Saturday 27th June 2009

It has finally stopped raining thankheavens. We have had enough rain to do us for quite a while.

The golf course is still very wet underfoot which does not encourage happy golfing so I am hoping for more sunshine so that our big golf week planned for next week can be much friendlier.

This last week has been very busy with the Ladies Golf Championships being finalized on Tuesday and Thursday through all the mud and slosh on the course. I was a non event this year along with a lot of other players - some were having so much trouble that they abondoned their efforts. We have been working a lot on the gardens and grounds of the course to get everything looking good for the Ladies Veterans Comp that is on next week.

Sunday we played golf with Warren Gray & Mary Bromwich who are great company. We stayed for dinner at the club afterwards so it was a good day even if the golf was not great.

Monday was F-Troop work & I finished off planting the last of the Bird of Paradise plants and a couple of gardenias that had been donated to the club.

Tuesday was the second round of the Ladies Championships. My playing partners were Julie Hazzard and Lesley Gregory. Julie played really well and came in winner of the daily event which was great. If I can't win myself then I like to bring home the winner.

Wednesday I had to renew my drivers licence. My RTA experience this time was not too bad considering previous times when I have had to wait in queue for ages. However the photo experience was just as bad as before. I was looking forward to being able to throw away my old 5 year licence that had a disgusting photo of me. Alas I got another photo nearly as bad that I am going to be stuck with for another 5 years. I spent the rest of the day with Anne & Joel. We had a walk over to the shopping centre at East Gosford & had a nice lunch at the "Taste" Restaurant & a wander through the baby shops along the street. I managed to find a few people that I could show Joel off to.

Thursday was the final round of the Championships. The course was still wet & sloppy & we all struggled to find some highlights of the day. My playing partners were Chris Dekker and Dawn Cook. Some of the good golfers came in with respectable scores & those that won the Championships in their divisions deserved their trophies as it was very hard going out on the course.

Friday we needed to replace all the hired indoor plants at the Golf Club with Indoor plants of our own. It was quiet a big job to move them all into pots and place them around the rooms. The board had decided that it was more economical to have our own plants and look after them ourselves. I spent some time after that tidying up the "Ladies" garden on the 13th - which is one of my 'special interest' gardens. Friday night we went to the Raffles night at the Club & had dinner there. Rod & Anne bought Joel over for his first visit to our place. They wanted to watch some Foxtel so they looked after the place while we were out.

Saturday after grocery shopping I was back at the club securing all the potted indoor plants & getting them right before handing them over to our volunteer who is going to maintain them.

I slipped out between golfers & did a bit more gardening on the Ladies Garden before going out to the Narara Valley Nursery to pick up plants that we are "borrowing" to dress up the front of the clubhouse for the Lady Vets events next week.

Saturday Evening was the bi-annual get together of the "Gosford Townies" footie group at the "
Time after Thyme: restaurant at Bateau Bay. We had a good number of attendees given that it is mid winter.

Ian & Julie Gunn were the 'surprise' guests this time, travelling about an hour to get to the restaurant from where they live. Ian & Julie are both tragic golfers and play with the Waratah Club so we had lots to talk about. Others were Garry & Carolyn Morris, Trevor & Margaret Andrews; Dennis & Evelyn O'Toole, Garry & Chris Wilkinson, Bub and Sue Wilkinson, Bruce & Rhonda Fenwick, Peter and Jackie Clarke, Ron & Marj Payer, Wendy & Ross Shepherd and Les place.

We are never lacking with conversation at these events & it was good to catch up with everyone.

The evening passed very quickly & I was talking so much that I forgot to order my coffee before the kitchen closed at the restaurant so we called in to McDonalds on the way home for a coffee fix. Photo attached of me having my coffee with all my friends late at night at McDonalds at West Gosford.