Saturday 26th September 2009

It has only been a few days since I have updated my blog but there has been so much happened in that time that another update was necessary.

Tuesday 22nd September 2009 I played in the 27 hole Foursomes Championships with my partner Rosemary Cohen. Our other playing partners were Rosalie Dyer and Pam Bourne. The weather was not as bad as predicted so we had a good day. After a shaky start in the first nine where I put my partner out on the wrong fairway for a start, we managed to put together a really good back nine and an average 9 to finish up winning a ball on the day.
Tuesday was the AGM meeting where I manned the door to register the members into the meeting. After all the drama leading up to the election the Board remained unchanged except for one retiring director's position which had not been challenged.

Wednesday 23rd September was a day of wild winds and dust storms. For some reason I did not think to take of photo of the early morning dust storm when the sky was a weird bright orange colour. My house got filled with dust in every crevice which I am still trying to get out.

I needed to go to the golf gardens as a member had donated about 80 odd agapanthus plants which had to be planted out immediately. That was a challenge in the dust and wind. I also had to replant and stake some lillies that I had planted earlier in the week as they did not withstand the wild wind. A lovely old tree fern was also destroyed by the wind which was a shame.

Thursday 24th September I played golf at Asquith with 18 of the Gosford Lady golfers in a special Vets Open Day. The weather was perfect and we had carts which made it easier to get around the course which was lovely but very undulating. We did not win any prizes but had a great day.

Friday 25th September was a huge day starting with "my day in court". As a victim I did not participate at all but was able to witness the sentencing set down by the Judge which resulted in a 20 year sentence (after consective serving of time was processed) reduced by 6 years for an early guilty plea & other allowances as the Judge considered appropriate. The end result was 14 years with 10yrs non parole. A good result I thought - so I can now close the door and get on with my life. In the afternoon I did a "Dust" clean throughout the house as best I could but the dust seems to have got in every crevice - so it could be an ongoing chore for a while.

That evening we had dinner at the Golf Club with Anne & Mark Stimpson and their friends & then went to watch their daughter Louise perform in a concert by the Central Coast Post School Options group at the Laycock Theatre. The children are all handicapped in some way & it was a joy to see them all having such a good time performing on stage.

After the concert we joined another group of Gosford golfers at Alexanders Restaurant to celebrate Judy Verlander's 70th birthday, a birthday of Arthur Verlander and Debbie Grinham in addition to celebrating Clyde & Lyn Cruickshanks 40th wedding anniversary. I gave Judy a big bunch of flowers from my garden - those that survived the dust storm.

Whew! big, big day!

Saturday 26th September 2009 (today) was a recovery day which I spent very quietly grocery shopping, picking up some bags of potting mix for Monday's F-Troop work, catching up on the ironing, watching Geelong win the AFL Grand Final and watering the gardens. We had more dust storms and wind again today but it was not as bad as Wednesday. Just as well I did not get around to cleaning up outside as it would have been all back again today.

We found out today that one of our team members of our "Team Series" cannot play tomorrow for the final round because of a serious eye problem. That is a pity as we are coming second place, 3 points behind the leaders. Not to worry we will just have to put in a extra effort & come up with something special tomorrow. It has been a fun series so whatever the outcome we will have a good day.

Today was the first day of the rest of my life - so it is onward Ho!

Monday 21st September 2009

Another huge week has slipped by with never a dull moment. We have had some great weather so the golf and gardening has been right up there in my list of activities.

Wednesday 16th September I had a day in Sydney getting some retail therapy. It has been such a long time since I was in Sydney last so I enjoyed the day poking around my old stomping grounds. I could not believe the change in the Centrepoint shops. They are all being rejuvenated and some of my favourite shops had gone - not to mention my favourite coffee/lunch stop. I managed to do a lot of damage to my credit card at DJ's and Myers. I did eventually find where the shoe shop had moved to however found nothing there under $300 so I moved right along. I was lucky with the trains & got a fast train to and from with the longest time of waiting just 6 minutes so that added to my good day.

Thursday the 17th September was a big day because our golf course gardens were to be inspected by the judges of the City Council Garden Competition. I was over at the course early to tidy up as much as possible & get the gardens ready for inpection. Later that afternoon I took the three judges around the course in buggies so that they could see the gardens & also look at our theme gardens. We ended up selecting the Wedding garden, The Ladies garden and the BBQ garden as our entries in the Best Theme garden & we had the whole of the course gardens entered as the best over 1000 metres garden. We have to wait now until the 1st October to find out if we get a mention in the finalists.

Sam was away at Bathurst attending her Uni course so Shane decided to come over for dinner & do some bonding with us. He ended up staying the night & we bonded until 2.30 am when I couldn't stay awake any longer.

Friday the 18th September Shane had me out of bed at 6.30 am to go walking down the waterfront with him - we had coffee at a nice little coffee shop & then came home for me to cook him pancakes while he made more coffee before he had to leave to play lawnbowls. Anne & Joel came over for lunch to see us as they were on their way to have a weekend in Sydney. Joel has just found his voice & makes all kinds of baby gurgling sounds & has the lovliest of smiles for his Nanna. The rest of the day I went into recovery mode.

Saturday 19th September I spent some time in the garden removing the old rose root & planting in some replacement roses before going over the visit Ken & Marg Gardiner for a catch up. We haven't got to see them for a while so it was good to have a chat & look at some photos of their new house that they are building at Dorrigo. Jim was back from WA for a visit so it was good to catch up with him also. Saturday night we went to a 50th birthday party for one of our golfing friends. The party was a tropical theme to we all wore our Fijiian outfits. It was a really good party & Leeanne had a wonderful night.

Sunday 20th September was Legacy Day at golf which is always a strongly contested day as the prizes are really good. Our playing partners were Yvonne & Des Wilson & we had a great day with Yvonne & I being Runner Ups in the 2 Ball Team event & Peter got 43 points which won him a ball & he lost a stroke. That night we stayed for dinner to celebrate a 60th birthday of another of our golfing friends John Hazzard.

Monday 21st September we had a big F-Troop day with a lot of work to be done around the course. I spent most of the day finishing a new succulent garden at the 3rd tee. Tonight we went to the club to witness the voting count for the position of Club President which had to be completed prior to tomorrow nights AGM. It was a very close contest with only 8 votes the difference between the nominees. Fortunately there was only the one position to be voted on so it was not a late night. The Ladies Foursomes Championships are on tomorrow which we play over 27 holes.

The last few days have flown by with much to do to keep me busy.

After a big day golfing at Kurri last Thursday Friday was allocated to a "quiet" day.

Friday 11th September I decided that it would be better to grocery shop today as I was expecting Kay and Olivia to arrive for a few days holiday with us tomorrow so best to be prepared. After shopping I went to the golf course to pick up the golf results of the last few days so I could update the golfer's blog and watered some of the gardens over there as the weather had been quite hot and the weekend weather was forcast into the 30 degrees. After that we put up an archway in the front garden for the Lorraine Lee Climber as the old one had died of old age.

Saturday 12th September I spent the whole day in the garden removing an old Dorothy Perkins climbing rose that had got too aggressive. I have bought a nice Pierre de Rosand to replace it.

Kay and Olivia arrived later in the afternoon from Maitland to stay with for the weekend. Kay is visiting from Queensland to see her two granchildren Olivia and Alex that live this way.

Saturday night we went to help a long time friend Sue Hodge celebrate her 60th birthday at Kanwal. We enjoyed catching up with old friends there.

Sunday 13th September we played golf with Butch and Anne & had a very enjoyable day. Kay and Olivia joined us for dinner at the Golf Club later as they had spent the day with Alex.

Monday 14th September 2009 Kay & Olivia went back to Maitland and we had a day with F-Troop at the Golf Course setting up a new garden at the 3rd tee and watering the gardens after the weekends hot weather.

Tuesday 15th September (today) I was back at golf & it was a much cooler day for golf. I did not play especially well but did win a nearest the pin. My playing partners today were Anne Forrester and Joyce Bosley and we had a nice day out on the village green.

Attached are some photos of my roses as they have been emerging in the garden this last week.