We had a quiet Sunday to start our week, both of us tired after the trip to Strathmore. Both our AFLW teams lost to better sides, but there was cricket - the women just beat New Zealand in a T20 in Sydney, and the men got off to a flying start in a very rain-affected first day, when Scott Boland took 2 wickets for 5 runs, which left the South Africans 2/20 at stumps.
On Monday, which was another beautiful Spring day - Wes & Morse had a good walk around Daylesford Cemetery, before I did the shopping at Coles, Baker's Delight, Tonna's, the pharmacy & filled the car up with petrol. That was enough for me for the day, but Wes spent the morning in the front garden, and his new toy, which does just about everything, was put to good use, slashing the overgrown grass & shrubs.
Glimpses in the garden this week including our first rose!
On Tuesday, I had an early WhatsApp chat with my aunt, Jeff, in Lincolnshire, followed by a catch up with my sister, Leanne, in Strathmore. Meanwhile, Wes had enjoyed a busy afternoon & evening the day before chatting with Barbara in NZ; Helen in Lower Plenty, and, finally Libby in Bern & Gary in Maribyrnong.
Then we tackled our bedroom with the vacuum cleaner - shifted all the furniture and hoovered up world record amounts of dog hair & fluff. Hopefully, breathing will be a bit easier after that.
In the evening we switched channels between the men & women's cricket - South Africa got on top of us with a vengeance, declaring at 9/425 with their captain, Temba Bavuma making 179 hard-won runs, and having us 1/3 at stumps. The women won easily, by 40 runs in the second T20 against NZ.
The next morning, I was well enough to play Mah Jong with Judi. She very kindly got there early, secured a table and bought the Jasmine teas for us. We had a fun time - I seemed to win a few more games, but we were fairly even, and she was usually fishing when I went Mah Jong. Meanwhile, Wes did his excellent vacuuming & washing of floors, as well as the decking, so I came home to a very clean house.
That night the South Africans took charge, and when we were dismissed for 99, forced us to follow on. We were 4/156 still trailing by 170 runs with one day to play.
Wes headed to Essendon on Thursday morning for a St Bernard's Old Boys catch up lunch that he had organised. 18 turned up and enjoyed spending time with each other & comparing ailments. Meanwhile, I was able to join Kathy, Joyce & Karen S for our weekly Old Friends WhatsApp chat, and lasted 35 minutes, which was very pleasing. Much of our chat centred around the ABC Top 100 Australian books. I had entered 10 titles & 7 of them made it. As well, I was able to share the photo below, from 1997, which Wes turned into an Impressionist painting with the help of AI.
That night, South Africa bowled us out for 295 with Head making 121, and Scott Boland doing a great job as night watchman, making his highest score ever of 40. We fell 31 runs short of matching their first innings total - quite a comprehensive victory!
On Friday, we had invited Rob & Dene (our previous neighbours at #80) and Glen, (our current neighbour at #760 for morning tea. It was weeks since we had all seen each other and we enjoyed a lovely catch up. Wes went to Blake's (a small independent grocer) early and came home with some wonderful goodies - maple-smoked Canadian salmon; grandmother ham; triple brie; semi-dried tomatoes & grilled capsicum. He also visited Baker's Delight & bought a wonderful garlic, onion & sesame seed sourdough baguette, which went perfectly. We had put a bottle of Cofield Sparkling Shiraz in the fridge the minute we had made the date, and it went down well too. Rob & Dene arrived with bunches of fresh herbs, home-made marmalade & bottled plums, which are much appreciated.
It was fish & chips night at our place, and after we had enjoyed them, we joined many other people around Australia in lighting a candle at 8pm & devoting 15 minutes to thinking about Federal Independent MP, Helen Haines, who is in hospital recovering after being pinned up against her car by an unhappy constituent. She has lost both her legs, and is in a serious, but stable condition.
The next morning, we were shocked when Morse couldn't get out of bed, and didn't want to have breakfast, not even a drink of water. We were able to get him in to see Andrew, our vet, at 9.30am and discovered he had picked up an infection and would recover after being bombarded with antibiotics.
As Wes was picking Morse up from my arms to take him to the vet, his metal watchband dug a long cut into my left arm. We quickly bandaged it and I sat quietly recovering from the shock. Once Morse had returned home and had swallowed his first tablets, we went to the Daylesford Hospital Urgent Care section & were seen by a very compassionate nurse, Jascent, who cleaned up the wound, and after consulting the doctor, put some mini bandage strips to help the skin close back together. She suggested I come back early this week and she will check the wound and replace the bandage.
We had planned to spend a very quiet day watching the Cox Plate and did just that, but without having any bets as we weren't in the right frame of mind.
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