Eeek! I'd like to go back and replay this day differently please!

It's hot, and I'm feeling rather heavy and a bit anxious these days.  
I got home an hour ago after several hours of battling city crowds to run errands, looking forward to putting my feet up and resting quietly ....
.... but alas, it was not to be.

Another summer storm has hit, and both the dogs are barking inconsolably - Gus is terrified of thunder and Bracken is a major dork who barks at Gus, really loudly, and doesn't respond to my attempts to make him be quiet.

Meanwhile, water is pouring in through the heating vents and light fixtures in our living room ceiling ...  it's not dripping or trickling, it's pouring down in several steady streams and filling the buckets in the small space of time it takes me to go and get more towels and pots. All this just after we've had to spend a packet-load of money on extra plumbing and glazing work and fixing up other leaks due to the shoddy efforts of some dodgy contractors who did our renovations last year ...

And I look and feel a bit like this:

 with about as much flexibility and mobility.

Gulp!
(*curls up on bed with headphones on and eyes squeezed shut while thunder rolls in and dogs continue to bark at top volume...*)

Hot hot hot!

Today was a scorcher - we went to the Camberwell market in the morning but didn't find anything too amazing; I bought a mirror and G found a lovely antique chess piece coloured red with coccineal.

The rest of the day was spent trying to stay cool, getting the dogs wet, eating icy-poles and drinking iced coffee. 

Ah, summer!

A little summer road trip

We flew to Adelaide on Christmas Day and took some time to pootle home along the coast the following week.

We had sunshine every day, and it was super-hot as we made our way along the Great Ocean Road on New Year's Eve; the wind felt like a furnace blast - it was 39°C, without a cloud in the sky.

We went straight to the surf beach and braved the waves as soon as we reached Apollo Bay! In the evening, a BBQ on a wooden deck overlooking the beach was followed by silly dancing with sparklers under the stars .....

~ a nice gentle way to ring in the New Year!



(click sparklers for image sources)

Sweetness and light

Happy Valentine's day, old stick!

 .... and to you, dear readers.

Sizzlin'

This hot weather is crazy, man! At midnight last night it was 37.5°C! *

*100° F

High summer

Today was definitely a day for staying inside - the temperature got to 44° C in the late afternoon (over 111° F.)  .... uggh! We've had a week of very hot days, and tomorrow's set to be hot hot hot again. I feel for all the poor animals that are stuck outside and the valiant plants that are drooping and wilting and being scorched.

I find it hard to imagine all my lovely friends in the Northern Hemisphere shivering in particularly cold winter conditions ....
let me send you some of this sunshine!

Yesterday evening we ate our dinner at the beach while Gus scampered and splashed with glee.

 

New Year's Day

.

January 1st, 2010:

- ringing in the new year with champagne, loved ones and silly conversations

- welcoming the sound of gentle rain after many days and nights of stifling heat

- watching fruitbats beating their way blackly through the evening sky to nectar-filled feeding grounds

- tasting ions in the supercharged air, as the sky turns from sulfur-yellow to furious grey-black and a thunderstorm envelops the city

- sinking into a deep bath in the darkness with the window open, heart pounding as I watch lightning tear through the curtain of night, wild and unpredictable

- feeling the thump as cascading thundercracks shake the ground and roll away across the suburbs

- savouring the cool wafts of a caressing breeze, a contrast to the violence of the retreating storm

- wondering if I could ever want for more ...

... this is bliss!


Happy New Year everybody!

Summer daze

Hot

Sleepy

Dog

Looking for work

♫ ... in all the wrong places ...? ♪ ♫

 

 

 

 

Our funding application for a summer research project was unsuccessful, so I'm looking for work to tide me over until semester starts at the end of February. Not so keen on the idea of returning to an office job, but I guess it's OK if it's only for 6 weeks or so.

You know I'd rather be doing this: