Apparently it's been 6 months since I last posted. Either my life's so boring I have nothing to write about, or I'm so busy I never get a chance. I'm going with the latter...
I love Christmas time. Pretty much the whole of December is great. The excitement starts to build and the parties come thick and fast. There's the shopping - which I normally loathe, but have actually quite enjoyed this year. It's the feeling of knowing hot days are coming, and the Australian Open, and beach holidays spent in the sun are just around the corner.
Summer is magical to me. A week spent somewhere warm and by the sea can quite literally remedy all the stress accumulated from the year just gone.
This year we are forgoing our usual coastal oasis and are instead travelling north for a family wedding. While I'm delighted to be going somewhere warmer and to be able to lay by the pool, a part of me is sad we won't be going to our usual. It is my favourite place in the world, a place that enables me to be the most relaxed and happy I can be.
And Mr S and Mrs B have done their bit to make this summer especially exciting as they await the arrival of their first bundle of joy. A baby is always exciting. But becoming an aunty for the first time is very special. I'm also excited for Miss E who has been telling everyone she's going to have a cousin.
Christmas day is rapidly approaching. I'm pretty stoked actually that we get two Christmas day's this year - one on christmas eve with Mr D's family and Christmas day with mine. Double the fun, (and the drama, calories, hangovers, and presents!!)
Then, when the glow of summer begins to fade, real life begins again.
Showing posts with label Summer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Summer. Show all posts
Monday, December 12, 2011
Monday, October 26, 2009
Summer Days
This week Melbourne's Spring weather is teasing us with a taste of Summer. We are told to expect three days of 25+ degrees Celsius. Summer is flirting with us, reminding us of our love of warm weather, clear blue skies and balmy nights.
While there are normally a few days that are too hot, almost oppressive, an Australian Summer is a special thing. Summer to me means beaches, holidays, Christmas, tennis (yay for the Australian Open!) and a general happiness.
But this summer I am a little apprehensive. A few things are on my mind regarding this Summer. The first is keeping my little girl cool, and protecting her from sunburn. But really I guess what is really causing my reservations about Summer this year is bushfires. The horror and devastation that occurred on February 7 2009 is still all too vivid in my mind.
My family who lived in Kinglake - one of the worst hit areas - are still recovering emotionally. All of them experienced some level of post traumatic stress disorder. They have all relocated and found new homes in other areas, too traumatised to return to the town they had called home for almost 30 years. I will never forget where I was when I got the call from my mother. My Aunt had called her screaming, they had lost the house and were trying to escape. . .then the phone cut out. Nobody was able to contact her or her husband for 12 hours. We didn't know if she had made it out. Miraculously she did, but sadly many others didn't.
Here is what is left of her house:
My father had made it to a sports oval where many others sheltered for days. He lost his home too. The fire came within 2km's of the oval that was supposed to be safe. Embers rained down on them throughout the night. Now just the smell of smoke triggers the horrific memories of bushfire survivors. And there will be bushfires. I hope and pray they will not reach the catastrophic levels that the Black Saturday bushfires did, but bushfires are a fact of life in an Australian summer. In fact officially, bushfire season started several weeks ago.
This is Kinglake one week after the fires:
So when the hot dry winds from the desert blow across from Adelaide and reach Melbourne, sending temperatures soaring this summer - as they inevitably will, I will be a little anxious. Anxious and concerned for those in high fire danger areas, anxious for the survivors, who will re-live the trauma all over again, and anxious about friends who have a holiday home surrounded by bush.
For information regarding Victorian Bushfires please got to:
http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/index.htm
The ABC have compiled an excellent report about Black Saturday:
http://www.abc.net.au/innovation/blacksaturday/#/stories/mosaic
While there are normally a few days that are too hot, almost oppressive, an Australian Summer is a special thing. Summer to me means beaches, holidays, Christmas, tennis (yay for the Australian Open!) and a general happiness.
But this summer I am a little apprehensive. A few things are on my mind regarding this Summer. The first is keeping my little girl cool, and protecting her from sunburn. But really I guess what is really causing my reservations about Summer this year is bushfires. The horror and devastation that occurred on February 7 2009 is still all too vivid in my mind.
My family who lived in Kinglake - one of the worst hit areas - are still recovering emotionally. All of them experienced some level of post traumatic stress disorder. They have all relocated and found new homes in other areas, too traumatised to return to the town they had called home for almost 30 years. I will never forget where I was when I got the call from my mother. My Aunt had called her screaming, they had lost the house and were trying to escape. . .then the phone cut out. Nobody was able to contact her or her husband for 12 hours. We didn't know if she had made it out. Miraculously she did, but sadly many others didn't.
Here is what is left of her house:
My father had made it to a sports oval where many others sheltered for days. He lost his home too. The fire came within 2km's of the oval that was supposed to be safe. Embers rained down on them throughout the night. Now just the smell of smoke triggers the horrific memories of bushfire survivors. And there will be bushfires. I hope and pray they will not reach the catastrophic levels that the Black Saturday bushfires did, but bushfires are a fact of life in an Australian summer. In fact officially, bushfire season started several weeks ago.
This is Kinglake one week after the fires:
So when the hot dry winds from the desert blow across from Adelaide and reach Melbourne, sending temperatures soaring this summer - as they inevitably will, I will be a little anxious. Anxious and concerned for those in high fire danger areas, anxious for the survivors, who will re-live the trauma all over again, and anxious about friends who have a holiday home surrounded by bush.
For information regarding Victorian Bushfires please got to:
http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/index.htm
The ABC have compiled an excellent report about Black Saturday:
http://www.abc.net.au/innovation/blacksaturday/#/stories/mosaic
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