Monday 30th November 2009

These last 10 days have been full on - I have not had time to update my blog.

This week was my first test in 12 months at being "Home Alone" for a whole week while Peter had a week in Melbourne playing the Mornington Peninsula courses with his golf mates. I am happy to say that I coped well and was so busy the week just flew. Most of the time being taken up with my favourite past times of gardening and golf. We have had extreme weather again & a lot of my roses have suffered with the heat & the new seedlings that I have planted have required some extra TLC. Today we have had some lovely soft rain which is great for the gardens and hopefully it will continue overnight and all day tomorrow as I am not playing golf because it is Annual Presentation & Luncheon for the Ladies golf. If I do not have to play golf then it can rain as much as it likes.

Saturday 21st November 2009 I worked on the golf club gardens until about 4.30 in the afternoon cleaning up the gardens at the clubhouse because we had a big week of celebrations in the Wedding Garden area including Closing day for the Ladies golf on Thursday, Hawaiian Night on Friday night and a wedding on Saturday afternoon.

Sunday 22nd November was a disgustingly hot day. Peter left for Melbourne in the morning for a week of golf at Mornington Peninsula Victoria. Rod, Anne & Joel came around for the day so they could get into the air conditioning & watch Foxtel because it was so hot. I could not believe that anyone would play golf in such extreme heat - 40 degrees, but we had 68 players that finished 18 holes. Rod & Anne left about 4 o'clock & I went to the Golf Club to cover Presentation photos & get the results of the day to update the Golfer's blog.

Monday 23rd November Alice Collett came around at 7.00 am to pick some roses to decorate the Magnolia Room at the Golf Club for the District Ladies Luncheon that was being held at the Club. After that I was at F-Troop and worked until 2.30 in the afternoon.

Tuesday 24th November was our Annual Closing Day where we dress up in the Christmas spirit. My playing partners were Yvonne Wilson, Shirley Daly and Carol Farrell and we were dressed as Christmas fairies. We had planned this dress for last year but unfortunately I was indisposed at that time & could not play so we held our outfits for this year. We were very unlucky with the weather and it drizzled on us for four hours. I was not impressed. Needless to say we did not wear the fairy outfits when we played but saved them for a grand entrance for the presentation. We won the "Best Dressed" prize and pity about the golf.

Wednesday 25th November I worked all day in the garden at home - taking out all the annual plants that were past their useby date and planted in new seedlings. It was a good day to do it as it had rained the previous day & the gardens worked in well. That was a full days work as I replaced the pansies, snapdragons and the Red Salvia managing to fill two and half green bins. I did not have time to start on the greenhouse which is still a job I have on hold for need of time.

Thursday 26th November was closing day for the Thursday golfing ladies. My playing partner were Helen Stuart and Elly Van Den Berg & once again we dressed in the spirit of Christmas - but more sedately this time. It was a hot sunny day and the golf was much more fun than Tuesday. We had a reasonable score but not good enough to win any prizes. We had presentation and a BBQ lunch in the Wedding garden which was nice and relaxing after a hot day out on the course.

Friday 27th November I put in another mornings work at the golf club working on the new garden at the 3rd Ladies Tee and also at the garden on the 2nd. It was a hot day so I was happy to finish about 2.30 pm and get out of the heat.

Friday night was an Hawaiian night held in the Wedding garden area. It was a hugely successful evening. The evening was a beautiful balmy night. All the members brought their own chairs & drinks and the club put on a $10 buffet dinner. About 120 members supported the night which was great. The badge draw was up to $2,700 so that was a big attraction. About 80 of the members particpated in a 9 hole ambrose prior to the evening & that was very popular. The feedback from the members has been very good - so these type of eveings may well be repeated.

Saturday 28th November I was back at the wedding garden to clean up for the Wedding that was scheduled for 3 o'clock. Part of the buffet meal last night was prawns - so we had to do a lot of careful raking and cleaning to make sure there were no prawns baking in the hot sun to upset any of the wedding guests - not to mention the bride. It got to 37 degrees so I was happy to leave at 1.00 oclock to get home to the air conditioning.

I was back at the club just before 3 o'clock to put out the satin cushions on the garden bench seats.

Peter arrived home all hot and bothered from Melbourne just after 3 o'clock after suffering a heat shock when he got off the plane at Newcastle.

It was Leonard's 40th birthday (Best mate of Greg's who we consider our claytons son) so we gave him a call to wish him all the best. We were tied up with the Townies re-union dinner and could not attend his party. We have a lunch date for later to catch up.

About 5 oclock I was back again this time to collect the cushions and to decorate the tables for our Townies Christmas reunion dinner that we were having in the Links Room at the Club.

By 6 o'clock we were back at the club for the Re-union Dinner which went over very well. We had 31 people in all which was great. It was good to see everyone and have a catch up since the last re-union which we do bi-annually.

Sunday 29th November was the Annual Naggers Cup golf day. It is a great day and is well supported by all the members. Rod, Anne and Joel came for traditional Sunday morning breakfast & I got to have some cuddle time with Joel. We have long walks around my garden which he loves. Golf was a shot gun start at 12.30 pm.

Our playing partners were Col & Lauren Matterson & we had a lovely day - even though it was very hot & we were glad to get into the airconditioning afterwards. We stayed for dinner as the club put on some entertainment. I was so tired after such a big week I was happy to get home at a reasonable time so I could get the golfers blog done and get some sleep.

Monday 30th November (today) we were at the club at 7.00am for an F-Troop day. The weather was much cooler & we put in a full mornings work & got a lot of good work done. It started to rain after lunch which gave me a good excuse to go home. We did a bit of shopping in the afternoon & then came home for a rest.

The rain is fantastic for the garden as I have not been able to keep the water up through all the heat - so hopefully everything will recover and I am wishing for rain all day tomorrow as I am not playing golf.

It has been a busy, busy week ,but a good one as nothing went wrong this time while I was home alone. That is a bonus as most times the hot water system blows up or the car breaks down or some other disaster.

Friday 20th November 2009

Whew! This was one busy week with some very hot weather to work through especially when most of my time was either in the garden or on the Golf Course.

Saturday 14th November I set my sights on cleaning up the BBQ area at home which has been used as a dedicated storage area for the Golf Club plants that I am giving some TLC prior to planting them out or they are just waiting for me to find the right place for them on the course. We moved the worm farm from it's old position under the now defunct bouganvillea & it lives in a quiet corner of the BBQ area. My next challenge before I start on planning a replacement for the bouganvillea is to tidy up around the garden ponds and the greenhouse which has become somewhat of a jungle over the last 12 months. In general the back yard is showing signs of good improvement which I find very encouraging.

Sunday 15th November Rod, Anne & Joel arrived on our doorstep at 7.00am for breakfast. Fortunately I had been up at 5.30am and out in the garden to get some watering & tidying up done before it got too hot. We were not playing golf until 12.30 pm so we had a good chance to have a play with Joel before leaving for golf.

Our playing partners at golf were Bruce & Leanne Binns & we had a very enjoyable afternoon with them. The boys were leading by one by the last hole so Leanne and I bet them a "double or nothing" on the last hole. I just missed out on my 3 pointer for the hole so we ended up squaring the hole. I claimed a "disadvanteged" point credit because the sole had fallen off my golf shoe early in the match so we agreed to share the Keno ticket. We got our money back at the end of the night so everyone was happy.

Monday 16th November was F-Troop day. It was a hot day but we achieved quiet a bit of work around the course including replanting the new "limelights" and the "Daintree Pine" which should be much happier with better soil & a good watering. I spent a lot of of time watering other gardens as the weather and predicted weather was hot, hot, hot.

Tuesday 17th November I played golf with Elizabeth McNamara and Elly Van Den Berg. Elizabeth played well & came in 3rd place & we had some good highlights with Elly getting two 4 pointers. It was a very hot day & we were happy to get back into the clubhouse to enjoy the air conditioning.

Wednesday 18th November I went shopping with Anne & Joel specifically to get his new car seat. He is still very small for his age - 6 months( just over 6 kilos) so the car seat had to be suitable. Anne's mother came home from hospital today after her knee operation so we have lent Mum's invalid aids to her to help her through the first difficult months of recovery. Anne sent me a photo of Joel having his first taste of carrot. He has taken well to solids & will try anything he is offered.(photo attached.) In the afternoon I finished planting out the rest of the petunias & replaced the pansies & placed compost in one of the back gardens.

Thursday 19th November I was up very early & over to the Golf course to do some clean up work & watering before it got too hot. I was home at lunch time & out of the worst of the heat for the afternoon. That night we attended a Public Meeting at the Leagues Club to do with the future development of Gosford which has some major developments about to happen especially at the waterfront. We live within the CBD of Gosford & our concern was the potential moving of the public primary school to our area which would impact on the Golf Course as well as our residence. It was an information night only with major decisions yet to be made which could be years away.

Friday 20th November (today) I was up very early to water & dead head roses in the garden as the day threatened to be a stinker.

It was a stinker reaching at one stage 38.5 degrees which burnt off many of my beautiful roses.

We got the mandatory shopping done early & did a bit of shopping for our "Townies" Christmas party which is coming up on Saturday week. Bunnings was also a mandatory stop off to get some more punnets of Snappies & petunias that I will plant into the garden next week when it cools down again.

A quick stop off at the Golf Club to check that the indoor plants had not expired in the heat & to check that there were not going to be any garden weddings this weekend.

I spent the afternoon watching a movie in air conditioned comfort which was very relaxing after the heat of the day this morning.

We have had some severe thunderstorms & rain this afternoon & I am hoping for more rain tonight before tomorrow's predicted 35 degrees. Thank heavens for the rain which has been sufficient to give relief to both the golf course gardens & my garden at home so I will not have to be up at dawn to water.