Week 1

Well, this is Week 1.  This year, my husband Geoff and I have decided to buy Green Cards from Golf PEI and visit all 20 participant golf courses across PEI.  In this way, we should be guaranteed a new golf experience each week and as an added bonus get to see a different part of PEI and enjoy the tourist attractions of this "Holiday Island".  Sometimes, when you live in a tourist destination, you don't take advantage of, or see, the tourist spots the same way that you would if you were coming here as a tourist.  I think sometimes we miss out on that - so this year, we are planning to be tourists in our own land!

We started on Sunday, 8 May 2011 - Mother's Day, I know!  As our two children are now adults themselves, we set out around 10:30 a.m. to make the trek to St. Felix for our first adventure.  En route, we passed close enough to 4 windmills just outside of Summerside (see photo).  It was predicted to be damp (chance of showers) early in the morning, but with a chance of sunny breaks in the afternoon and possibly a high of 14 C.  St. Felix is a course near the northern tip of PEI and quite close to the water (Gulf of St. Lawrence) and the wind (such as it was predicted, being fortunately quite light) was to be coming out of the North - which, translates for us, as those interested in the weather, as a cold wind coming off the Gulf.  Both Geoff and I wore extra layers (including tights under our pants) and wind breakers/rain jackets.  It's almost a two-hour drive from home in Charlottetown to St. Felix and the weather changed through cloudy and foggy to a sprinkling of rain before we arrived.  But it was reasonably warm (11 C) when we arrived and no rain at all once we arrived.  We took a few practice swings and then hit Hole No. 1.  The course was lush and green and having broad fairways, was reasonably forgiving to those of us who haven't swung a club in 6 months!  Besides, many of the treed areas are tamarac, so it's easy to find your ball underneath them - that is, if your ball were ever to roll underneath!  Holes No. 2 and No. 3 were low and very wet, given that there had been quite a lot of rain overnight - but the temperature allowed us to continue on, despite the damp feet.

After the first six holes, we stopped back in to the Club House where Joanne, who runs the course, offered us chicken salad sandwiches and made a fresh pot of coffee for us.  Delicious and home-made by Joanne herself.  Two sandwiches and one coffee was only $6.  Back out to finish the 9-hole course, but because our card allows us to play 18, we picked up on Hole No. 4 (the start of the higher, drier part of the course) and played the "back 6" again.  Some pars, some lovely bogies and some holes that I'd like to forget - but the sun came out quite strongly on the back 6 and the greens were faster and it was a lovely day.  We did see a small amount of snow (!) in the bushes behind the 9th tee (see photo), but that was the only snow we saw - remember, it's still early in Paradise!

Got home just in time to enjoy a real Mother's Day feast, prepared by Son No. 1 and Daughter No. 1, with some assistance from Dad on the BBQ - PEI mussels (with garlic and carrots) dipped in drawn butter, raw carrot and broccoli with dip, BBQ'd steak, baked PEI potatoes, fresh tossed salad and a glass of wine.  What could be better?  Hmmmmmm and most of it grown locally.

Let's see what next week can do to top that?