Tadpoles

I would have thought, well I did think, that raising a few tadpoles would be a relatively simple, fun task. Well I am here to tell you it is a bit stressful.

They are quite fragile, they can turn canabalistic and they grow legs and jump (right out of the box.. to who knows where...maybe the cat knows. I prefer not to think about it).

Add in that I really, really don't have any desire to raise cane toads. This means hours of googling and peering at computer images and then into murky creek water contained in tall glass jars trying to work out colouring and if that tadpole has eyes on the side of it's head or more toward the middle.

They are quite cute tho right? and Autumn means tadpoles - loads and loads of them in seemingly every water pocket nearby. I love frogs... this adds to the stress of pinching frothy foam (frogs lay in clusters of foam, toads lay eggs in gelatinous strings) for childhood curiosity (science) the guilt when one invariably dies is weighing heavily on my mind.

They eat wilted spinach - how about that? They will also eat each other we discovered to our horror if they run out of spinach... this has lead to solitary confinement for one; who my big girl declared instantly as a cane toad, nothing else could be so wicked! (I think, well I'm pretty sure, it is a frog tadpole).

His eyes are on the side of his head right?... Paranoia is settling in.

Little blood suckers and some rain on our parade

I have a feeling caught somewhere between shock and joy... Shock that after all the hard work, stress and countless hours of time and energy in volunteer crafting, FestiValley was cancelled. Yep, called off last Thursday afternoon - the BOM forecast buckets of rain for Saturday and so the decision was made to postpone the fair and fun (lucky too because it rained all day in sheets... and it was cold and horrid and well, wet!).

Joy? Yep somewhere inside me was such sweet relief at the news. I still had three dolls to finish, a moss gnome to put together, a few capes to embelish.... and some other stuff that I have conveniently forgotten...for now. The new date for Festivalley is Saturday October 15.

Today at craft group we sat around, with hot chocolates and coffee munching some dodgy looking but quite delicious jam drops, celebrating (well we were suppose to be celebrating how much money we raised for the school at FestiValley...but we just put that aside).

I told the girls at craft this morning a little story, I will now share it with you.

Last week I had a sore spot on my back; you know the spot where if you reach up and over with one hand and down and up with the other your fingers will meet in the middle? that spot. It was tender and I scratched at it and it stung, I felt something odd and I pulled at it - it really hurt. I thought to myself, I wonder if  have just scratched off a mole or something? Feeling a bit stressed I grabbed a bandaid and showed my husband the sore spot that I couldn't see. I said have I got a mole or something there? He had a look, said "yep, looks half off and bleeding" and he wacked the bandaid on top.

All week it really hurt and itched like crazy, it was driving me nuts. Eventually I rang my GP (doctor) and booked a long appointment for Friday to have the half off mole competely removed.

This morning the bandaid came off and the itching was insane I asked my beloved if he could please just carefully scratch around it and then put a new bandaid on,  very obliging he is, he said "sure". He looked for a bit, and didn't scratch and then said "it is not a mole, it is a tick" ~ OH my eekkkkkkkk I have had a tick attached to my back and sucking away happily for a week! "Get it off!"

We have a tick twister tick remover, I bought it at the vet clinic quite some time ago... there was a bit of a frantic search for it in the over crowded bottom drawer. The little hook went under and he twisted. I screamed blue murder. Wow, that really, really hurt. Both girls came pelting through the house wondering what was going on that would make their mother scream like that...I tell you what, a week full of tick poison and a gigantic parasite being screwed out of my back! (the screaming made him stop, but the tick was still there so I had to endure another twist... horrid, horrid thing!)

 

I let it pose for some photographs

Then I squashed it (with quite some effort, strong little skull). I feel no remorse, my back is still very tender.

Craft Group ~ Play Silk Dying

The wind whipping through the trees today was perfect for drying our freshly dyed silks ~ don't they look beautiful?

It is so nice to do something that doesn't invove any pins, needles, threads, scissors or very much time... Perfect really for our last crafting day before FestiValley, our spring fair. The weather is not feeling very spring at all tho...winter is doing a final blow through and has us all wrapped up and snuggling heatpacks! let's hope the sun comes out on Saturday.

They look pretty dry, too.

There is nothing like a cup of tea

on a cold grey day (especially when my mood is matching the sky)...

My Yarrow plant is flourishing and on the way home from playgroup I picked some new leaves from the Lemon Myrtle tree in Vicky's yard.

Lemon Myrtle is a Queensland rainforest tree; which seems quite at home in Brisbane. When the leaves are crushed in your hand they release the most amazing aroma of strong lemon which is so wonderful to inhale.

 

Snip some up, plonk it in your teapot, pour on boiling water and let it steep for a bit.

I woke this morning with a cold, and I am feeling less than enthuiastic about everything really. The day has been bitterly cold, a sure sign that winter is around the corner... the solstice only a week or so away.

While waiting for these pictures to upload I did a quick google and found that among a hord of fabulous properties Yarrow  is a geat herb to fight colds and Lemon Myrtle strengthens the immune system. So there you go not only does it make me warm inside but it is good for me too.

Autumn Gratitude

"Come, little leaves" said the wind one day,
"Come over the meadows with me, and play;
Put on your dresses of red and gold;
Summer is gone, and the days grow cold."

Soon as the leaves heard the wind's loud call,
Down they came fluttering, one and all;
Over the brown fields they danced and flew,
Singing the soft little songs they knew....

from COME LITTLE LEAVES by George Cooper

At the end of last week a beautifully wrapped package arrived in the mail for my little family from The little gnomes home. Inside was a gnome, an autumn gnome and a stunning crystal; citrine I think... Gnomes don't like to wander far from their crystals and this one brings with her happiness, joy and optimism.

We feel so lucky to have won the random beanie draw and subsequently been gifted this perfect autumn treasure ~ She has made herself comfortable on our season table watching the mobile of leaves (recieved in the autumn southern season exchange) cast shadows as they dance in the wind.

Thank you.

Good bye summer

Images of my big girl by Tanya Love of Love Bytes Photography.

How Cyclone Yasi compares around the world - It is HUGE!

The main bloc of the cyclone is 500km wide, while its associated activity, shown above in a colour-coding to match intensity, stretches over 2000km.
The storm's scale of destruction is as shocking as it is inevitable.  In the map below, the United States from Pennsylvania in the east to Nevada in the west, from Georgia in the south to Canada in the north and well into Mexico would be battered with 300km/h winds and up to one metre of rain.

Or this, superimposed on Asia ~ taking in an area from Japan, the Koreas and China all the way through southeast Asia, around through India and the Himalayas and threatening large parts of central Asia.

 The map below shows the storm over western and central Europe

Hold tight far north Queensland. I hope you are still there in the morning x

Info and images from here.

Cyclone Yasi

"EVACUATIONS are under way as communities along the coast prepare for a cyclone that has stunned experienced weather watchers with its size and force"

 

 

I'm not sure what Queenland has done to deserve the wrath of Mother Nature this year. I am holding my breath and am covered in goosepimples while I wait and hope that friends and strangers alike survive her might.

Live updates here

The macadamia nuts, muesli, cookies and tea

are wrapped up and waiting to go to Kirsten the self declared lurker...sometimes it is worth making a comment!

You were all right; macadamia nuts are expensive because it costs lots to make and mantain the equipment necessary to crack then shell without squishing the nut to bits. Season by season weather and transport are factors but not the overarching reason.

Mother nature was a goddess when she created the macadamia nut but right now she is not very happy ~ While Queensland cleans up after our devastating floods and families grieve for those who have died or are still missing; waters well up around Victorian country towns flooding one after the other.. Over in Western Australia, bush fires that were deliberately lit continue to burn.
Watching the news from Brazil was just too much for me today ~ over 600 dead. I cannot even begin to imagine. Does anyone know of a reputable agency we can donate through?

I made a New Year resolution

Well I actually made a couple BUT only a couple:

1. Teach myself to crochet

2. Learn to back a trailer +/- up a hill

These are the two things I always say I cannot do. I haven't attempted the trailer thing yet, tho I have enlisted my beloved's assistance and he has said he will help me. He can back a trailer up a hill, blindfolded and around corners. When I went to boarding school in the Victorian town of Bendigo one of my housemates could back a trailer up a hill when she was 14 - her father said it was a prerequisite to getting her licence. She lived in a country town.

So lets move to crochet... I have actually made a few small things over the years; mostly caps for dolls heads and generally out of loopy mohair or some other very forgiving fibre! I've never made anything pretty or practical and I have had an urge for a wee while.

On January 1st 2011 ~ I made this little flower (I am quite pleased with myself):

It is the first project in the book First crochet by Lesley Stanfield which was lent to me by a clever friend.

Next I made a wash cloth... I have strategically photograped it in dim light and folded so you can't see the edges and laugh yourselves silly at my expense (they are wibbly wobbly, must work on tension and picking up the last stitch!); the pattern is a free one from here

And...ta da! today I finished this:

I have wanted a little crochet stone since I first saw one over at GardenMama. I followed (well I tried to, I really did) Margaret Oomen's little urchin crochet stone cover  pattern. I used a thread much finer than the one she recommends cause that is what I had to hand AND a ridiculously small hook. I am a bit please with myself.

Ooo Margaret has a beautiful blog, resurrection fern and here is another by the very talented Maribeth Lovely World: crochet that I aspire to.

I just want to write again about the floods that have engulfed a third of our state (a state that is the size of Texas). I am too sad to read any more news reports or to look at any more pictures or video footage.

Fifteen people are now identified and confirmed dead, they have found other bodies, but have yet to identify them and notify family members. 60 more people are still missing, in some cases whole families have vanished. Today they let us know that they may never find their bodies, their bodies might have washed away or be buried under tonnes of debris.

Further flooding is unlikely and towns and cities around Queensland have begun to clean up ~ it is so heartbreaking. The vast majority of people are not covered by insurance and they have lost everything. It is not that they didn't have insurance; the insurance companies don't cover for natural disasters. We feel so helpless.

My beloved is heading out tomorrow with neighbours to wade through the sludge and try to help those he can, we expect that it will be pulling destroyed belongings ~ furniture, carpets, clothing, bedding ~ from houses and throwing them in the street for the big truck to collect.

I will stay home and bake for 'baked relief' an initiative that aims to offer some relief to the rescue effort by way of delivering home-cooked baked goods to SES (State Emergency Service) and Volunteer centres around Brisbane.

If anyone would like to contribute, just whip up a batch of muffins, biscuits, cakes, slices (savoury too please) and drop them off at Black Pearl Epicure, 36 Baxter Street, Fortitude Valley.

From there the goods will be distributed to the relevant locations. For more information on ‘Baked Relief’, please visit www.digella.blogspot.com

Just one last thing ~ if you can afford to, even just a few dollars, please make a donation to the Queensland Flood Relief Appeal . Tens of thousands of people have lost everything, some their lives. Earlier today the Queensland Flood Appeal had raised over $54 million - a testament to generosity of Australians and friends overseas.

And so the city goes under...

yesterday afternoon the brisbane River burst its banks and the water has continued to rise in the CBD since. Floodwaters are expected to peak is at 4am tomorrow somewhere around 5.4metres and stay there until Saturday. The following images were taken early afternoon, most of them are now at least a metre higher, when the image of people walking through steel arches at Southbankwas taken the water was about 1m deep, it would now be over most of their heads.

We have family and friend who have been evacuated from their homes but who are all accounted for; we are safe and dry in the bush and not near the river at all. We had blue skys and sunshine all day but as I type I can here the rain pouring again!

The death toll now stands at 12 people, half of them children. 62 people are still reported missing.

This story will break your heart
This one and this one will make you smile

Here you can watch live local abc news from anywhere in the world and follw links to amazing video footage and story details.
Thank you for all your kind words and thoughts, it is so horrible.

Foods worsen

I couldn't belive my eyes last night when I saw the news of flash flooding in Toowoomba ~ I have many dear friends who live there, I have been their midwife and cradled their babies as they were born. The images and video are devestating.
All my friends are ok, not so their houses and cars. Yesterday seven people from the town died in torrents of water and over 50 people are still missing. Please spare a thought for them today.
This picture from ABC news www.abc.net.au/ is of Toowooba's main street. If you follow this link you can view terrifying video of cars being hurled down streets and a man clinging for his life to a tree as a van crashes into it ~ thankfully he was ok and was rescued, you can view that video too.

The water is now heading toward Brisbane and our city's main dam flood gates are all open ~ the dam was built after the 1974 floods when the city went under water...testing time.

*Update...at about 1pm local time the Brisbane river burst its banks and an evacuation was called for the entire CBD. My beloved is home safely...probably rode on the last train out of there, the rail lines are going under!

Home from holidays ~ Happy New Year!

Hello there, it has been a pretty soggy three weeks away with no internet connection. I didn't realise I was about to isolate myself from the www when I loaded up the car and headed south for a break in the beautiful Northern Rivers hinterland; if i did I would have at least wished you all a merry Christmas!

There is so much to share, I even bought presents but I'll have to do it in instalments because in true Shannon style I have just downloaded 356 images from my camera (it would have been more but for some unknown reason I sent my battery charger home with my beloved when he came back to Brisbane to go back to work).

We did a spot of house sitting for a friend and her menagerie in a little hinterland town called Eureka in the Shire of Bryon Bay. Here is the view from her front verander on our first evening.

 
Our first full day there was December 21, the summer solstice, so the girls and I headed to Byron's main beach, Belongi, to watch the lunar eclipse. I forgot my camera which meant that I just sat back and enjoyed listening to the drumming circle while eating divine ice cream with my girls. I share with you images from more organised individuals ~

Image by Joggly taken from Byron Bay, NSW- Tue 21st Dec '10 (8:00pm) magicseaweed

 Image from Byron Dayz

As I sit in our dry safe house complaining about the seemingly ceaseless rain I do feel pretty guiltly: the northern end of Australia has had far more than its fair share of rain in the last month; major flooding and devastation is daily news, sometimes more frequent than that. Emergency crews are stretched to their limits and towns are being declared natural disaster areas.
Queensland has been hit particularly badly and now the overflow from their swollen rivers is heading south ~ we came home two nights ago, the area we were staying is now bracing for even more flooding.

In the next few days I will share with you some really beautiful images from our part of the world ~ in the links above you will see that mother nature has her flip side.

Wednesday Craft Group Cancelled

'tis too wet ~ pouring down solidly for two days ~ we craft outside you see, with many children at our knees and feet...there is such a thing as too many mud pies!

but it is ok because it gives me a chance to finish something else I've been working on ~ I'll be back later!

A beautiful Blue Moon to welcome the New Year

The origin of the term "blue moon" is steeped in folklore, and its meaning has changed and acquired new nuances over time. Some folktales say that when there is a full blue moon, the moon has a face and talks to those in its light.

Historically, moons were given folk names, twelve each year, to help people to prepare for the related weather and crop needs. Names varied with locality and culture, often with descriptive names such as harvest moon, growing moon, snow moon, and egg moon. Most years have 12 moons (giving 12 names), but in the years with thirteen full moons the monthly "seasons" would be expected to come too early – for example, hens would not recommence laying their eggs by the fourth full moon since it was still too cold – so the early moon was named a "blue moon". This then re-aligned the rest of the year's moons and "seasons".

The last blue moon to shine on New Year's Eve was 19 years ago, in 1990.

The MoonPercy Bysshe Shelly

That orbid maiden, with white fire laden,

Whom mortals call the Moon,

Glides glimmering o'er my fleece like floor,

By the midnight breezes strewn.

*Blue moon info from here