Daylesford Autumn Dispatch - Sunday, 3rd March 2024

 
There's more of Lucy in me than I care to admit!

We had a great visit with Leanne last Sunday - lots of chatting, a bit of home handyman stuff, and plenty of gardening & watering. She is really doing well this year, and we are very pleased for her. We drove back here to smoke haze, which had disappeared by Monday morning.

After I did the shopping at Coles, we settled down to plan our trip to Adelaide, this week's School project. We have all the accommodation booked, as well as the tickets to the footy, and Morse is expected at Eureka Kennels for the duration. We needed to refresh our memories for our favourite cafes, haunts & walks in Robe, where we spend three nights, and Adelaide, where we have 5 nights, with 2 nights at Avoca on the way back. Happily most of the places we are keen to revisit are still around, including the Dimboola Store, where we'll stop for lunch on the way to Robe. 

Hot Cocoa, Red Riding Hood, Guy Savoy & Ashram roses

Afterwards we had a most enjoyable catch up Zoom with Mike & Linda Kirby, who live on the Gold Coast in Queensland. The rain had stopped and they were enjoying some sunshine & dry weather for a change, although the humidity was still very high. Wes mentioned that he had bought a baby chainsaw that morning, and both of them were very concerned for his finger count, and our trees & shrubs as a result!

Stunning sunset that night from our bedroom window

On Tuesday, I Zoomed with Leanne, had a fringe trim, did some local chores and came back here to get online footy tickets for three early rounds of AFL matches. I was pleasantly surprised to achieve that in 20 minutes and all seats are in the 50-year member bay, which must have added to the ease of purchase. 

Then it was off to lunch with Emma Ford, owner of EKO Skin Spa here in Daylesford, where I have been going for the past 10 years since she first opened. Emma is now managing the business, not hands on, and I miss the contact - fortunately so does she, so we spent 2 hours catching up at Pancho Café over lovely meals. This was the last week for Lauren & Tom, who started the business, but the new owners are keen to continue the vibe, which is wonderful news.

Emma looking tanned after her January holidays

Wes had spent the morning working in the garden, keeping water up to the new plants, and giving haircuts (not with the chainsaw) to those bushes that were getting out of hand. Morse doesn't enjoy much garden activity so I think he spent most of the time asleep.

On Wednesday, we let Morse have a run around the Daylesford Cemetery, until he decided it was time to go back to the car. The temperature was already 18° at 5.30am and we were expecting high 30s and catastrophic bushfire conditions in much of Victoria.

Judi & I met for breakfast at Muffins & More, and played quite a few games of Mah Jong afterwards, with her winning more than she lost! She is unable to play for the next fortnight, so it was good to have that longer time together.

It got very hot that afternoon, and even hotter when the power went out @6.30pm in much of the Shire. Wes opened a tin of tuna and made a salad for our dinner, and we finished with ice-cream. The power eventually came back on around 10pm, which made sleeping possible.

This has been a very social week and Thursday was no exception. After enjoyable Zooms with Terry Borg in Burwood (lots of chat about Bluey among other more serious topics) and a good catch up with Old Friends, we headed off to The Convent, for an unexpected lunch with our Sydney friends, Jane & David Knox, who were on their way to Adelaide for the Writers' Festival, and made the diversion to spend time with us. We haven't seen each other in person for about 5 years and it was so good to be together again. Everyone at Bad Habits made them very welcome and our meals were excellent, considering that the power had been out and not everything was working properly again.

Wes, Jane, Karen & David

The 1st Test in Wellington, NZ, has been a very interesting match to follow, and with the time difference, a challenge to start watching at 9am. However, we've been rivetted by the ups and downs of the game, and this morning will be no different. Australia should win, but the Kiwis won't go down without a fight.

Typical Morse behaviour when the cricket is on

We finished our very social week with another great catch up lunch yesterday in Heathcote, where we spent time with Shar & Rory, who we hadn't seen for 16 years. Shar was President of the Ladies' Committee at Collingwood, when I was Treasurer, and we were a great team. For various reasons, we had drifted apart, and this reunion was wonderful. Wes was just as pleased as I was to be spending time with Shar & Rory again in a lovely Antique Shop & Café called Fetching Treasures. We sat outside on a perfect day and were sorry when it was time to go. 

Shar with Rory above, and Wes below