In 1939 Lloyd and Mary bought an old guest house in Healesville with 10 bedrooms, a large dining table with bench seats, a number of fire places, and a fuel stove that also heated water.  There were electric lights.  You bathed on Sundays and washed your hair. 

Lloyd grew everything possible in his vegetable garden and dug up the tennis court and grew potatoes.  There were lots of mashed potatoes and egg and lettuce salads (Healesville salad) Chooks provided eggs. Mittie remembers that her brothers used to kill the chooks and hang them on the line. To this day she can’t eat chicken.  They made their own butter in a separator and Mary milked the cows.  They sold some of the milk to Bates the milkman. 
Lloyd was a cartage contractor and delivered parcels.  He used to collect them from the railway station and deliver them in a horse and cart. Then he got a job with the metropolitan waterworks and ended up the supervisor of the Maroondah Dam. He worked hard and Mittie remembers taking him cold tea to drink. 

Lloyd Patrick Lalor with his daughter Pauline

Mary and Lloyd at Healesville