Daylesford Autumn Dispatch - Sunday, 26th May 2024

 

We had a very quiet Sunday after the Market. I was tired from our big day at the footy the day before, and spent much of the day reading The Age, doing crosswords, catching up on footy and staying awake! It was a "dreary" day according to the weather bureau - perfect for staying home and doing very little!

The first fire of 2024

When the cat's away.....

On Monday morning, it was too wet to walk, as there had been a fair amount of rain and wind. After shopping, we had School, where we sorted out the remaining details of our upcoming Dog Holiday in Rye next month, and our Test Cricket holiday in Adelaide in December. We also discussed what impact the future closure of bigpond email will have for us. During COVID, we moved just about everything over to gmail, but I will check what hasn't been changed and make sure we are ready when bigpond disappears. 

Morse wondering where all the leaves came from 🤣

Lovely photo of Wes taken at the MCG last Saturday

I found myself having an early night with head cold symptoms and spent Tuesday very quietly, apart from my usual Zoom chat with Leanne. She needs a new mobile and I had a lot of Telstra Rewards points to use, so we were able to find a phone that suited her and put my points towards it. 

Wednesday was spent quietly as well. Judi was very understanding that I wasn't up to Mah Jong, and the sun shone, in spite of the cold, for much of the day, while I read the Age, did Crosswords and Logic Puzzles and read crime fiction, mostly with Morse's company.

By Thursday morning, I was starting to feel better, and enjoyed an early Zoom with Terry Borg, (with far too much footy talk for her liking I am sure), followed by a great catch up with Kathy, who was the only one of my Old Friends able to Zoom. We discussed the funeral of her friend, Dorothy Hamilton, which had been held the day before, and finally solved the puzzle of why  Verey Funeral Directors, Daylesford, were in charge of the occasion. Andrew Nuske, who runs Vereys, was one of Dorothy's grandsons.

On Friday night, Collingwood played Freo at the Perth Stadium, at the unfriendly timeslot of 8.10pm our time. We had quite a few inexperienced players and I was delighted when we were able to salvage a draw at the very end, when Freo was on a roll. Needless to say it was a late night and we had a sleep in yesterday until 6am. Morse was very happy with a run at Daylesford Cemetery, followed by a bath, a bone and lots of lying around in the sun. 

Wes headed off late morning to the Docklands to see Carlton host the Gold Coast Suns at a lunchtime timeslot, which was very manageable. He caught the train to Southern Cross station and arrived in plenty of time to get a pie & sauce! Carlton had a good win, and he thoroughly enjoyed his outing, especially when he arrived back here to find a home-cooked fruit cake. 

Daylesford Autumn Dispatch - Sunday, 19th May, 2024

 

We spent a very quiet Mothers' Day last Sunday. I was out of energy, so we didn't do anything special, apart from the early walk at Daylesford Cemetery, and our visit to the Sunday Market. When we came back home, Wes cleaned up some wood chips that had been left in our street, and did some gardening. He was dying to get stuck into pruning, but the colours were still so beautiful, he was reluctant to chop anything back.

Collingwood scored a good win against the West Coast Eagles in the early afternoon, and that was followed by a very close good match between Adelaide & Brisbane, that ended in a draw, which seemed very appropriate as neither side deserved to lose.

Our captain, Darcy Moore, leading out the team, all holding beautiful bouquets of flowers for their mothers or partners, who were forming the guard of honour before the players ran through the banner

On Monday, after shopping & School, we both headed to Springs Medical, where Wes had a blood test & I found out about my recent blood & urine tests.  Dr Ellie told me that my results were perfect for my age, and to keep doing what I was doing. We were both very thrilled with this news, especially as I have had no energy lately, and we were worried that there may have been something other than chronic fatigue causing it. 

Last Autumn photo - this beautiful maple at our front door is often the tardiest in changing colour & this year was no exception - always worth the wait

On Tuesday afternoon, Brayden from Fells came to finally give us light again in our stairwell. He had turned up a fortnight ago with the very long ladder, but confessed when he saw the ceiling globe that he didn't fancy climbing up to change it. We were in total agreement with him, and watched him think about how to solve the problem. And solve it he did - he suggested strip lighting and we couldn't be happier. 

At the same time, Eddie Beacham arrived to spend some time with Wes to learn how to burn DVDs from his camera. Fortunately the only power that had to be shut off was the lighting, so they were able to work happily downstairs, while Morse & I sat upstairs with Morse looking for every opportunity to monster Brayden, who has a labrador of his own and loves dogs.

The next morning, Judi & I played Mah Jong at Muffins & More in lovely sunshine, while Wes did the floors here, and then visited Eddie in Hepburn Springs with the DVDs he needed. 

It was even more perfect on Thursday, after a cold night. Wes enjoyed a good Zoom with the Jackson Group, where the topic was modern day Japan. Afterwards, he packed his fishing gear & Morse into Sammy and they drove to Newlyn Reservoir for a delightful morning of fishing & admiring black swans.

Meanwhile, I had a great chat with Old Friends - Kathy, Karen S & Lib, where we heard all about a friend of Kathy's, Dorothy Hamilton, who died this week aged 96. She was totally blind, raised 4 children, taught braille music, ran music camps, and was active until the day she died. What an inspiration! Lib told us about Girl Guides who came to her accommodation and offered to do jobs for anyone who wanted help. She said yes, and now has a lovely clean fridge. 

On Friday, we had decided to visit Lavandula for lunch, as Carol White, the original owner, has sold, and her last day was yesterday. She was busy when we arrived - St Michael's Primary School had asked if 80 of their students could have a guided tour of the place, and she couldn't say no, especially as her grandson was one of the 80! However, she came to find us in the restaurant afterwards, which gave us a chance to say thank you for our 25 years of wonderful experiences at Lavandula. 

Lovely photo of Wes enjoying the sweet potato soup

That night Carlton were no match for the Swans in Sydney, after a promising start. Wes was very disappointed, (although he hadn't expected the Blues to win) because they looked good in the first quarter, but couldn't keep going.

Yesterday, I took Wes to the MCC as my guest in the 50 year Member section. This was the first time I have been able to take him since my membership was confirmed last year. We had a lovely day, with good seats, a great game, a catch up with Gayle Gibson, and a narrow win by Collingwood in the last couple of minutes.  

We arrived back home at 7pm to find a hungry Morse waiting for us and very pleased to see us after his long day on his own. We had a glass of a very good red to go with our pie & pastie for dinner, and then I went to bed, followed not long after by Wes & Morse.

Daylesford Mother's Day Dispatch - Sunday, 12th May 2024

 
Why not?

We had planned our regular tri-weekly visit to Leanne last Sunday, but as we were driving back here from the Sunday Market, we received a message to say she was unwell. We are usually the ones postponing the visit, so I rang her once we were home and encouraged her to do a RAT, which was negative. She had only a couple of symptoms of COVID, and we were all relieved that it wasn't COVID, which is so very unpleasant.

Morse was upset and worried that he wouldn't get his bone, so we eventually relented after immense pressure, and he spent a happy hour or so with it, before coming back inside to sleep. 

On Monday, I cancelled shopping as we needed very little with Wes having been unable to eat for much of the past fortnight. School was our monthly clean and I did the main bathroom, while Wes tackled the deckings. He also cleared stuff from guttering, did some gardening, and finished with hosing everywhere, which is crying out for rain. 

Later I had a massage with Sarah Hunt, who is keeping my back & neck under control beautifully. It is always wonderful to spend time with her and get fixed at the same time.

We have been enjoying the most beautiful weather lately, possibly most of Victoria is the same - cool mornings, followed by crisp sunny days. It was like that on Tuesday, so Wes got stuck into gardening chores, and we planned the next crop, (bush peas), to go into the greenhouse. I chatted with Leanne early, then had an overdue catch up with Jan Pengilley in Maleny, where it is raining solidly and they have more oranges, lemons & limes than they know what to do with! Jan assures me it is not a good problem to have, but when I look at our lemon trees, with only three or four lemons, I'm not so sure.

A week later & this Japanese maple is looking even more stunning!

On Wednesday, I had a busy morning - fringe trim, deliveries to Porcupine Ridge and two hours of Mah Jong with Judi in Muffins & More café. When I arrived home, our neighbour James popped in to ask me to witness his signature and we enjoyed a good chat, especially as Morse didn't bark once, but wagged his tail happily. 

Meanwhile, Wes drove to St John of God in Ballarat for a stomach scan, which took some time. He arrived back with flathead fillets for dinner, whisky to help him recover, cash because we were out of it, and vanilla slices for afternoon tea!

The next day I had an early Zoom with Terry Borg, where we avoided discussing Bluey, much as we both love it and delved into health and footy instead. Then Old Friends - Kathy, Lib, Karen S & Joyce, where we heard a little about New Zealand, sympathised with everyone's various ailments, and ran out of time, as usual.

Wes went off to see a doctor to get his results and was told he probably has diverticulitis, but has to have some more blood tests to be sure. We both read about the symptoms and agreed they were very like what he had, and were relieved to discover that we only need to tweak our food intake slightly to improve his chances of reducing future attacks.

That night, the Blues beat the Dees by 1 point in a most exciting game, which would have thrilled all Carlton supporters, especially the one I married!

More Autumn beauty in the garden - double Japanese wisteria, followed by ornamental grape, and espaliered ornamental cherry trees

On Friday morning, I had an early Breastscreen appointment in Ballarat, and we decided to see a film afterwards, choosing Freud's Last Session, which we saw with one other person in the cinema. What a stunning film! Anthony Hopkins is always worth watching, and we enjoyed Matthew Goode's interpretation of C S Lewis. Once again, I can't better Wes's description - 

It is based on a play, and it is a fictional account of a possible meeting between the 2 wonderful intellects of Sigmund Freud (the atheist) and C S Lewis (the believer). Brilliantly written, acted, and film-crafted, it tackles the inadequacy of humans creating or questioning beliefs, as well as the recurrent damage done so often by parents, and the effects of declining to explore our memories or reasonings.

Yesterday, we had planned breakfast out, followed by local footy, but I woke with very little energy, so we opted for a quiet day at home instead, which seems to have done the trick.  

We were very sad to read of Martin Atkinson's death in yesterday's Age newspaper. I first met Martin when I joined the Bushwalking Group, and then when Hepburn Shire U3A was formed, we learned Cryptic Crosswords together. He was a star at anagrams - much quicker than the rest of us. We spent many happy hours with him and his wife, Patricia, shown above on Christmas Morning 2004 with Wes. Martin had the best model railway we had ever seen - it went out of his shed, into the garden, around a tree & back again!

Daylesford Autumn Dispatch - Sunday, 5th May, 2024

 
The downside of a beautiful friendship!

We headed off to the Daylesford Market last Sunday after I had published my Dispatch, where we mostly bought food for Morse as we still had plenty of fresh fruit & vegetables from last week. Yvonne was up in arms as the wifi signal is so weak at the Market that she is losing customers, who don't have cash, and want to pay by card. That includes us, and we had five goes before the payment finally went through.

Back home, I turned much of our vegetables into a big cauldron of soup, in the hope that we could all enjoy them at some time. Wes was still struggling with eating, but the thought of soup appealed, so it was worth doing. 

A last vase of Autumn flowers & leaves

The soup seemed to have done the trick and by Monday morning, Wes had the energy to spend some time in the back garden, not doing anything too strenuous. We spent our School period discussing the likelihood of another overseas trip, and decided to review the subject again mid-June, as neither of us feels our health is sufficiently good for us to make plans yet.

That afternoon, I finally finished Morse's new coat and tried it on him. He was delighted with it, and especially pleased when he got to wear it when we went for early morning walks. 

We've been busy with Zooms again this week - Wes spoke with Barbara in NZ twice; joined me in a catch up with Mike & Linda Kirby, and participated in the Jackson Group discussion. I had hoped to speak with my aunt, Jeff, in the UK, but she had a bad reaction to her latest COVID booster and we had to cancel. However, I caught up with my sister, Leanne, twice; and had a good time chatting with Old Friends. 

As well, on Tuesday, our friend from the early 80s, Margaret Nolan, was in Daylesford with a busload from her retirement village in Taylors Hill. Margaret recently turned 90, but looks younger and continues to go to Collingwood matches, and enjoy social outings with her friends. We caught up with her at the Daylesford Bowling Club, and had about 20 minutes together before her lunch arrived.

Recently, our Sydney friends, Jane & David Knox, went on a cruise and unbeknown to us, two of our Daylesford friends, Bill Guest & Steve Doyle, went on that same cruise. Here they are having dinner together and enjoying each other's company. Jane & David are wonderful friends to travel with, and, although we've known Bill & Steve for 25 years, we've never been away together, but I suspect they would be equally delightful companions.

Jane, Steve, David & Bill at dinner

Judi & I enjoyed a lovely morning, chatting and playing Mah Jong, and I went home having won half the games for a change. Wes & I then chatted with Mike & Linda, as we had postponed our Zoom from last week. As usual, I was quite tired from the socialising and was in bed for dinner, although I have been able to stay up most nights recently. Wes served a beautiful big mushroom on sour dough toast with parsley, while I watched footy shows on TV. 

The next morning, we were up early walking Morse around Lake Daylesford, before returning in time for Wes to participate in the Jackson Group fortnightly Zoom, where two Australians, Graham & Rod presented a programme on Business 2024. Afterwards, I had my weekly Zoom with Old Friends - we were looking forward to catching up with Karen Stevenson, after her trip to NZ, but she was quite unwell and unable to join us. Hopefully she will be back on song next Thursday morning. 

Wes visited Dr James that afternoon, and was told that he was probably still suffering from bad food poisoning. However, James suggested he have a blood test on Friday morning & a stomach scan later in the day just to check. 

On Friday morning, after Wes had his blood test, Lake Imaging rang to say he couldn't have his scan that day as they wouldn't have the results of the test & wouldn't proceed without it. They made another appointment for this Wednesday, which made us both feel that it couldn't be all that urgent! Once again, we had postponed catching up with Rob & Dene & Glen that morning - fingers crossed that it will be three times lucky. Rob & Dene came past and left morning tea for us & Glen; as well as baby gladioli bulbs from their garden - all of which was very thoughtful and kind

Top - dogwoods doing their thing & middle & below is back and front of our wonderful Japanese weeping maple, which never fails to shine - during Autumn especially.

That night, Carlton hosted Collingwood in a big game at the MCG for the Peter McCallum Cup, in front of over 88,000 fans, the biggest home & away crowd for these two teams. It doesn't come close to the 121,000+ who crammed into the MCG back in 1970 to see Carlton come from behind to beat Collingwood in a memorable Grand Final. The Pies were lucky enough on Friday night to break the deadlock with just over a minute to go when Nick Daicos kicked a goal and put us 6 points ahead. 

Needless to say, we were both too tired to do much yesterday, reserving our energy for today, when we are due to visit Leanne. Although Wes did give Morse a bath, plant bulbs and give the lawns a mow, which was much more than I managed! He is definitely feeling much better this weekend after a difficult fortnight.

The best sunset all week!