Daylesford Spring Dispatch - Sunday, 18th September 2016

Dear Friends, when I left you last Sunday, we were about to embark on our usual activities of Sunday Market shopping followed by breakfast with friends. Bilbo’s diary had told him that Margot would be back and he didn’t stop pestering us until we popped him into the car and headed off early.

Conversation was very interesting – Janine had been to Hobart with her son, Paul, and came back with some ideas about enlightenment at Port Arthur that none of us shared. Margot had photos to show from her trip, the highlight of which was watching whales from her unit nearly every morning. Judi told us about a leaking vase which collapsed when she picked it up, which forced her to do a Spring clean of their dining room whether she felt like it or not. Janine had volunteered at the 5000 Club, a group that puts on a free lunch every Friday and has been doing so for 5 years. She was very impressed with the donations for the meal, the table settings & the menu and intends to keep volunteering there when she can.

After breakfast we dropped our little fat dog home and went to the Wombat Hill Botanic Gardens to buy some plants. Sadly, the best of the stock had already gone and there was nothing that appealed to either of us, so we headed off to the Daylesford Museum to see the pop-up Exhibition of Jack Green’s paintings. There were over 40 on display, as well as some early sketches, and paintings by some of his students, one of whom was Margot, who had arrived back here in time to contribute a very fine painting she had done.

It was wet again on Monday, but Wes & Bilbo walked early and noticed that the Lake was not as full as it had been. I went off to gym and then enjoyed a massage with Nick Massaro, which is always a treat for me and Bilbo as Nick never arrives without something in his bag for each of us!

Wes admiring the view from Wombat Hill Botanic Gardens over the Convent Gallery and out to Mt Franklin

After the massage I gave Valerie a ring at Box Hill Hospital and was thrilled to hear her sounding much more like her old self. She had enjoyed a weekend of visitors and some quality time with one of her daughters, Alison, & one of her sons, Andrew.

On Tuesday we woke to another morning of soaking rain – Wes took Bilbo for a short walk around Victoria Park, before preparing for his morning at Daylesford Cinema where he was showing the film, ‘Ab Fab’. I dropped him off there and headed to The Cutting Studio for a fringe trim, before joining the rest of the audience for this very funny film. We enjoyed it, but it wasn’t side-splitting in the way the TV episodes were.

Afterwards we went to the Food Gallery for lunch and while we were there I received an unexpected phone call from Alison to say that Valerie had died very suddenly from a heart attack. I let Dot know straight away and asked Wes to tell Bob Kennedy & Carol Bruce when he got home, as I had an appointment at EKO. Emma & Alanna were very kind and I was so pleased I had gone. That night was early to bed with toasted sandwiches, red wine & a good sleep!

On Wednesday I went to gym in pouring rain (80mls in 24 hours) before meeting Dot for a cuppa and chat at Muffins & More. Bella & Jackie were very upset to hear about Valerie’s death and bought us each a bunch of flowers, which was very thoughtful of them.

It was still raining on Thursday morning & I emptied 100mls out of the rain gauge. We had planned a day in Buninyong and were looking forward to the Botanic Gardens, the Cemetery, and the Info Centre at the Old Library, as well as visiting the Mount Buninyong Winery for lunch. Everyone was posting photos on Facebook showing how hard it was to get in or out of Daylesford, and we decided it was madness to add to the road chaos when we didn’t need to travel.

So we planned the rest of our trip to Adelaide at the end of November for the Day/Night Pink Ball Test against South Africa. We have decided to spend a couple of nights in Mount Gambier on the way over and three nights in Portland on the way back.

When Bilbo has finished his dinner each night, he likes to sit on Wes’s lap, but Wes didn’t appear, so he jumped up on the couch to be with me instead!

It was good to wake to a dry morning and Wes & Bilbo had a careful walk around the Lake, where the path is very wet & slippery. I went shopping at Coles and then walked into town to meet Judi at Muffins & More for a catch up cuppa, which was most enjoyable.

Wes made a very yummy garlicky pumpkin & fennel soup before heading off for an afternoon of meetings with Jenny Beacham. I chatted with Leanne and then had a lovely phone call from Karen Stevenson. We had planned to catch up with her & Malcolm yesterday before going to the footy at Port Melbourne, but with all this rain, we decided not to make the trip. We were also feeling quite flat after Valerie’s sudden death and probably not in the right mood for socialising.

  

Great photo of Lake Daylesford – you can just see the bridge, which is impassable and God knows where the seat has gone!!!

We couldn’t take our eyes off the footy and watched in amazement as the Western Bulldogs team got their act together in the second half & ran all over Hawthorn, putting them out of the contest for the Grand Final.

When we woke yesterday, it was dry & warmish, so Bilbo & I went for a lovely walk around the Wombat Botanic Gardens, where we enjoyed looking at the stunning display of primula in the Conservatory.

Wes spent the morning in the front garden, putting down steps to make it easier for us to get around. We settled down to watch the Collingwood Reserves play the Footscray Reserves in a Preliminary Final. I turned the TV off when Footscray got 20 goals up & congratulated all my Doggies friends – a Preliminary Final in the Seniors next Saturday and a Grand Final in the Reserves next Sunday – what a weekend.

The Swans were too good for Adelaide at the SCG, but ended up with some injuries and will be hoping they can field a strong team to beat Geelong next Friday night.

Bilbo with his back to the stunning primula at the Wombat Hill Botanic Gardens.

It is wet and cold again this morning, so plans for a walk to Tipperary Springs have been put on hold. Bilbo is waiting impatiently at the top of the stairs for me to take him to the Sunday Market and then breakfast.

We have Irish friends, Jim & June Swatman, in Iceland at present & all their photos are making us quite keen to get back there. We have done so little and there is so much to do. I am rereading all my Arnaldur Indridason crime novels – it is so much better once you have been there and can picture exactly what & where he puts his detective, Erlendur.

Daylesford Spring Dispatch - Sunday, 11th September 2016

 

Dear Friends, we certainly enjoyed our Father’s Day and spent the afternoon like these three Peanuts characters. Wes felt like breakfast at the Boathouse, so after the Sunday Market, we headed off and Barbara met us there for her first outing all week. We were looked after beautifully by Suzanne & Claire and enjoyed very yummy meals indeed – Wes & Barbara had a breakfast bagel with fried egg, bacon & salad, and I tucked into the mushrooms dish which is my favourite.

After breakfast Wes & I visited the annual Daylesford Primary School Book Fair, where we picked up 22 books, and brought home a jar of raspberry jam, all for about $60! It was too wet underfoot for gardening, so Wes decided to light the fire and read. I sat at the computer reading some lovely emails from friends apropos my computer issues and then added our new books to the book Inventory. The afternoon flew by as we read the weekend papers, did crosswords and had a drink or two.

I had hoped to go to gym early on Monday before driving to Strathmore to see Leanne, but I realised I was putting pressure on myself, so cut out the gym and was preparing to leave when Leanne rang to say she would prefer I came on Friday, which suited me fine. Bilbo & I went for a long walk around the Gardens & Daylesford Railway Station, while Wes spent the morning in our garden. The weather was good enough for me to finally do some transplanting of shiraz beans, which had been sitting in the greenhouse and needed to move to the planter boxes, with stakes.

Wes and Bilbo walked early in the dark on Tuesday, while I caught up with ironing and other house chores. Then off to gym for me and off to the Daylesford Cinema for Wes to show the delightful Irish film, ‘Sing Street’. I joined about 8 others there, and we all enjoyed it, except for the two sitting next to me who thought they came expecting to see ‘Ab Fab’.

After gym on Wednesday I spent time with Judi at Muffins & More, catching up on our week’s news. My good Mah Jong friend, Valerie, has been in hospital and everyone at the café was pleased to hear she was out and staying with her daughter, Alison, in Melbourne, to recuperate. Wes spent the morning helping Barbara, mostly indoors, and came home to cook us a yummy risotto for lunch. We watched and enjoyed a very old ‘Inspector Morse’, which we had not seen before.

I walked Bilbo around the Gardens again on Thursday, while Wes mowed the lawns before the rains came down. He did a great job and everywhere looks very neat & green. The promised rain didn’t arrive until night-time, when it bucketed down. We watched the Bulldogs beat the Eagles over in WA, which was an amazing victory considering they are still without many of their stars.

When we woke on Friday it was to discover that the news on Valerie wasn’t good. The doctors are Box Hill Hospital think she has cancer and that the tumour on her neck is causing her pain. She is being give some strong medication and they may decide to operate.

Meanwhile our friend, Russ Wilkinson, is in rehab at the Queen Elizabeth Centre in Ballarat, which is good news; and Terry White, our good friend, is recovering well from his operation and hopes to be driving again in a week or so.

I drove down to Melbourne to visit Leanne, while Wes & Bilbo stayed warm & dry at home. It was absolutely pouring with rain and there were streams of water at the bottom of our street making it quite difficult to get out. On the way I encountered a fallen tree that covered three of the four lanes of the Woodend road leading to the freeway, but fortunately traffic was light and cars & trucks were able to get around it. By the time I came back the tree had been completely removed.

We watched the first half of the very exciting Geelong & Hawthorn game & caught up with the second half yesterday morning on the replay as we were too tired to last the distance. I had been checking the scores during the night & was amazed to see that Geelong had fought back & won by 2 points, when Isaac Smith missed a set shot for goal after the siren that would have given the Hawks the win.

Bilbo sleeping through the excitement!

We have received 60mls in rain since Thursday night and Lake Daylesford has broken its banks at one particular spot.

Simon Murrin posed for a photo sitting on that soggy bench when they were in Daylesford last month! Thanks to Roger Brailsford for this photo.

Yesterday afternoon we watched Greater Western Sydney outplay the Swans to record a famous win in their first AFL Final. And last night, we were very sad to see North Melbourne bow out of the finals with barely a whimper – not a fitting end for 4 veterans, who have given so much and are being compulsorily retired.

Although it is cold this morning, there is no rain and as I sit looking out into the garden I can see daffodils, an old apple tree in blossom, camellias looking very happy and mist rising over the Lake & the Wombat State Forest.

Bilbo & I are about to visit the Sunday Market before going to breakfast at the Food Gallery. Margot will be back with us after 5 weeks in Queensland – she won’t be enjoying the cold, but will be thrilled to see Bilbo and hopefully, us as well. Then Wes and I are going to see a weekend pop up exhibition of paintings by Jack Green, a friend who died in 2010. We are also hoping to get to the Wombat Hill Botanic Gardens, where the Friends of the Gardens are having a plant sale. 

Daylesford Spring Dispatch - Sunday, 4th September 2016

Dear Friends, it has been quite a week since I gaily wrote up last Sunday’s Dispatch and restarted the computer to send it off. That was the end of the computer for some reason. Happily, I had put the Dispatch up on my Blog, http://karenmaloney5.blogspot.com.au/, which saved all the work, but everything else was lost.

I went off to the Market while Wes tried to sort it out with our Tech Experts, and when I got home, he had decided he would give breakfast a miss and see if he could get anywhere. When I arrived back, the experts were asking for us to back up everything on an external hard drive, which my computer lacks. So we had to wait until Monday when we could visit Bi-Rite at Mitre 10 and pick one up.

At lunchtime, we headed off to the MCG to see Collingwood play Hawthorn and arrived in time for a drink at the outside bar where we had taken the Murrin family three weeks ago. Amazingly the game was totally engrossing and the Magpies only lost it in the last 30 seconds. The atmosphere was electric, like a Finals game, and we were both so pleased that we were there to experience it.

On Monday, after an early walk, we visited Mitre 10, where Tim sold us a hard drive and back home we went to spend the rest of the day in front of our computers. Sadly, the back- up didn’t work on the hard drive, so all my files and folders were wiped out.

While Wes went off to show the film, Central Intelligence, (but nobody turned up, so he, Malcolm, Angie & Ethan had a wasted morning), I drove happily to Ballarat Mazda as it was time for our little Mazda 2 to be serviced. I arrived in plenty of time only to be told that Mazda had moved to an industrial estate in Wendouree, and the receptionist very kindly printed out a Google Map, as I am not familiar with Wendouree at all.

I finally found them and was feeling flustered and upset, which no-one seemed to appreciate – ‘but we sent you a text message yesterday’ was the response to my queries. I discovered that there was a courtesy bus, so went into the waiting area, where I promptly muted the wretched breakfast programme that was showing, to the applause of the other occupant. I have since realised I could have changed channels to ABC News 24 – maybe next time!

Karen, the bus driver, dropped us off at Myer in Sturt Street and I did a few chores before heading to Errard Street for my appointment with a naturopath recommended by my podiatrist, Victoria Armstrong. We had just started our session when I noticed she was very distracted and discovered that she had expected a refugee Sudanese family at 9am that morning and they had only just arrived. They had travelled from Mildura with a sick child and had gotten lost. Naturally I gave up my appointment for them and wondered what else could go wrong!

The next thing was a phone call from Mazda to say my car was ready an hour earlier than expected and Karen was on her way to pick me up. She was very helpful in giving me directions on how to get back home without retracing my steps and when I went to pay the bill it was free, except for the new windscreen wiper inserts which I request every service.

That afternoon, we finished the download of all the programme updates from when we bought this computer, which was running Windows 8 at the time. This was another long afternoon, but by the time we went to bed, I had managed to get my toolbars back, my sheep photo on the desktop and Reckon, Skype & e-Wallet working.

The next morning, I spent restoring my Documents & Photos from back-ups and discovered that I had only lost about 10 days of work, mostly because I had forgotten to back up on Saturday when everything worked briefly – my own fault. Then I went for an enjoyable cuppa and catch up with Judi at Muffins & More, while Wes went over the road to work in Barbara’s garden. She had caught a bad cold from one of her carers and spent much of the week resting in bed.

That afternoon was spent recreating my Calendar back from the Google one and reinstating recurring events, which don’t sync very well. Finally, I had to get my printer to talk to the computer again, which involved downloading drivers and umpteen updates, but that issue is now resolved as well.

We had decided to go to Bacchus Marsh on Thursday as part of our exploring days, but changed our minds and visited Avoca instead. First we took Bilbo to see the Blowhole, which is looking spectacular after all our rain, and on our way back, detoured to see if Bryce’s Flat was cut off by running water and sure enough it is. There used to be a very high bridge over the creek, but Council in its wisdom replaced it with a very low concrete slab, so every time we have rain it is impassable by car or foot.

Bilbo & Wes at the Blowhole

We dropped Bilbo back home and drove the scenic route to Avoca, spending a little time in Clunes & Talbot on the way there. We arrived too early for lunch, so decided to visit a winery and chose St Ignatius. We are so pleased we did – Sylvia, who looked after us, and her husband, are from Argentina, and they moved to Melbourne in their early twenties. This winery was their dream and they do everything themselves. We particularly liked their Chablis, Cabernet & 2014 Shiraz, so bought a mixed dozen before heading to the Avoca Hotel for lunch.

This hotel was a very pleasant spot with a good wine list and plenty of interesting wines available by the glass. The dining room menu offered Tuki trout, which I couldn’t resist, and kangaroo, which Wes enjoyed.

We drove back home through Creswick and vowed to go back soon to explore Avoca and its interesting old buildings and wineries further.

That night Wes went to a social evening for Daylesford Cinema volunteers, which was held at Horvat’s Supper Club.

On Friday, we slept in for a change, and I went shopping at Coles too late to be able to take Bilbo on the 9am Bushwalk. So I walked him around Lake Daylesford instead and let him have a swim in the flat shallow area. Wes was able to spend the morning in the garden, much to his delight, and we were back at our computers after lunch – him trying to catch up on all the work he was unable to do while Tech Experts were using our computers, and me trying to download my favourite photo manager – Microsoft Office Picture Manager, which has disappeared with Office 365 2016. I eventually did it, took control of my photos and finally could start on this week’s Dispatch!

Yesterday we had a lovely three-hour lunch at The Surly Goat in Hepburn Springs with friends, Jane Barrett & John Webster & Roger & Val Roberts. Amazingly, three of those four are Poms, who are all delighted to be living in Daylesford. We had plenty to chat about as well as enjoying our beautiful meals. Wes, Roger & I had the snapper, which we couldn’t fault – note the clean plates!

L-R John, Jane, Val, Wes, Karen, Roger

Wes discovered when we arrived home that he had lost his good glasses and went back to retrace his steps, while I turned on the TV to watch Collingwood play Williamstown in the reserves footy, as advertised. Instead Channel 7 was showing Geelong & Essendon, which was a good, high-scoring game, but not what I wanted to see! The Pies won well and are into a Preliminary Final in a fortnight.

This morning there is a message on Facebook that Daryl Raine has found some glasses and as his business, Aqua Viva, is next door to The Surly Goat, we are very optimistic that these glasses belong to Wes. Bilbo & I are off to pump water & stock up at the Sunday Market. The usual breakfast has been cancelled as everyone is busy, but Wes had suggested taking Barbara to the Boathouse instead if she is up to it, so that’s what we will be doing for Daddy’s Day. 

Daylesford Winter Dispatch - Sunday, 28th August 2016

Dear Friends, once again we enjoyed a stimulating and interesting breakfast last Sunday. Even though Wes and I were tired after 5 hours sleep the night before, we managed to get going and I visited the Sunday Market with Bilbo in the rain & fog. Janine suggested the Amish were moving into Musk, so we developed quite a conversational thread around that. Later Glenn Mack appeared and we caught up on his story of buying his replacement VW after his previous one was a write-off in strong wind & rain in NSW.

Wes hadn’t expected to watch all of the Carlton vs Melbourne game on TV, but when the Blues came out fighting and led all afternoon, he was very pleased indeed.

Great photo of the Murrins wearing the matching Carlton pyjama bottoms we gave them – a cold night in Balmain forced them to don warm sleepwear!

Monday it was Brigadoon again as I headed off to Melbourne to visit Leanne and help her with her laptop. Of course the fog disappeared after Woodend and it was a lovely day in Strathmore, until the rain bucketed down when it was time for me to come back home.

Wes’s Godson, Danny Wells, was driving here from the Blue Mountains, which worried us enormously as it is such a long drive, especially on your own. He finally arrived around 7.30pm after a huge, tiring trip with the frustration at the end of not being able to find our little piece of Duke Street. Fortunately, he rang Wes and was given very clear directions.

We let Danny sleep in on Tuesday morning and Wes headed off to the Daylesford Cinema at 9am to prepare to show the film, ‘Love & Friendship’, based on a Jane Austen book ‘Lady Susan’. When I left to see the film there was still no sign of Danny, so I left him keys, instructions & our phone numbers. There were quite a few of us at the 10am session and nearly everyone enjoyed this brilliantly-written Irish-English-Danish production. Wes and I were worried as neither of us had heard from Danny, so we came back home as soon as Wes could get away to find him newly emerging from the shower.

We took him to the Glenlyon General Store for lunch, where we enjoyed catching up on his news, as it is three years since he was last here, and at that time he was about to start building his own home in Caboolture, Qld. The house is finished & he seems very happy with it.

After lunch, we drove to Kyneton to see the daffodils and came back via Tylden & Trentham. We had discovered at lunch that Danny didn’t have a Tom Tom, but was relying on his phone & maps to get around, so we stopped at Bi-Rite in Daylesford to see if they had any, but they no longer have them in stock, although they can order them in. We dropped Danny at the top of Howe Street so that he could do a walk around and check out the shops. We came home and had a quiet hour or so reading the Age.

Wes and Danny cooked pasta with smoked salmon, fennel & chillies for dinner and it was very yummy indeed.

On Wednesday Wes asked Danny to help him in our garden and then across the road, while Sandra was cleaning the house. I went off for a fringe trim and walked to the Mill Markets afterwards to meet them. I was early so had a cuppa and saw them arrive with Barbara as well. Danny was looking for a gift for his father, Deane, as well as something for himself, but couldn’t find anything suitable. I think Barbara was the only one who bought an item. I discovered too late that my new mobile didn’t have my Book Inventory on it, so I couldn’t check if any of the books I saw were already in our library. After a rather indifferent early lunch at the café there, we returned home for a rest before Wes took Danny to play some practice shots at Trentham Golf Course.

That night they cooked chicken drumsticks with rice & vegetables, while I enjoyed leftovers from the night before. Wes and I were aghast at the news that North Melbourne had decided to cut their 4 oldest players at the end of this year and that it was announced via a press release. After the joyful celebrations of the end of Dane Swan’s & Matthew Pavlich’s career, this seemed very heartless indeed, especially as Boomer Harvey is rated 22^nd best player in the AFL this year.

On Thursday, we set off in convoy for Melbourne – Danny to meet up with a friend for lunch in South Melbourne and continue to Parkdale for the next stage in his holiday, staying with a friend of his aunt, Marguerite; us to the MCC for the annual Bradman lunch, an event we really enjoy.

There were over 500 at the lunch and we were on Table 4 in the very front row with an interesting table of blokes. Our old friend, Brendan Kierce, was there with a table of mates and it was lovely to see him and exchange a few words. Gerard Whateley did his usual superb job as compere; Greta Bradman was a guest and enjoyed watching another young soprano, Hanna, sing beautifully, and the Guest Speaker was Doug Walters, who didn’t disappoint. You could never describe Doug as a great speaker, but he has some wonderful stories to tell and he told them well.

The view from our table looking towards the back of the Members Dining Room

We arrived back home and were in bed fairly early as we were tired from all our activities.

The next morning Wes took Bilbo for an early morning walk, before heading to Ballan Station to catch the 9.37am to Southern Cross Station. Judi was also going into Melbourne, so Wes drove her there and they were both lucky enough to get seats on that busy train.

Wes had been the main organiser of a St Bernard’s School reunion, which was held at The Yorkshire Stingo Hotel in Collingwood. When he left home he was expecting 13-15 to attend, but there were 20 in all and it was a very successful get-together, as lunch lasted for 7 hours!

Meanwhile I took Bilbo out to pump water at Leitches Creek, and pick lemons from Bill & Sue’s tree. On my return, I sat at my computer desk to see if technical help could solve the issues I was experiencing. I had neglected to turn my computer off and a power surge took care of it and managed to corrupt a few files. Apart from sitting at the computer while experts took remote control of things, I did seven loads of washing, bolted down a quick salad at lunchtime, ironed in front of the computer screen, and finally at 8pm begged to be allowed to have dinner and go to bed!

When I woke yesterday morning, everything had been restored and was working perfectly except for Reckon, which is our accounting software app. Another tech sorted it out, but Reckon decided I was trying to download two programmes from the one licence and wouldn’t let me in. Fingers crossed this last hurdle will be crossed shortly.

Wes had a sleep in and I walked Bilbo around the Lake, which we both enjoyed very much. We met up with Di & Jeff, who were walking their two dogs. Back home I spent the rest of the morning listening to the Coodabeens and catching up on everything that I had hoped to do the day before.

In the afternoon we lit the fire and settled down to watch Carlton play Essendon. As nearly every Essendon supporter we know was going to this game, Wes was hoping madly that the Blues would put on a good show, but the Dons reacted to the huge show of support and blew them away instead, which was very disappointing for the Carlton supporters.

Three generations of Tyrrells at the MCG – Paul, his son, Oscar & daughter, Macy, & Tom

This morning Bilbo and I will go off to the Sunday Market soon and then meet friends for breakfast at the Food Gallery. This afternoon we are off to see Collingwood’s last game for the year, when we play Hawthorn. I am not optimistic as we haven’t beaten the Hawks since the Preliminary Final in 2011, a defeat my Hawthorn friends still haven’t forgiven me for as we lost the Grand Final to Geelong & they are sure they would have won!

Happy Birthday to my aunt, Jeff, in Lincolnshire – hope the weather is kind and you enjoy a very happy day. Safe travels to the Murrins who are winging their way home to London after three action-packed weeks in Oz.

This will be my last Winter Dispatch as Spring finally arrives this Thursday. We are enjoying the profusion of daffodils in our garden, as well as those hyacinths the rosellas leave alone. The mornings & nights are still cool, but afternoons are warming up and we look forward to getting back to the garden and painting – two activities that have been curtailed by this very wet Winter. 

Daylesford Winter Dispatch - Sunday, 21st August 2016

 Dear Friends, we started this week with a wonderful breakfast. David Castles brought his best friend, Mark Richardson, to join us, Judi, Barbara & Janine. As well, both Glenn Mack & Aileen O’Reilly popped in for a coffee and catch up. Mark is a scientist, who travels frequently to the Antarctic and he was fascinating to hear speak. He is originally from WA, spent many years in Melbourne and now lives in Hobart.

After breakfast, we brought Bilbo home, changed clothes and headed off to Torquay for lunch with old friends, Marilyn & Robert Preston. You may remember that on their recent trip to Scotland, they were kind enough to find St Columba’s Island on the Isle of Skye and look for Viva’s scarf that we had tied around a tree two years ago. They found the tree, using our photos, but not the scarf, which wasn’t strong enough to survive two Winters. They also climbed Ben Vrackie, and cursed us every step of the way!

We had a lovely lunch. Marilyn had made soup followed by lasagne & salad and we did enjoy sitting around the table swapping Scottish stories and catching up on other news. We discovered that we knew at least 3 of the blokes that Bobby played golf with on a tour of Ireland, before Marilyn joined him in Scotland.

Meanwhile, the Murrins were in Wollongong catching up with Peter & Anka, before driving to Sydney, where they spent the next few days doing all the things you do in that beautiful city, before heading off to Palm Cove for a relaxing few days and then home to London.

On Monday we set off for Melbourne early – me to visit Leanne & take her to an appointment, and Wes to travel on to Surrey Hills to attend Colin Simpson’s funeral. Col was a friend from Brunswick Rotary days and there were a few of them in attendance – Joe de Simone, Barry Cross, Kevin Dale & Ted Bailey & Wes enjoyed catching up with them.

The next morning, while Wes was showing the latest Ghostbusters film to a small but appreciative audience, I drove to Ballarat to see my podiatrist, Victoria Armstrong. One of the ongoing effects of chronic fatigue has been the emergence of a wart virus, which is flourishing, particularly on my right foot. I had seen Andrew Lowe, who offered to operate to remove them, but with no guarantees that they wouldn’t return. I originally booked an operation for October, but have now cancelled, as I don’t think the pain & discomfort are worth it, and every health professional I have seen assures me the virus will return. Victoria tidied up my feet, found a suitable cream and has referred me to a naturopath in the hope that she may be able to help.

On a lighter note, we saw a wonderful video on Facebook showing a golden retriever being vacuumed and loving every minute of it, so I sent it to Sandra, our cleaner, and her partner, Darren, and they both agreed she should try it on Bilbo.

I’m not sure where this week has gone to – there seems to have been lots of home duties, as well as reading, catching up on TV shows that we missed the previous week, planning for next week’s visitor, Danny Wells, and on a beautiful sunny day, going out for breakfast at the Glenlyon General Store. We have been meaning to go back there for ages and we were so pleased we did. Not only did we enjoy yummy breakfasts – Wes had crumpets with avocado and I had smoked salmon with parsnip cakes, but we also met up with Theo, (partner of Geof, who died last year) and Carol Presser, who used to live & work here, but now lives in Melbourne.

Then disaster struck – I had been experiencing problems with Windows 10, so we decided to upgrade our system to Office 365 2016. This downloaded beautifully on my computer & the laptop, but caused all sorts of issues on Wes’s computer and he was unable to access his programmes & Outlook. We spent most of the day trying to solve the issue. And finally, it was done after lots of patient uninstalling & backing up to make sure that he didn’t lose anything.

We woke to Brigadoon and a very cold morning yesterday. Wes and Bilbo did their walk early, while I did the Age crossword. We are both trying to learn all the tricks of Office 365, so spent much of the day in front of our computers again. It was too wet to go into the garden.

Last night we drove to Matteo’s in Brunswick Street, North Fitzroy, for Ian Robinson’s 70^th birthday dinner. We were very honoured to be part of a group of about 30 friends there and enjoyed a very yummy meal complemented by excellent wines from Ian & Robyn’s cellar. We were seated at a table for 6, which included Michael & his new wife, Adele. We had met Michael some years ago, when he and his then wife, Sue, were thinking of using Fasham Johnson to build them a home in Trentham. The Robinsons suggested they drop in on us, which they did, and after seeing our house, they went ahead with their plans for Trentham. Sadly, Sue died about 2½ years ago, but Michael has found love again with Adele, who he had known through a local dog-walking group.

We drove home through fog and rain from Woodend onwards and when we woke this morning, it is exactly the same weather and we can’t see beyond our back fence! Needless to say, this will be a quiet day after the Market & Breakfast are over!!!

Daylesford Winter Dispatch - Sunday, 14th August, 2016

Dear Friends, have we been busy this week! It started on Sunday, when we drove to Melbourne to meet Leigh, Simon & Charlotte Murrin at my current favourite breakfast/brunch spot – the Square & Compass in East Melbourne. Matt had saved us a table inside, but we opted for sitting out in the sun, which was perfect. We were all pleased to see each other again and chatted happily until it was time to walk to the MCG to see Carlton play St Kilda.

Wes made sure we went past Shane Warne’s statue, as Leigh is such a fan, and she was thrilled as you can see. Sadly, I’ve chopped Shane’s head off in my photo, but you get the general idea.

We found our seats, which were on the roofline on the ground level and went for a quick drink before play started. Wes and I were most disappointed that Carlton had left their wonderful attacking game at home – they put up a poor show against the Saints and Leigh didn’t get too many chances to cheer. Simon & Charlotte were bemused by Aussie Rules, but Charlotte asked lots of good questions and was very taken by the fact that supporters of both sides sat together.

At half time, we went for a quick tour of the MCC, starting on the 4^th Level and making our way back down via the Library, Long Room & Members’ Dining room.

At the end of the game, because it was Sunday, there was kick to kick after the siren, so we walked on the MCG and had great fun dodging footies.

We left the ground via the Great Southern Stand and all five of us piled into the Mazda 2 and set off for St Kilda, with a slight deviation so Simon could see the Grand Prix site. We then drove home, while the Murrins prepared to catch up with Terry, Mary & Jessie over dinner that night.

On Monday, after walks, gym & a massage, we had brunch with Mick & Suzanne Leahy, good friends from Brunswick Rotary days that we have not seen in a long time. We went to the Boathouse Daylesford and waited for them, wondering what had happened – they had gone to the Lake House instead!

We had cancelled our usual activities for Tuesday & Wednesday to be ready for the arrival of the Murrins in Daylesford. However, Wes went to Howe Automotive to pick up a new battery for the Mazda 6, so that we wouldn’t have any embarrassing moments during the next day’s tour. The Murrins visited Viva’s grave in the morning and then spent a lovely time catching up with Leanne at Strathmore before driving here and checking into Lake Daylesford Cottage.

They drove to our place in pouring rain, bearing lovely gifts and being thrilled by the Carlton pyjama pants we had left for them all, as well as Tim Tams & chocolate Teddy Bears. Wes cooked a brilliant fish pie, honey soy chicken drumsticks & steamed beans, which he followed with an Eton mess (made with Charlotte’s help) and some cheeses. He also taught Charlotte how to taste wines and she seemed very appreciative of the lesson.

We met Leigh & Simon at 7.15am outside Lake Daylesford Cottage, introduced them to Barry the fisherman, and walked around the lake for an hour. It was very peaceful and we all enjoyed the time together. At 9am, we went to Boathouse Daylesford to meet the three of them for breakfast, and Doug, the waiter, was busy trying to get the fire going without smoking out the café. He asked Wes for help and they had fun deciding it would be best to let the fire go out, as the customers would probably prefer the doors closed and no internal smoke. Breakfast was very yummy and Simon declared the Istra bacon to be the best he had ever tasted.

Wes then drove us all on the $35 tour – taking in Jubilee Lake; East Street natural spring; Wombat Hill Botanic Gardens; Musk; Trentham; Trentham Falls; Little Hampton; Mt Franklin; Dry Diggings; the Chocolate Mill (where the Murrins had fun drinking hot chocolates & choosing their chockies to take away); Franklinford; Shepherds Flat; Hepburn; the Hepburn Springs Golf Club (only 2 kangaroos & too far away to see clearly), and finally Vincent Street Daylesford and a chance to stretch our legs and inspect the shops.

Wandering along Vincent St, Daylesford

I went home after that for a rest, while Wes took the Murrins to Sailors Falls Estate, where Rob & Marg had opened their winery especially for us. I think it was another good experience and Wes certainly came home with plenty of his favourite Pinot Gris for our cellar.

We had invited Judi & Michael, Barbara & Gillie to come at 5.30pm for Aperitifs and to meet the Murrins, so we lit the fire, put out lots of nibbles, and welcomed our guests, who came bearing some beautiful wines. Michael helped Wes produce a yummy salmon & fennel pasta, while the rest of us chatted and got stuck into the wine, cheese & nibbles. It was a lovely night, and everyone was home again by 8pm.

Fortunately, Wayne, from Barclays in Ballarat, had fixed our dishwasher that morning and we were very grateful to Sandra, who stayed around our house until Wayne was finished rather than leaving him to lock up and put the keys back under the mat. After 8 weeks without a dishwasher, we were more than ready to get back into stacking & forgetting mode!

The next morning Wes and I had planned a sleep-in – instead we were wide awake at 4.30am, so he got up & dressed, cleaned out the fireplace, did some chores, had breakfast and eventually went back to bed with the Age to read. I got up slowly after a pot of tea, went around to Lake Daylesford Cottage to say goodbye again to the Murrins; walked Bilbo around the Lake; filled up with petrol; delivered Glenn’s mail to his home in anticipation of his arrival back today, and came back to watch the Olympic swimming (wouldn’t mind a call of the races instead of a commentary of where an Australian is or isn’t)! We were both hungry by midday and enjoyed some leftovers as Wes usually manages to cater for double the number of guests we have!

Lunch for the Murrins in Lakes Entrance – flathead tails, fish, chips, dim sims & potato cakes!

The next morning, my two boys went for their usual early walk, while I stayed in bed drinking tea until I had solved DA’s not so dastardly Friday cryptic crossword. Wes headed off to Trentham Golf Course for a lovely, but cold 10 holes, fitted in a visit to Trentham cemetery, and ended up at Chaplin’s meeting Noel Harvey, who wanted to run an idea past him. I did some shopping for Leanne, pumped water at Leitches Creek, and did a few more loads in the dishwasher.

That afternoon late, we drove to Melbourne to see Collingwood play the Western Bulldogs at the Docklands Stadium. As an MCC member, I can buy a seat for myself & a guest in the Centre Wing area on Level 2. We had a great view and as we were early, headed to the special club area for a glass or two of Shiraz. Every table had a container of peanuts with a spare container for the shells. We immediately thought of the peanut man, who used to visit all the suburban grounds on a Saturday afternoon with a sack of paper bags full of peanuts – ‘peanuts, shilling a bag, peanuts’. I also thought of my dear father, Perc, who loved peanuts in their shells and would have approved of this offering.

We were lucky enough to see a stunning close game of footy, where the scores were level 11 times and the Doggies held on to win by 3 points on their home ground. We were most impressed by the free water bottles on offer and the free water filling stations situated all around the ground. There was a young bulldog as a mascot and unlike most other teams, their scoreboard showed highlights from both sides during the breaks. If only the Blues had been able to match the Saints and played a close exciting game like this for the Murrins last Sunday.

We were so tired yesterday morning that we slept in and woke to find Brigadoon had descended on Daylesford and we couldn’t see past our decking. It was a tea & toast & watching the Olympics morning, followed by footy in the afternoon. Wes got very frustrated with Carlton again and retreated to the bedroom to watch a video. I had to let him know that the Blues were back in the game, and they only lost by 4 points in the end to a very determined Brisbane Lions outfit. We have been listening to the Olympics on the radio to get a rounder commentary, but it is very frustrating, as the TV is about 30 seconds behind real time.

Last night was the first Gay Pride AFL footy game between St Kilda & Sydney & there was a great atmosphere at the Docklands. It was an even first half, but the Swans ran riot in the second half and left the Saints in their wake.

This morning, it is a cool, damp morning – the boys have been for their early walk and I will take Bilbo to the Sunday Market shortly. After breakfast, we are driving to Torquay to have lunch with Robert & Marilyn Preston, where we will swap stories about our Scotland trips. Meanwhile the Murrins will catch up with Peter & Anka this afternoon, which means they will have seen all Leigh’s cousins on this trip to Oz.