Thursday 23rd June 2011

This week was all about our grandchildren and rightly so.  We are celebrating the birth of our first granddaughter which has been wonderful.  Anne & Emily are now home from hospital and settling at home. Joel is settling well into his role of big brother & happily shares cuddles with Mum.   Emily is being treated for a bit of jaundice and is showing good signs of recovery.

Friday 17th June 2011 I went shopping for (you guessed it ) baby clothes and flowers as  I had intended visiting Anne and Emily at North Gosford Hospital in the afternoon. Rod & Joel called in so that Joel could have a sleep.  I went to start the car to go to the hospital & found that the battery was flat.  I suspect that I did not close the boot properly & the light may have stayed on.  By that time it was time for Rod to go out for the traditional wetting of the babies head with his brother Shane.  I was left to mind Joel for the night and we had some fun walking to the railway and making some cup cakes (pink of course).  Joel was well behaved & was comfortable to stay the night.

Saturday 18th June 2011 Rod & Joel came for a visit before going over to the hospital to see Emily.  Shane picked me up at 2.30pm so we could visit Anne and meet Emily.  Emily is a tiny little bundle, looks like her mother, fair hair & blue eyes.  I was besotted immediately and I know I have another little ray of sunshine in my life.  Peter arrived home from the Gold Coast after a long drive home via Armidale, Tenterfield etc.  The golfer's all had a wonderful week.

Sunday 19th June 2011 we did not play golf as the course is so wet.  Carts were not allowed on which prevented our playing partners Des & Yvonne Wilson from playing.  Peter had just had seven games of golf in a row and a 9 hour drive home so he was not unhappy to have a rest from golf.  We arranged to meet Des & Yvonne at the club at 5.30pm for dinner so we could have a wine to celebrate Emily's birth.   At 2.30pm we went to the North Gosford Hospital so that Peter could see Anne and meet his granddaughter.  Anne & Emily were both well but Emily had signs of jaundice which she was being treated for.  That night we had dinner at the club with Des & Yvonne & many of our other golf friends so it was a good night.

Monday 20th June 2011 was F-Troop day.   We had so much rain last week that the course was still soft. We did manage to get dome rubbish pick up done & I weeded the garden at the 17th which was easier while the soil was damp. 

Tuesday 21st June 2011 I did not play golf as the course was still very wet. Instead I did some more weeding at the 17th garden which had got out of hand with all the recent rain.  Peter went out Tuesday night to play cards with his mates & I got all out travel documentation & planning together for Cairns & the Top End Tour coming up.

Wednesday 22nd June 2011 Peter had meeting & played golf so I did some shopping in preparation for our upcoming tour and then did a bit more weeding at the club & tidied up some of the gardens at home.  It was a cold windy day so it was not all that pleasant to be outside.

Thursday 23rd June 2011 (today) I confirmed our flight ticket & booked seats for our trip to Cairns.  We are travelling with George, Tosca & George's sister Lyn.  Thankfully the volcano ash has moved away and our flights should be on schedule.  We packed our bags for our trek to the top of Australia & are looking forward to getting some nice warm weather.  In the afternoon we visited Rod, Anne, Joel & Emily at their home so we could get our "grandchildren hit" before leaving.  Shane & Sam were there also so we could get to see them as well.   

Looking forward to some nice warm sunshine after all the cold winds we have had the last few days.   

Thursday 16th June 2011 - It's a girl

Our long awaited anticipation is over and we have a beautiful little baby girl - Emily Alice Martin.

Anne and Emily are in good health and doing well.  Emily was 2.8 kilos and is a baby sister for Joel.

We are celebrating our first girl in the Martin family for several decades so it is an exciting time.

Tuesday 14th June 2011 I did some gardening at the Golf Club between showers.  It rained heavily in the afternoon so there was not much that could be done outside.

Wednesday 15th June 2011 it was a showery day again so I managed to get the back gardens weeded between showers.  Anne went into hospital today to prepare for the birth of her baby tomorrow.

Thursday 16th June 2011  (today)- more showers and then it fined up to a nice afternoon.  While I was waiting for the much anticipated phone call from Rod I managed to get some of the front gardens weeded in the afternoon.  Rod rang about 3.15pm with the news of a new baby girl which was wonderful news.

Tomorrow I may need to have some retail therapy at the baby girl shops.

Monday 13th June 2011

This week was all about the golf club gardens.  With all the rain we have had it was a good opportunity to get some of the gardens cleaned up and new plants in while the ground was nice and soft.

We are waiting with great anticipation for our new baby grandchild due this coming week.  We do not know if we are getting a girl or a boy so the excitement is building.

Tuesday 7th June 2011 we completed wood chipping the putting green garden at the Golf Club. That was a good project finished.  I did not play golf as the course was still very wet from last week's rain.

Wednesday 8th June 2011 I planted out some new agavi plants at the wedding garden that were donated to the club and tidied up some of the smaller gardens at the front of the club.

Thursday 9th June 2011 I planted out some new Hebe plants that were donated to the club.  The ground was still nice and damp so I did some weeding on the 17th & the 15th gardens.  The rain has encouraged all the weeds to thrive so we have some huge weeding jobs ahead of us.

Friday 10th June 2011 Peter left for a Golfing Tour of the Gold Coast with a group of 20 golfers from the Gosford Club.  I spent the day finishing off the weeding of the garden at the 15th as the weather forecast for the weekend was not good and the job needed to be finished.

Saturday 11th June 2011 it was a wet miserable day as was forecast.  I had a day of R & R at home catching up on a few jobs inside after a good sleep in.  Peter played golf at Ballina and had a good day.

Sunday 12th June 2011 I went to Rod & Anne's place at 9.30am through teeming rain, thunder & lightning.
I stayed there until 3 o'clock having some good quality time with Joel.  Keeping him amused on a rainy day was not easy as all he wanted was to get outside and be taken for a walk.  We had some fun in his little tent where we pretended to be outside.  I don't think my back will ever be the same after multiple times of in and out of the child sized tent.   I drove home again in torrential rain so there was little that could be done in the garden.  Peter played golf at Royal Pines which they all enjoyed. The golf at Gosford was washed out due to the amount of rain that had fallen.

Monday 13th June 2011 (today) - another bad weather day.  Being a long weekend we did not have any formal F-Troop day.  I was intending to go over to the club and do some shrub trimming but the weather was very off putting. Instead I spent the day on household chores and did some much needed tidy up of my office desk.  The showers continued on and off & it was not worth starting anything in the garden.  Peter played golf at The Glades and they were lucky enough to have an overcast but dry day.

More rain is forecast for tomorrow.  I am not playing golf as it is going to be too wet on the course even if the rain stops.  I am hoping to get some gardening done at home weather permitting.

Monday 6th June 2011



Another busy week has flown by with the weather being a bit of everything.  Early in the week it cleared, than we had more rain which was great for the gardens but that was about all as I think we are a bit fed up with the unsettled weather.

Wednesday 1st June 2011 Peter was due to go into hospital for his second eye operation at 2.30 pm. I had a Doctors appointment in the morning for the annual flu injection, check up etc. followed by some retail therapy at the East Gosford shops. We spent most of the day going to & from places and I picked Peter up from hospital about 6.00pm.  The eye operation went well so it is just a matter of getting through the next week without getting infections etc.  I cut some roses from my garden to take to the Doctors Surgery but sadly the roses were a bit sad & droopy after some heavy rain overnight.

Thursday 2nd June 2011 I went into Gosford to have a manicure, do some banking and post some letters.

In the afternoon Peter went to the eye specialist for a post operative check up & got a good report.

Friday 3rd June 2011 I was up early to wash everything in sight as we had our first nice sunny day for some time - so it was sheets, towels and all the rest. We had a visit from the crime protection unit of the police force to check out our house for better security systems that we could put in place to keep our place safer.  With all the drop kicks that drift in and out of the city these days  all precautions have to be taken.  After that we went to Wyoming to pick up some old carpets that were being discarded so that I can use them on the golf club gardens as weed matting. We went into Gosford to have some lunch & came home with some winter slipper boots for the girls.  Friday evening we went to the Golf Club for raffles night & met up with some friends for dinner.  We won a meat tray which made the evening worthwhile.

Saturday 4th June 2011 we did some household shopping & then had a quite day at home to catch up with some chores.  Saturday night we were at the Terrigal Golf Club with some of the Gosford Members to represent the club at the Annual District Golf Presentation night.  It was a good night with our Men's "B" grade pennants team winning an award along with some of our members who did well in the District Foursomes.

Sunday we went to Rod & Anne's at 9 o'clock so we could spend some time with Joel.  We played with play dough & took him for a walk which we all loved.  We left for golf at 11 o'clock & thankfully it was a nice sunny day. Our playing partners were Richard & Leonie Casey & we had an enjoyable fun day in their company even thought the golf was slow & the course still very wet from rain the previous night. Our scores were not wonderful but we did have some good highlights - the best for me was parring the 1st with a long putt into the hole.  We stayed on for dinner at the club with a group of our friends which finished off a good day.

Monday 6th June 2011 (today) we were at F-Troop at 7.15am.  The course was still very wet and we could not work out on the course with heavy vehicles.  This was a good opportunity to get some of the carpet cut up for weed matting so I could finish the putting green garden  that I had been working on.  We only need some more mulch next week and the project there is finished.  After F-Troop at 1.00 o'clock we had lunch out & then came home for a restful afternoon.  It has been a tiring day and a good rest was required.

I understand the weather is turning cold again in the next few days - so it could be inside projects when that happens.