Monday 7th November 2011

Whew!  What a week.  It was so full on I feel physically and emotionally exhausted.

Tuesday 1st November 2011 was the all important Melbourne Cup Day which started very early for me as I needed to take some roses over to the club before golf so that the luncheon tables could be set up.  We had a shotgun start at 8.00am which meant we had to be out at the 11th tee ready to hit off.  My playing partners today were Rosalie Dyer, Lorraine Bignall and Georgina Lamb.  We had a lovely day - not winning any prizes but had a great day of golf with some really good highlights.  We played an Ambrose and combined very well together - being good players out of luck at times.  After golf we changed into our "jockey" gear to add a different theme to this year's Melbourne Cup luncheon in the lovely Magnolia Room.  After lunch there was a fashion parade after which we could settle back with a wine and watch the cup. Peter had a day out with his mates and I caught up with him much later in the day.

Wednesday 2nd November 2011 I had a big washing day as the weather was hot and fine (just as well as it rained just about all day on Thursday).  At lunch time I went to my beauticians to have my nails done etc etc. after which I attended their Christmas High Tea at the Frangipani Cafe in Gosford.  It was a really impressive high tea (reminded me of high tea at Raffles in Singapore) & all the girls from the beauticians were lovely hosts and I got to meet some of the other clients. The washing was dry when I got home so I got straight into the ironing as I knew what a busy week lay ahead.

Thursday 3rd November 2011 it was a miserable day for the most of it.  We got a bit of shopping done & I got to get all the household chores done before Lyn & Richard arrived to stay a couple of days with us before Heather's wedding.  We had a quite dinner at home so that we could be all rested for the weekend.

Friday 4th November 2011 was a very busy day.  Lyn had an early morning appointment with my beauticians and I had to be up early to pick roses and flowers for the golf club Art Exhibition that was on that evening at the Golf Club.  I met Doon & Helen (the artist & her daughter in law) and we put together the floral decorations for the room where the exhibition was to be held.  From there it was a quick trip home to get some lunch together and then went back to the club to clean up the front entrance.  Lyn and I had a 2.30pm appointment at the hairdressers so we went out to my hairdressers at West Gosford for that and then met the boys at the Golf Club for drinks at 4.30 pm.  It is Peter's birthday tomorrow but as we are going to Sydney for Heather's wedding we decided to have Peter's birthday early at the club as we were going to attend the Art Exhibition anyway.  It was club raffle night and we won a couple of meat trays which was good.   Rod, Anne, Joel & Emily joined us for drinks and dinner.  Anne made Peter a "golf course" birthday cake which Joel assisted with.  Joel is just at "birthday cake" age  where HE gets to blow out all of the candles and is the first one into the icing.  We had a really nice evening at the club and then had a couple of baileys at home afterwards to finish the evening off.

Saturday 5th November 2011 was the big day for Heather.  Thankfully it was a fine sunny day which was just nice by 3.30pm.  We  (the family) were all booked into the Marriott Hotel at North Ryde so we could spend some extra time together over the weekend.  Lyn was having her nails done in the morning and we got away about 12.30 ish & made good time to the hotel in spite of the fact that our Navman took us on a bit of a goose chase.  I think I had the "shortest route" in the system which is not a good idea in Sydney.  We were able to check into our rooms in time to change for the wedding and we got to the Church in nice time.
The Wedding was at the lovely St James Church at Turramurrah.  It was a good service and Heather looked divine in a silk gown that fitted her like a glove.  She was a stunning bride.  After the wedding there was afternoon tea served in the church grounds where Heather & Matt cut the wedding cake for friends unable to attend the reception.  The reception was held at the Avondale Golf Club which is a perfect wedding venue.  The reception room was beautifully decorated & the food was good.  Heather & Matt had a live band playing great music and we all danced our feet off all night.   It was a fantastic wedding & it was good hanging out with the family in happy circumstances.  Graham had organised taxis to pick us up and to take us back to the hotel afterwards.

Sunday 6th November 2011 we had a quite morning enjoying a good breakfast at the hotel.  about 11.30 am we drove to Graham's house for a quite day there and to have a belated celebration for Graham's 60th birthday.  Graham had been in NZ for the Rugby Match for his birthday in September.  We had a bbq lunch a a good chat before heading home late afternoon.   Kay & Greg were flying back to Brisbane so had gone straight to Sydney City in the morning; Dale & Barry and Phil & Lorraine were spending another night at the Marriott and had dinner that night with Clare and Cate and Graham and Anne; Lyn & Richard were heading to stay the night with Richard's brother and then were heading to Canberra to get a grandchildren hit.
We had a good bonding weekend and managed to get in one "Marty Robbins" song.  Heather & Matt (Mr & Mrs Faulkner) were there and were heading for the airport that evening to start their honeymoon overseas.

Monday 7th November 2011 we were up early for a big day at F-Troop.  It was a very hot day & we had a big project on at the club.  We had 14 volunteers turn up which made the task easier & we managed to get all the allocated work done.  This afternoon we had a nanny nap to catch up.  Shane called in after work to see how our weekend had gone,  He and Sam have just got back from a trip down the Victorian coast which they enjoyed. Tonight I have been catching up with all my wedding photos to get them ready to send to Anne.

The weather forecast for the rest of this week is for rain so I hope to get some gardening done at the club tomorrow before it starts.  I am not playing golf as this week is the CCWGA week of golf and my grade is not playing at Gosford.  I am taking over some roses for the District Presentation night tomorrow night.
It has been very hot the last two days and the flowers have suffered..  So I have another early morning coming up tomorrow.