We didn’t have any big trips planned for this week, so we enjoyed a leisurely week around Rylstone.
Lou and I walked to the cafe most mornings this week, always an enjoyable walk in the early morning. The temperatures around 7:00am are what Lou describes as “fresh.” We’ve had clear skies every morning with a bit of a breeze some mornings. Lou’s flags showed beautifully – the Malta and Australia flags.
It’s a lovely walk along the golf course. We also look to see how many campers pulled into the caravan park along the way.
Lou’s the town greeter sitting outside the cafe in the morning. Most people are very responsive. He can tell who’s a tourist and he makes a point of finding out where they are from and chatting a little about where they are staying. Most everyone, whether local or tourist, stop at least to say hello and pat Banjo. Banjo always keeps an eye on Lou when he goes in to place our order. The cafe is also a community gallery and there is always various artwork on display.
Here are more photos around Rylstone.
Monday we went swimming at the Kandos pool. It amazes me that this little town has an Olympic size swimming pool, and again when we were there it was virtually empty.
Tuesday we didn’t do much of anything, but I did get Christine down to the carport where Lou has a ping pong table. We rarely play ping pong, except on our Olivia trips (the cruise ship always has a table where the ball might end up in the ocean). We’re really bad at ping pong and suffered through a game. We didn’t do much else Tuesday because of the heat. The temperatures soared back into the upper 90s. Nice afternoon for a nap under the ceiling fan in our room. Lou’s singing group started up again in Kandos and so I cooked dinner while he was at practice, a nice (hopefully) frittata with sausage and potatoes.
Wednesday, of course, was Mudgee day. A funny thing happened on the drive. I mentioned that I sent Eve a birthday greeting on Messenger and Margaret said she did, too. Lou then pulled out his phone and typed a Messenger greeting to Eve. Somehow, he must have hit a button for a call. A moment later, Lou’s phone rang and it was Eve asking did he call her. So we had a short chat with Eve wishing her a happy birthday from Australia, even though it was still the day before her birthday in America.
In Mudgee, I had seen this statue when sitting across the street having a coffee with Lou. The statue is of Louisa Lawson and I loved reading her plaque – “there is no power in the world like that of women…” A young boy saw us looking at the statue and he came up to us telling us about Louisa Lawson and showing us all the books she had written that were sculpted around the back of the statue. It was very cute that he was so informative and proud of Lawson’s accomplishments.
Thursday at noon, Christine and I phoned Eve to wish her a happy birthday. Noon in Rylstone on Thursday was 8pm Wednesday evening in Vermont, so Eve’s actual birthday. We couldn’t keep the Messenger video call going, and didn’t have much luck with an audio call on Messenger. We were able to see her briefly, which was nice, but we finally just dialed her using the cell service on my cellphone, and that worked beautifully. It was nice catching up a bit with Eve, although, things are really a bit scary and up in the air for her as a teacher. She teaches all the things that the Trump administration is trying to eliminate, like, DEI, , the 1619 Project, racial and ethnic injustice, etc. So far, her school’s administration has not made any changes, but I’m sure it is really frightening at this moment in time to be an advocate teaching all that the Trump administration is trying to blow up.
Thursday evening we were invited to Margaret’s for a birthday party. A friend of Daniel’s, Jess, who has been living in the little cottage on Margaret’s property, had a birthday today. Daniel ordered Chinese takeaway for everyone and Margaret set out a nice table in the carport where we could catch an occasional breeze and be comfortable. Jess’s daughter Freya, aged 2, was entertaining, as was Jess’s grandmother Helen, who had a lot to talk about while we were there. It was a pleasant evening.
Friday Lou had to get some blood work done. There is a health service with lab at a small little hospital here in Rylstone. The hospital is similar to a critical access hospital in America. It has an emergency room, a few beds for stabilizing patients, an ambulance service, and a helipad. Most patients are stabilized and then transported by road or air to an appropriate full-service health facility.
After the blood work, Lou and I went to the church, St. Malachy’s, to await a truck that would bring the Joy to the World Christmas display shed back to Lou’s. Lou’s friends Arthur and Gary were there to help. I thought this might be a difficult venture, but the truck was a tip truck and it very easily scooped up the shed and pulled it onto the bed of the truck.
At Lou’s the truck easily backed up to Lou’s big shed and the Christmas shed was lowered to the ground and the guys pulled it into Lou’s shed.
Afterward, Christine, Lou, Arthur and I went to Yum Cha & Tea House for lunch. We weren’t expecting to go out to lunch, but we had a lovely dim sim lunch of 6 varieties of dumplings while sitting in a lovely space. Arthur put some kind of sauce into a little bowl with soy sauce and said he loved whatever kind of sauce it was. We all did the same. When the first set of dumplings arrived, we all put them in our little bowls with the sauce. Arthur ate his right down. Lou and I coughed after the first bite because the sauce was quite full of chilies and was quite powerful. Christine didn’t have quite as much trouble as Lou and I. The dumplings were delicious, however, and after adjusting to the sauce and not getting so much on the dumplings, we enjoyed the food and the lovely Jasmin tea. And, we didn’t have to worry about conversation because Arthur had a lot to talk about.
We all kind of lazed around the rest of the afternoon. I’m getting addicted to an afternoon nap, which surprises me because I haven’t been much of a nap taker. Today was the third nap this week.
After dinner, Lou, Christine and I sat out in the back yard trying to cool off. It was a pleasant evening outside and we watched the stars begin to appear. It was a half-moon, very bright, which prevented us from seeing a host of stars, but Christine identified Orion and Lou pointed out the Southern Cross. I Googled to see if some of the other constellations that we see at home are visible, and no, constellations like the Dippers and Cassiopeia are not visible in the Southern Hemisphere. We were amazed by how many airplanes we saw. It was a lovely evening just sitting out in the cool evening just chatting.
Saturday morning Lou and I went to pick up some tin sheets. The lady who rides with us to Mudgee on Wednesdays, Regina, said her husband had a bunch of sheets behind his shed that he was going to take to the dump. She called her husband Garry and arranged for those tin sheets to be given to Lou. We arrived at their house and Garry and Lou loaded the sheets into Lou’s trailer. I talked with Regina while the loading was going on. I really listened while the loading was going on. It would be interesting to get Regina and Arthur together. I’m not sure what would happen and who would talk more. Garry and Regina’s property is neat as a pin and over the past 5 years, they have created a lovely garden and numerous sheds. Garry has quite a man cave with a Harley Davidson theme and a giant Harley bike in the corner which he still rides. He’s a big, tattooed guy with an earring and I never would have pictured him as Regina’s husband, but it’s clear they are a loving couple.
On the way back home, Lou stopped at the church to mow the spot where the Joy to the World shed had been sitting. After mowing, we loaded the mower back into the trailer and went home. When we got to Lou’s and unhitched the trailer from the car, we noticed that the trailer tailgate was missing. That’s a big problem because that’s where the license plate is attached, and without that, Lou can’t use his trailer. So, we got back in the car and retraced our steps looking for the tailgate that had apparently fallen off the trailer somewhere. We drove back and forth from Kandos a couple of times looking along the road for the tailgate, but no go.
We came home to pick up Christine because we were going to the Rylstone market, kind of like a monthly farmer’s market and craft fair. Before we went there, we drove to Kandos again looking for the lost tailgate, but didn’t see it. Then on to the market.
Clare has a nice display of her cookies, cupcakes and bakes with a fantastic book showing all the beautiful cakes she has produced for weddings, birthdays, and other special occasions. She is so very talented with her baking, her artwork, her costuming.
Here’s a photo of beautifully decorated cupcakes.
After telling Margaret and Clare about the missing tailgate, Clare posted on her Facebook page a message about the tailgate, hoping that someone found it. Christine and I wandered around the market for a bit chatting with vendors and looking at the lovely items for sale that were mostly handmade.
When we got back home Lou got a message from Clare saying that the tailgate had been retrieved by a guy and taken to the service station across the street from the church. Lou was absolutely thrilled! Off he went to pick it up. He spoke with the man who found it, who marveled that we didn’t hear it falling off the trailer as we left the church after mowing. He didn’t recognize Lou’s car, but he picked it up and carried across the street to the service station. Thank goodness there are still Good Samaritans.
We were thinking of kayaking at Dunn’s Swamp, but with thunderstorms forecast for the afternoon, we opted for a visit to the pool. Again, we arrived and had the whole pool to ourselves. A few people arrived, but still it’s amazing that a huge pool is not utilized very much, or else we’re just lucky with the times that we show up.
By the time we left the pool, the storm clouds were moving in. I’m glad we decided to skip Dunn’s Swamp, although it’s a wonderful kayaking area. Maybe we can do that tomorrow.
When we got home, Lou had a little episode of feeling shaky. He had a low-grade fever. We think between the sun, and then sitting in a wet suit, he got a chill. He also hurt his good knee when he sat down on the side of the pool. Because of his shaking, I covered him up in a blanket in his recliner. He napped for a bit, but didn’t feel any better. After taking his temperature, we learned he had a fairly high fever, 101.4. We got him into bed and I consulted with Margaret. We did a COVID test (negative) and called his doctor, but didn’t get a call back. We made Lou comfortable and he went to sleep. It was kind of scary that he got sick so suddenly.
Sunday morning, Lou got up, showered, dressed, and had breakfast. His fever is gone and he feels reasonably well. Thank goodness the episode of sickness passed quickly. We’ll carry on today, as we enter our final days in Rylstone.