Opening Garden of Peace and Remembrance

12 HOUR CONCERT FOR RELAY FOR LIFE in Celebration of the Opening of The Gardens of Peace and Remembrance.  Please join us at  FISHERS ISLAND YACHT CLUB in SAILORS COVE SATURDAY JUNE 13th 11:45 am for the Opening of the Garden. These wonderful 4 Season Gardens will remain open for the remainder of the 2009 Relay for Life.  PROGRAM  12:00 Noon to 1:00 pm - Joaquin Gustav  1:00 pm to 2:00 pm - RockPianoman Pienaar  2:00 pm to 3:00 pm - TBA  3:00 pm to 4:00 pm - Trulie Telling  4:00 pm to 5:00 pm - Jean Monro  5:00 pm to 6:00 pm - 87PM Music  6:00 pm to 7:00 pm - DaveSmall Finesmith  7:00 pm to 8:00 pm - Shannon Oherlihy  8:00 pm to 9:00 pm - CallieDelBoa  9:00 pm to 10:00 pm - Jon Bazar  10:00 pm to 11:00 pm - Paisley Beebe  11:00 pm to 12:00 am - Ichie Kamachi  Explenation of the Garden idea.  The gardens are separated into seasons. On arrival you enter into Summer. In amongst the expanse of lawn are beautiful flowers, a pond with fountain, and many areas to sit or explore. Walk through the gate into Autumn/Fall and experience the rich copper tones so familiar at that time of the year. Through another gate you enter into Winter with a light covering of snow, gentle snowfall and frosty leaves. Finally we pass into Spring - for renewal. Such beautiful shades and an open vista to explore.  In the main entrace area, adjacent to Summer there are 3 boards where you can place a photograph of your loved one. However, you will also find a large board on which to place a photograph of your loved one in each of the other gardens if you feel an affinity with that particular season over another. Touch the board for an explanation on how to do that. If you would like you can also light a candle. After exploring, take the time to sit a while and enjoy the peace and to remember those you have lost or those who have won their battle.

Partnership celebration

On 31st of May, Pippa and I held our partnering celebration in the gardens of the Fisher Island Yacht Club in Clipper Bay. It was a wonderful day and for us a very important event.  I think there is no doubt we viewed this with the same importance as any real life event we could have shared together with friends.  We had the usual elaborate preparations with clothing and arranging the party, and when we arrived we were very excited and a little nervous. 

We wanted very much to capture the moment when I proposed to Pippa, which was during a performance by Joaquin Gustav, the well known latin guitarist.  Luckily for us he was available for our party and being able to celebrate and dance to his music was very special to us. We also had a gift from DJ Q of 1 ½ hours of his show so we are very grateful to him for that. 

Before we started the party I felt I wanted to say something and so I had a very short speech, as follows:

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Dear friends, I would like to welcome you all to our partnership  celebration party. This is a very special moment for Pippa and me, and we would like to share that with our dearest friends.

When Pippa strolled into our world here at Sailors Cove, we were all thrilled. She is an amazing person with lots of creativity and ideas. Just have a look later at the Garden across the club and see what Drew and Pippa are building for the community.

To make the story short, I thought I was going to be a confirmed bachelor in SL, but Pippa has changed all of that with her sweetness and lovely charm.

We were at a performance of Joaquin Gustav's when I proposed to Pippa. I was thrilled that she accepted. After that Pippa and me exchanged rings to show the world our love for each other.  

For the party today we have organised three hours of entertainment starting with Joaquin to remind us of our special evening, and who also happens to be the top latin performer here on SL.  After Joaquin we are pleased to have Seba Sideways who also featured on our special evening and who plays fantatic saxophone music.  Finallly we have DJ Q and he takes requests so feel free to ask for your favourite music. We hope you will stay with us throughout and enjoy the party with us.

We would like to thank Fanci and Patrick for allowing us to have our party at  the clubhouse here in the SIMS of Sailor Cove. Fanci and Patrick mean a lot to Pippa and me and we are very pleased to have taken up residence  together in our beautiful house in  Anchor Cove.  

We also want to thank our good friend Kath for the wonderfull invitation cards she made for us.  Finally,  we would like to thank everyone  who has been so gracious and kind to us in giving us their best wishes for our future together.

Now I will ask my lovely Pippa to have the first dance with me. Pippa darling please follow me to the dance floor. We hope that all of you will join with us after the first dance. 

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Pippa and I danced the first dance to the lovely music of ‘Moondance’ which we adore and seems to be our tune now.  Then we were joined by our guests.  The party lasted for over 3 hours and often you see people leave once the party develops but this time more and more arrived during the evening. It was heart-warming to observe how many of our friends were there. In addition, many friends who could not make it send us there congratulations and warm words. I would like to thank everybody for the lovely gifts the gave us. Juli Gothly’s wonderful custom Elise comes to mind among many others. 

We would like to take the opportunity for thanking all of our friends for the wonderful support they showed. When I escorted Pippa home after the party she whispered in my ear; ‘everybody should experience this love’. That is what we wish all of our friends. 

Kind Regards,

Pippa Rexen and Epicurus Emmons