Daylesford Autumn Dispatch - Sunday, 30th March 2025

I've been guilty of admiring sunrise while Morse waits patiently!

After our visit to Daylesford Market last Sunday, we headed off to Glenlyon General Store to sit at our favourite oak drop-side table and catch up on various things we needed to chat about, while devouring very yummy breakfasts and sharing jokes with the lovely staff. Friend, Max Primmer, arrived just as we were about to leave - always a treat to see Max, who has some health challenges that he copes with most bravely and with a minimum of fuss. 

When we came home, Wes spent time in the garden, while I worked on a couple of glitches in my new desktop, got Reckon balanced and added e-Wallet to both our computers. The previous night, St Kilda had unexpectedly beaten Geelong and all our Saints fans were very happy to exchange messages that were much more cheerful than the previous week. 

Morse enjoying the footy season yet again!

We scrapped School on Monday as I wasn't up to it after doing the supermarket shopping. Wes and Morse went out fossicking for bags of manure and stones to build up the edge of the dirt slip road we share with our neighbour, Glen. It was another perfect Autumnal morning and everyone was thrilled to be out & about.

My younger sister, Paun, had flown down for the weekend to go to the Saundry family reunion, and sent me a photo. I was able to identify about half the people in it, especially our aunt, Margaret, who is about to turn 88 and still looks years younger. Paun visited Leanne while she was in Melbourne, and downloaded Kayo onto her new TV, so that Leanne can have better access to sport, especially Australian Rules football.

Paun is seated second from the left next to Margaret

It was another cool, dark morning on Tuesday when we walked Morse before I had a Zoom chat with Leanne, who is loving having Kayo, as well as YouTube, and everything else she can find on her new TV. After popping into town for eyedrops and punnets of pleasure, I sat down at my desk to see if I could get a reserved seat for ANZAC Day, the traditional Collingwood vs Essendon game, and was successful, getting a seat in the 50-Year Member section three rows from the back, which means I will be undercover if it rains. 

As Judi wasn't able to play Mah Jong on Wednesday, we decided to see the early session of the Bob Dylan film A Complete Unknown at Ballarat. I really enjoyed it, especially the acting by Timothée Chalamet, who sang Bob's lyrics well enough for us to catch every word! Wes, however, was disappointed to discover that Dylan was not such a nice person, who wanted the fame & fortune but not the responsibility. We both thought the film was well-written, but had a most unlikely ending. 

It was another beautiful day on Thursday, so Wes headed off with his fishing gear to Bullarto Reservoir, to spend a few hours in peace & serenity, much to the chagrin of Morse, who loves these trips to the water. I persuaded him to come outside with me as I planted some sweet pea seedlings, but he eventually left me and went back to bed waiting for the sound of Sammy coming into the driveway.

Bullarto Reservoir

Sweet pea seedlings

Petunias in the wheelbarrow

Suddenly it was Friday and time for me to visit my podiatrist, Peter, where we chatted about various things, including all the improvements he has been making to their home, when he suddenly looked up at me and said "we had a baby 5 weeks ago, did I mention we were expecting one?" 

Our Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, called an election for Saturday, 3rd May, so Wes put up a banner for our local Member, Catherine King

That night Carlton & the Western Bulldogs played under the roof at Docklands, and although the Blues were ahead at 3/4 time, the Doggies took over in the last quarter and won by 8 points, much to the dismay of Wes and all his Carlton friends, who are sick of losing matches after being in the lead. 

Yesterday we woke to find it was raining, not too hard, just enough to cancel our early morning walk with Morse. Wes gave him a bath, and I washed all Morse's bedding, much to his chagrin. We were both lacking energy and very happy to have a quiet day reading The Age and watching more footy games. 

This morning we are off to visit Leanne. We're not going to the Daylesford Market, as we head to Melbourne on Thursday afternoon for the start of our holiday that culminates in the AFL Gather Round in Adelaide. Morse will be going to Eureka Kennels and we'll collect him on Tuesday, 15th April, the day after we return from Adelaide. 

Daylesford Autumn Dispatch - Sunday, 23rd March 2025

We've all misheard words, especially in our youth and they seem to stick with us through our life

We drove through very welcome rain last Sunday to Ballarat to see the Mike Leigh film Hard Truths, which deals with self-absorption and depression. It was excellent, as all his films have been, and the acting was superb. I noticed that the reviewer in The Age had described it as a comedy, which is certainly is not - we weren't far from tears through most of it. 

On Monday, it was cold enough for scarves on our early morning walk, much to our delight. Afterwards I did the supermarket shopping and then we sat down over apple scrolls and hot drinks to talk about new desktops. We found exactly what we wanted directly from HP and they gave us an excellent discount because we already have 5 of their products. Hopefully someone can use our old HPs or else we will recycle them at the Transfer Station.

We had booked COVID boosters with Springs Medical on Tuesday morning, so after I chatted with Jeff in Lincolnshire, and Leanne in Strathmore, we headed to there. The system is that you are seen by a doctor first, which in this case was my doctor, Ellie, and then she gives the nurse the go-ahead. I think these are our 7th boosters and they were easily the most painless, with no side effects whatsoever. We were keen to get them before we travel to Melbourne & Adelaide for big footy matches, and Ellie was happy to oblige, giving us an appointment that was exactly 6 months since our last boosters.

I love these beautiful Flower Fairies by Cicely Barker that have been featured on FB, especially the Daffodil fairy

We took Morse for an extra long walk on Wednesday morning as neither of us had any early commitments, and pumped mineral water at Leitches Creek on our way back home. While Judi & I were playing Mah Jong, much to delight of some curious visitors in town having morning tea at Muffins & More, Wes vacuumed & washed the floors. Judi stayed on to have lunch with a friend, and I arrived home to find our new desktops had arrived and were taking up most of the entrance area!

Apart from when we walked Morse on Thursday morning, it rained all day. Wes had his early chat with the Jackson Group, and I caught up with Old Friends Joyce & Lib. Then we settled down to change over our desktops, which was daunting, but took less time than we had expected. We were both tired after concentrating for longer than we usually do, but very happy with our decision to upgrade and with Windows 11. That night Carlton played Hawthorn, but couldn't notch up a win, going down by 20 points to a more polished team. 

We were thrilled to hear from Leanne & Olivia Lazzaro that they were in Daylesford and wanted to catch up for morning tea at The Convent on Friday. We had a lovely time with them both, introduced them to Tina and Marija, and shared a plate of yummy scones, jam & cream. Olivia was happy with an iced chocolate!

That night, Collingwood & Footscray played a very exciting game at the MCG in front of 78,000+ fans - a record for the Doggies in home & away matches. They were celebrating their 100 years in the VFL/AFL, and we were celebrating Scott Pendlebury & Steele Sidebottom playing their 308th game together, a new AFL record. We were lucky enough to just win, but the Doggies played out of their skins and had more injured players out than we did. 

Steele kicks the winning goal

Needless to say, we were all tired yesterday morning. We got up early to walk Morse, but after I had fed him, I retreated back to bed with a pot of tea, toast with fig jam & The Age. Wes kept working on our computers, removing programmes on the old ones and checking that the new ones had everything we needed, before he took a break & reprised my breakfast sitting in his armchair, with Morse ready to pounce for a cuddle when he was finished.

Thanks to everyone who sent messages before, during & post the footy - it was especially good to hear from David Castles, whose brother was visiting and had him watching the game & barracking for the Pies. 

Daylesford Autumn Dispatch - Sunday, 16th March 2025

 
As if he wouldn't!!!

It was a perfect morning last Sunday for the annual ChillOut Parade, and we enjoyed it very much, as did the huge crowd gathered along Vincent Street. The atmosphere was fun, heightened by the theme of Rainbow Circus Spectacular as you can see from the photos below, thanks to Jane Barrett & George Weiss. We came home feeling very proud of Daylesford for hosting such a happy event once again. 

That afternoon, Collingwood opened its 2025 campaign with a big fizz against GWS, who easily beat us by 52 points. It was most disappointing as we were almost at full strength and they had injuries. 

On Monday, when I went shopping at Coles Supermarket, there were only 6 other cars in the carpark. It was a public holiday (Labour Day), but I suspect there had been some serious partying going on overnight and there was going to be a slow start to the day. Wes & I remembered working in the Information Centre on Monday mornings after ChillOut and being inundated with bleary-eyed visitors looking for the venues offering Recovery Breakfasts. 

We had a lengthy School session making plans for Clunes Booktown and then our trip to Melbourne & Adelaide for Gather Round in April. Sadly the Helen Garner talk session at Booktown is fully booked, so we have moved our visiting day to see Leanne that weekend to Sunday, and will go to Clunes the day before to stock up on books if we need to. 

On Tuesday, both my Zoom chats were postponed, which gave Wes a chance to have a good Zoom discussion with friend, Rod McDonald before going into the back garden and doing some more pruning, weeding & watering. I had a few chores to do and enjoyed walking along Vincent Street, admiring all the shop front windows - nearly every trader had gone to extra lengths to make their display attractive & relevant to this year's ChillOut. 

It's been so hot that I haven't had the energy or inclination to finish the last part of the library reorganisation, but I had no excuse that morning, and got the History section sorted, much to Wes's delight. I then only had two more shelves to do - Arts, Politics, Compendia, Gardening & Sport were still waiting to be tackled.

On Wednesday, while Wes vacuumed & washed the floors, I had a haircut and then played Mah Jong with Judi, where we had fun trying some difficult hands again. Everyone at Muffins & More was exhausted after their very busy weekend, especially as they open every day. One café, Pancho, closed mid-February for a break, and hasn't re-opened. It had been a very popular locals meeting spot while Lauren & Tom ran it, but the new owners weren't able to continue with that vibe, which we noticed last time we ate there. 

It was wonderful to discover on Thursday morning that we had received 9mls of rain and that it was cool on our early walk around Daylesford Cemetery. While I zoomed with Terry Borg, and then Old Friends, Wes planted some punnets of pleasure in old wheelbarrows - English daisies, Crimson Pansies and Mixed Poppies. 

That night Carlton & Richmond met in the traditional MCG opening of the season. Carlton were unbackable favourites, but were beaten in the second half by a very determined and accurate Richmond side, much to the horror of all the Blues fans. 

Fortunately we had lunch at the Pig & Whistle with Bob White to look forward to on Friday, and while I Zoomed with my sister, Leanne, and then our friend, Jan Pengilley in the morning, Wes took out all his footy frustrations on the garden and gave a few plants haircuts they won't forget in a hurry! It was cool enough for him to mow the lawn before the temperature hit the 30s yet again.

Bob & Wes before lunch in the bar at the Pig & Whistle Hotel - 50 years of friendship next year!

Yesterday we had a lovely walk with Morse before coming back here and settling down for a quiet but successful day. I spent the morning finishing the library and was rewarded with tea & orange cake for my troubles. Wes worked in the back garden, weeding small patches, mowing and watering, while Morse avoided us both.

I spent the afternoon watching footy - first Geelong being far too good for Freo, followed by an exciting Grand Final rematch, which Brisbane won by 4 points, and finally an unexpectedly strong win by Collingwood against Port at the MCG. At the same time the Doggies beat North in a close game at the Docklands. 

Daylesford ChillOut Dispatch - Sunday, 9th March 2025

 
Snoopy's such a sympathetic soul!

We had a very quiet Sunday after our socialising the day before, especially as I had another dental appointment in Ballarat on Monday morning. Wes drove me and I was very grateful as this was the replacement of a very big filling & required quite a lot of anaesthetic. We had hoped to see the Bob Dylan film afterwards, but I was a bit woozy, so we came home and had tea & toast instead. 

On Tuesday I had my usual fortnightly chat with my aunt, Jeff, in Lincolnshire, where it is still cold, even though Spring has begun. I suggested she download Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache books onto her kindle, as I think she might enjoy this delightfully quirky series set in Quebec in the wonderful town of Three Pines. There is a TV series, but it is on Prime Video and we don't subscribe to it. I think we'll just keep reading and loving the books, thanks to neighbour, Glen, who gave us the first five. I've just ordered the next three and there are 18 in total to date.

We have a new doona cover - as I spend quite a bit of time in bed, and have most evening meals there, we found the pretty, but white background of our previous doona cover, was rapidly getting marked with food & drink spillages. So I found this beautiful William Morris print - The Strawberry Thief - and so far I haven't done any damage to it!

Wes has started working on individual beds in both the front & back gardens - he weeds them, feeds them & then plants daisies of some description to act as ground cover. We both love seaside daisies and can't get enough of them, which is fortunate as they proliferate in this climate.

Another stunning early morning sky over Daylesford Cemetery

Judi & I had another good morning of Mah Jong, until I ran out of energy. She successfully played some more different hands, including Civil War, which is a very difficult one to get. We feel very fortunate that Muffins & More continues to allow us to play for a couple of hours. Once upon a time, I would have stayed for lunch regularly, but I can't do that as much as I would like. Judi often invites friends to catch up with her after we've finished playing, which gives the café extra business. 

On Thursday, after Wes participated in the Jackson Group discussion on Germany, and I chatted with Old Friends - Kathy, Karen S & Joyce, I visited Juls in Hepburn for my monthly manicure. While I was there, I noticed Juls had a particularly beautiful deep red geranium growing & brought home a couple of cuttings in the hope they strike. She is spending the long weekend in Ballarat at their Annual Begonia Festival, helping a friend from Yandoit who has a succulents farm.

Once again, on Friday morning, we had thought of going to Ballarat to see the latest Mike Leigh film, Hard Truths, but I wasn't up to it, so Wes gardened and I caught up on computer stuff instead. Daylesford was looking wonderful for the start of ChillOut, our annual gay & lesbian recovery festival after Sydney's Mardi Gras. 

Yesterday morning we headed back to the Glenlyon General Store for breakfast and got in before it became too busy. We just love the new owners - only wish we could bring Morse with us, as it is very dog-friendly. Wes got into watering mode on our return, while I washed dog bedding post Morse's bath.

Wes at our favourite table at the General Store - a dropside oak with art deco fanlight

Our thoughts have been with everyone in Northern NSW & Southern Queensland who has been affected by Cyclone Alfred, which has finally arrived and is causing much wind & flood damage. We were so pleased the AFL postponed the two Opening Round games that were due to be played in Brisbane and the Gold Coast, so that the players could stay with their families, which was much more important.

Footy started in Sydney on Friday night, where the Swans & Hawks played a fast, skilful game, which the Hawks won by 20 points. This afternoon, Collingwood is being hosted by GWS at the Sydney Showgrounds, where rain is expected, so the footy won't be quite as impressive as Friday night. 

Daylesford Autumn Dispatch - Sunday, 2nd March 2025

 
Sometimes it's better not to know!

In my last letter, I mentioned the book, The Season, by Helen Garner, and have been thrilled with the response. Thanks to Cheryl Metcalfe in Sydney for letting me know she had downloaded it onto her kindle and it really resonated with her watching her grandsons playing Aussie Rules in the ACT. Our neighbour, Glen, and her daughter, Sarah, both loved it too with Sarah's son, Matt, playing for Daylesford Under 18s, and Glen going to games rain, hail or shine (and sometimes all three at once).

On Monday morning, I had another appointment in Ballarat to have two more fillings replaced by my dentist, Anna, at Ashmore Dentistry. Wes very kindly drove me there and back, and spent his downtime wisely. The most important thing to be done was to visit Windscreens O'Brien as we got a chip in Pearl's windscreen on Saturday on our way back from visiting Leanne. He had a very good experience there and the screen will be replaced soon. Then he visited JB Hi-Fi, as I had bought a new trannie from them when I was in Melbourne for the Women's Ashes Test, and discovered it was digital, although I had been assured it wasn't. It turns out to be both analogue & digital, which makes it OK for live sport. Finally he went to Dan Murphy's and replenished our whisky, gin & brandy supplies.

While I chatted with Leanne on Tuesday, Wes & Morse went in search of manure and came home with plenty, which Wes has been distributing around the garden, especially near the roses. The mornings this week have been very pleasant with the heat not hitting us until mid-afternoon, so we are getting lots done. 

Judi & I played Mah Jong again - we both played some interesting games and I was the early winner, but Judi came home with a rush, so we were both pleased with our efforts. Before Mah Jong, I had driven to Spring Park Nursery to deliver newspapers to Chris, who has just returned from a cruise and wanted to tell me how frightening it was to be boarding a plane just as he got a message saying there was a fire in Eganstown. It was across the road from the Nursery, where a fire had been lit in a 10-gallon drum and left alight while the owners drove to Melbourne. Fortunately, other neighbours spotted it and the CFA put the fire out before it caused any damage. 

During the week, a small bird found itself in our bedroom and was panicking and hiding under the bed. I removed the flywire-screens, opened the windows & closed the doors, and when I returned an hour later, there was no bird under the bed. Phew!

On Friday morning we decided to have breakfast at the Glenlyon General Store, as it has new owners. We haven't been back for 6 years when I booked the Breakfast Group in one Sunday morning, and it was a debacle. This was a very pleasant experience and we'll definitely be back - the coffee was good, and they even had Jasmine tea, served in proper teacups. 

Me with smoked salmon and potato rosti on spinach

Later that day we had a visit from Robyn, of Taylor & Stirling blinds, to get a quote for some more blinds. One of the lounge windows needs a day blind, four of the study windows need blackout blinds, and we'd like a day blind for the glass study door. We had originally thought of getting outdoor blinds, but the wind blows them around too much, and more things can go wrong!

We've been enjoying the AFL practice games this week - even though the Australian men are playing in the ICC ODI World Cup Semis in Pakistan, we are more than ready for footy to begin again. Collingwood played Richmond on Wednesday night and I was pleased to see our older recruits slotting into the team well. Richmond were trialling a lot of very young recruits, who will all be better off for playing in a serious practice match. Carlton faced GWS on Friday night & won easily with no injuries, which is such a bonus. 

The happiest cucumber plant we've ever had - loving life in the greenhouse

Yesterday we had been invited by Sue & Vin Lyttleton to celebrate their 80th birthdays with a lunch - a lovely invitation and one we were able to accept with some confidence as they live 3 minutes away by car. We lasted 90 minutes and enjoyed catching up with lots of old friends among the guests. Their house is perfectly suited to entertaining with lots of open plan rooms & decking. Gary Thomas from Spade to Blade did the catering, which was perfect - lots of small bites, which just kept on coming. The highlight for me was seeing Emma Ford, who is a friend of the Lyttleton family, and a much loved person in my life.