Thursday 29th October 2009

We have had a mixed season of weather this week with very heavy rainfall on Sunday and Monday which brought my outside activities to a screaming halt.

Friday 23rd October I had a "Save the trees" day at the golf course where we completed the task of replanting the tibouchinas and crepe myrtles and our feature tree - a golden penda. We rejuvenated all the trees by replanting them with good soil and compost, fertilizer and seasol. In the late afternoon I spent a bit of time in the garden at home dead heading the roses.

Saturday 24th October Peter went to Sydney for the day for a Telstra 50 year re-union with his original intake group.

I spent the day on the side garden and hedges - using the electric hedger. I managed to trim the front hedge and the large camelia which somehow missed it's trim last year - so I had a good bit of work to do. That night we had dinner out at "Alexander's" Restaurant which was a good relaxing evening after a full day in the garden and the food was excellent. I forgot that the restaurant was a BYO and had to settle for water as it was too much trouble to go hunting for a bottle of wine.

Sunday 25th October - Rod, Anne & Joel came for their traditional "pancakes" breakfast before we went to golf at 9.30 am to play in the "Foursomes Championships" which was to be played over 27 holes.

Our playing group were Peter & Margaret Davidson and Garry & Doreen Trigg and we started out playing reasonably well for the first nine holes. We were playing to our handicap after the first nine. By the time we got to the 13th hole the skies closed in and we suffered a deluge of rain, lightning and thunder which took everyone off the course. Play was abandoned and we all went home wet through. Not a great finish to the day.

Monday 26th October the rain was relentless overnight and continued cold and wet all day. F-Troop was cancelled as we could not get out on the course or anywhere else for that matter.
I was reduced to being a lounge lizard and spent the day reading/listening to my books in a demorilized state as I could not get out into my own garden. Very depressing day!

Tuesday 27th October was a huge day having an 8 o'clock shotgun start for a team stableford event prior to lunch and our Ladies Annual General Meeting. My playing partners were Di Beechey, Mary Beard and Rita Gilmour. Rita was running late and joined us at the 2nd hole thus missing out on our blog photo. Our team played really well except for one hole which cost us a win. We did get a ball for our trouble and the girls in my team played really well to the point that my highlight was that they did not need too many of my two pointer holes.

Wednesday 28th October I went to Sydney with a group of the golf girls to see "Wicked" the musical at the Capitol Theatre. We travelled to town by train and arriving in time to have a coffee, closely followed by a long lunch at the "Chat Thai" restaurant across the road from the theatre. We all enjoyed the show and had a lovely day out.

Thursday 29th October (today) it was Shane's birthday so a trip to Erina Shopping Centre for a birthday gift purchase was necessary. We are also going to a halloween night on Saturday night so an appropriate "witch's hat" with matching bag was a neccesary purchase. A new pair of shoes and lunch later we arived home in time for me to dead head the roses in my garden that had been ruined by the wet weather earlier in the week. I took lots of photos of the roses today as they are looking so lovely. The Seafoam rose out the front is looking magnificent (see photo attached) so I hope we do not have any more rain for the next few days so the flowers are not ruined. That was followed by a quick trip to the golf club to pick up today's results so I could update the golfer's blog and then over to see Shane to wish him a "Happy 38th Birthday".

Thursday 22nd October 2009

I have been holding off the update of this week's blog awaiting the news from Tammy. In my last posting I said I will be waiting with baited breath for news of the new arrival and I have to say that I was just about blue in the face holding my breath for a whole week. I was playing golf at Wyong today (Thursday 22nd) when a message came through from Lyn that Tammy had had a successful home birth. We welcome Noah James Oldham, born at 4.14am this morning, weighing in at 3970g (8 lb 13 ozs.) Congratulations to Tammy, Trent and Bailey on the safe arrival of their new baby. Slack Grandmother Lyn has not yet sent me a photo.

Congratulations Richard & Lyn on the arrival of your newest grandson.

We have had some really odd weather these last few weeks ranging from wet & cold to over the top hot.

Friday 16th October I spent in the back garden attacking our ferral bouganvillea and managed to fill another three green bins.

Saturday 17th October was the usual shopping & around the house things.

Sunday 18th October was a busy day. The day began with breakfast at Mark & Anne's with some of the people that will be travelling with us to the Mornington Peninsula next April for our golf week. We managed to catch up with Col & Lauren, Bruce & Gwen and Bob & Vicki and we did a bit of forward planning towards the trip.

We called into see Rod, Anne & Joel on our way to golf so that we could have our weekly catch up & cuddle.

Sunday golf was a special day being President (blue shirts) Vs Captain (Red shirts) Day. Our playing partners were Des & Yvonne Wilson and we had a great day. The Captain's side won by 2 points. It was a good day and we stayed on at the club for dinner.

Monday 19th October we had a busy day at F-Troop cleaning up a lot of rubbish after the wild winds of the last few weeks. I did some work around the putting green & fussed over the roses. We called in to Shane & Sam's to pick up the trailer so that we could collect some garden soil to rejuvinate the new trees that have been planted at the golf course that have been wilting in the wild and unsettled weather.

Tuesday 20th October we had another big day at golf - being the Gosford Bowl and Bronze Salver Day. My playing partners were Annette Dunk and Jan Fitzgerald. We had a good day & brought home the winner with Annette winning the Bronze Salver Nett.

Wednesday 21st October it was a sweltering hot day. I spent the early morning doing floors etc & then went to Margaret & Paul Ingham's to get our Tax work up to date. Paul made me a lovely coffee on their new coffee machine which was a little bonus. Another bonus was that the tax returns resulted in refunds. Margaret & Paul have been getting a lot of work done around their yard & the landscaping looked great. In the afternoon I rested out of the heat & caught up with some reading. I have now got two books going - the newest being an audible version of ''The Lost Symbol' by Dan Brown. I can listen to this book while I am exercising or out in the garden. Finding enough hours is the problem. Later I found some time to water the gardens as the hot weather left everything wilted especially the pansies.

Thursday 22nd October (today) I had to be up at 5.00am for a 7.00am shotgun start at Wyong. My next door neighbour Shirley (also a golf fanatic) & I teamed up with a couple of the Wyong girls for a good day of golf. The course was in beautiful condition and was a pleasure to play on. Joan & Lola were great company & hosts & looked after us all morning. The special day was to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Wyong Lady Golfers. I was on the golf course when Lyn's message came through today so the exciting news had to be put on hold until I got home mid afternoon. This afternoon I have done some weeding in the front yard.

My roses are all growing well as you can see by the photos & I have easily managed to produce three vases of flowers to give away during the week.

Thursday 15th October 2009

The gusty winds and rain storms have made the last few days uncomfortable which has not pleased me because I have not been able to get outside into the gardens. The pansies have all rejuvenated themselves in the cold wintery weather and look too nice to pull them out. (photos attached). I would normally replace them with petunias at this time - so the summer flowers will be a bit late this year.

Tuesday 13th October I played in the Annual "Chip in for Breast Cancer" Golf Day and my playing partners were Yvonne Wilson (Gosford), Toni Kenney (Everglades) and Judy Anderson (Everglades). We had a lot of visiting clubs & everyone had a lovely day even though the gusty winds were a hindrance while we were trying to play. We had some good highlights during the day with a couple of the girls chipping into the hole off the green & I almost got a birdie on one of the 3 pars with the ball stopping at the very edge of the hole. Our team won the "Encouragement" award of the day which does not say much for our team effort however we did win a lovely pink "Tim Tam" coffee mug.

Wednesday 14th October I had set aside for planting and weeding some of the gardens at the golf club. I managed a couple of hours but it got so windy I gave up & came home to get out of the wind. Just as well that I did as I received a phone call from Phil to say that Jason had been released from RPA & they were coming to stay the night on their way back home to Moree. I just had time to put on the "Roast Lamb" before they arrived. Jason has lost a lot of weight during his trauma however looks a lot better that I expected after all he had been through.

We met Peter at the club for a few drinks before returning home for dinner. Peter did not make it through his golf game because of the rainstorm that hit during the afternoon & the danger of falling branches during the wild winds made it dangerous to stay out there.

Joel has not been well earlier in the week with a viral infection however has recovered today & Anne sent me a photo of him 'chilling out' in his new 'sit up' chair. (Photo attached)

Thursday 15th October (today) Phil, Lorraine & Jason have set off home to Moree where Jason will continue with his physiotherapy at Moree Hospital. My hairdresser Salon that I have been going to for many years suddenly dissapeared overnight a few weeks ago (closed due to bad management I understand) so my hair has been overdue for a cut. Di Moseley ( a long time friend) recommended her hairdresser Karen, so I have made an appointment for tomorrow to get a "new look" created by Karen. (some photos to come).

I am still waiting on a call from Lyn about the arrival of her new grandchild due anytime now. Tammy has been keeping well so we are waiting with baited breath for the good news.