Daylesford Summer Dispatch - Sunday, 22nd December 2024

 

We were going to get a Christmas tree on our return from Adelaide, but realised we were putting too much pressure on ourselves to have it decorated and ready to welcome Rob & Dene last Sunday afternoon. We'll get one next December when we won't be going to the Adelaide cricket, which is the 3rd Ashes Test between 17-21 December and a day game. 

It's been an interesting and busy week, starting with the lovely, now traditional, pre-Christmas visit from Rob & Dene. We had hoped to sit under Glen's plum tree, but she wasn't well, so we provided champagne & afternoon tea instead. Rob had recently visited Antarctica with Dene's sister, Kay, and met up with Dene, who had been in London, in Paris. They had plenty of stories to tell, and were interested in our Adelaide trip. We exchanged gifts and enjoyed each other's company for a couple of hours.

Rob, Dene & Wes chatting; Dene with Morse, and Morse with his Christmas friend from Glen

I've had a week of appointments - started on Monday with my last remedial massage of the year with Sarah, who has become a friend, as well as a valued masseuse. 

The next morning I headed to the optician, also a Sarah, to arrange new reading glasses. My left eye could see very well, but my right eye was quite blurry during the tests, so Sarah did a scan and told me I needed to go back to my specialist straight away as I had inflammation behind that eye. Catherine organised an appointment in an hour's time and I went home to ask Wes to stop gardening and drive me to Ballarat, which he did of course. Dr David said 1% of cataract operations result in this kind of swelling and prescribed two sets of drops to be taken 4 times a day, 5 minutes apart. Fortunately I've learnt how to do this, so Wes is off the hook this time.

On Wednesday morning I had my Christmas haircut before playing Mah Jong with Judi for the last time until mid-January. We had brunch and caught up on news before playing a few games, where we shared the wins and Judi tried some new hands.

Joyce Spiteri's beautiful Nativity Scene - she is so talented

The next morning was time to visit Juls for a manicure, which she had to do more quickly than usual so I could be back home for my 11am drops. We spent a happy hour together and she was thrilled that my nails had recovered from the effects of the anaesthetics.

Meanwhile, we both had quite a few Zoom chats - Wes spoke with Barbara in New Zealand twice, and joined the Jackson Group Christmas break-up Zoom. Wes has stepped down from Admin after 5 years and his place has been taken by Jim Brown, an American, who has lived in Australia for many years. Paul has stood down as Chair as well and his role is being taken over by Graham Hubbard, an Australian who recently met Paul when he was in England. Wes also hosted a Cousins' Christmas get-together.

I had my usual fortnightly early morning catch up with my aunt, Jeff, in Lincolnshire; Zoomed twice with Leanne; had a very overdue chat with Terry Borg in Burwood; caught up with Old Friends - Kathy, Karen S & Lib, and missed out on a chat with Jan Pengilley in Maleny as she was coughing too much. Thanks to you all for staying in touch with me via Zoom - I really appreciate the contact and care.

Glorious, Red Riding Hood & Kindred Spirits

Yesterday was a chance to plant some punnets - basil, coriander & parsley in one of our raised garden beds. Wes has been working hard in the back garden - we came back to a few weeds, roses growing in all directions & long grass, and bit by bit, he has managed to tame it all again. 

Daylesford Summer Dispatch - Sunday, 15th December 2024

 
Such a snob!

Wow! What a last day of cricket we saw on Sunday. Rishabh Pant was out too quickly, which meant the Indians only really had young Reddy to improve their score, which he did, but only to bring them 19 runs ahead of Australia - a margin that we easily reached for no loss of wicket. There was a good crowd in spite of the short day, and we were sorry to be leaving Adelaide Oval so soon with no further play. Our Day 4 tickets have been refunded, but we would rather have been there. 

Wes had sourced a highly-regarded breakfast spot in Hawthorn, which is a very lovely, leafy suburb we had not encountered before, so we took ourselves to The Pantry on Egmont, which had plenty of parking, indoor & outdoor seating and a very interesting menu. Wes enjoyed scrambled eggs & bacon on sourdough, while I ordered the Turkish eggs which came with Indian style cauliflower & an eggplant ragu. They offered Jasmine tea, and Wes said the coffee was wonderful. We bought afternoon tea to bring back with us, and paid for two coffees for someone to drink in the future. 

This was our view as we passed the Adelaide Zoo on our way to the Oval on Sunday afternoon - fruit bats galore!

We had planned to do a free tour of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, and possibly visit the Adelaide Art Gallery after breakfast, but I had woken with absolutely no energy, so we stopped at a newsagency on our way back to Athelney Cottage and picked up Saturday's & Sunday's Age newspapers, which was bliss and enabled us to enjoy a quiet day reading instead.

On Tuesday morning, I was ready to go online at 10am to get tickets for the AFL Gather Round in April next year. When we left to go to lunch at Chef Dong at 12.30pm, I had still not been successful. We had an amazing yum cha lunch and when we got back, I tried again, and eventually managed to get them on my phone. Such a relief as we were already booked with Rosie at Athelney Cottage, which was a stroke of luck at the time. Thanks to David Lazzaro for coming up with the right barcode for me and tons of encouragement. Wes was wonderfully patient and came up with an alternate April holiday over lunch if the tickets didn't materialise.

Salt & pepper squid, fried whitebait & cold cucumber with garlic

Suddenly the end of our holiday loomed. On Wednesday, we were going to try another breakfast place, but it was on a busy main road, so we drove back to The Pantry on Egmont and enjoyed another yummy breakfast. Wes had poached eggs with his bacon this time, and I tucked into their Hawthorn salad with a poached egg. It also had an interesting selection of ingredients. 

We then drove back to the Adelaide Central Markets, where we thanked The Smelly Cheese people for our great experience, bought The Age, returned the bag to the book man, and promptly filled another one, and picked up some fresh fruit to augment our leftovers for dinner. Finally we filled the car with petrol, pumped up the tyres and headed back to Athelney Cottage to pack as much as we could before spending the afternoon reading & resting. 

We got away at 7am and had an excellent run back home, arriving here around 3.20pm, after making a few stops. Wes had fed us tea & toast with Vegemite before we left, so we didn't need much more than the water and biscuits we had put on the back seat. Everywhere in the garden had grown enormously and we were grateful to Glen, our neighbour, for keeping our hydrangea, pots & strawberries alive, as we had turned the water off while we were away.

What a relief to open the door to under the house and find the floor nearly dry, with just a few spots still moist. However, after I had done the first load of washing, we found water on the floor in the laundry, and suspected a break in the pipe under the trough! We contacted Gary, the plumber, who agreed to visit on Friday, and tucked into a prawn & olive pizza from Daylesford Hotel.

Yum!

We had a busy Friday - after Wes vacuumed everywhere & I did three more loads of washing, catching the drips in a bucket, Wes drove to Eureka Kennels to collect Morse, who was delighted to be picked up. The Kennels gave him 10/10 for his behaviour, and so far he hasn't barked or been bothered by anything, not even Gary's arrival. The good news was that the connection had loosened and there was no break in the pipe, however the kitchen mixer tap was leaking, so he replaced that for us, and wondered jokingly if we would be calling him back again yesterday.

Wes & I both spent time on our desktops - I wanted to balance Reckon, which I did easily, and caught up on emails etc that I had put to sleep until our return. I also opened the mail that Glen had collected for us, and found quite a few lovely Christmas cards & letters. Thanks everyone. 

Wes had a catch up Zoom with Barbara in NZ, who asked if Gary could visit her as she has discovered a sewerage broken pipe issue under her driveway and needs a reliable plumber! Meanwhile, I suddenly had to give in to tiredness and spent the rest of the afternoon in bed, where I was served fish & chips & a large glass of Charles Melton Rose of Virginia rosé.

Refurbished Christmas wreath on our purple front door

Yesterday morning I was able to join Wes & Morse on their walk around Daylesford Cemetery, where only 3 bunnies appeared to play chasey with Morse. I can't remember the last time I did this walk, so it was a red letter moment for us all. I picked some lemons for us on the way back, and after a great Zoom chat with Leanne, Wes and I headed to Blakes Fine Food Store to pick up some interesting cheeses and accompaniements for our catch up with Rob & Dene here this afternoon. It was to be next door at Glen's but she has been battling a lurgy, so we are hosting instead, which will please Morse. 

Gorgeous vase of Ashram, Pumpkin Patch & Best Friends

We had settled down to watch the cricket and, like those there in person, were very disappointed when 50mls of rain fell and play was abandoned with Australia 0/28 having been sent in to bat. Fingers crossed the weather is better today and we get a full day's play.

Adelaide Summer Dispatch - Sunday, 8th December 2024

We can't seem to escape from water issues this year. Last Sunday, just as we were getting ready to go, I checked on Glen's house and immediately noticed a burst water pipe in the garden above the slip road. Glen was away, so I rang her daughter, Sarah, and also, Mark, who owns #74, where the water was cascading down. Mark arrived immediately, contacted Central Highlands Water, and apologised to the guests staying in his self-contained house for the weekend. 

Glen sent us a message in the afternoon to say the Central Highlands Water crew had been working since the call and had located the leak under a gum tree. She was without water, but not otherwise inconvenienced, and was able to park in our driveway, as our street was full of men & machines. 

We arrived in Robe at 4pm after a good trip, with lots of rain, but very little traffic, and parked outside our unit at Robe Marina, only to find we were next door to Judi & Michael who were finishing a holiday with a night in Robe. We ended up spending a very pleasant couple of hours in The Black Swan, which serves an incredible variety of spirits and wine by the glass, and shared some yummy plates of food.

The next morning we discovered our air-conditioning unit had been leaking water, so we turned it off, contacted the management and mopped up the mess. We are most impressed with the owners of these self-contained units, as our message was replied to @7.30am and a technician came at 10am. We went out to breakfast and a visit to the historic cemetery. When we returned, the unit  was fixed, and we had fresh towels in place of the wet ones. The only damage we suffered was wet caps, which had been sitting on a shelf directly under the unit.

After this water episode, it was wonderful to hear from our plumber, Gary, that he had successfully completed the work to redirect our water from under the driveway to over the carport and under the house. We were very grateful and look forward to returning to normality, instead of having to sweep out puddles of water two and three times a day. 

Our next port of call was Wangolina Winery about 30 minutes from Robe. I think it is the most exciting winery we have ever visited. When we went there in April, we tried their whites, of which they have a wonderful variety. This time we tried the reds and were equally impressed. Dan, the manager, told us we had to try their latest white, 2024 Fiano, and he was right - another gorgeous & different wine. We took three bottles with us & arranged for the rest to be delivered when we arrive back home. We opted for a quiet afternoon as we were still tired from the previous day, and had pizza for dinner. 

The next morning we walked back into the main street, and had breakfast at Drift again. There is a good choice on the menu, the staff are young & keen to please and I'm told the coffee is very good. We'd decided to have a drive-free day, so read The Age, and settled in with books & hot drinks. Around lunchtime we went for a long walk around the cliffs and wondered whether we would get back to Robe again. We're not coming here when we visit Adelaide for the AFL Gather Round next April, and the Ashes Test is a daytime match just before Christmas, so we are giving that a miss. 

That evening we headed off early to The Black Swan, but it was unexpectedly closed, so we ended up with fish & chips back in our room and a glass of Tempranillo to wash them down. The flake was caught locally and very plump & flavoursome, but Peter at our local fish shop has much better batter and superior chips!

On Wednesday morning,  we had breakfast at Drift yet again, finished packing and were on the road by 9.45am, heading to Adelaide. Wes did most of the driving, but I was able to chime in with an hour along the Coorong. 

We headed straight to the Adelaide Central Markets and had a wonderful experience at the Smelly Cheese stall. Wendy, who served us, got on our wavelength very quickly, and we bought 4 very different & interesting cheeses, a baguette, a pot of raspberry & gin jam, and a small bottle of Fig Gin. We walked to the next stall to pick up some fruit & tomatoes, and then across to the second-hand book stall, where I spotted 5 books by favourite authors and we had to beg for a bag from the owner as we were running out of hands to carry everything.

We arrived at Athelney Cottage to find it nice and cool and well-stocked as usual - a bottle of Sav Blanc in the fridge, along with butter, milk, bread, condiments, chocolate, and ground coffee. We unpacked and enjoyed sitting quietly reading until it was time to spread out the cheeses and have our picnic. Wes has been reading Ron Barassi's biography and he keeps having to share moments with me, as we are both old enough to remember the huge uproar when Carlton poached Barassi from Melbourne to become their Captain-Coach. 

It was 38℃ on Thursday, so we headed to the Hoyts Cinema at Norwood to see the Hong Kong film, The Last Dance, which opened that day. What a wonderful film - set in a funeral parlour, it explores the partnership of a Taoist priest and a failed wedding planner, and so much more. We loved it, as did the mostly Asian young people around us. 

That night we went back to Chef Dong, which we had discovered in April and had another wonderful meal of salt & pepper school prawns, oyster omelette and steamed beans, followed by the best red bean pancake ever. 

Suddenly it was Friday morning and the first day of the second Test. We had planned on trying a new breakfast venue, but it turned out to be in the city with no parking nearby, so we headed back to The Flying Fig, where we ordered the house granola and waited 40 minutes for our meal. Everyone was most apologetic, especially the young trainee waitress who had confused the kitchen. 

We came back here for a rest, before packing our bag and walking to the Adelaide Oval, a pleasant 30 minute stroll along the Botanic Gardens, the Zoo, and the University playing grounds. Our seats were on Level 1 in the Riverbank Stand, with a great view and under cover - as it was 38℃, that was a very good thing indeed. 

What a wonderful first day we enjoyed - Starc with a wicket with his first ball, and the Indians all out for 180. Even better, we were 1/86 at stumps with McSweeney on 38 not out. We left the ground at 8.15pm and got back here just as night fell. We watched the rest of the last session from the comfort of our armchairs.

Prawns above and red bean pancake

Yesterday was hot, but not as bad as Friday. We decided to have a quiet morning here with tomatoes on toast for breakfast. I rang Leanne, who was thrilled to hear from me and we both finished books we had been enjoying. We headed off to the Adelaide Oval wondering what would happen, never dreaming we would see a wonderful innings of 140 by Travis Head that changed the game and put Australia in the box seat. When Head was given a very rude send off by the bowler, Mohammed Siraj, the crowd erupted in boos, which continued whenever he went near the ball. 

We left at the change of innings and listened to the game as we walked back here. We arrived in time to see Scott Boland remove Yashasvi Jaiswal with his first ball, and then have Virat Kohli caught behind after Cummins & Starc had each taken wickets. The Indians are 5/128 still 29 runs behind our first innings, so they are facing an uphill battle to win this game, which will probably finish today, leaving us with a couple of extra days to enjoy Adelaide and all it has to offer.

Daylesford Summer Dispatch - Sunday, 1st December 2024

 

This last week of Spring has been a hot, sticky, wet one here in Daylesford and other parts of Victoria, with lots of rain, thunder, hail etc. We were pleased to get all the rain, not so thrilled about the rest.

I've been thinking recently about all the activities that go on in our Shire, and especially here where we live. Once upon a time, we would have had the energy to do them all, and now we only dip our toes. If you found yourself staying in Daylesford during November you could have attended the following:

• Rotary Art Show over Cup weekend
• 150th Agricultural Show
• Monthly Farmers' Markets in Daylesford, Clunes, Creswick, Glenlyon & Trentham
• Community Brass Band (161 years old) @ Christ Church
• Weekly Sunday Market
• Barefoot Bowls at Daylesford & Trentham
• Open Gardens in Daylesford & Newlyn

As well, you could walk around Lake Daylesford & Jubilee Lake, or go on one of many signposted walks in the area; you could eat & drink at any number of cafes & restaurants; buy local produce; visit Wombat Hill Botanic Gardens; explore The Convent; try lavender scones @ Lavandula; learn about cricket bat making at Cricket Willow, and browse all sorts of shops, including 4 Op Shops and the Mill Markets.

This month sees the 158th Scottish Highland Gathering & Games, which we will miss as we'll be in Adelaide. There will be Carols by Candlelight at the Hepburn Sound Shell, and the Annual New Year's Eve Parade & Gala - to name just a few. 

Roses - Glorious, Golden Beauty, Hot Cocoa & Ashram with some of Glen's sweet peas

On Monday, Warren's sister, Denise, rang him to let him know that her partner, Barry, had died peacefully in palliative care. His funeral was held at Verey's here in Daylesford on Thursday. It was a very quiet service with family members and we shared our thoughts of Barry with each other. He was a very kind, generous and caring person and he came into Denise's life at just the right time. 

A lovely photo of Barry & Denise taken at the Glenlyon Food Store in 2018

Meanwhile, our water dramas continued with Liam, from National Leak Finders, coming to see if he could find the burst pipe sites. He agreed that there were probably two under the concrete driveway, and suggested we redirect the water from underground to aboveground, which is a much simpler solution to the problem. Our local plumber, Gary Wilkinson, is going to do the work this week while we are away, which is perfect. Gary popped in on Friday to go through it with us, and we were able to give him a set of keys. It will be such a relief when under the house is dry again and the driveway stops cracking. 

We've had our usual week of Zooms, phone calls and email contacts. There's always so much to do before we go away, so we haven't caught up with friends the way we had hoped. Now that Judi & Michael live in Ballarat, we have asked Glen & James to look after the bins, and Glen will collect mail from our PO Box. We haven't planted any tomato seedlings as the water will be turned off until Gary has completed his work, so everything will just have to survive. 

Last night we were thrilled to watch the North Melbourne AFLW team score a resounding win over Brisbane to collect their first Premiership after a stunning, unbeaten season. The footy was top class and the support from the sold out crowd at Princes Park was wonderful. Congratulations!