Golf - Tuesday 29th January 2008

Today was the last day of the summer competition. It was like playing in a sauna, very hot and humid with no breeze at all.

My playing partners today were Elena Whale, June Bowen and Carol Farrell (Image attached). The rough was so long on the course today we seemed to spend more time looking for the balls than hitting them. Moral of the story - stay on the fairway!

We did have some good scores in today (unfortunately none of them ours) so not everyone had the trouble that we did.

After golf I took a run out to see Mum at Tarragal House. She was resting peacefully & seemed much better than yesterday.

Golf - Sunday 27th January 2008

Today was a good day for golf - hot, but thankfully a nice breeze to keep it comfortable. It was a par 2 - ball mixed plus singles today. Not my favourite event as anything less than par on each hole is a non event.

Our playing partners were Ray & Norma Presdee who are great company regardless of the quality of golf we play & today was no exception. We did not make the benchmark for trophies today but it was great to be out there.

We dressed in the traditional red, white and blue to celebrate the Australia Day weekend ( image attached) & had a nice day. My highlight of the day was scoring two plus scores in a row and narrowly missing the third on the next hole. (Pity about the rest).

Friday 25th January 2008

The latter part of this week has been devoted to gardening. The lovely rain we have been getting regularly in the last few weeks is wonderful for the gardens - but has brought on a profusion of growth in the plants & weeds. Everything needs a good trim so there is heaps of work out there in the gardens for me.

Wednesday, after visiting Tarragal House, I spent the rest of the day cleaning up the native garden on the 6th tee at the golf club. (photo attached)

Thursday & today was cut back the Banksia Rose and the Ivy in the BBQ area at home. I have filled the trailer twice and am still not finished. The rain is tumbling down again as I write this.

Mum has had a really good week. Each time I have visited early morning and she has been in good spirits. Today I took her for a walk through the gardens which she enjoyed. She was facinated with the apples on the fruit trees in the garden (photo attached).

The earphone batteries were flat today because Mum had forgotten to turn them off when she finishes watching TV. I left them on recharge today so they should be up & running for the weekend.

I managed to get a fair bit of gardening done before the rain arrived so I feel as though I have achieved something.

I have done a good lot of work on my photo albums this week & have almost finished one power point presentation which I am pleased with.

Images attached: Flowers in the gardens at Tarragal House; Apples on the fruit trees at Tarragal House; Part of the Native Garden at the Golf Club.

Golf - Tuesday 22nd January 2008

Today was a good relaxing day for golf - the weather not too hot & not a drop of rain. My playing partners were Doreen Vines and Faye Levenspiel and they were great company. Our end results were not wonderful but we had some good shots between us & enjoyed the day.

Image attached: with my playing partners Doreen Vines & Faye Levenspiel.

Monday 21st January 2008

Today it has been overcast & showery - perfect for the garden work I wanted to do at the Golf Club. To fit everything in the day it was an eight o'clock start on the BBQ area at the club. The "F-Troop" (volunteer members group) were on their usual Monday work shift & were kind enough to shovel some new gravel for me which made the job much easier. The BBQ area is still work in progress but looks much better for today's tidy up.

From the BBQ area I moved to the 13th tee garden for an after deluge clean up & now it looks much better too.

Then it was a visit to Tarragal House to visit Mum. She was in good spirits & having her afternoon rest. Once again we went through the earphone exercise & this time she had adjusted the channel select which put the sound off the air. We watched some of the tennis which was quite a good match. Outside Mum's window is a fruit tree. Today there was a couple of parrots eating the fruit & making quite a racket in the process. Mum thought that was great.

Images attached: BBQ area at the club; 13th tee garden; Parrot in the fruit tree outside Mum's window.

Golf - Sunday 20th January 2008

After all the inches of rain we got this week I did not think we would be able to get onto the course to play today. It was amazing to see how well the course had absorbed all the water. There were a few wet patches and some bunkers out of play, but overall the course was in great condition.

Our playing partners today were Wally & Rhonda Robertson who were great company. Our golf scores were not fantastic, but it was not all bad golf shots. We did have some highlights and enjoyed the day.

The highlight of my day was hitting my drive on the par 3 8th onto the green only to see it dissapear into the water filled left bunker. I did not find my ball on the first search, but it was found by another player later searching for their ball in the same place. What a bonus!

Another highlight to my day was seeing the results of some of the member's efforts in their contribution towards my Adopt-a-garden scheme. We had two new gardens started this week and I am impressed.

Images attached: work in progress on the two new gardens on the course; with our playing partners Wally & Rhonda Robertson at the first tee.

Friday, 18th January 2008

Water, water everywhere! It has not stopped raining here all day and we got a fair bit of rain overnight. The gardens are loving it but it was sufficient to close the golf course for the day and probably tomorrow.

I spent yesterday weeding my own gardens which was good timing.

I braved it through the showers to walk out on the course and have a look at how the Gazania garden was coping with all the wet. The dam was full & overflowing, but the garden was intact and looking quite happy. I was concerned that all the new soil may have washed away but all the plants are holding well. This weather is a good test for the garden.

Mum was in a very chirpie mood today when I visited at Tarragal House. She had been to exercise classes this morning & said she coped well. (whatever that means). We went through the wireless earphone exercise again today & I discovered that she was turning the sound down on the earphone control - thinking that she was turning the earphones on. I will keep persevering as she can hear quite well if the sound is set properly. Mum is now settled as a regular resident & seems to have accepted the lifestyle & is comfortable with the nurses and staff who are doing a good job looking after her. It was great to find her having a good day.

Photos attached: Mum wearing her earphones; water on the 10th fairway today.

Wednesday 16th January 2008

Today was such a hot day I was discouraged from doing anything outside.

It was "pest eradication" day today & the pest controllers came & treated all the house & yard for all those unwanted crawling creatures that frequent at this time of the year.

I spent some time with Mum at Tarragal House. I showed her how to tune into the tennis & turn on the wireless earphones. Anything technical is difficult for her that has not got a simple "On/Off" switch. Mum was able to walk from the lunch room with the help of two of her nurses today so that was good for her.

We had a run around the complex and through the garden in the wheelchair to check out the lizards and the fig tree. We found a baby lizard as well today but it scurried away too quickly for me to get a photo. There is a family living in the back garden so it gives Mum an interest to go out there & try to find them. We couldn't stay out for too long as it was so hot. It was good to see Mum feeling much better today.

I left Mum to rest for the afternoon & came home to work on my photo collection that I am putting into albums on my computer. It is such a huge job as I have got literally thousands of photos pre digital time. At this point in time I don't think I will ever get it finished. At least it was nice to be in the cool of the air conditioning.

Images attached: Mum out in the garden today; photos of the lizards at Tarragal House.

Monday 14th January 2008

Today was a full-on 20 hour day - but it was fun.

My day started with a visit to Tarragal House to see Mum & to recharge her earphone batteries. Mum did not have a good day yesterday but said she was feeling much better today.

From Tarragal House it was a gardening session at the Golf Course to finish off the Gazania garden. It was sprinkling with light rain which was quite pleasant after working in the blistering heat last week. The garden is coming along nicely & the Gazanias should spread and have a good show of colour by next summer.

Then it was back home to prepare a baked dinner for the troops. Our guests for dinner tonight were Tracey Barrett (Ridgeway)(a good friend of Greg's) and her two delightful children Tori and Joel. (Tori is Greg's god daughter), Shane and Sam & Rod (Anne came later after work).

We had a lovely evening catching up with Tracey's life. We have not seen them for three and a half years since they moved to the NT where Tracey works on an Island off the coast (about half an hours flight from Gove). They love the lifestyle there and only come home for holidays to see Tracey's mother who lives on the Central Coast. Tracey said they are accustomed to the NT heat now and thought our weather was quite cold today.

Images attached: Mum's new TV and earphones at her Tarragal House room; the new Gazania flower garden; Tracey, Tori, Joel, Rod, Sam, Shane and myself at dinner.

Golf - Sunday 13th January 2008

Today was a delightful game of golf playing the popular 1x2x3 stableford team event and our partners for the day were Garry and Doreen trigg. We had a great day with some good highlights - not the least being Garry's eagle shot on the 18th where he scored 3/4 by hitting a magnificent shot over the trees, onto the green and into the hole.

Butch and Anne played behind us, unfortunately without partners through an administration error at the pro shop. Butch scored 38 points and was happy to have parred the 18th hole and Anne's highlight was to have her drive over the 3rd dam to do two water skips to successfully reach the other side. How good can it get!

Images attached: With my playing partners - Garry and Doreen Trigg; Butch and Anne putting on the 2nd green; Butch and Anne approaching the 18th green.

Friday 11th January 2008

This week was a very busy week starting off with buying Mum a little 19" television set complete with wireless earphones. It is the perfect size for her room, has a flat screen that is easy for her to see and the earphones work very well for her as she can hear the sound easily and she does not have to struggle with cords. Photo to come later as Mum was not all that well that day. The next day Mum was much better & spent some time that day watching the news etc. Mum also managed to walk to/from the main dining room at lunch time with the aid of a nurse and a walker which was encouraging. Mum is having some good and bad days which I suppose can be expected.

The highlight of my week happened yesterday when Shane was able to restore my main computer and get me back on the air. Luckily I had a good firewall that quarrantined the worm before any permanent damage could be done & I have not lost any data which is fantastic. For Christmas Shane & Sam gave me a 120GB portable hard drive where I can now store my data - outside of my main computer, which means my computer will run better & faster. I can also transfer to another computer & access my data from the portable drive. This is a great way to back up data also in case the problem happens again.

This year is my "get fit in 2008" year & I have attached photos of the newest additions to the home gym.

This morning I need not have done my workout as I did a four hour workout at the golf club garden planting out in the Gazania garden along the edge of the dam. The garden is coming along well. All the native plants have established themselves and the gazanias will eventually cover the sides of the garden right down to the dam level when they start to spread.

Photos attached: The 13th tee "Ladies Garden" around the dam area where I am planting out the gazanias; the newest home gym equipment - Weight Bench and a "Leg Magic" machine.

Golf - Sunday 6th January 2008

Today was a really good day for golf - a bit on the hot side but the course played well as the winning score oof 45 indicated. We played with John & Julie Hazzard & they were great company. My highlight of the day was winning a ball.
My other highlight was outdriving the boys on the 14th 3 par scoring a birdie and they only got 3/3 - one hole for the girls. I was on the 13th green for three shots and was thinking I only have to do two sensible putts for a 3 pointer to win the hole for the girls. Peter and Julie were in trouble and John had put his fourth shot in the bunker. The bunker was under repair so John was entitled to a free drop. He hit a magnificent chip out of the rough and into the hole for a three pointer. That left me with two pressure putts - and that was just to square the hole. Just goes to show that you cannot count your chickens before they hatch - especially in golf.
The boys ended up beating us by two holes and cost me a keno ticket.

Friday 4th January 2008

Today was devoted to maintenance of the 13th tee garden at the Gosford Golf Club.
The plants are growing beautifully because of all the rain we have had including the weeds. There was a fair bit of hard work digging out invasive grass and weeds and we also painted the garden bench and table with anti rust paint which brought it back good as new. A bit of new gravel on the path & some more plants around the edge of the dam has got the garden looking really good.

The garden will reach maturity in another 12 months when all the natives should be several metres high and full of colour. The plants are getting well established & should be able to survive with minimal care on maturity.

Thursday 3rd January 2008

Today was another lovely day. I spent this morning cleaning up all the Christmas decorations and packing away the tree for another year.

This afternoon was a very pleasant afternoon playing 18 holes of golf with Rod who has a few days holidays left before going back to work.

Photos attached: Rod & I on the 6th tee; Rod in full swing.

Wednesday 2nd January 2008

Well, we have now said goodbye to 2007 and hello to 2008. It is time to get back to reality. We arrived home from our two day escape to catch up with all the normal day to day matters - washing, ironing, feeding the grand-cat "Gilly".

I visited with Mum at Tarragal House in the afternoon and spent some time walking around the gardens as it was a beautiful sunny day. We spotted a large lizard in the garden and Mum was facinated with the figs growing on one of the trees in the BBQ area. Mum was looking reasonably well, but tired quickly.

Photos attached: Lizard in the garden; Mum looking at the fig tree.

New Years Eve 2007 and New Years Day 2008

This year we saw the new year in at Norahville as guests of George and Tosca staying at their beach house.  It is a most beautiful setting right on the beach and such a relaxing place to spend a couple of days.  We had beautiful weather, boys did some beach fishing, although the rough surf prevented any big hauls of fish.  New Years Eve we spent the day at the beach house (not hard to do). We had a lovely dinner and played a very competetive game of "sequence" to see us through to the midnight firework and a celebration bottle of champagne . There was a fabulous fireworks display on the beach which we could watch at the same time as taking in the TV coverage of the Sydney Harbour.New Years day was much the same and we also visited Norah Head Lighthouse and the beach there.  The surf was very wild & we watched the rock fishermen for a while.The surf remained quite big so the fish were hard to find.It was a great to be able to relax at the beach for a couple of days.

Golf - Sunday 30th December 2007

Today was a lovely day for golf. We enjoyed the company of Butch and Anne playing in a two ball team event at Gosford Golf Club. We did not break any course records today but the girls did beat the boys. It was an exciting finish as we were all square at the finish of the 17th hole. Anne won the 18th hole for the girls so the boys had to shout the keno ticket after the match.