Snoopy could be in for a rude shock!
We had a fun morning last Sunday - after an early visit to the Daylesford Market, we headed to Ballan to water Rob & Dene's garden while they were away. We had been invited to pick produce and came home with plums, apricots, parsley, tomatoes, zucchini, beans and a lettuce. I stewed the plums in honey with star anise & ginger; and the apricots in honey with turmeric and cinnamon, and the kitchen smelled wonderful for the rest of the day.
On Monday we woke to read that Glenn Maxwell had scored 120* in the T20 the night before against the West Indies. I had turned the TV off before his innings, so had to watch a mini to see the highlights. Needless to say, we won the game.
We had a lovely quiet walk around Lake Daylesford with Morse, before I did the supermarket shopping, and we settled down to School, which involved making plans to go to Clunes Booktown on 23rd March (we've even booked two events at the Town Hall, which is very exciting); as well as sorting out footy games for the first half of the year, and finding dates that suit to catch up with various friends who have been trying to pin us down.
While Wes watered everything in the garden before the heat arrived, I had a great massage with Sarah, and caught up on all her news. I am so pleased I found her after Nick retired - she has done wonders, and it is a delight to spend time with her.
On Tuesday, it was going to be 36°, so we walked extra early, and after a good Zoom with my sister, Leanne, I drove to Ashmore Dentistry in Ballarat to meet my new dentist. We got on very well, and she plans to replace my remaining old metal fillings over the next couple of months. Then I drove back to Mazda so they could fit a new tyre to replace the one that had been damaged by a pothole and wasn't in stock when we had our cars in for service the previous Friday.
I arrived back here just after 2pm to discover the power was out and not expected back until midnight. We weren't on our own - all of Daylesford & Hepburn & over 500,000 other households were similarly in strife as two power transmission towers were reduced to twisted metal by the 120km winds. When the storm hit us, it was quite frightening - the noise was deafening, and the rain was fierce. When we went outside afterwards, we discovered two branches from #80's oak trees had crashed into our side fence. We rang James to let him know, and he contacted his tree-feller, who arrived an hour later to inspect the damage.
The top photo shows the smaller branch which came through our latticework & the second photo shows the top of the very large branch which broke away from the main trunk and completely covered a section of our side garden
In the meantime, Glen boiled some water for us, so we could have tea & coffee and give Morse his usual warm dinner. We settled for biscuits & cheese for ourselves, and were very relieved when the power came back on earlier than expected at 6.15pm. The air-conditioners did their job and our home cooled down quickly. We are very grateful that there was no huge damage, and that we weren't without power overnight, which must have been awful.
When we headed off to walk Morse on Wednesday, we had to avoid two trees which were down at the end of our little piece of Duke Street. We decided not to risk Lake Daylesford and whatever debris was there, so went to the Cemetery instead, which was untouched by wind damage. I was due to drive to Spring Park & Porcupine Ridge with deliveries, but post-poned that and stewed our small crop of nectarines & pears instead.
Judi & I met for Mah Jong as usual, and she reported no problems driving from Ballarat to Daylesford. However, town was very quiet as people picked up the pieces in their homes & businesses, and some shops were unable to open because of damage or the loss of power. We had a good morning and honours were even again in the games we played.
We watched most of Day 1 of the Australian women playing South Africa at the WACA in their only Test, and were so disappointed when South AFrica were all out for 76, their lowest Test score ever. However, they rebounded early and had us 3/12 until Healy & Mooney put on a partnership of 150+ runs. We woke in the morning to find Healy had gone out on 99, one short of her maiden Test ton.
On Friday morning, we had been invited to brunch by Fiona & Les Groundwater & met them at The Convent when it opened at 10am. We spent a very enjoyable 90 minutes together catching up on their news, which was mostly about their recent trip to Tasmania & our respective families.
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