Weekend away

We had a wonderfully relaxing long weekend away at the coast. The weather was perfect. Despite that, a small boat capsized as it was crossing the Bar at Narooma. The sailor seemed to walk away okay - at least he was able to walk to the ambulance. The boat was another matter. Here are some of the locals trying to recover it on the beach.



The next day we went for a walk and had a closer look. Hmm - don't think that will be sailing the seven seas again. A graphic reminder of how powerful the sea can be - even in seemingly benign weather.
This little one just seems to have decided to lie down and age gracefully on the shores of Lake Mummaga.


My mind is very much on the sea at the moment. One of the reasons we went down was to check out our place - this is the current house - perfectly horrible - an owner builder job from the early 1980s where everything was done on the cheap. It is being demolished in a few weeks to make way for our 'retirement' home. We did a walk through to see if there was anything at all worth salvaging - three CFL light globes! That's it.


The outlook from the block of land is wonderful - that is our backyard in the foreground. We will be able to go asleep at night to the sound of the sea. There is something magical about that. We arrived late on Thursday night, after I had flown back from a work meeting in Sydney, tired and frazzled. Yet just walking on the sand and hearing the gentle, endless sussuration of the surf lulled me into a very mellow mood.


I love the textures and colours on this old boat shed, down on the flat at Narooma. It used to have a registration number on the side, but it appears to have fallen off into the mud flats somewhere.

For the past three or four years, the locals have been building a wonderful bike path along the foreshore and headlands from Dalmeny through Kianga to the Narooma boardwalk. Here is a picture of me whizzing down the path from Yabarra point. Our house is in the group in the centre of the photo, nestled among the spotted gums. (Click to enlarge)

On a quilting note, I have been finishing some bindings on quilts to donate to the Victorian bushfire families. I HATE doing bindings, which means I have a cupboard full of quilts that are all quilted, but just need bindings to finish (no, I am not joking!). I gather that they particularly want queen sized quilts for couples. I happen to have one, so that is in the process of being bound. I have a couple of smaller ones ready to go too. And a top that I am enlarging to make it QS. Trouble is, I have dismantled my home quilter as part of trying to get this house packed up and ready to sell, so not sure how I am going to get that top quilted and ready to go, but I will worry about that later. I will post pictures of the quilts as soon as they are done.

Fire

A while ago I had a play with my embellisher and various materials, trying to create an image of a fire. I was reminded of it today while following the harrowing news reports of deaths from so many fires burning throughout the southern states, particularly Victoria. I was six months pregnant with my first child in 1983, and living in Queenscliff in Victoria when the Ash Wednesday bushfires went through the State. I was one of many army wives left alone while our husbands were away somewhere - I remember lying awake at 2 o'clock in the morning, following the news reports as the fires worked their way relentlessly east. They were stopped well before reaching us - not that we knew that would happen. In 2003, the dreadful Canberra fires burned. I was hanging out washing and turned around to see an evil, great billowing cloud of dirty grey suffused with an ominious orange - it was over 400 houses burning on the other side of the city from me. Four people died. We were in shock that this could happen in the heart of the nation's capital. My brother phoned from Queensland that night - he heard on the news that over 400 houses had burned and he thought there must be a mistake - that couldn't possibly be right.

And now Victoria is suffering again - each hour the news reports increase the number dead - I was horrified when I woke up this morning to read that 14 people had died - the 5pm news has just reported the death toll at 49, and warning to expect it to rise as fire crews manage to get into townships that have been cut off.

After the Canberra fires, quilters all over Australia made quilts to donate to everyone who had lost their homes. I am sure that people everywhere will rally around to help those who have lost everything. Homes can be rebuilt, possessions replaced...but nothing can replace those 49 loved ones - Monday morning, and the toll has grown to nearly 100. Wednesday - 181.