Thursday 27th August 2009

The time seems to flown by this last week or so. The weather has been much better overall with the promise of spring on the way I have been looking for outside things to do so golf and gardening have dominated my time.

Wednesday 19th August I spent the day stripping back the overgrown bouganviliea in the backyard. I filled four green bins and I could hardly see where I had been. I have much more work to do in this area. I managed to destroy my tree lopping tool & that was my excuse for stopping.

Thursday 20th July I had a nice day at golf with Julie Hazzard and Yvonne Cumming. It was the dreaded stroke match but I managed to play to my handicap which was a bonus on a stroke day.

Friday 21st August I did some more cleaning up around the bouganvillea area & then went out to lunch and shopping at Erina Fair. While there we went to see a movie "My Sister's Keeper". I have read the book so I already knew the sad story but had my handkerchief handy anyway. On the way home we called in to see Anne & Joel. Friday night was Raffle Night at the Golf Club and Peter was on duty so we spent a few hours there and came home with two meat trays.

Saturday 22nd August was a quiet day with the usual grocery shopping. Saturday night we had a team bonding night (golfers) at Bruce & Leanne Binns place where we watched Australia get beaten by the "All Blacks".

Sunday 23rd August we helped Chris Wilkinson celebrate her 60th birthday at a "Surprise" party at her daughters place at Woy Woy. It was a beautiful day & we caught up with some old friends.

Monday 24th was F-Troop day at the golf club. I was able to get a team of F-Troopers to help me in the gardens transplanting trees, weeding and watering etc. It was a hot day and we managed to get through quite a load of work.

Tuesday 25th August I played golf - this time the stroke monthly medal where I got the runner up prize for my division & again played to my handicap. My playing partners were Rosalie Dyer and Val Anderson. The day started off with very wild winds overnight & I awoke to find that part of our privacy wall had been blown down and one of my big pots smashed. I also awoke with an irritated eye - probably a bit of grit from the previous days gardening. I was in two minds whether to play or not as the weather was still wild wind and my eye was getting worse.

Once I arrived at the club I decided to go ahead & played one of my better games - only having one three putt all day. I have decided that an eye patch would be appropriate for the rest of the year if I can putt well with one good eye.

Wednesday 26th August I spent all day working in the golf garden finishing off one area in need of repair & trimming. Late afternoon I had a wander through my garden at home to check the new rose growth. Everything is shooting well and I had a few roses out - so I could literally 'stop to smell the roses' and take a few photos.

Thursday 27th August (today) I was off to golf again and it was just a perfect day to be outside in the sunshine. My playing partners were Wendy Stapleton and Dawn Tromp & I was delighted to have played with the winners. Wendy scored 39 points and won Division 1 and Dawn scored 46 points and won Division 2 (must have been the company they were with). What a pity we were not playing a "team" match - we would have won hands down. It was a lovely day and we had many highlights.

Tuesday 18th August 2009

This has been yet another busy week - never a dull moment.

Tuesday 11th August was miserable wet weather for golf. My playing partners were Rosalie Dyer, Yvonne Wilson and Julie Hazzard - we played anyway because it was a special event being "Grandmother's day" and of course I just had to play as I qualified for the first time. As I am not a wet weather player the result was not good but the company was great so it was a case of lovely day and pity about the golf.

Wednesday 12th I had a catch up day at home as the weekend was going to be busy with the Pro Am scheduled for Sunday as well as it being my birthday. Saturday there is a skins match scheduled and our visiting Professonal Golfer Jason Shine, from Western Australia s due to arrive and is staying with us until the following Wednesday.

Thursday 13th was a much better day for golf, blue sky and sunshine. My playing partners were Yvonne Cumming and Sharon Anderson and it was one of those wonderful par matches.

I played really well for the first half - turning with plus 4 - then my wheels fell off - so it was half of a good day.

Friday 14th I was off to the hairdressers for a refresher hairstyle. In the afternoon I spent some time watering the golf gardens as hot weather was predicted for the weekend.

Saturday 15th Jason arrived as scheduled. Jason stayed with us last year when the Pro Am was on so he is just like a member of the family. We watched the skins game in the afternoon & attended a BBQ dinner that night as guests of one of the sponsors of the Pro Am.

Sunday 16th was my birthday and I had a very quiet relaxed day. Rod, Anne & Joel came over for breakfast & Rod cooked pancakes while I had a good cuddle of Joel. Peter and Jason both went to play golf so I had the rest of the day to myself soaking up the sun and getting a good dose of vitamin D, doing the Sunday Sudoko and listening to my latest audio book. I got my "Brag book" (Joel's photos) up to date until my photo printer went on strike. In all a very quite relaxing day. That night we were all at the Golf Club for the Presentation Night for the Pro Am and stayed on for dinner with all the family and Ken & Marg Gardiner so it was a night of celebration and a very large birthday cake which I shared with all the golf club members.

Shane & Sam are leaving for their holiday in Bali tomorrow so it was our last chance to see them before they left.

Monday 17th was F-Troop day and we worked hard to get the wedding garden finally finished which was a good project out of the way. Another beautiful day to be outside.

Tuesday 18th (today) was another golf day in perfect weather. My playing partners today were Yvonne Cumming and Val Anderson. I played much better this time - probably something to do with the good weather. Seems as though I am definately a fair weather player. I had a text from Shane & Sam to say they had arrived safely in Bali & were relaxing by the pool (Sounds wonderful!)

Monday 10th August 2009

Another busy week has slipped by. Having perfect weather every day has been a good opportunity to get busy in the gardens at the club. There is going to be a Pro Am held at the club this coming Sunday so we have all been busy getting the course as tidy as possible.

Tuesday 4th August the garden bench seats were ready to be collected so we placed them in the garden at the same time as doing a search through the garden supply stores for the ideal bird bath to complete the garden. Luckily I spotted just the right one at the Big Flower at Ourimbah when we had to collect the bench seats.

Wednesday 5th I spent all day cleaning out the gardens at the front entrance of the clubhouse that needed a good trim and weed. It was a big job that I had to spread out over the rest of the week to complete.

Thursday 6th was the second round of the Singles Knock Out competition and I had to play Val Anderson & give her eleven shots. It was a good battle that Val won on the 16th as I had to win the last three holes and give her an extra shot on each of them. My highlight of the day was getting a birdie on the 5th with a long putt to the hole. After golf it was a quick trip to Ourimbah to pick up the bird bath for the garden & put it in place. Thursday evening I attended a clothing party at Point Frederick with some of the golf girls. We had a nice sociable night & I managed to resist temptations and instead encouraged others to buy.

Friday morning was another session in the garden at the front entrance to the club and in the afternoon we attended Palmdale for the funeral of Bill Johnson - father of Lyn McMahon & caught up with all of her family at Long Jetty at the wake.

Saturday 8th August after some exciting grocery shopping I spent the rest of the day at the golf club securing the bird bath & finishing the last of the garden.

Sunday 9th August was a lovely day at golf. Our playing partners were Peter & Margaret Davidson & we had a good day - especially when the girls won the keno ticket. There was some excitement on the course when a fire erupted at the 17th where there was a stock of dead wood & rubbish. Fire brigades emerged onto the course with a great flurry & some of our players were prevented from finishing their matches. This morning Rod & Anne came over for breakfast so we could have a cuddle of Joel before going to golf. Rod cooked us pancakes which was a lovely treat.

Today, Monday 10th was an early F-Troop start. We arrived to find that vandals had struck overnight and had destroyed to visual accessories on our Ladies Garden at the 13th as well as destroying advertising signs that had been put up for the Pro Am. Pathetic creatures. Probably the same that started the fire at the 17th the day before.

We got a lot of tidying up done around the course, finished the mulching and weeding at the new garden & started to set up a gravel pathway to finish off the new area.

This afternoon had our Annual Meeting with our investment advisor to plan investment stratergies for the next 12 months. Let's hope it will be better than last year's results.

I have attached a couple of recent photos of Joel who is nearly three months old.

Friday

Monday 3rd August 2009

It was a BIG, BIG weekend at Moree with the family gathering to help Lorraine celebrate her 60th birthday. A good time was had by all especially Lorraine who partied into the wee small hours of the morning with the help of family members and friends.

Graham and Anne arrived on Friday as did we. We were all booked into the Dragon & Phoenix Motel which had a thermal spa and a restaurant attached where the party was being held on the Saturday Evening. We had dinner at Phil & Lorraine's on Friday night after meeting Phil at his office (the Golf Club) for a few drinks beforehand.

On Saturday morning we had breakfast in downtown Moree at a little coffee shop before having a nostalgic wander through the main street. In the afternoon the boys and Anne played golf while I rested up at the motel and met up with Kay and Greg and Lyn & Richard when they arrived . Butch top scored with 39 points and Anne parred the 4th to score 4/4 and got nearest the pin on the over-the-water 3 par hole which were great achievements.

The party on Saturday night was a merry one with about 60 or so guests enjoying a smorgasboard of food and depleted the red wine supplies somewhat. We had plenty of impromtu dancers and singers to keep us entertained with Phil and Butch leading the Marty Robbins impersonations. I turned into a pumkin shortly after midnight but I understand that there were others partying on until the early morning hours.

Sunday Morning (late) we all met at Phil and Lorraines for a Bacon & Egg rolls breakfast prior to having another game of golf. I played with Janice Cross (Lorraines sister) & we had a lovely day - beating the boys (Graham and Peter) easily for a keno ticket which was the highlight of our day. We also beat the other group of Phil, Tommy, Richard and Hoges in the team event which was another keno ticket win. After golf we stayed on for a few drinks and dinner at the club.

Graham & Anne stayed with friends on Sunday night and Kay & Greg headed home to Ipswich after visiting the Moree markets with Lyn & Richard.

Monday morning we had breakfast with Lyn & Richard at another coffee shop in the main street before checking into Phil & Lorraine's to say our farewells. We needed to be home by late afternoon & were lucky enough to have a smooth ride all the way through with no traffic hassles. The countryside was lovely and green for most of the way and a very pleasant change after having had a few trips through in bad drought years. I did not have too much chance to catch up with a lot of people but did manage a quick hello to a few that I missed on my previous visit.

It was great to be able to have a family get together at Moree under happy circumstances.

As we are so far scattered we do not have too many opportunities for family gatherings.

Now it is back to reality for the rest of the week.