about the year. Wes had hoped to go fishing that morning, but School really ate into his time, and the fishing trip was postponed. Afterwards, I had an excellent massage with Sarah Hunt, who freed up all my stressed muscles and nerves. 

I had a big morning of chatting on Tuesday - started with my aunt, Jeff, in Lincolnshire, where the rain & wind made for a poor quality catch up; followed with Leanne, who was excited about all that had been done on Sunday; moved onto Jan in Maleny, where the skies were grey, but that didn't stop us having an excellent chat that ran out of time, and finally travelled to Hepburn to have a manicure with Juls, who doesn't stop talking and takes 75 minutes to perform her magic on my fingernails! Later, when our neighbour, James, arrived at the front door for a chat, I directed him downstairs to Wes in the study, as I was all talked out.

Tomatoes looking good in the greenhouse & happy herbs enjoying the sunshine and rain

Judi & I played Mah Jong again on Wednesday, and visited the new spice store, Gewurzhaus, that has opened in Vincent Street afterwards. It is full of exciting produce, which can be bought in small containers or loose, and I suspect it will be very popular, with lots of free recipes and suggestions for how to use well-known & lesser-known herbs and spices.

On Thursday, I caught up with Kathy, Lib, Joyce & Karen on a great Zoom that finished before we were ready. Joyce had some beautiful craft work to show us; Lib debriefed on her great-grand-daughter's 5th birthday party; Kathy showed us a beautiful Australian designed & made T-shirt she had bought at Vic Market, and Karen told me that my one and only patchwork quilt, made for her first-born, Lauren, over 40 years ago, was still in use!

Finally spent time with neighbour, Glen, on Friday morning, after Zooming with Leanne. She is looking so good these days, but knows she has to take it easy as her leg gets very sore if she overdoes the walking or attempts anything other than flat paths. 

First blooms on our standard Red Riding Hood

We've had heaps of rain over the past two days, enough to fill water tanks, and have everywhere looking green and lush again. I can barely see the birds for roses, lavender, daisies and catmint, which have all appreciated the soaking as Spring comes to an end.

Daylesford Spring Dispatch - Sunday, 19th November 2023

 

We started our Sunday well with a good visit to the Daylesford Market. I visited neighbour, Glen, who had been in Queenscliff for a few days, and caught up on her news. She was thrilled as she had walked around the lower part of Lake Daylesford without a crutch for the first time - progress indeed. Wes spent the morning fertilising the roses, weeding & trimming in the front garden, which is looking wonderful as a result. 

Another beautiful vase of roses - including Peace, Hot Cocoa, Munstead Wood, Kiss Me Kate & Golden Beauty

We had planned to spend School reorganising and cleaning the study, but once the AFL released the dates for the 2024 Gather Round in Adelaide, we decided to go and booked our trip instead, along with quite a few thousand others. We had hoped to stay at Athelney Cottage in Hackney, which we loved last year for Test Cricket, but it was fully booked, and eventually ended up with a lovely apartment next to St Peter's in North Adelaide. We are going to stay in Robe for three nights on the way over, and at a winery in Moonambeel, near Avoca, for two nights on the way back. Morse is booked into Eureka Kennels, which was our first port of call - if we can't have him looked after, there is no point planning anything!

On Tuesday, it was raining, which was very welcome, never too heavy to do much good, but better than none at all. We had booked our first shingle injections that afternoon and went off to have them. We both felt OK afterwards, but that night my arm swelled and bruised. Wes had a chill the next day, and a sore arm the day after, but we both know these inconveniences are nothing compared to getting shingles. 

Beautiful 4th of July rose covering our water tank

While Wes did the floors on Wednesday, I played Mah Jong with Judi - it seems like weeks since we played, and she expected to have forgotten it all, but instead, wiped the floor with me and won every game! Judi & Michael have recently moved to Ballarat from Daylesford, but Judi is happy to return on Wednesdays, when she can catch up with friends, have appointments and play Mah Jong. 

On Thursday morning, Wes had his fortnightly Zoom chat with Overseas Friends aka the Paul Jackson Group which has been going for about 4 years. As well, I had booked a fortnightly catch up with Terry Borg, so I used the laptop in the Guest Bedroom for a Zoom for the first time. It worked perfectly, and I stayed put for my Old Friends weekly chat. Kathy, Lib, Karen & I chatted about a few topics including Mexican weddings, COVID, Christmas parties, Ancestry & birthdays. Joyce came on briefly to give us all her love but wasn't well enough to stay chatting. 

Afterwards, while Wes did wonders in the back garden, Morse & I went to Spring Park Nursery to get some plants for the next section of Leanne's garden, as well as a couple of pelargoniums to put out the front of our home. We have a couple of very tall pots and everything I put in them gets destroyed by the cockies. I hope they won't be interested in these bushes, and so far they have ignored them.

We had a wonderful lunch with Bob White on Friday to celebrate Wes's birthday. Bob took us back to the Garden Room Restaurant at Blackwood Ridge, where we were treated like royalty and enjoyed a stunning meal with partnered wines. The garden itself was an absolute treat with rhododendrons and clematis and weeping Japanese maples featuring heavily. 

Lovely photo of Wes & Bob amongst the rhododendrons, which line the driveway 

Yesterday we had a busy morning as it was time to wash Morse. I did about 6 loads of washing, including all his bedding from his 4 beds and the car, and Wes washed both cars as well. We were very happy to have a quiet afternoon reading, working on our computers & for Wes, a Zoom with Barbara in New Zealand.

Do I really need a bath?

Daylesford Spring Dispatch - Sunday, 12th November 2023

 

Sounds like good advice Snoopy

When we arrived at the Daylesford Market last Sunday, Yvonne & Ken were very excited as they had gone to some trouble for Morse's birthday. Morse couldn't believe his eyes and didn't know where to start, but the dog birthday cake grabbed his attention first, before he demolished the pear & carrot decorations.

The item in the right top corner is a treat with Happy Birthday written on it - a contribution from Jeff, the dog treat man

That night, we were all horrified to discover that a car had plunged into people sitting outside the Royal Daylesford Hotel, killing five and injuring six others. A week on, it is still hard to believe - one whole family gone, and another cut in half on a perfect Spring evening on the Melbourne Cup long weekend. Our thoughts are with everyone who was affected by this tragedy - families, first responders & those who tried to help the injured. Daylesford has made the front page of The Age newspaper nearly every day since, as we all seek to make sense of this. Thanks to everyone who contacted us to see if we & our friends were OK - we were very appreciative of your concern. 

We spent Monday morning doing School - working out our new laptop and the changes that Windows 11 bring. Of course, there were millions of updates to be done; Norton didn't want to behave, and I couldn't work out how I could log in. All these issues were sorted, and we're very happy with our HP laptop.

Tuesday was Cup Day, so we boxed our four horses in a Trifecta & Quinella and hoped for the best. It was a beautiful morning here, and we planted our tomato seedlings - we have Grosse Lisse, Tommy Toe and Roma and we've put most of them in the greenhouse, with other dotted around in different locations to see how they perform. They can only do better than last year's crop, which was very disappointing. The race itself was stunning with Mark Zahra riding the winner, Without a Fight, perfectly to score his second Cup in a row, after saluting with Gold Trip last year. We didn't get any collects, but were thrilled with the result and the huge happy crowd (84,000+), who enjoyed good weather and some great races.

On Wednesday, we caught up with old friends, Hacy Tobias, and her husband, Jim Brown. We attended their wedding in 1999, but shortly afterwards they moved to Sydney and we moved to Daylesford, so we had lost touch. I met Hacy in the early 90s through Adsum, the women in insurance net-working group, that was such an important part of my life as an Insurance Broker. We saw each other again earlier this year, when we were at adjoining tables in Pancho. They come to Daylesford a couple of times a year from their home in Fairfield, and were very keen to be given a tour of the Shire this visit. Afterwards, we went back to Pancho, where we enjoyed a lovely lunch and catch up. 

Beautiful bowl of roses including Friesa, Julia's rose, Munstead Wood, Golden Beauty & Kiss me Kate

We had a quiet day following that busy one, with Oaks Day the perfect distraction. I chatted early with old friends - Kathy, Lib & Karen & we covered a number of topics - families, Cup Day celebrations, the Mexican Day of the Dead and Glenn Maxwell's astonishing 201 not out against Afghanistan in the ICC ODI World Cup, which was the difference between an ignominious loss and an amazing victory. We were all in awe, especially as we had all gone to bed thinking Australia had no hope when we were 7/91.

Afterwards, Gillie Gough dropped by with a pot containing 4 baby gladioli, because she had heard how much we loved them, and they've been planted along the side of our middle level garden bed in the back. 

A lovely corner in the front garden - foxgloves, dogwood & a purple rhododendron living in harmony

Morse & I drove out to Spring Park Nursery to get a couple of Japanese Painted Ferns and to congratulate them on 30 years in business. Chris wouldn't let me pay as he is so appreciative of the newspapers that I deliver to them fortnightly. This was a lovely gesture from him & I was very grateful. We have put the ferns in the shaded garden under the decking, next to our wonderful tree fern and they are looking very happy there. 

It was very hot on Friday, so Wes watered everything that needed it early, while I had a catch-up cuppa with Judi at Muffins & More. It has been 5 weeks since we saw each other & we had lots of news to share. I bought a couple of the wonderful vegetarian pasties that Leonie had made and had one for dinner that night, while Wes had a meat pie. It was so hot, that we were pleased he didn't have to cook.

Morse wearing my cricket cap as he gets comfy on the recliner

Yesterday we sweltered through a hot night before heading back to Pancho, for breakfast and a chat. The staff were happy to see us again so soon after some weeks away from eating out anywhere! Wes & Morse headed to Tylden to get horse manure after that & I scrubbed bathrooms before settling down with Saturday's Age and the races. 

Our stunning Munstead Wood rose enjoying its best year yet

We're off to the Daylesford Market soon, and the weather is much kinder, 5° heading for a top of 18°. Wes wants to manure all the roses and hopes to start in the front garden this morning, while I wash & put away all the fruit and vegetables from Yvonne. 

Daylesford Spring Dispatch - Sunday, 5th November 2023

Poor Snoopy & Woodstock

We started our week well with a visit to the Daylesford Market, where everyone was pleased to see me back. Afterwards we gave Morse a big bone, and drove to Strathmore to visit Leanne. Wes spent most of the time doing the next bed in her front garden, and planted seaside daisies and salvia to brighten it up. Everywhere else is looking very happy with the geraniums, azaleas, camellias, hydrangeas & veronicas all showing growth spurts. We're on track to finish by Christmas, which was our original plan.

Some of our stunning irises, which have been very slow to appear, but worth the wait

Leanne & I spent some time talking through issues, tidying up the pantry, backing up her computer and downloading new photos of Morse for her to enjoy. On our way home, we stopped at Gusto, where we picked up a vegetarian quiche for dinner. 

We arrived back here to find Morse had been sleeping happily, and caught the last quarter of the AFLW match between Sydney & Collingwood, which the Swans won well in front of a big crowd of 5,700+, which included our friends, Jane & David Knox, who were attending their first AFLW game. 

On Monday, we decided to watch Peter O'Toole in the starring role of the play Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell. We saw it about 20 years ago in London with Tom Conti as the lead, and he was very good, but Peter O'Toole was perfect. It's available on YouTube if you are interested.

Afterwards, we had a lovely Zoom chat with Mike & Linda Kirby in Queensland, followed by a massage for me from Sarah Hunt. I had postponed our regular appointment because I was coughing last week, but Sarah was ready for me with lots of pillows under my head and I barely coughed at all. Meanwhile Wes weeded, mowed and tidied up the back yard, which has surprises at every turn - carnations are appearing, the lavender is in full swing, the seaside daisies are taking over, and any minute now we'll have roses galore.

On Tuesday, I had an excellent Zoom with Leanne, followed by a good catch up with Terry Borg, who has recently returned from a trip to Malta & Italy with her good friends, Helen & Benny. She regaled us both with the disaster stories, but assured me that there were plenty of upsides while she was away. After that I was able to have an overdue facial at EKO, where Julie was very understanding & gave me plenty of pillows which helped stem the coughing.

Colourful beanies!

Finally, on Wednesday, I was well enough for Mah Jong, but neither Dot nor Judi was available, so I had a quiet morning instead. Wes vacuumed the floors, and I took Morse out for a while to make that an easier job. We pumped mineral water at Leitches Creek, visited Muffins & More to apologise for our non-attendance again, and collected the post from our PO Box. Wes then headed to Ballarat to get a haircut, which was very overdue, and returned with bottles of Jameson's whisky & Hendrick's gin, both much needed at present.

Wes had an early Zoom on Thursday with his Overseas Friends, discussing heroes, and I followed with a good chat with Kathy, Lib & Joyce, where we debriefed on Grandparents Day, admired Joyce's beautiful needlework camel, and enjoyed hearing about Lib's happy visit from her brother, Bob. I also got to catch up with our neighbour, Glen, who isn't home very often these days, since her specialist allowed her to drive again. 

On Friday, we were without power from 9am to 3pm, while new telephone poles were erected in our little bit of Duke Street. At one point there were 6 enormous trucks, and getting in & out was quite tricky. We were due for morning tea with Rob & Dene in Ballan, and were pleased to escape for 2.5 hours. We had a lovely visit with our old neighbours, admired their beautiful garden, ate yummy treats prepared by Dene, and caught up on their latest holiday stories. Morse was in heaven, he just loves them both, and particularly likes running around their garden to his heart's content. 

Dene showing off some of his roses - after years of being given roses by us, he now has vases of his own & they were everywhere!

Rob & Morse enjoying each other's company on the couch

Rob & Dene's beautiful weeping Japanese maple, which just loves living in Ballan

We came home with these Baby Gladioli aka Cottage Gladioli, which are growing beautifully in Ballan, and now we're in the market for some bulbs as we just love them!

We were very sorry to hear from Danny Millman that an old school friend of his, and friend of ours, Tim Hayes, died on 28th October. Tim was part of Hepburn First, a group that Wes instigated to win seats on Hepburn Council in 2003; and, with his partner, Michael, made his mark on Clunes, where they ran Keeble House B&B, and then Widow Twankey's Café. He will be much missed.

The launch of Hepburn First at Smeaton - Wes, Tim, Phil & Peter

I spent much of yesterday watching an exciting Derby Day at Flemington, remembering all the years we went to the Cup Carnival, and how much fun we had with friends. As well, Erin Phillips played her last game of AFLW footy, and a huge crowd turned up at Alberton to cheer her on, especially when she kicked a goal in the last quarter. 

Today is Morse's 5th birthday. He was very excited to get a treat of biscuits with Vegemite, while we sang Happy Birthday to him. But all that has been forgotten and he is making hurry up noises to us both, reminding us that we are due at the Daylesford Market, where he will get more treats!