Day 12, Friday February 26,2010

Lou, Julie, and Priscilla getting luncheon tables ready for Governor's party.

Linda harvesting amaranth amidst banana tree and Japonica.

Rosella (parrot) outside Linda's bedroom window.

Surf crashing on one of Sorrento's back beaches (Pearce Beach)

Sandstone rock formations at Capitol Street beach (Sorrento back beach) as tide pours in covering tidal pools faster than we can run.

The Governor of Victoria came today; the Queen's representative. So the morning was spent in getting everything ready for the visit. The chefs planned a meal with stuffed cornish game hens, roasted lamb, green salad and raspberries done three ways. So Linda spent the morning picking raspberries, Nasturtium and Borage flowers for the salad. She asked Skeeter the chef if he needed anything else and he said "yes, another chef."

Linda spent the rest of the morning in regular picking duties including amaranth, and golden wax pole beans. She didn't get invited to the fancy luncheon although three of the garden staff were invited to join the dinner guests. The luncheon took place on the back lawn and lasted 'til almost 3:30PM. Lou and Linda spent the final hours of work on Friday in relaxed mode, seeding out tomatoes and shelling pole beans. They even had a beer-shhhh.

Meanwhile Anne had an interesting morning trying to help Clive but stay out of the way. Jimmie the cleaner from Sri Lanka came as usual about 10:30 AM. Clive had given Anne a list of special cleaning areas to tell Jimmie about in order to make the residence shine for the Governor. Anne sat in the gardens reading her book and staying out of the way of Clive and the reporters who were touring. But just as Jimmie arrived, Clive did also so Anne's only job in preparation was not needed as Clive told Jimmie what to do himself.

Anne made a picnic lunch to eat in the gardens making sure to shine the kitchen before exiting. She spent the next 3 hours, reading and peeping into the back garden(usually reserved for her) to see if the party was over. Clive's wife Penny had promised to take Anne hiking as soon as the Governor's party had left.

Penny finally found Anne reading on the veranda(which could give sneaky looks onto the back lawn) and they decided to skip the hike in the bush, weather being in the 90s, and instead hike the back beaches, swimming in tidal pools and studying starfish seaweeds and shells while avoiding a rushing tide and giant surf. It was quite an exhilarating experience starting with changing into bathers( swimsuits) standing behind the sandstone outcroppings on the beach.

The incoming tide forced Anne and Penny off the back beaches (Bass Strait-ocean side) to go rendez-vous with Clive and Linda who had finished work for the day and were relaxing on the Sorrento Bay Beach when we found them. Penny tried to get us in for a swim but the weather was cooling fast, and clouding up and wading felt just right. We searched the shoreline for new unbroken shells to add to the ones Anne and Penny had gathered on the back beaches for Linda and found enough to fill our hands, while Penny taught us all about the aquatic life in the bay area.

Clive left us at the beach to get supper started on the barbecue. We walked back to their house, enjoyed a warm outside shower, changed out of our bathers and climbed to the 2nd floor veranda to taste good local wine, eat pate on crackers and watch the sun setting over the bay.
Clive hustled us down to their picnic table where we had a wonderful meal of roasted lamb and potatoes. As night was closing in, Penny noticed a blue tongue lizard just feet from our table who had found a cherry tomato on the vine and zapped it off. He was about 15 inches long including tail and a little scary for us ladies from the States.

We ended the evening looking at photos of their trips to Tasmania and touring their home to admire paintings by Australian artists and Aboriginal art. Clive was tired and had to prepare for a radio interview the next day so Penny drove us back to Heronswood, sharing her views on everything from zoning laws to US health care. She is a character and we thoroughly enjoyed our time together. Instead of dropping us off at the gate, she came right in, talking about the 20+ years they had lived at Heronswood, sharing stories of past owners and where to spot the ghosts. Although we tried to hide our yawns she finally realized that we were tired and said goodnight. May we all have her energy and enthusiasm for life when we are over 65.