On the Road 8 x 30; 24 x 7

12-11-2004 Pine Forest Couples Golf Tournament and Christmas Party!

Saturday, December 11, we had to get a move on to get down to Bastrop for the Couples Tournament and Christmas Party at Pine Forest Golf Club. We left about 10:40. On the way out we passed the office and told Manuel we'd officially sign in with him tomorrow. It's a sunny, calm day; very warm with a high in the 70's.

Another Twilight Zone experience to drive through Elgin. We mailed the Christmas cards at the Elgin post office on the way by. It was even weirder to drive down Hwy 95 past Cedar Hills, our old neighborhood. We laughed about the trees all seeming much shorter here than we remembered.

At the golf course the Colorado River had flooded recently. We could see where the water had receded from the fairways on the holes along the River. Bob and I had to split up and play as fivesomes with two different teams since there were an odd number of teams. My team started on hole number 1 (the second, or B group, to tee off) at around noon. Bob's group teed off on hole number 6 for the shotgun start.

The skies are blue, it is warm and a great fall day. Bob was with new folks from Pine Forest while I played with one new couple from Galveston who moved here since we left, and with Rosie and Ed, who we've enjoyed playing with many times. I didn't play very well but I did contribute a few shots in the scramble format. Bob said he didn't play his best, but he won closest to the pin for the men on the Par 3 12th hole.

We finished at 5:00. There was a huge spread of food in the clubhouse. Everyone had outdone themselves as usual. Hors d'oeuvres were served until 6:00. Before we ate there was a chip-off behind the clubhouse to settle a 3rd place tie. After several glasses of wine I was mighty happy to go through the lavish buffet. One of the golfing ladies had brought a fantastic mango Jell-O salad (later she promised to email the recipe.) The dessert table was a sinful temptation of everything imaginable. Some creative baker brought the cutest Christmas Mice made of cherries dipped in chocolate with Hershey Kiss heads. I must try to make these.

After dinner twelve of the golfers regaled us with The Twelve Days of Golf Christmas as follows:

Very own golf bag
Two Big Bertha's
Three golf balls
Four head covers
Five pairs of shoes
Six matching visors
Seven-day golf package
Eight golf lessons
Nine lovely outfits
Brand new easy go-cart
Pine Forest membership
On the twelfth day of Christmas it was very clear to me that even after all this great golf equipment, I still got a seven on a Par 3.

Well my memory isn't what it used to be, but you get the general idea. It sure was a hoot! It was really nice to visit with old friends. They made us feel very welcome. There were lots of new faces too. We did some browsing in the pro shop with the gang and then hit the road. It was even weirder driving home past Cedar Hills and not turning in there as we had so many times after a long day at Pine Forest golfing. But it was nice to be back in our cozy little home on wheels at Pleasant Grove!

There was a phone message from Peggy, one of our Cedar Hills morning walkers, inviting us to a party on Saturday. It was great to hear her voice. I guess the word is out that we're back. How nice of her to think of us. I'll call her tomorrow since it is kind of late already. We watched CSI and dozed on the couch after pigging out on the Christmas buffet.