Monday 31st May 2010

We have had an amazing amount of rainfall in this last week which meant I was not able to get outside as much as I normally would. I must say I am feeling much better this week having shaken off the virus of the last couple of weeks.

Tuesday 25th May 2010 I opted not to play golf as we had threatening weather and a lot of rain overnight. I did not want to invite the virus back again. Instead we went shopping for some new fish for our fish tank to keep Joel amused when he visits as he is fascinated by the fish.

The day off golf also gave me the opportunity to shop around for some pots that I want to buy for the golf club terrace. It was a showery day - so an afternoon at home seemed appropriate.

Wednesday 26th May 2010 was another rainy, cold day. I did not cherish the thought of a full day locked up at home. Anne & Joel both were down with colds so I missed out on my babysit once again (3 times in a row) & I also missed out on Tuesday golf twice in a row. To combat my depression I decided that some retail therapy was required. I caught the train to Sydney to spend the day in the city wandering the shops and having a pamper at DJ's cosmetic makeover counter. The rain continued for the whole day - but in the retail shops it was quite dry and I can travel to/from Sydney by train without getting wet so it was a good way to fill in the day.

Thursday 27th May 2010 the weather cleared to quite a nice day. I played golf in the 4 Ball KO at Gosford with my partner Faye Levenspiel against a couple of very experienced match players. Faye & I were beaten on the 19th hole but were pleased with how we played overall. We were leading 4 up at the halfway point before Lorraine & Annette caught up with some good par holes & we were all square at the 18th where we lost in a sudden death playoff at the 19th. It was a good match which we all enjoyed. It was a good experience for Faye and I as neither of us are experienced match players which does make a difference on the day.

Friday 28th May 2010 was a nice day so I got up early & tidied up the front gardens filling a green bin by 2 o'clock. The weeds had responded to all the rain we have had & were springing up in their thousands. The roses are at their end & the camellias are coming into flower. The front gardens look much better for my efforts but there is more to be done - as usual. Friday evening we had dinner at the Golf Club where I met up with Des & Yvonne Wilson, Leanne & Bruce Binns and Duncan & Rosalie Dyer. They included me in their group & took me to the Laycock theatre at Wyoming to see Graham Toole (from Saratoga) doing his impressions of John Denver - singing all the good old favourites. He was good, entertaining & took off John Denver quite well. After the show Des & Yvonne took me home & stopped to have a coffee & some toasted sandwiches, wine & baileys. We talked very late into the night and it was 3.30am by the time I wrote up the golfers blog.

Saturday 29th May 2010 - needless to say started very slowly and continued slowly having a much needed restful day at home until it was time for us to get ready to go out to dinner at the Grange Hotel again with Des & Yvonne and Duncan & Rosalie prior to go back to the Laycock Theatre, this time to see John Robertson (as Willie Nelson) and Mark Shelley (as Roy Orbison) in a show that they called "On the Road Again". It was very entertaining & we enjoyed the old songs. Afterwards we met the stars & bought a signed scarf & CD to support their charity "Canteen" which was a good cause. It had rained all day and most of the night.

Sunday 30th May 2010 the weather had cleared again. Rod, Anne & Joel came for breakfast & we made them suffer through playing the CD from the previous night. Joel loved the music anyway. We had some good quality time with Joel & he loved the fish. Our intended golfing partners had cancelled out of golf as they were not well. We decided that we would not play with anyone else as it would have been very wet underfoot anyway. In the afternoon we did some shopping and had a quite afternoon to catch up with the late nights.

Monday 31st May 2010 (today) the rain was back with a vengeance. As this weather had been forecast we had some painting jobs lined up for F-Troop that we could do under cover. We did have some volunteers turn up which was good & we managed to get the work done by lunch time. I spent the afternoon cosied up in front of the Foxtel watching the international golf match that was taped from the night before. It is still raining as I write this so tomorrow's intended golf match is a maybe at this stage.

Monday 24th May 2010

It was rather an eventful week one way or another.

Tuesday 18th May 2010 I was to have played golf but the wet weather put me off. I am just getting over my virus of last week and did not want to freshen it up. I was up early to rescue a bunch of roses from the garden before they got too wet and damaged to pick. It is Yvonne Wilson's birthday tomorrow (the same day as Joel's) & I wanted to take her some roses tonight as I would be seeing her at the club to have a celebration. I spent most of the day researching through my photo files so that I can produce some portrait photos of the golf girls for a collage that is getting put together by the ladies. I have thousands of photos so it is very time consuming checking them all for the best photo. Tuesday night there was an Information Meeting at the golf Club which Peter had to chair. We had 230 people attend so it was quite a harrowing night however turned out to be a successful night once the beginning of the meeting settled down. We had a celebration drink with Yvonne & Des for Yvonne's birthday & after the meeting Col Matterson came home for coffee & toasted sandwiches which seemed appropriate after some stressful moments at the meeting. Col stayed the night as we chatted for a while and it was quite late by the time I updated the golfers blog.

Wednesday 19th May 2010 was Joel's first birthday. We were up early as Peter had more meetings and then golf. I spent the day in the golf club gardens tidying up a lot of areas including the native garden on the 6th where the Grevilleas that Graham & Anne have donated are just coming into flower. I worked until 3.30 in the afternoon. Later Yvonne called in home with a present for Joel for his birthday & we celebrated her birthday again over a cup of tea. We went over to Rod & Anne's for a family dinner with Shane & Sam to celebrate Joel's first birthday. Joel had a lovely day & was all tuckered out by 7.00. We bought him a "smart trike" for his birthday which he loved. He is very close to walking and has 4 teeth.

Thursday 20th May 2010 I went to Bunnings to get some more plants for the gardens & then spent the rest of the day catching up with my house, floors, ironing etc. Bit of an ordinary day.

Friday 21st May 2010 I had an easy day planting out the plants at the Golf Club Gardens & doing a bit more trimming & pottering around.

Saturday 22nd May 2010 we spent the day at the Rosehill Races in Sydney in a Private Box as guests of Ron & Lynn Puiatti. It was a very cold day but the rain confined itself to the coastal areas & we had a nice fine day thankfully cosy in the private box where we had a great view of the straight. We had a lovely day with good company. After the races we had dinner with Lynn & Ron at Michael's Restaurant at East Gosford where the rain finally caught up with us.

Sunday 23rd May 2010 started out to be a miserable day. Rod, Anne & Joel did not come over for their traditional breakfast as they had colds to deal with so we got to have a sleep in.

Our playing partners today were to have been Col & Kay Adams but Kay had just come down with the same virus I had the week before and had lost her voice. Needless to say Kay was not keen to brave the weather which was understandable. We waited for the weather to clear at midday & had a round with Doug & Robin Incoll who had also lost their intended partners. As it happened the weather cleared and we did not get a drop of rain. The girls beat the boys for the Keno ticket and I won the nearest the pin at the 8th & sank the putt for a birdie which were good highlights for the day. We stayed for dinner at the club with Col & Lauren Matterson who had also braved the weather.

Monday 24th May 2010 (today) we had a good mornings work with F-Troop starting at 7.00am.

We did a lot of raking and clearing of the tees and fairways and I got some fertilizer down around the camellias while there is some rain around to wash it in. I spent the afternoon cosy in front of the foxtel as the weather has turned quite cold. Tomorrow is threatening to be a wet weather day which is not good as we have our monthly medal stroke match on & I am supposed to be playing early.

Monday 17th may 2010

This week has been full of activity as I have struggled to shake off my virus. It took until Sunday for my voice to finally recover & I still have an irritating cough but I do feel much better today.

Tuesday 11th May 2010 was a magic day so I decided I was better off at golf out in the sunshine than feeling sorry for myself at home. My playing partners were Kay Adams, Kath Smith & Yvonne Bean & we had a lovely day. It was a team event with no singles as it was a Ladies Open Day at our club with a lot of visitors from other clubs - 120 players on the day so we all had a good day.

Wednesday 12th May 2010 I was supposed to be babysitting Joel but did not want to pass my virus to him especially as his birthday party is coming up on Saturday. Instead I did some work on my computer doing some portrait photos of all the golf girls which is going to be put into a collage. I have thousands of photos saved so it will be a big job to get to identify everyone & find a good suitable photo.

Thursday 13th May 2010 I worked on the golf club gardens at the Native garden on the 6th. It is quite a big garden broken into four components. The native trees needed to be re-staked, trimmed and weeded so it was quite a big job. I managed to get three of the four components done.

In the afternoon we went to Erina Fair to buy some flannelet sheets as I did not have any "king size" warm sheets and the weather is getting quite cold at night.

Friday 14th May 2010 I spent working in my far back gardens at home which I tend to neglect as the roses take up so much of my time. Peter put a new door on the garden shed which makes the area look much better. I have some lovely roses out having their last flush of the season. (photos attached)

Saturday 15th May was a huge day starting early in the morning at the golf club preparing the outside of the club and the wedding garden for a garden wedding for 90 guests which was being held at 3.00 pm. It was a beautiful day & the garden area looked fantastic. The reception for this wedding was in the magnolia room which was decorated in black & white with red rose petals. We also had another wedding reception later in the day for 220 guests which was held in the major section of the club & this was done up with apricot pink & white.

At lunch time we were at the RSL club for Joel's 1st birthday celebration with all his little friends and their parents. Joel's birthday is next Wednesday but a Saturday celebration was appropriate. Joel had a wonderful time as you can see by the photos. After the party we went back to the Golf Club to see the wedding and to pick up the results slip for the Golfer's Blog.


Sunday 16th May 2010 we did a quick grocery shop before going to golf. I decided to pick up some vitamin tablets & some immune system tablets to revitalise myself after being sick for a week. It was another beautiful day - so why stay at home? My voice has returned and I am starting to recover.

Our playing partners were Ron & Lynn Puiatti & we had a great day especially when we beat the boys for the keno ticket and I won nearest the pin. We stayed for dinner at the club with our golf friends which finished off a good day. We had finished golf and were inside the clubhouse when the weather changed for the worse with some rain & cold wind.

Monday 17th May 2010 was F-Troop Day. I was supposed to be babysitting Joel today but unfortunately both Joel and Anne were suffering from a stomach virus (fortunately not from me) but from the party on Saturday. I was disappointed that I missed out on my day with Joel yet again. The weather was cold and threatening but we did not get wet at F-Troop. There were not too many F-Troopers to help today so we worked hard cleaning up the course & getting through quite a few tasks. In the afternoon we had lunch at Erina Fair & needed to pick up some pillow slips that were omitted from the sheet sets I had purchased earlier in the week. It has been raining this afternoon which is good for the gardens but it looks as if winter has arrived. I just hope it rains out before tomorrow as golf is the event of the day. Wednesday is Joel's 1st birthday & we plan to go over and have dinner with them so I am hoping that they are all back on deck by then.